🎙️ Apple Podcast Scraper — Search, Reviews, Charts & Episodes from Apple Podcasts

Extract podcast data from Apple Podcasts in 5 powerful modes — search by keyword, pull reviews, browse genre charts, get podcast details, or scrape full episode lists from any RSS feed. No API key, no browser, no proxy required.

⚡ Why this Apple Podcast scraper?

Apple Podcasts has no official scraping API. This actor turns its free public endpoints into a reliable, affordable data pipeline:

• 💰 Affordable: Just $3 per 1,000 results — 10x cheaper than the next PPE competitor
• 🔍 5 modes in one: Search, podcast details, listener reviews, genre charts, and full episode lists
• 🔑 No API key needed: Runs entirely on Apple's free public APIs — zero setup, zero credentials
• 🚀 Fast: Pure HTTP calls — no headless browser, no Playwright, no proxy overhead
• 📋 Flat CSV-ready output: All fields in one flat record — drop straight into Excel, Google Sheets, or your data pipeline
• 📡 All data free: iTunes Search API, Lookup API, Reviews RSS, Charts RSS — all public, all free

🔎 5 Modes

1. 🔍 Search Mode

Search Apple Podcasts by keyword. Returns matching podcasts with ratings, review counts, artwork, and metadata. Up to 200 results per query.

{
    "mode": "search",
    "searchTerm": "true crime",
    "maxResults": 50
}

2. 🎙️ Podcast Details Mode

Get full metadata for a specific podcast by its Apple Podcasts ID — ratings, description, artwork, feed URL, genre, and more.

{
    "mode": "podcast",
    "podcastUrl": "1200361736"
}

3. ⭐ Reviews Mode

Scrape listener reviews for any podcast — star rating, review title, full review text, author, and date. Up to 500 reviews per podcast.

{
    "mode": "reviews",
    "podcastUrl": "1200361736",
    "maxResults": 100
}

4. 📊 Charts Mode

Browse the Apple Podcasts charts for any genre and country. See what's trending in Technology, True Crime, Business, or any of the 16 supported genres.

{
    "mode": "charts",
    "genre": "technology",
    "country": "us",
    "maxResults": 50
}

5. 🎧 Episodes Mode

Fetch the full episode list for any podcast directly from its RSS feed — title, description, duration, publish date, audio URL, and more.

{
    "mode": "episodes",
    "rssFeedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
    "maxResults": 50
}

📤 Output Fields

Search & Charts results

Field	Type	Description
podcastId	string	Apple Podcasts numeric ID
name	string	Podcast title
artistName	string	Publisher / host name
genre	string	Primary genre
country	string	Store country code
description	string	Short podcast description
artworkUrl	string	High-res cover art URL
feedUrl	string	RSS feed URL
trackCount	number	Total number of episodes
averageRating	number	Average star rating (1–5)
ratingCount	number	Total number of ratings
releaseDate	string	Most recent episode date
appleUrl	string	Link to Apple Podcasts page

Podcast details

All fields from Search, plus:

Field	Type	Description
contentAdvisoryRating	string	Age rating (e.g., "Clean")
languages	array	Spoken languages

Reviews

Field	Type	Description
podcastId	string	Apple Podcasts numeric ID
reviewId	string	Unique review ID
title	string	Review headline
content	string	Full review text
rating	number	Star rating (1–5)
author	string	Reviewer username
date	string	Review date (ISO 8601)
country	string	Store country code

Episodes

Field	Type	Description
episodeId	string	GUID from RSS feed
title	string	Episode title
description	string	Episode summary / show notes
publishedAt	string	Publish date (ISO 8601)
durationSeconds	number	Duration in seconds
audioUrl	string	Direct audio file URL
episodeUrl	string	Link to episode page
season	number	Season number (if set)
episode	number	Episode number (if set)
imageUrl	string	Episode-specific artwork URL

You can download all results in JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect via the Apify API.

