Chrome, Firefox, VS Code & JetBrains Plugins Tracker

Search, rank and monitor extensions and JetBrains plugins on five marketplaces in one run: the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, the VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX (the registry behind VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf, Gitpod, Eclipse Theia) and the JetBrains Marketplace (plugins for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, Rider, PhpStorm, CLion, Android Studio and other JetBrains IDEs). You get one clean, unified record per extension with users/installs, ratings, version, last update, categories, tags, repository and license. Chrome and Firefox extensions also come with their permissions, host permissions and a permission risk score (Chrome: manifest version, size and privacy policy URL; Firefox: declared data collection).

Add user reviews with one switch: star rating, text, date, extension version, helpful votes and the developer's reply, from Chrome, Firefox, VS Code and JetBrains. Filter to complaints only (maxReviewRating: 2) or to the last 30 days, sort Chrome reviews by newest, most helpful or lowest rating, and in monitor mode get only reviews posted since the last run.

Don't want to read 1,000 reviews? Turn on review insights (includeReviewInsights: true) and get one row per extension that says what users complain about and what they love: complaint themes (bugs, "broke after the update", Manifest V3 / browser compatibility, memory, paywall, ads & hijacking, privacy, login...) with quotes, praise themes, feature requests, the rating trend, which version made users angry, and a side-by-side comparison of competitors.

Need developers instead of extensions? Set outputLevel: "publishers" and get one row per publisher per marketplace with its portfolio: extension count, total installs, total ratings and weighted average rating, top extension, website domain, GitHub repositories, last update, stale extensions and the full extensions list, plus alerts when a publisher ships a new extension, removes one or gains installs.

Thinking about building an extension? Turn on the niche market report (marketReportOnly: true) and get one row per marketplace and keyword that sizes the niche: total extensions, installs and concentration (how much the top 1 / 3 / 10 hold), ratings, update freshness, new launches, permission risk, Chrome extensions still on Manifest V2, top publishers, and the openings: weak incumbents (big but badly rated), stale incumbents (big but abandoned) and rising newcomers.

Turn on change tracking and the Actor compares each run with the previous one. It flags new extensions, new version releases, install jumps, rating changes, rank moves, newly added permissions and extensions taken down from the store, so a daily schedule becomes an alert feed (and an extension security monitor for IT teams).

No login, no API key, no browser. It uses the marketplaces' public data endpoints only, so it's fast and cheap.

Why this one?

