Local Business Database Scraper 🏢

🏢 Export a small business directory sample for a US city and state

Names, addresses and available contact fields in one row per business

🔎 What is the Local Business Database Scraper — and when should you use it?

The Local Business Database Scraper turns small US city/state business directory samples with names, addresses and available contact fields into clean, structured rows you can filter, export and feed straight into a spreadsheet, database or AI agent. No account, no portal API key, no browser automation to maintain.

Use it when you need: a few stored business directory records for a US city and state.

Use something else when: you need live local business search or detail lookup. Use Local Business Data Scraper for live local business listings. This actor reads one bounded database page. Category filtering and complete-directory exports are unsupported.

🤖 Use with AI agents

Already connected to the Apify MCP server? Just ask for this Actor by name: sian.agency/local-business-database-scraper

Agentic payments: Availability of x402 and Skyfire depends on this Actor's current Store eligibility. Check the published listing for supported payment methods. Each delivered business record is billed once. Empty lists and failed retrievals have no business-result charge; a separate run-start fee applies.

Otherwise copy this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP-enabled assistant:

I want a small business directory sample for a specified US locality using the Apify Actor `sian.agency/local-business-database-scraper`.

Use it when I need: a few stored business directory records for a US city and state.

Don't use it when: you need live local business search or detail lookup — use local-business-data-scraper instead.

How to call it: set operation search, city, full state name, and limit 1–5. Free-plan runs return at most one business. Read one dataset row per business.

Start with this input:
{
  "operation": "search",
  "city": "Chicago",
  "state": "Illinois",
  "limit": 1
}

Ask me which US city and full state name they want to research, then run the Actor and summarise the results as a table.

Things you can ask your agent for:

• Inspect a small Chicago, Illinois business directory sample.
• Export a few Boston, Massachusetts businesses with available contact fields.
• Save a timestamped local business sample for later comparison.

Machine-readable API, MCP config and OpenAPI definition for this Actor are published at apify.com/sian.agency/local-business-database-scraper.md.

📋 Overview

Retrieve 1–5 stored business records for a US city and full state name. Every delivered row must match the requested locality. This actor reads one bounded page; it does not export a complete directory.

• 🏙️ Locality check: City, state and country are checked before any business-result billing.
• 📞 Available contacts: Keep public phone and website fields when the record contains them.
• 🗂️ Full detail: The business object preserves the complete returned record.
• 🔢 Bounded sample: Request up to five businesses on paying plans or one on free plans.
• 📄 Run report: Review delivered records, accepted charges and input to retry.

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✨ Features

• 🏢 One export row per returned business.
• 📍 Explicit US city and full state selection.
• 🧾 Business IDs and addresses for record comparison.
• 🌐 Websites, phone numbers and categories when available.
• 📊 JSON, CSV and Excel export through Apify.
• 🤖 Console, MCP and paid-plan API access.

⚡ Quick Start

Choose a city and state, keep the sample size small, and start the actor. Open the dataset for the returned business records. The Processing Report contains a summary and retry advice.

{
  "operation": "search",
  "city": "Chicago",
  "state": "Illinois",
  "limit": 1
}

🚀 Getting Started

1. Enter a US city and select its full state name.
2. Choose a maximum of 1–5 businesses. Paying plans can request up to five; free-plan runs return at most one.
3. Start the actor and export the dataset. Review contact information before using it.

📥 Input Configuration

Field	Type	Required	Meaning
operation	string	No	search; this version has one operation
city	string	Yes	Full US city name
state	string	Yes	Full state name from the dropdown
limit	integer	No	Maximum businesses, 1–5; default 1

City and state have Console prefills, without API defaults. An empty API input fails validation before data retrieval or custom result charges. A platform run-start fee still applies. Category filters, cursor pagination and country selection are unsupported.

