Apotheek.be Scraper

Find and extract data for Belgian pharmacies by location. Get names, addresses, phone numbers, GPS coordinates, APB registration numbers, and on-duty status for any pharmacy in Belgium.

What is Apotheek.be Scraper?

Apotheek.be is the official pharmacy directory for Belgium, maintained by the APB (Association Pharmaceutique Belge). It covers all ~5,000 registered pharmacies in the country with their locations, contact details, and real-time duty schedules. This is not a product scraper — it is a pharmacy location and directory scraper.

The actor geocodes your search queries (city names, postal codes, or addresses) and queries Apotheek.be's search system to return the nearest pharmacies with structured data. Perfect for building pharmacy finder apps, analyzing pharmacy density in Belgian municipalities, or enriching location-based health service databases.

Common use cases:

• Pharmacy finder applications — Build location-aware apps that show users the nearest open pharmacy with GPS coordinates for navigation
• Healthcare market analysis — Map pharmacy density across Belgian cities and regions to identify underserved areas
• On-duty pharmacy tracking — Find which pharmacies are currently on night/weekend duty (wachtdienst) in any Belgian location
• Business location intelligence — Analyze the competitive landscape for new pharmacy locations or health-related retail openings
• Contact data enrichment — Get phone numbers and addresses for Belgian pharmacies to enrich CRM or directory databases

What data does Apotheek.be Scraper extract?

• 🏥 Pharmacy name — Official registered name of the pharmacy
• 📍 Full address — Street address, postal code, and city
• 📞 Phone number — Direct phone line for the pharmacy
• 🗺️ GPS coordinates — Latitude and longitude for mapping and distance calculations
• 🆔 APB number — Official registration number from the Belgian pharmaceutical association
• 📏 Distance — How far the pharmacy is from the search location (in km)
• 🟢 On-duty status — Whether the pharmacy is currently serving as the duty pharmacy (wachtapotheek)
• 🕐 Opening hours — Available when displayed on the search results page

How to scrape Apotheek.be

The scraper works by searching for pharmacies near a location. You provide one or more search queries, and the actor geocodes them and returns the closest pharmacies for each location.

Search by city name

Enter Belgian city names like "Brussel", "Antwerpen", "Gent", or "Luik".

Search by postal code

Use Belgian postal codes: "1000" (Brussels), "2000" (Antwerp), "9000" (Ghent).

Search by address

Provide specific addresses: "Meir 1, Antwerpen" or "Rue Neuve, Bruxelles".

Multiple locations

Pass multiple search queries to scan multiple areas in a single run. Each query returns the nearest pharmacies.

Input parameters

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	Array of strings	["Brussel"]	City names, postal codes, or addresses to search
maxResults	Integer	100	Maximum total pharmacies to return
proxyConfiguration	Object	—	Proxy settings

Tip: To get nationwide coverage, pass all 10 Belgian provinces as separate search queries: Brussel, Antwerpen, Oost-Vlaanderen, West-Vlaanderen, Limburg, Vlaams-Brabant, Waals-Brabant, Henegouwen, Luik, Luxemburg, Namen.

Output

{
    "pharmacyName": "Apotheek De Witte Leeuw",
    "address": "Kerkstraat 42",
    "postalCode": "2000",
    "city": "Antwerpen",
    "phone": "03 231 45 67",
    "apbNumber": "108234",
    "latitude": 51.2194,
    "longitude": 4.4025,
    "distance": 0.3,
    "onDuty": false,
    "openingHours": "Ma-Vr 9:00-18:30, Za 9:00-13:00",
    "url": "https://www.apotheek.be/PharmacySearch",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-03T10:15:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost?

The scraper makes one geocoding call (via OpenStreetMap Nominatim) and one POST request per search query. Very lightweight.

Volume	Estimated CU	Estimated Cost
1 location (20-30 pharmacies)	~0.01 CU	< $0.01
10 locations (~200 pharmacies)	~0.05 CU	~$0.03
All Belgian provinces	~0.1 CU	~$0.05

This is one of the cheapest scrapers to run. No browser rendering, no pagination loops.

Can I integrate?

Yes. Export pharmacy location data wherever you need it:

• Google Sheets — Maintain a live pharmacy directory spreadsheet
• Google Maps / Mapbox — Use GPS coordinates to plot pharmacies on interactive maps
• Webhooks — Trigger notifications when on-duty pharmacy data changes
• Zapier / Make / n8n — Route pharmacy data into CRM systems or databases
• Amazon S3 / Google Cloud — Archive pharmacy directory snapshots
• REST API — Query pharmacy locations programmatically from your app

Can I use it as an API?