• 5 marketplaces, 1 schema. Compare a Chrome extension with its Firefox version, the same extension on VS Code vs Open VSX vs JetBrains, or a browser extension vs its IDE plugin, without stitching five scrapers together.
• JetBrains plugins with full detail (new). Search or browse the JetBrains Marketplace by keyword, tag (AI, Code Tools, Theme...) or IDE (pycharm, webstorm, goland...) and get downloads, rating, rating count, latest version, last update, vendor, verified-vendor flag, tags, pricing model (Free / Freemium / Paid), source code, docs and issue-tracker links for every plugin, plus reviews with the vendor's reply.
• Chrome Web Store with full detail. Users, rating, rating count, version, last update, developer, category, permissions and host permissions for every search result (not just the first 10).
• Reviews from 4 stores in the same run. Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, VS Code Marketplace and JetBrains Marketplace reviews come back as recordType: "review" rows next to the extension rows, with developer replies, so you can see what users complain about and how fast competitors answer.
• Change detection built in. It reports new, new-version, installs-up / installs-down, rank-up / rank-down, entered-list and rating-change, and you set the thresholds.
• Strict keyword matching. Marketplace search returns loosely related, popular extensions when sorted by installs. This Actor keeps only the results that actually contain your keywords.
• Abandoned-extension finder. daysSinceUpdate + isStale flag extensions not updated for N days. These are acquisition targets, gaps to fill, or security risks to remove.
• Publisher (developer) level (new). outputLevel: "publishers" turns any search into a list of publishers with their whole portfolio on that marketplace (VS Code, Open VSX, Firefox and JetBrains: the complete list by publisher; Chrome: found by searching the developer name and matched by Chrome's developer id). Alerts: new, new-extension (with newExtensions), extension-removed, installs-up / installs-down, rating-change. Company-level data only: no emails, phones or addresses.
• Permission risk & drift monitor (new). Every Chrome and Firefox row gets permissionRiskScore (0–100), permissionRiskLevel (low < 15, medium 15+, high 40+, critical 80+; access to all websites alone = 40), allSitesAccess and riskyPermissions with a plain-English reason ("can read and change cookies"). In monitor mode you get permissions-added / permissions-removed (with addedPermissions), risk-up, and removed-from-store when a watched extension is taken down or unpublished (alerted once; back-in-store if it returns). New permissions after an update are the classic sign of a sold or hijacked extension. Filter with minPermissionRisk: "high" for a security audit.
• Niche market report (new). includeMarketReport / marketReportOnly adds one recordType: "market-report" row per marketplace × keyword / publisher / category: total in store, total and median installs, install distribution, top 1 / 3 / 10 install share, average and rating-weighted rating, pricing mix, verified-publisher share, update freshness, new extensions in the last 90 / 365 days, permission-risk mix, Chrome Manifest V2 leftovers, VS Code weekly trending, top publishers, weak incumbents, stale incumbents, rising newcomers and plain-English opportunitySignals. With a monitor it adds sinceLastRun (new extensions, installs change %, new versions, fastest growing). No other extension Actor on Apify compares niches across Chrome, Firefox, VS Code and JetBrains like this.
• Review insights & competitor comparison (new). includeReviewInsights adds one recordType: "review-insights" row per extension from its newest reviews: rating distribution and trend (last 90 days vs older), 14 complaint themes tuned for browser extensions and IDE plugins (bugs, broke after update, browser / IDE compatibility incl. Manifest V3, performance & memory, breaks sites / conflicts, ads & hijacking, privacy & permissions, paywall & pricing, login, sync & data loss, accuracy, UI, developer support) with example quotes, 9 praise themes (easy to use, just works, lightweight, privacy-friendly, responsive developer...), feature requests, top complaint phrases, developer reply rate and speed, and rating by extension version with problemReleases (a version rated 0.7+ stars below the others: the release that broke it). With 2+ extensions a review-comparison row benchmarks them per 100 reviews: relative weaknesses and strengths. Other review scrapers give you raw text; this tells you where a competitor is beatable.
• Watchlists. Track exact extensions by ID or marketplace URL, or every extension of a publisher.

Use cases

• Developer-tool companies & DevRel: track your extension's installs and rank against competitors every day, on every marketplace.
• Market research / investors: see which AI coding assistants are growing fastest on VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, and which new ones launched this week in the "AI" category.
• JetBrains plugin developers: track your plugin's downloads, rating and rank against competing IntelliJ / PyCharm / WebStorm plugins, and collect new reviews of yours and theirs every day.
• Indie hackers & product teams deciding what to build: run marketReportOnly on 5–10 keyword ideas across Chrome, Firefox and VS Code and compare: is the niche dominated by one extension, are the leaders abandoned or badly rated, do newcomers still get traction?
• Extension acquirers & indie hackers: find popular but stale extensions (high installs, isStale: true) to buy, fork or replace.
• Security & IT teams: watch the list of Chrome and Firefox extensions your company allows. Get an alert when one adds permissions, gets riskier, ships a new version or is removed from the store; audit a whole category with minPermissionRisk.
• Browser-extension makers: track your Chrome Web Store users and rating next to your competitors every day.
• Product & support teams: collect every new 1-2 star review of your extension (and your competitors') each morning: bug reports, churn reasons and feature requests, with the version they refer to.
• Competitor teardown before you build: search your niche with includeReviewInsights and see in one table which competitor users leave because of the paywall, which one broke after an update, and what everybody praises (the bar you must meet).
• Partnerships, BD & dev-tool sales: build lists of extension publishers in a niche (one row per developer, with website domain and portfolio reach) and see who is shipping new extensions.
• Open VSX coverage gaps: find popular VS Code extensions that are missing or outdated on Open VSX (for Cursor/VSCodium users).