🎵 Supported Genres

Use any of these genre names in Charts mode (case-insensitive):

Genre	Genre
Arts	Business
Comedy	Education
Fiction	Health & Fitness
History	Kids & Family
Music	News
Science	Society & Culture
Sports	Technology
True Crime	TV & Film

⚠️ Known Limitations

• Search: iTunes API caps at 200 results per query — for broader coverage, run multiple targeted searches
• Reviews: Apple exposes a maximum of 500 reviews per podcast (10 pages × 50 reviews), sorted by most recent
• Episodes via RSS: Episode count depends on how many the publisher includes in their RSS feed — typically 50–300; some large archives have 2,500+
• Charts: Returns the current ranking snapshot — run on a schedule for historical trend data
• Reviews by country: Use the country input to fetch reviews from different Apple Podcasts storefronts (e.g., "gb" for UK, "au" for Australia)

💲 How much does it cost?

The Apple Podcast Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for the results you get:

• $3.00 per 1,000 results ($0.003 per podcast, review, or episode)

Why pay-per-event: No monthly fees. An empty run or a run that errors out costs nothing. You only pay for real data. 10x cheaper than the next PPE competitor ($30/1K).

Example costs:

What you extract	Results	Cost
Search "true crime" (top 50 podcasts)	50	$0.15
Full review scrape for 1 podcast	500	$1.50
Technology charts, top 100	100	$0.30
Episode archive for 1 podcast	300	$0.90
Weekly chart monitor (5 genres)	500	$1.50
Competitor review analysis (10 podcasts)	2,000	$6.00

🎯 Use Cases

• 📈 Podcast market research: Find top podcasts in any genre, analyze what's trending on charts
• ⭐ Competitive analysis: Read listener reviews for competing podcasts — what do audiences love or hate?
• 🎙️ Podcast discovery: Build curated podcast directories or recommendation engines
• 📊 Brand monitoring: Track reviews of your own podcast across multiple countries
• 📧 Lead generation: Find podcasts in your niche with their RSS feeds and contact info
• 🔍 Content research: Explore episode archives to identify content gaps and opportunities
• 📰 Journalism & research: Analyze podcast popularity trends across genres and regions
• 🤖 Automated monitoring: Schedule daily chart scrapes to track your podcast's ranking over time

🏛️ Data Source

All data comes from Apple's free public APIs — no authentication, no API key, no scraping required:

API	What it provides
iTunes Search API (itunes.apple.com/search)	Podcast search by keyword
iTunes Lookup API (itunes.apple.com/lookup)	Podcast metadata by ID
Reviews RSS (itunes.apple.com/{cc}/rss/customerreviews/...)	Listener reviews
Charts RSS (itunes.apple.com/{cc}/rss/toppodcasts/...)	Genre chart rankings
RSS Feeds (direct)	Full episode lists

• Coverage: Apple Podcasts catalog across all countries and genres
• Update frequency: Charts and reviews are updated daily by Apple
• Rate limits: Apple's public APIs have generous limits — the actor adds a small delay between requests to be respectful

💡 Tips and Notes

• 🌍 Multi-country charts: Change the country field to get charts for any Apple Podcasts storefront — "us", "gb", "au", "ca", "de", etc.
• 🔍 Precise search: Use specific terms like "serial podcast" to find exact shows, or broad terms like "investing" for category-wide discovery
• 📡 Finding the RSS feed: Run Podcast Details mode first to get the feedUrl, then use it in Episodes mode for the full episode archive
• 📅 Episode date filtering: Episodes mode returns episodes in RSS order (newest first). Use maxResults to limit to recent episodes only.
• 💰 Budget control: Set maxResults to cap your spend. The actor also respects Apify's built-in budget limits and stops gracefully when reached.
• 📋 CSV export: All output fields are flat (no nested objects), making results immediately compatible with CSV/Excel export.
• 🔢 Podcast ID: Found in the Apple Podcasts URL — e.g., podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serial/id917918570 → ID is 917918570.