Google Sheets Import & Export — Fast, Reliable Sync

What does Google Sheets Import & Export do?

This Actor moves data between Apify and Google Sheets in both directions: import Apify datasets, JSON or CSV into Google Sheets (append or replace) and export Google Sheets to JSON datasets. Use it as a standalone tool or as an integration that pushes every scraper run's results straight into your sheet.

Built for one thing above all: reliability. No OAuth tokens that expire and silently kill your scheduled runs — authentication works by sharing your sheet with an import e-mail once, and it works forever.

Why this Actor?

The most popular free alternative in the store fails more than half of its runs (52% failure rate, public Apify run stats, August 2026) — mostly because its Google OAuth tokens expire or get revoked between scheduled runs, producing silent failure streaks until someone notices the missing data.

	This Actor	Popular free alternative
Run success rate	designed & monitored for >99%	~48% (public stats, 08/2026)
Authentication	share sheet once, works forever	OAuth tokens that expire
Rate limits (429)	automatic exponential backoff	run fails
Empty source dataset	clean success (no-op)	run fails
Error messages	tell you exactly what to fix	stack traces

How does authentication work?

1. Run the Actor once — the log shows your import e-mail.
2. Open your sheet → Share → paste the e-mail → Editor → Done.
3. That's it, forever. No tokens, nothing expires, revoke anytime by unsharing.

Alternatives: bring your own Google service account key (stored encrypted), or read public sheets with no authentication at all.

How much does it cost?

Simple pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for what you process:

What	Price (paid plans)
Actor start	$0.005
1,000 rows processed	+ $0.01
10,000 rows	+ $0.10
100,000 rows	+ $1.00

A typical scraper-to-sheet sync costs about $0.015 per run — usually less than the platform usage a failing "free" alternative burns on retries.

Input

• mode — read (sheet → dataset), append (add rows below existing data) or replace (overwrite the sheet).
• spreadsheetId — full sheet URL or ID.
• datasetId — source dataset for write modes. Leave empty when running as an integration after another Actor: the triggering run's dataset is used automatically.
• rawData — inline JSON rows as an alternative source.
• deduplicateByField, sheetName, maxRows — optional fine-tuning.

Nested objects are flattened to parent/child columns; when appending, columns are aligned to your existing header automatically.

Output

read mode fills the run's dataset with one JSON object per sheet row (header row = keys). Write modes push a summary item:

{ "status": "ok", "written": 1250, "sheet": "Sheet1", "mode": "append" }

Switching from another Google Sheets actor

Input field names (mode, spreadsheetId, datasetId, rawData, deduplicateByField) match the established conventions — in most setups you only swap the Actor and share your sheet with the import e-mail. Two minutes.

FAQ

How do I export an Apify dataset to Google Sheets automatically?

Add this Actor as an integration to your scraper: Actor → Integrations → Add integration → choose this Actor, set mode: append and your sheet URL. Every successful run then appends its results to your sheet.

Can it read a public Google Sheet without authentication?

Yes — read mode works on any sheet shared as "Anyone with the link", with no credentials at all.

Is my service account key safe?

Keys are stored encrypted by the Apify platform (isSecret input field) and used only to access sheets you explicitly shared.

What are Google's limits?

Google caps spreadsheets at 10 million cells. The Actor checks this before writing and tells you clearly instead of failing mid-import.