Input

Field	Description
outputLevel	extensions (default) or publishers (one row per publisher per marketplace, with portfolio)
marketplaces	Any of chrome, firefox, vscode, openvsx, jetbrains (default when empty: the first four)
searchTerms	Keywords, e.g. "ai code review", "tailwind", "password manager"
strictSearch	Keep only results containing every keyword (default true)
publishers	VS Code publisher (ms-python), Open VSX namespace (redhat), Firefox author (bitwarden), JetBrains vendor (JetBrains, Red Hat). Not available on Chrome
extensionIds	Watchlist: chrome:ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh, vscode:ms-python.python, openvsx:redhat.java, firefox:ublock-origin, jetbrains:17718 or jetbrains:com.github.copilot, or marketplace URLs
vscodeCategory / firefoxCategory	Category filter, e.g. AI, Themes, Linters / privacy-security, tabs
jetbrainsTag / jetbrainsProduct	JetBrains tag (AI, Code Tools, Theme, Framework) / IDE (idea, pycharm, webstorm, goland, rider, phpstorm, clion, rubymine, androidstudio)
sortBy	installs, updated, newest, rating, relevance
maxResultsPerQuery	Max results per query per marketplace (default 50)
maxExtensionsPerPublisher	Publishers mode: extensions loaded per publisher (default 100, most installed first)
minInstalls	Skip small extensions
staleAfterDays	Threshold for isStale (default 365)
outputMode	all, new (never seen before) or changed (new + any change)
trackChanges	Add change fields in all mode too
minInstallsChangePct, minRankChange	Thresholds for install and rank alerts
stateKey	Monitor name: use one per schedule
includeMarketReport	Also output one niche market-report row per marketplace × query
marketReportOnly	Output only the market-report rows (no extension rows)
includeReviews	Also output user reviews (Chrome, Firefox, VS Code, JetBrains)
maxReviewsPerExtension	Review rows per extension (default 50)
reviewSort	recent (default), helpful, lowest (Chrome; other stores return newest first)
maxReviewRating	e.g. 2 = only 1-2 star reviews
includeReviewInsights	One review-insights row per extension (complaint / praise themes, problem releases, trend) + a competitor comparison row
reviewsSince	"2026-09-01" or "30 days"

If you give no search terms, publishers or IDs, the Actor lists the top extensions of each marketplace (or of the chosen category). Chrome Web Store doesn't support whole-store browsing or publisher lists; use search terms or extension IDs there. Chrome results follow the store's own relevance order.

Example: daily feed of brand-new AI extensions on VS Code and Open VSX:

{
  "marketplaces": ["vscode", "openvsx"],
  "vscodeCategory": "AI",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "outputMode": "new",
  "stateKey": "new-ai-extensions"
}

Example: the most downloaded AI plugins for JetBrains IDEs, with a daily alert for new versions, download jumps and rank moves:

{
  "marketplaces": ["jetbrains"],
  "jetbrainsTag": "AI",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "outputMode": "changed",
  "stateKey": "jetbrains-ai-plugins"
}

Example: the same keyword on VS Code and JetBrains IDEs (JetBrains side limited to PyCharm plugins):

{
  "marketplaces": ["vscode", "jetbrains"],
  "searchTerms": ["tailwind"],
  "jetbrainsProduct": "pycharm",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50
}

Example: password managers on Chrome and Firefox with users, ratings and permissions:

{
  "marketplaces": ["chrome", "firefox"],
  "searchTerms": ["password manager"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100
}

Example: competitor watchlist with change alerts:

{
  "extensionIds": ["https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/grammarly-ai-writing-and-g/kbfnbcaeplbcioakkpcpgfkobkghlhen", "vscode:GitHub.copilot", "vscode:Codeium.codeium", "vscode:sourcery.sourcery", "openvsx:Codium.codium"],
  "outputMode": "changed",
  "minInstallsChangePct": 2,
  "stateKey": "competitors"
}

Example: who publishes Tailwind tooling on VS Code and Open VSX, with each publisher's whole portfolio and a weekly alert for new extensions:

{
  "outputLevel": "publishers",
  "marketplaces": ["vscode", "openvsx"],
  "searchTerms": ["tailwind"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "outputMode": "changed",
  "stateKey": "tailwind-publishers"
}

Example: every new 1-2 star review of your extension and two competitors, each morning:

{
  "extensionIds": ["chrome:nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb", "chrome:hdokiejnpimakedhajhdlcegeplioahd", "firefox:bitwarden-password-manager"],
  "includeReviews": true,
  "maxReviewRating": 2,
  "outputMode": "changed",
  "stateKey": "review-alerts"
}