📤 Output

Field	Type	Meaning
previewImageUrl	string or null	First available business photo
businessId	string	Business record identifier
businessName	string	Business name
address	string	Returned full address
city / state / country	string	Validated locality
latitude / longitude	number or null	Returned coordinates
phone	string or null	Available phone
website	string or null	Available website
categories	array	Returned category labels
mainCategory	string or null	Main category
placeUrl	string or null	Map listing URL
rating	number or null	Available rating
business	object	Complete returned business record
complete	boolean	True for useful delivered records
processedAt / scrapingDate	string	Actor processing/retrieval time in ISO8601 UTC
status	string	success or error

A real Chicago sample returned Office of City Treasurer at 121 N LaSalle St #106, Chicago, IL 60602. A separate Boston, Massachusetts request returned a different matching record. These observations establish the tested locality checks, not nationwide completeness.

JSON preserves the nested business object. CSV and Excel encode nested structures as text. The Output tab also contains a Processing Report.

💼 Use Cases & Examples

Sales researchers

Inspect a small city business sample before deciding whether a directory fits your prospecting work.

Local marketers

Review names, websites and public addresses for the requested city and state.

Data analysts

Keep a timestamped sample of directory records for comparison.

Agencies

Export a few local business observations for a client research brief.

Business researchers

Inspect returned categories and contact fields without assuming every record has them.

Automation teams

Send returned business records to a spreadsheet or CRM for manual review.

🔗 Integration Examples

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('sian.agency/local-business-database-scraper').call({ city: 'Chicago', state: 'Illinois', limit: 1 });
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('sian.agency/local-business-database-scraper').call(run_input={'city': 'Chicago', 'state': 'Illinois', 'limit': 1})
print(list(client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items()))

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/sian.agency~local-business-database-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"city":"Chicago","state":"Illinois","limit":1}'

Automation Workflows (N8N / Zapier / Make)

1. Trigger a run from a schedule or research request.
2. Call the actor with city, state and limit.
3. Read the dataset and review contact fields.
4. Save selected records to a spreadsheet or CRM.

📊 Performance & Pricing

Each delivered business record is charged once. Empty lists and retrieval failures have no business-result charge. A separate platform run-start fee applies to every run, including invalid inputs.

Apify plan tier	Per business	Run start
Free	$0.50	$0.02
Bronze	$0.125	$0.005
Silver	$0.1175	$0.005
Gold, Platinum, Diamond	$0.11	$0.005

Paying plans can request up to five businesses and receive event discounts. Free-plan users can test through Console or MCP. A billing limit can reduce the requested sample before retrieval. Check current pricing before running.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Does this export every business?

No. It reads one bounded first page with 1–5 businesses. No pagination, category filter or exhaustive coverage is offered.

What is charged?

Each delivered business record is charged once. Empty lists and retrieval failures have no business-event charge. A separate platform run-start fee applies.

Which locations are supported?

US city and full-state-name pairs. Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts were tested. Other localities depend on available records; mismatched records are rejected.

Are phones and websites guaranteed?

No. These fields can be missing. JSON preserves the complete returned business object.

Can I use an empty API input?

No. Supply city and state. Console examples are prefilled; API calls do not inherit sample work.

Can I use the API from a free plan?

Direct API runs require a paying Apify plan. Free-plan users can test through Console or MCP.

🐛 Troubleshooting

No businesses returned: Check the city and state pair. An empty sample does not prove the locality has no businesses.

Locality could not be retrieved reliably: Returned records did not satisfy the requested locality. No business-result charge applies. Try a different supported locality or contact support.

Billing limit reached: Raise the limit enough to cover one business record plus the run-start fee.

Contact field missing: Not every stored business has a phone, website or rating. Inspect the business object before building a workflow around a field.

⚖️ Legal Disclaimer

Business records may contain personal data. Use the data only when you have an appropriate legal basis and follow applicable privacy requirements, including GDPR where relevant. Public availability does not remove those obligations.

Read Apify's discussion of web scraping and the law. This actor is an independent SIÁN Agency product; it makes no claim of affiliation with a business directory or map service.

🤝 Support

Open an actor issue or email apify@sian-agency.online.

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