# Wikipedia Pageview Trends: Google Trends Alternative (`somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends`) Actor

Real Wikipedia page view numbers for any topic over time, monthly or daily. Tells you if interest is going up or down and when it peaked. A decent Google Trends alternative that gives you actual numbers, in any language.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends.md
- **Developed by:** [Ollie Wood](https://apify.com/somepineapple) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 topic analyseds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Wikipedia Pageview Trends: Google Trends Alternative

Google Trends only gives you a score out of 100, and scraping it tends to get you blocked. Wikipedia views are a good stand-in for how much people care about something, and you get the actual numbers.

Put in some topics (titles, links or just search terms) and you get the views month by month or day by day, whether it's going up or down, and when it peaked. Works in any Wikipedia language.

### What it does

- Finds the right article from a title, a link or a plain search term, following redirects
- Monthly or daily view counts with total, average, peak and a rising / steady / falling trend
- Fills in periods with no views, so every series is complete
- Topics it can't find, or that are ambiguous, get a clear error row and aren't charged
- Only counts complete months, so the latest figure isn't a half-month
- Adds views from redirects, so renamed articles keep their full history

### Use cases

- Checking a topic is actually growing before you write about it or build for it.
- Comparing interest in rival products, brands or tech.
- Following a launch, an event or a news story day by day.
- Spotting seasonal patterns for content and campaigns.
- Real numbers to back up a pitch or a report.

### How to use

1. Add topics: a title (Electric bike), a link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-bike) or just a search term.
2. Pick monthly or daily, and how far back.
3. Hit Start. Each topic takes about a second.

You can also call it from the Apify API, run it on a schedule, or hook it up to Make, Zapier or n8n. AI agents can use it through Apify's MCP server.

### Input

```json
{
  "topics": [
    "ChatGPT",
    "Electric bike",
    "Taylor Swift"
  ],
  "period": 24
}
```

### Output

You get one row per result, with these fields: `topic`, `article`, `language`, `url`, `redirectedFrom`, `redirectsIncluded`, `granularity`, `start`, `end`, `totalViews`, `averageViews`, `latestViews`, `trendPct`, `trend`, `peakDate`, `peakViews`, `series`, `error`.

Here's a real result:

```json
{
  "topic": "Electric bike",
  "article": "E-bike",
  "language": "en",
  "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-bike",
  "redirectedFrom": "Electric bike",
  "redirectsIncluded": 18,
  "granularity": "monthly",
  "start": "2024-10",
  "end": "2026-09",
  "totalViews": 223230,
  "averageViews": 9301,
  "latestViews": 9604,
  "trendPct": -0.2,
  "trend": "steady",
  "peakDate": "2025-03",
  "peakViews": 22253,
  "series": [
    {
      "date": "2026-06",
      "views": 8001
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-07",
      "views": 8122
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08",
      "views": 7657
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-09",
      "views": 9604
    }
  ],
  "error": null
}
```

### Pricing

**$0.003 per topic analysed.** You only pay for results that work. Anything that fails comes back with an `error` and is free. You can set a max spend per run in the run options.

So 100 topics cost about $0.30, and 1,000 about $3.00.

### FAQ

**Is it the same as Google Trends?**

No, it's Wikipedia views rather than Google searches, but they tend to move together. The difference is you get real numbers and it doesn't get blocked.

**What does 'trend' mean?**

The last 3 months against the 3 before (or the last 30 days against the 30 before for daily). More than 15% up is rising, more than 15% down is falling.

**Why does it say a page is a disambiguation page?**

Some words mean a few things (Mercury). Use the full title, like Mercury (planet), or paste the link.

**Why add views from redirects?**

When Wikipedia renames an article, the old views stay under the old name. Adding them keeps the history in one piece. You can turn it off.

**Where's the data from?**

The Wikimedia pageviews API. It's free to reuse.

### Limitations

- Views through up to 20 redirects get added in. Articles with loads of redirects might be slightly undercounted.
- Monthly data only goes back to July 2015.
- Wikipedia views show curiosity, not buying intent, so use it as one signal among a few.

### Other tools you might like

- [UK & EU Public Tenders Finder](https://apify.com/somepineapple/uk-eu-public-tenders): new government contracts that match your keywords.
- [Package Health Checker](https://apify.com/somepineapple/package-health-checker): check npm and PyPI packages for vulnerabilities, licences and abandonment.
- [Steam Reviews Analyzer](https://apify.com/somepineapple/steam-review-insights): why players love or drop a game, from its Steam reviews.

### Support

This Actor is built and maintained by an automated system run by its publisher. If something's wrong, open an
issue and it'll be looked at within 7 days. Please don't put passwords or personal details in an issue.

# Actor input Schema

## `topics` (type: `array`):

Article titles, Wikipedia links or search terms (max 25).

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code: en, de, fr, es, pt, ja... Links to other-language articles override it.

## `granularity` (type: `string`):

Monthly or daily view counts.

## `period` (type: `integer`):

Months (1-120) for monthly, days (7-365) for daily. Monthly data starts July 2015.

## `includeBots` (type: `boolean`):

Off by default, so counts are people only.

## `includeRedirects` (type: `boolean`):

Also count views that arrive through up to 20 redirects (old names after a rename, other spellings). On by default, because a renamed article's older views sit under its old name.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "topics": [
    "ChatGPT",
    "Electric bike",
    "Taylor Swift"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "granularity": "monthly",
  "period": 24,
  "includeBots": false,
  "includeRedirects": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "topics": [
        "ChatGPT",
        "Electric bike",
        "Taylor Swift"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "topics": [
        "ChatGPT",
        "Electric bike",
        "Taylor Swift",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "topics": [
    "ChatGPT",
    "Electric bike",
    "Taylor Swift"
  ]
}' |
apify call somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,somepineapple/wikipedia-pageview-trends"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ODuQXsKybljgNRGie/builds/wuy9aN5MU9tGlQMSa/openapi.json