Output

{
  "uid": "vscode:sourcery.sourcery",
  "source": "vscode",
  "id": "sourcery.sourcery",
  "name": "Sourcery",
  "publisher": "sourcery",
  "publisherVerified": true,
  "description": "Instant Code Reviews in your IDE",
  "url": "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sourcery.sourcery",
  "categories": ["Programming Languages", "Linters", "AI"],
  "tags": ["ai", "code review", "refactoring"],
  "version": "1.46.0",
  "installs": 1277242,
  "installsMetric": "installs",
  "rating": 4.28,
  "ratingCount": 43,
  "trendingWeekly": 0.373,
  "createdAt": "2020-02-25T12:59:30.28+00:00",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-09-17T14:33:34.537+00:00",
  "daysSinceUpdate": 17,
  "isStale": false,
  "repository": "https://github.com/sourcery-ai/sourcery-vscode.git",
  "pricing": "Free",
  "rank": 1,
  "query": "search:ai code review",
  "isNew": false,
  "previousVersion": "1.45.2",
  "previousInstalls": 1251000,
  "installsChange": 26242,
  "installsChangePct": 2.1,
  "previousRank": 2,
  "rankChange": 1,
  "changeTypes": ["new-version"],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-05T08:00:00.000Z"
}

Chrome Web Store records add:

{
  "uid": "chrome:ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh",
  "name": "uBlock Origin Lite",
  "publisher": "Raymond Hill (gorhill)",
  "installs": 21000000,
  "installsMetric": "users",
  "rating": 4.5,
  "ratingCount": 3641,
  "version": "2026.930.1227",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-09-30T14:36:39.000Z",
  "categories": ["make_chrome_yours/privacy"],
  "manifestVersion": 3,
  "permissions": ["activeTab", "declarativeNetRequest", "scripting", "storage"],
  "hostPermissions": ["<all_urls>"],
  "sizeText": "9.2MiB",
  "privacyPolicyUrl": "https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Privacy-policy"
}

JetBrains Marketplace records (real row, October 2026, shortened):

{
  "uid": "jetbrains:17718",
  "source": "jetbrains",
  "id": "17718",
  "pluginXmlId": "com.github.copilot",
  "name": "GitHub Copilot - Your AI Pair Programmer",
  "publisher": "GitHub",
  "publisherId": "GitHub",
  "publisherVerified": true,
  "url": "https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/17718-github-copilot--your-ai-pair-programmer",
  "categories": ["AI", "Code Editing", "Code Tools", "Completion", "Productivity"],
  "tags": ["Externally-Paid", "AI", "Code Editing", "Code Tools", "Completion", "Productivity"],
  "version": "1.18.0-261-linux-arm64",
  "installs": 54778778,
  "installsMetric": "downloads",
  "rating": 2.28,
  "ratingCount": 1899,
  "lastUpdated": "2026-09-18T03:59:31.000Z",
  "homepage": "https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/getting-started-with-github-copilot/getting-started-with-github-copilot-in-a-jetbrains-ide",
  "supportUrl": "https://github.com/microsoft/copilot-intellij-feedback/issues",
  "ideFamily": "intellij",
  "pricing": "Free",
  "rank": 3
}

categories are the plugin's public tags; tags also include the marketplace's pricing tags (Paid, Freemium, Externally-Paid). rating is the average of all star votes and ratingCount the number of votes.

A publisher row (outputLevel: "publishers", VS Code, October 2026, lists shortened):

{
  "recordType": "publisher",
  "source": "vscode",
  "publisher": "Microsoft",
  "publisherId": "ms-python",
  "publisherVerified": true,
  "websiteDomain": "microsoft.com",
  "website": "https://microsoft.com",
  "domainVerified": true,
  "repositories": ["https://github.com/microsoft/pylance-release.git", "https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-black-formatter.git"],
  "extensionCount": 11,
  "portfolioComplete": true,
  "installsMetric": "installs",
  "totalInstalls": 699934972,
  "totalRatings": 1245,
  "averageRating": 3.42,
  "topExtension": { "id": "ms-python.python", "name": "Python", "installs": 239866117, "rating": 4.2, "ratingCount": 630 },
  "categories": ["Programming Languages", "Formatters", "Linters", "Data Science", "Debuggers"],
  "latestUpdate": "2026-10-06T10:51:02.507Z",
  "newestExtensionAt": "2024-12-10T19:22:05.393Z",
  "staleExtensions": 1,
  "matchedExtensions": ["Python"],
  "extensions": [{ "id": "ms-python.python", "name": "Python", "installs": 239866117, "rating": 4.2, "ratingCount": 630, "version": "2026.7.2026100201" }]
}

websiteDomain is the VS Code verified publisher domain when there is one, otherwise the most common domain of the extensions' homepage, support and privacy links. In monitor mode a publisher row adds changeTypes, newExtensions, removedExtensions, totalInstallsChange(Pct), previousExtensionCount and previousAverageRating. Chrome extension rows now also carry Chrome's developer id in publisherId.

