JSON to CSV Converter: Nested JSON to One CSV, No Start Fee

JSON to CSV converter: turn a JSON file, an NDJSON file or an Apify dataset into one clean CSV file with a download link.

Paste a link to a JSON file (or pick a dataset), press Start, and get a single .csv file you can open in Excel, Google Sheets, a database or a script. Nested objects become dot columns (customer.address.city), arrays are kept as JSON text in one cell, and you decide which columns go in and in what order. You pay per converted row only — no start fee, no monthly rent.

Try it free: leave the input empty and press Start — 4 built-in sample orders are converted to sample-orders.csv (not charged; the summary item carries _demo: true).

What you get

Input (one JSON row):

{"orderId": "A-1001", "customer": {"company": "Northwind Traders", "address": {"city": "Seattle"}}, "total": 1249.5, "paid": true, "tags": ["priority", "gift"]}

CSV file:

orderId	customer.company	customer.address.city	total	paid	tags
A-1001	Northwind Traders	Seattle	1249.5	true	["priority", "gift"]

• One CSV file in the run's key-value store, with a signed download link.
• One summary item in the dataset: file name, download link, rows, columns, size in bytes, and any requested columns that were not found.

How to use

1. JSON or NDJSON file URL — a public link to a JSON array ([{...}, {...}]), an object that holds one array ({"items": [...]}, typical for API responses) or NDJSON / JSON Lines (one object per line). Or pick an Apify dataset, for example the results of a scraper run.
2. Optional Columns — the columns you want, in the order you want. customer keeps every customer.* column. A name that is not in the data is still written as an empty column, so every file you make has the same header.
3. Optional: Delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab), UTF-8 BOM for Excel, Formula-safe text (on by default), Output file name.

{
  "fileUrl": "https://example.com/exports/orders.json",
  "columns": ["orderId", "customer.company", "total", "tags"],
  "delimiter": "comma",
  "excelBom": true,
  "fileName": "orders-2026-11"
}

Output details

• Columns follow the order they first appear in the data, unless you list them in Columns.
• Values: numbers stay as written (1249.5, -3), true/false stay as text, null and empty objects or arrays give an empty cell. Arrays are written as JSON text: ["priority", "gift"].
• Formula-safe: text that starts with =, +, @ (or - when it is not a number) gets a leading apostrophe, so a value like =HYPERLINK(...) never runs in Excel or Google Sheets. Turn it off to keep text byte-for-byte.
• Line ends are CRLF (\r\n), as RFC 4180 and Excel expect. The file is UTF-8.
• STATS record: source, rows, column names, file size, rows charged and notes.

Limits (cannot be raised by input)

• JSON arrays and NDJSON files up to 300 MB; a file that is one object wrapping the rows ({"items": [...]}) up to 20 MB — use an array or NDJSON for bigger data.
• 1,000,000 rows per run, 1,000 columns in the CSV, CSV file up to 150 MB. Use Columns to keep fewer columns.
• Files must be UTF-8 (the JSON standard). Public files only, no login. Links to internal network addresses are blocked.
• If the maximum charge you set for the run is lower than the number of rows, the run stops before anything is charged and tells you how many rows it can afford — you never get a half-finished CSV.

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.00005 per converted row ($0.05 per 1,000 rows), with no start fee. A 2,000-row file costs $0.10. Failed runs, inputs over a limit and the demo are free. Store discounts apply automatically: BRONZE −10%, SILVER −20%, GOLD −30%. On the Apify Free plan, the $5 of monthly platform credit covers about 100,000 rows a month.

FAQ

Can I get the rows in the dataset instead of a file? This Actor makes one CSV file. If you want flat rows in a dataset (to download as CSV, Excel or JSON from Apify yourself, or to feed another Actor), use the Flatten JSON Actor from the same developer.

My JSON is one big object, not a list. If it holds exactly one list of objects (like {"total": 120, "data": [...]}), that list becomes the rows. Any other object becomes a single row.

Accents look wrong in Excel. Turn on Add a UTF-8 BOM for Excel. In many European Excel versions also choose the semicolon delimiter.

Does it change my data? Only the shape: nested names are joined with dots, and (with formula-safe on) risky text gets an apostrophe. Values are not rounded or re-formatted.

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More tools from the same developer

• CSV / XLSX Converter — convert CSV, TSV, Excel XLSX, JSON and NDJSON files or Apify datasets into each other
• Excel to JSON — turn Excel (XLSX) sheets into JSON rows, or a JSON file into an Excel sheet
• Dataset Transform — flatten, filter, rename and convert any Apify dataset, export CSV / JSON / JSONL with a link