Yes. Build pharmacy finder features directly into your applications.

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("studio-amba/apotheek-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["Antwerpen", "Gent", "Brussel"],
    "maxResults": 200,
})

for pharmacy in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    duty = " [ON DUTY]" if pharmacy.get("onDuty") else ""
    print(f"{pharmacy['pharmacyName']} — {pharmacy['postalCode']} {pharmacy['city']}{duty}")
    if pharmacy.get("latitude"):
        print(f"  GPS: {pharmacy['latitude']}, {pharmacy['longitude']}")

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('studio-amba/apotheek-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['Antwerpen', 'Gent', 'Brussel'],
    maxResults: 200,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(pharmacy => {
    const duty = pharmacy.onDuty ? ' [ON DUTY]' : '';
    console.log(`${pharmacy.pharmacyName} — ${pharmacy.postalCode} ${pharmacy.city}${duty}`);
});

FAQ

How many pharmacies are in Belgium? Belgium has approximately 4,900 registered pharmacies. With enough search queries covering different regions, you can build a near-complete directory of all Belgian pharmacies.

What is the APB number? The APB (Association Pharmaceutique Belge) number is the official registration identifier assigned to every licensed pharmacy in Belgium. It is unique per pharmacy and can be used as a stable identifier for deduplication across multiple scrape runs.

Can I find pharmacies that are currently on duty? Yes. The onDuty field indicates whether a pharmacy is currently serving as the duty pharmacy (wachtapotheek/pharmacie de garde). In Belgium, pharmacies rotate night and weekend duty on a schedule. Run the scraper to get the current duty status.

Why are some fields empty? Not all pharmacies display their phone number or opening hours on Apotheek.be. The scraper extracts what is available on the search results page. GPS coordinates are almost always available.

How accurate is the geocoding? The scraper uses OpenStreetMap Nominatim for geocoding search queries, which is generally accurate for Belgian cities and postal codes. For very specific addresses, results may vary. The search is scoped to Belgium automatically.

Can I filter for pharmacies offering COVID testing or vaccinations? The underlying Apotheek.be search supports these filters, but they are not currently exposed as input parameters. Contact us if you need this feature added.

How does the search radius work? Apotheek.be returns the nearest pharmacies to your search location, typically within a 5-10 km radius. Densely populated areas like Brussels or Antwerp will return more pharmacies than rural towns. The distance field in the output tells you exactly how far each pharmacy is from your search point, allowing you to set your own radius filter post-scraping.

Tips for building a Belgian pharmacy database

Here is how to get the most comprehensive coverage from this scraper:

1. Cover all postal codes — Belgium has postal codes from 1000 to 9999. For full national coverage, generate a list of major cities or use postal code ranges as search queries.
2. Deduplicate on APB number — When running multiple search queries, pharmacies near borders between search areas will appear in multiple results. Use the apbNumber field to deduplicate.
3. Combine with product scrapers — Use this scraper to build your pharmacy directory, then use our Farmaline, Viata, or Multipharma scrapers to get product and pricing data. Together, they give you a complete picture of the Belgian pharmacy landscape.
4. Monitor duty schedules — The onDuty field changes based on the time of scraping. Schedule runs at different times to build a duty rotation calendar.
5. Build distance matrices — Use the GPS coordinates to calculate distances between pharmacies, identify pharmacy deserts, or optimize delivery routes.

Limitations

• The scraper returns pharmacies near each search location — it is not a full database dump of all Belgian pharmacies
• Opening hours are extracted from HTML cards and may not always parse perfectly
• The anti-forgery token system means each search requires a GET + POST request pair
• Geocoding depends on OpenStreetMap Nominatim availability (free service, occasional rate limits)
• This is a location directory scraper only — it does not scrape product prices or inventory

Other pharmacy scrapers

Need product and pricing data from Belgian pharmacies? Pair this directory scraper with our product scrapers:

• Farmaline Scraper — Belgium's largest online pharmacy (70,000+ products, bilingual NL/FR)
• Multipharma Scraper — One of Belgium's largest pharmacy chains (230+ locations)
• Viata Scraper — Belgian online pharmacy with health and wellness products
• Shop Apotheke Scraper — Europe's leading online pharmacy (includes Belgian store)
• dm Scraper — Germany's largest drugstore chain (beauty, health, household)
• Matas Scraper — Denmark's leading beauty and pharmacy retailer

Your feedback

Building a pharmacy finder app for Belgium? Need to add filters for services like COVID testing? Want bulk coverage of all Belgian pharmacies? Open an issue or reach out on Apify. We are happy to extend this scraper based on your needs.