Review rows (includeReviews: true, real example):

{
  "recordType": "review",
  "uid": "chrome:nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb",
  "source": "chrome",
  "extensionName": "Bitwarden Password Manager",
  "reviewId": "83d2b9d5-a8a3-4364-b944-dae11d658617",
  "rating": 2,
  "text": "The latest update has a bug or something, because the auto-fill for Chrome isn't working.",
  "createdAt": "2026-10-01T20:43:29.000Z",
  "helpfulCount": 1,
  "reviewVersion": "2026.9.2",
  "language": "en",
  "developerReply": "Hey there, the team would need more information to look into what you're describing...",
  "developerReplyAt": "2026-10-01T20:47:08.000Z",
  "hasDeveloperReply": true
}

Extension rows have recordType: "extension". installsMetric tells you what installs means on each marketplace: users (Chrome Web Store, as shown on the store, e.g. 8,000,000), installs (VS Code), downloads (Open VSX and JetBrains) or dailyUsers (Firefox average daily users; weeklyDownloads is also included). Change fields appear when outputMode is new/changed or trackChanges is on. A run summary is saved to the SUMMARY record in the key-value store.

No personal data is collected. Publisher names are the public display names shown on the marketplaces. Support emails are not exported, and review rows contain no reviewer names or profile pictures.

Pricing

$1.50 per 1,000 extensions returned and $0.50 per 1,000 reviews (only when includeReviews is on). Publisher rows (outputLevel: "publishers", portfolio included) cost $5 per 1,000 publishers. A niche market report costs $0.02 per marketplace × query (with marketReportOnly the extensions analysed for it are not charged). No subscription.

A 50-extension snapshot of one keyword on four marketplaces costs about $0.30; the top 100 JetBrains plugins cost $0.15. In changed mode you pay only for the extensions that actually changed, so a daily competitor monitor usually costs cents per month. 1,000 Chrome reviews of one extension cost $0.50. Review insights cost $0.01 per extension (plus $0.01 for the comparison row); the reviews read for them are not charged.

Niche market report

Input:

{
  "marketplaces": ["chrome", "firefox", "vscode"],
  "searchTerms": ["tab manager"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 60,
  "marketReportOnly": true
}

Real Chrome Web Store row from our test (October 2026, shortened):

{
  "recordType": "market-report",
  "source": "chrome",
  "query": "search:tab manager",
  "totalInStore": 780,
  "extensionsAnalyzed": 60,
  "installsMetric": "users",
  "totalInstalls": 2026441,
  "medianInstalls": 2000,
  "topExtensionInstallShare": 0.493,
  "top3InstallShare": 0.74,
  "ratingWeightedRating": 4.57,
  "updateFreshness": { "medianDaysSinceUpdate": 171, "updatedLast90Days": 0.333, "notUpdatedOver2Years": 0.15 },
  "newExtensionsLast365Days": 10,
  "permissionRiskMix": { "medium": 19, "high": 19, "low": 18, "critical": 4 },
  "allSitesAccessShare": 0.283,
  "manifestV2Extensions": 0,
  "weakIncumbents": [{ "name": "Tab Session Manager", "installs": 100000, "rating": 3.53 }],
  "staleIncumbents": [{ "name": "Tab Manager by Workona", "installs": 200000, "rating": 4.63 }],
  "risingNewcomers": [{ "name": "Tab Group Manager by Zovo", "installs": 2000, "rating": 4.85 }],
  "opportunitySignals": [
    "2 of the top 10 by users not updated for over a year",
    "1 large extension(s) rated below 3.8 (e.g. Tab Session Manager, 3.53★)",
    "3 extension(s) launched in the last 12 months already have traction"
  ]
}

The same run showed Firefox's tab-manager niche is dominated (one add-on holds 69% of daily users) with 6 of the top 10 not updated for a year, while VS Code has no real tab-manager leader at all. "Big" means 10,000+ users / installs / downloads (Firefox: 1,000+ daily users). Weak incumbents need 20+ ratings and a rating below 3.8; stale incumbents have no update for over 365 days; rising newcomers were created in the last 12 months and already have a tenth of the "big" bar. Every report is also saved in the MARKET_REPORT key-value record.

