# GoodFirms Scraper — Global B2B Agencies API (`umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper`) Actor

Scrape GoodFirms.co B2B IT & agency directory listings across categories and countries into JSON. Global GoodFirms companies scraper API. CheerioCrawler. PPE $1.20/1k.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Umar Arshad](https://apify.com/umararshad2) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 1,000 company scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## GoodFirms Scraper — Global B2B Agencies & IT Companies API

Scrapes **[GoodFirms](https://www.goodfirms.co)** — a global B2B ratings and reviews directory covering **150,000+ IT service firms, software companies, and digital agencies worldwide** — into clean JSON on Apify.

**Store:** https://apify.com/umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper

### Why this Actor

GoodFirms ranks agencies and software vendors across **software development, web design, mobile apps, digital marketing, AI, SEO, DevOps**, and more, with **country-scoped directories** (US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, India, UAE, …). Procurement teams, agencies, and lead-gen builders need structured vendor lists (rating, hourly rate, team size, location, website) without hand-copying directory pages. Dedicated Store competitors are thin and often expensive per enriched profile — this Actor is framed as a **global GoodFirms companies / agencies scraper API**, not a single-country product.

### What it scrapes

1. **Directory listings** — category and country pages under `https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/…` (JSON-LD `ItemList` / `LocalBusiness`)
2. **Company profiles** — `https://www.goodfirms.co/company/{slug}` (website, founded year, employees, phone, email, social links when present)
3. **Direct URLs** — pass directory or company links via `startUrls`

Uses **Crawlee CheerioCrawler** (SSR HTML + JSON-LD). Defaults to **Apify Proxy**.

#### Built-in category shortcuts

| Input `category` | Directory path |
| --- | --- |
| `software-development` | `/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies` |
| `web-development` | `/directory/platforms/top-web-development-companies` |
| `mobile-app-development` | `/directory/platforms/top-mobile-app-development-companies` |
| `web-design` | `/directory/platforms/top-web-design-companies` |
| `digital-marketing` | `/directory/marketing-services/top-digital-marketing-companies` |
| `it-services` | `/directory/services/top-it-services-companies` |
| `artificial-intelligence` | `/directory/services/top-artificial-intelligence-companies` |
| `seo` | `/directory/marketing-services/top-seo-companies` |

Optional `country` (e.g. `us`, `gb`, `de`, `ca`, `au`) scopes to `/directory/country/top-…-companies/{country}`.

### Pricing (PPE)

**$1.20 / 1,000 companies** via custom event `company-scraped` ($0.0012 each), plus a small `apify-actor-start`. No usage pass-through. Do **not** enable synthetic `apify-default-dataset-item` alongside `company-scraped` (avoids double billing). Memory: **512–2048 MB** (default 1024).

### Example input

```json
{
  "category": "software-development",
  "country": "us",
  "maxCompanies": 100,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}
```

Or pass explicit directory / company URLs:

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies",
    "https://www.goodfirms.co/company/instinctools"
  ],
  "maxCompanies": 50,
  "includeProfileDetails": true
}
```

### Example output

```json
{
  "companyId": "instinctools",
  "name": "Instinctools",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.goodfirms.co/company/instinctools",
  "website": "https://www.instinctools.com/",
  "rating": 4.9,
  "reviewCount": 27,
  "hourlyRate": "$25 - $49",
  "employees": "250 - 999 Employees",
  "foundedYear": 2000,
  "city": "Potomac",
  "region": "Maryland",
  "country": "us",
  "phone": "+12028214280",
  "email": "contact@instinctools.com",
  "description": "Your AI-powered Engineering Partner",
  "services": [],
  "socialLinks": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/instinctools"
  ],
  "category": "software-development",
  "position": 1,
  "source": "goodfirms",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-25T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Proxy notes

Directory JSON-LD often works with datacenter or auto proxy. Profile pages and some geo paths may need **RESIDENTIAL** if you see empty listings or challenge pages. Set `apifyProxyGroups: ["RESIDENTIAL"]` when that happens. The Actor falls back to bundled fixtures only when `useMockData` is true (local CI).

### Use cases

- B2B agency / IT vendor lead lists for outbound
- Competitive landscape maps by category + country
- Hourly-rate and team-size benchmarking
- Enrich CRM with GoodFirms ratings and review counts
- Feed procurement / RFP shortlists

### Sibling Actors (same publisher)

- [Adzuna Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/adzuna-jobs-scraper) — multi-country jobs API
- [Foundit Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/foundit-jobs-scraper)
- [Instahyre Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/instahyre-jobs-scraper)
- [Mustakbil Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/mustakbil-jobs-scraper)
- [Whatmobile Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/whatmobile-scraper)

### Keywords

GoodFirms scraper, GoodFirms API, GoodFirms companies scraper, B2B agency directory scraper, IT services lead generation, software development companies list, digital marketing agencies scraper, web design agencies data, global agency ratings export, GoodFirms hourly rates, Apify GoodFirms

### Disclaimer

This Actor collects **publicly available** directory and profile information for legitimate research, lead generation, and market analysis. Respect GoodFirms terms of use and applicable laws. You are responsible for how you use the data.

# Actor input Schema

## `category` (type: `string`):

GoodFirms directory slug used when startUrls is empty. Examples: software-development, web-development, mobile-app-development, digital-marketing, web-design, it-services, artificial-intelligence, seo. Builds https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-{category}-companies (or the matching services path).

## `country` (type: `string`):

Optional ISO-ish country slug for directory/country/… URLs (us, gb, de, ca, au, in, pl, ua, …). Leave empty for the global category listing.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional GoodFirms directory URLs (category, country, language, framework) or /company/{slug} profile URLs. When set, these are crawled instead of (or in addition to) category+country.

## `maxCompanies` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on companies written to the dataset (after dedupe). Default 100, maximum 5000.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Max paginated directory pages to crawl per start URL (page=1,2,…). Default 5.

## `includeProfileDetails` (type: `boolean`):

When true, fetch each /company/{slug} profile for website, founding year, phone, emails, social links, and employee band. When false, emit directory JSON-LD fields only (faster).

## `useMockData` (type: `boolean`):

Force fixture mode (no live GoodFirms calls). Useful for local CI. Auto-fallback also engages if directory pages are blocked.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy settings. Directory JSON-LD often works with datacenter; profile pages may need RESIDENTIAL if challenged. Default enables Apify Proxy (auto).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "category": "software-development",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies"
  ],
  "maxCompanies": 100,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "useMockData": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `companies` (type: `string`):

Dataset of GoodFirms company rows (name, rating, hourly rate, location, website, profile URL).

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "category": "software-development",
    "country": "",
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "category": "software-development",
    "country": "",
    "startUrls": ["https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "category": "software-development",
  "country": "",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.goodfirms.co/directory/languages/top-software-development-companies"
  ]
}' |
apify call umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/DWH2OplUodPe1iyg7/builds/PPeGsU4CMBu3NiBMi/openapi.json