Apple Podcasts Search: shows by keyword with RSS feed URL

Search Apple Podcasts by keyword, up to 200 queries per run: one row per show with rank, title, publisher, RSS feed URL, genre, episode count, latest episode date and store link, from Apple's official search API. Pay per show.

Why this scraper

• Only delivered results are charged. Inputs that fail come back as clear error records at no cost.
• Apple's own search API, not a scraped page: one request per query answers with up to 200 shows in Apple's ranking order, in well under a second. Measured on "true crime" in the US store: 25 of 25 shows with feed URL, genre, episode count and latest episode date.
• The RSS feed URL on every row. That is the key to a show's episodes, and the reason to search a podcast directory in the first place; feed it to the RSS feed reader actor below to read the episodes. Plus publisher, genre, episode count, latest episode date and explicit flag, per storefront.

Who this is for

Type your queries in queries (a topic, a show name or a publisher; up to 200 per run), choose the country storefront and set maxResultsPerQuery (default 25, ceiling 200). Every row carries the query, Apple's rank, the show's id, title, publisher, RSS feed URL, primary genre, all genres, episode count, latest episode date, explicit flag, artwork and store link.

Who this is not for

This actor lists shows, not episodes; read the episodes through the feed URL with the RSS feed reader. Results are Apple's for the chosen storefront, so a show that is not published in that country does not appear. Niche terms return few shows (7 for "lean manufacturing" in the US store on 16-09-2026); that is Apple's catalogue, not a cut. publisher is empty when Apple lists the show without one.

Input example

{
    "queries": [
        "lean manufacturing",
        "true crime"
    ],
    "country": "us",
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 25
}

Output example

• query
• country
• rank
• podcastId
• title
• publisher
• feedUrl
• genre
• genres
• episodeCount
• latestEpisodeDate
• isExplicit
• artworkUrl
• url

Error codes: INVALID_QUERY, INVALID_COUNTRY, NO_RESULTS, BLOCKED.

One delivered row looks like this:

{
  "query": "lean manufacturing",
  "country": "US",
  "rank": 1,
  "podcastId": "1332946249",
  "title": "Lean Smarts Podcast: Lean Manufacturing | Leadership",
  "publisher": "Lean Smarts Podcast: Lean Manufacturing | Leadership",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.captivate.fm/lean-smarts-podcast/",
  "genre": "Management",
  "genres": [
    "Management",
    "Business",
    "Entrepreneurship"
  ],
  "episodeCount": 10,
  "latestEpisodeDate": "2021-06-29",
  "isExplicit": false,
  "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts115/v4/e4/f5/a9/e4f5a996-0655-74f6-92e0-530687a7406e/mza_4934195302621478112.jpg/600x600bb.jpg",
  "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lean-smarts-podcast-lean-manufacturing-leadership/id1332946249",
  "status": "ok"
}

Related actors from steadydata

• rss-feed-reader: the episodes of any show, read from its RSS feed URL
• app-store-search: the same search API for apps
• app-store-top-charts: Apple's top charts per country

Pricing

Pay per event: one podcast-listed event per delivered result. No charge for inputs that fail, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

Free Apify plan: this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

Reviews: if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

FAQ

Do I pay for a query without results? No. A query that returns nothing comes back as one free error row.

Can I get the episodes too? Not from this actor. Take the feedUrl of the show and run it through the RSS and Atom Feed Reader from the related actors below; that gives every episode with title, date, summary and audio link.

Which countries can I search? Any Apple Podcasts storefront by its two-letter code: us, gb, ca, au, de, fr, nl, es, it, jp and the rest. One country per run; run the actor again for another.

How is the ranking decided? It is Apple's own relevance order for the query, the same order the Podcasts app shows.

Is episodeCount exact? It is the number of episodes Apple has indexed for the show; the feed itself may hold a few more or fewer.

Is personal data collected? latestEpisodeDate is the date of the most recent episode Apple has indexed, as an ISO date; a show with an old date is likely dormant.

What happens when the source changes? Sources change from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The actor is monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because only delivered results cost anything.