# SelectedFirms Scraper — Global B2B Agencies API (`umararshad2/selectedfirms-scraper`) Actor

Scrape SelectedFirms.co global B2B IT and agency directory listings by category and country into JSON. Unofficial public-data scraper. CheerioCrawler. PPE $1.20/1k.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/umararshad2/selectedfirms-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Umar Arshad](https://apify.com/umararshad2) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business, Automation
- **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

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

Scrapes **[SelectedFirms](https://selectedfirms.co)** — a global B2B ratings directory of IT service firms, software companies, and digital agencies across **100+ countries** — into clean JSON on Apify.

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

This Actor is an **independent, unofficial** tool. It is **not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by SelectedFirms**.

### Why this Actor

SelectedFirms ranks agencies across software, web, mobile, AI, ecommerce, cloud, and marketing, with optional country paths (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, India, and others). Procurement and lead-gen teams need structured vendor lists (SF rating, review count, team size, hourly rate, budget band, website, published contact) without copying directory pages. Dedicated Store coverage of this directory was empty when this Actor shipped. It is a **global** companies scraper — not a Pakistan-only or India-only product. Country is an optional filter on a worldwide catalog.

### What it scrapes

Public pages only. `robots.txt` allows `/` and does not disallow `/companies/` or `/agency/`.

1. **Directory listings** — `https://selectedfirms.co/companies/{category}` and `?page=N` (schema.org `ItemList` / `LocalBusiness` JSON-LD, about 50 agencies per page)
2. **Agency profiles** — `https://selectedfirms.co/agency/{slug}` (website, founded year, team size, hourly rate, budget band, phone, email, and social links **when the agency published them**)
3. **Direct URLs** — pass directory or agency links via `startUrls`

Uses **Crawlee CheerioCrawler** (server-rendered HTML). No login. Defaults to **Apify Proxy**, concurrency 2, and about **30 requests/minute**.

#### Built-in category shortcuts

| Input `category` | Directory path |
| --- | --- |
| `software-development` | `/companies/software-development` |
| `web-development` | `/companies/web-development` |
| `mobile-app-development` | `/companies/mobile-app-development` |
| `web-design` | `/companies/web-design` |
| `ai-development` | `/companies/ai-development` |
| `digital-marketing` | `/companies/digital-marketing-agencies` |
| `ecommerce` | `/companies/ecommerce-development` |
| `it-services` | `/companies/it-services-companies` |
| `blockchain` | `/companies/blockchain-development` |
| `cloud-computing` | `/companies/cloud-computing-services` |

Optional `country` (`usa`, `uk`, `canada`, `australia`, `uae`, `india`, …) scopes the path. Leave it empty for the worldwide listing. Unknown country slugs redirect to the global category.

### Pricing (PPE)

**$1.20 / 1,000 companies** via custom event `company-scraped` ($0.0012 each), plus a small `apify-actor-start` ($0.00005 per GB of memory, minimum one). No platform-usage pass-through. The synthetic event `apify-default-dataset-item` is **not** enabled, so a company is not billed twice.

Memory: **512–2048 MB** (default 1024).

### Example input

```json
{
  "category": "software-development",
  "country": "usa",
  "maxCompanies": 100,
  "maxPages": 3,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}
```

Or pass explicit URLs:

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://selectedfirms.co/companies/ai-development",
    "https://selectedfirms.co/agency/magneto-it-solutions"
  ],
  "maxCompanies": 50,
  "includeProfileDetails": true
}
```

### Example output

```json
{
  "companyId": "magneto-it-solutions",
  "name": "Magneto IT Solutions",
  "profileUrl": "https://selectedfirms.co/agency/magneto-it-solutions",
  "website": "https://magnetoitsolutions.com/",
  "rating": 5,
  "reviewCount": 72,
  "hourlyRate": "Undisclosed",
  "employees": "50-249",
  "minBudget": "$25000+",
  "foundedYear": 2009,
  "city": "New York",
  "region": "New York",
  "country": "USA",
  "phone": "1 416 904 4907",
  "email": "info@magnetoitsolutions.com",
  "description": "Magneto IT Solutions is a global, AI-driven Digital Commerce and Growth Marketing Partner…",
  "services": ["Ecommerce Development", "Software Development"],
  "socialLinks": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/magneto-it-solutions"],
  "category": "it-services-companies",
  "position": 1,
  "source": "selectedfirms",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-30T04:30:00.000Z"
}
```

### Proxy notes

Directory JSON-LD usually loads with datacenter or automatic proxy. If a run returns a challenge page or zero companies, set `apifyProxyGroups` to `["RESIDENTIAL"]`. The Actor does **not** invent rows when a page is blocked.

### Use cases

- Global B2B agency and IT vendor lists for outbound
- Category and country landscape maps
- Team-size, hourly-rate, and budget-band benchmarking
- CRM enrichment with public SelectedFirms ratings
- Procurement shortlists

### Responsible use

- Public directory and profile fields only. No login, no private accounts, no bypass of access controls.
- Business contact details are collected only when they are already shown on the public agency profile.
- Polite rate limits (low concurrency, capped pages). Do not use this Actor to overload the site.
- You are responsible for complying with SelectedFirms' terms, robots signals, and applicable privacy and marketing laws (including consent rules before you email anyone).
- Do not present the output as an official SelectedFirms API or as endorsed by SelectedFirms.

### Keywords

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

### Sibling Actors (same publisher)

- [GoodFirms Scraper](https://apify.com/umararshad2/goodfirms-scraper) — global B2B agencies
- [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)

# Actor input Schema

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

Category shortcut used when startUrls is empty. Examples: software-development, web-development, mobile-app-development, web-design, ai-development, digital-marketing, ecommerce, it-services, blockchain, cloud-computing. Builds https://selectedfirms.co/companies/{slug}. Leave empty if you only pass startUrls.

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

Optional country slug appended to the category path. Known public paths include usa, uk, canada, australia, uae, india. Leave empty for the worldwide category listing. Unknown slugs redirect to the global page.

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

Optional SelectedFirms directory URLs (https://selectedfirms.co/companies/...) or agency profile URLs (https://selectedfirms.co/agency/{slug}). When set, these are crawled instead of 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 per start URL (?page=1,2,…). About 50 companies per page. Default 5. Keep this modest — the Actor is rate-limited.

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

When true, open each public /agency/{slug} page for website, founded year, team size, hourly rate, budget band, phone, email, and social links that the agency published. When false, emit directory JSON-LD fields only (faster).

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

Force fixture mode (no live SelectedFirms calls). For local CI only.

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

Apify Proxy settings. Directory JSON-LD usually works with datacenter or auto proxy. Switch to RESIDENTIAL if you see challenge pages.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "category": "software-development",
  "maxCompanies": 100,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "useMockData": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Dataset of SelectedFirms agency rows (name, rating, team size, 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": ""
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("umararshad2/selectedfirms-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": "",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("umararshad2/selectedfirms-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": ""
}' |
apify call umararshad2/selectedfirms-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,umararshad2/selectedfirms-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/JKO1hqKuBfUNg12Aa/builds/b1dmxXq8kBG4TlN9z/openapi.json