Review insights: why users leave a competitor

Input (real run, October 2026):

{
  "marketplaces": ["chrome", "firefox", "vscode"],
  "searchTerms": ["grammar checker"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 4,
  "includeReviewInsights": true,
  "maxReviewsPerExtension": 150
}

What came back from the newest 150 reviews per extension (shortened):

Extension	Avg of newest reviews	Top complaint (1-3★ reviews)	Problem releases	Trend
LanguageTool (Firefox)	1.25★	paywall & pricing: 82 reviews	-	-
LanguageTool (Chrome)	2.17★	paywall & pricing: 71 reviews	-	improving
Grammarly (Firefox)	2.83★	bugs & errors / paywall: 24 each	8.937.0 at 1.58★ (−1.35 vs other versions)	declining
Grammarly (Chrome)	3.09★	bugs & errors: 19, ads & pop-ups: 15	14.1330.0 at 2.0★	declining
Harper (Firefox)	3.89★	bugs & errors: 6	2.8.0	declining
LTeX+ (VS Code)	4.75★	-	-	-

The review-comparison row then says, for example, that Harper gets far more lightweight & fast and privacy-friendly praise than its peers, while Grammarly on Chrome is weak in ads / pop-ups, performance and site conflicts. That is a positioning brief for a new grammar extension in one run.

Each insights row also has topPraise, featureRequests (with quotes), topPhrases (common 2-word phrases in 1-2★ reviews), byVersion, byMonth, developerReplies (reply rate, median hours to reply) and, on Chrome, reviewLanguages.

Extension security monitor (permissions)

{
  "marketplaces": ["chrome", "firefox"],
  "extensionIds": ["bmnlcjabgnpnenekpadlanbbkooimhnj", "kbfnbcaeplbcioakkpcpgfkobkghlhen", "firefox:darkreader"],
  "outputMode": "changed",
  "stateKey": "company-allowlist"
}

Schedule it daily. The first run is the baseline; later runs return only extensions that changed. Real rows from our tests (state edited to simulate a change):

[
  { "source": "chrome", "name": "Honey: Automated Coupons & Rewards", "changeTypes": ["permissions-added"], "addedPermissions": ["cookies"], "permissionRiskLevel": "critical" },
  { "source": "firefox", "name": "Dark Reader", "changeTypes": ["risk-up"], "previousPermissionRiskLevel": "medium", "permissionRiskLevel": "high" },
  { "source": "chrome", "name": "The Great Suspender", "changeTypes": ["removed-from-store"], "availability": "unavailable", "lastSeenVersion": "7.1.6" }
]

Audit a category instead: "searchTerms": ["vpn"], "minPermissionRisk": "high" → in our test all 10 top Chrome VPN extensions scored critical (access to all websites + proxy, webRequest, management, privacy). A Chrome / Firefox row carries:

{
  "name": "Grammarly: AI Writing Assistant and Grammar Checker App",
  "permissionRiskScore": 100,
  "permissionRiskLevel": "critical",
  "allSitesAccess": true,
  "hostPermissionCount": 98,
  "riskyPermissions": [
    { "permission": "http://*/*", "level": "critical", "reason": "can read and change data on all websites" },
    { "permission": "nativeMessaging", "level": "critical", "reason": "can talk to programs installed on the computer" },
    { "permission": "cookies", "level": "high", "reason": "can read and change cookies (session tokens)" },
    { "permission": "clipboardRead", "level": "high", "reason": "can read the clipboard" }
  ]
}

Scheduling a monitor

1. Set outputMode to changed (or new) and give the monitor a stateKey.
2. Run it once. The first run is the baseline and returns everything.
3. Create an Apify Schedule (e.g. daily). Later runs return only what changed. Connect a webhook, Slack or email integration to get alerts.

FAQ

How do I research a browser extension or VS Code extension idea before building it? Set marketReportOnly: true, add your keyword ideas to searchTerms and pick the marketplaces. Each marketplace × keyword gives one market-report row: how many extensions exist, how concentrated the users are, how satisfied they are, whether the leaders are still maintained, and which newcomers broke through recently. Compare the rows side by side in the "Market reports" view.

Does the market report use all extensions in the store? It uses the results of each query up to maxResultsPerQuery (sorted by installs by default, so the biggest extensions are always in), after strictSearch, minInstalls and minPermissionRisk. totalInStore shows how many results the store itself reports. Raise maxResultsPerQuery (up to 2,000) for a fuller picture of the long tail.

