Apify Public Actor Scraper: Search and Extract Metadata from the Apify Marketplace

Apify public actor scraper pulls metadata from any public actor listed on the Apify marketplace. Give it a search term or pick a category, and it returns actor names, authors, descriptions, run counts, pricing models, and direct marketplace URLs as a structured dataset.

No API key needed. The actor reads the public Apify Store API and pages through results automatically.

Use cases

• SEO research: find all actors in a category to see what automation tools already exist in your niche
• Marketplace auditing: track how many actors exist per category or pricing model
• Tool discovery: check what scrapers are already built before starting your own
• Competitive intelligence: monitor new actors appearing in specific categories over time
• Data journalism: analyze growth and activity patterns across the Apify ecosystem

What data does this actor extract?

Each actor record includes its ID, slug, author username, display title, short description, category tags, total run count, last run timestamp, pricing model, price per unit (if paid), and the full marketplace URL.

Input

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	(empty)	Keyword to search actor names and descriptions. Leave empty to collect all actors.
category	string	All categories	Filter by marketplace category: AI, SEO tools, E-commerce, and more.
sortBy	string	Popularity	Sort order: Popularity (most runs first), Latest (newest first), or Alphabetical.
maxItems	integer	100	Max actors to collect per run. Hard cap at 1000.
timeoutSecs	integer	300	Overall run timeout in seconds.
requestTimeoutSecs	integer	30	Per-request API timeout in seconds.
proxyConfiguration	object	Datacenter (Anywhere)	Proxy type and location for requests. Supports Datacenter, Residential, Special, and custom proxies. Optional.

Example input

{
    "searchQuery": "web scraper",
    "category": "SEO_TOOLS",
    "sortBy": "POPULARITY",
    "maxItems": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Output

The actor stores results in a dataset. Each entry looks like this:

{
    "actorId": "TpMnJNE9Ypfq5J3KP",
    "actorSlug": "web-scraper",
    "username": "apify",
    "actorFullName": "apify/web-scraper",
    "actorTitle": "Web Scraper",
    "actorDescription": "Crawls websites and extracts data using a browser.",
    "categories": ["DEVELOPER_TOOLS"],
    "totalRuns": 4500000,
    "lastRunAt": "2024-12-01T10:23:00.000Z",
    "pricingModel": "FREE",
    "pricePerUnitUsd": null,
    "url": "https://apify.com/apify/web-scraper",
    "scrapedAt": "2024-12-15T08:00:00.000Z"
}

Field	Type	Description
actorId	string	Unique Apify platform identifier.
actorSlug	string	URL-friendly kebab-case actor name.
username	string	Author's Apify username.
actorFullName	string	Full identifier in username/actor-slug format.
actorTitle	string	Display title shown on the marketplace.
actorDescription	string	Short description of what the actor does.
categories	array	Marketplace category tags.
totalRuns	integer	Total number of times the actor has been run.
lastRunAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of the most recent run.
pricingModel	string	FREE, FLAT_PRICE_PER_MONTH, or PAY_PER_RESULT.
pricePerUnitUsd	number	Price per unit in USD for paid actors. Null for free actors.
url	string	Direct link to the actor's marketplace page.
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when this record was collected.

How it works

1. Reads your search query, category filter, and sort preference from the input.
2. Calls the Apify Store API and pages through results in batches.
3. Extracts actor metadata from each page and pushes records to the dataset.
4. Stops when it hits your maxItems limit or runs out of results.

FAQ

Can I collect all public actors on Apify? Yes. Leave searchQuery and category blank and set maxItems to 1000. The actor pages through all available results automatically.

Does this need an Apify API key? No. It uses the public Apify Store API, which requires no authentication.

What categories are available? AI, Automation, Developer tools, E-commerce, Entertainment, Finance, Jobs, Marketing, News, SEO tools, Social media, and Travel.

How many actors can I collect per run? Up to 1000 per run. Run it multiple times with different filters to build a larger dataset across categories.

Can I run it on a schedule to track new actors? Yes. Set up a scheduled run in your Apify account and the actor will collect fresh marketplace data on whatever cadence you need.

Integrations

Connect Apify Public Actor Scraper with other tools using Apify integrations. Export results to Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, Make, Zapier, or Airbyte. Use webhooks to trigger downstream actions whenever a scrape finishes.

Apify public actor scraper is the fastest way to get a complete, structured view of what automation tools exist on the Apify marketplace, without clicking through hundreds of pages by hand.