How do I analyse a competitor's reviews without reading them all? Set includeReviewInsights: true and add the competitor's ID or URL to extensionIds (or search the niche). You get one row per extension with complaint themes and quotes, praise themes, feature requests, the rating trend and the versions users rated worst. Raise maxReviewsPerExtension (e.g. 300) for a bigger sample. You don't need includeReviews for it, and the reviews read for insights are not charged.

How are the review themes detected? Is it AI? Rule-based keyword themes tuned for browser extensions and IDE plugins (same method as our App Store / Google Play review Actor), so results are repeatable and cheap. Complaint themes are counted in 1-3★ reviews, praise in 4-5★ reviews. Each theme comes with example quotes so you can check it. Non-English reviews are counted in the ratings and trend but mostly don't match the English themes.

Does a high permission risk mean an extension is malicious? No. The score measures what the extension can do (its declared permissions), not what it does. Ad blockers, password managers and writing assistants need broad access and score high. Use it to decide what deserves a closer look, and use the monitor to catch changes (new permissions, takedowns), which are the stronger warning signs. VS Code, Open VSX and JetBrains have no permission model, so those rows have no risk fields.

How is "removed from store" detected? For extensions you track by ID / URL in a monitor mode (outputMode "changed" / "all" with trackChanges), the Actor remembers each extension. If a later run finds the listing unavailable (Chrome's store returns an error status, Firefox / VS Code return 404), you get one removed-from-store row with the last known name, version and users. You are alerted once; if it comes back you get back-in-store.

Can I scrape the Chrome Web Store with this? Yes. Search by keyword (all result pages, not just the first 10) or track exact extensions by ID or URL. You get users, rating, rating count, version, last update, developer, category, permissions and host permissions.

How do I find an extension's Chrome ID? It's the 32-letter code at the end of its Chrome Web Store URL, e.g. .../detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh. You can also paste the whole URL into extensionIds.

Can I get alerts when a competitor ships a new version or gains users? Yes. Put the extensions in extensionIds, set outputMode to changed and schedule the run daily. You get new-version, installs-up / installs-down, rating-change and rank changes.

Can I get one row per developer instead of per extension? Yes: outputLevel: "publishers". Each row is one publisher on one marketplace with extensionCount, totalInstalls, totalRatings, averageRating, topExtension, websiteDomain, repositories and the extensions list. portfolioComplete is true when the whole list was loaded (VS Code, Open VSX, Firefox, JetBrains); Chrome has no developer listing, so Chrome portfolios are search-based and marked false.

Does it collect developer emails? No. Only public listing data is collected. Support emails and other personal contact data aren't exported.

Can I scrape Chrome Web Store reviews? Yes. Set includeReviews: true and give search terms or extension IDs. You get the star rating, full text, date, extension version, helpful votes, language and the developer's reply. Sort by newest, most helpful or lowest rating, and page through thousands of reviews per extension.

How do I get only negative reviews? Set maxReviewRating to 2 (or 1). Combine with reviewSort: "lowest" on Chrome to reach the complaints first, or with reviewsSince: "30 days" for recent ones.

Can I get new reviews every day without duplicates? Yes. Use outputMode: "changed" (or new) with a stateKey and schedule the Actor. Each run returns only reviews posted since the previous run. Extensions whose rating count did not change are not re-checked.

Are VS Code and Firefox reviews included? Yes, both with developer replies. VS Code returns reviews that have text; Firefox returns written reviews (rating-only votes are skipped). Open VSX has almost no reviews and is skipped.

Can I scrape JetBrains Marketplace plugins? Yes. Add jetbrains to marketplaces. Search by keyword, browse the whole marketplace sorted by downloads, rating, last update or newest, filter by tag (jetbrainsTag) or IDE (jetbrainsProduct), list every plugin of a vendor (publishers), or watch exact plugins by ID, XML id or plugins.jetbrains.com URL. Every row has downloads, rating, rating count, latest version, last update and vendor; change tracking and reviews work the same as on the other marketplaces.

Are JetBrains plugin reviews included? Yes, with includeReviews: true: star rating (when the reviewer gave one), text, date, helpful votes, number of replies and the vendor's reply when the marketplace marks it as written by the vendor. Reviewer names are not collected.

Does it work for Microsoft Edge add-ons? Not yet. Most Edge add-ons are also published on the Chrome Web Store.

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