Comparison · facts checked 8 November 2026
Apify Google Trends scraper alternatives, compared
Short answer: Apify's own apify/google-trends-scraper is the most used Google Trends actor on the Apify Store (3,270 users in the last 30 days, 3.7★), at $0.006 per search term on the Free tier. The main alternatives are data_xplorer/google-trends-fast-scraper (cheapest for big runs, $0.002 per result plus a $0.025 start fee), tidewell/google-trends-api (ours: $0.003 per term, no start fee, failed terms free), and, outside Apify, the pytrends Python library, which you run and rate-limit yourself.
What to compare
- Unit of charge. Per search term, per result row or per data point. A 5-year weekly series is about 260 data points, so per-row pricing can multiply the cost.
- Start fees. A $0.025 start fee dominates small scheduled runs.
- Reliability. Google rate-limits hard. Look at each actor's public run statistics and what you pay for failed terms.
- Data covered. Interest over time, by region, related queries and topics, Trending Now.
Apify Store options
| Actor | Users (30 days) | Rating | Price per result | Start fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| apify / google-trends-scraper | 3,270 | 3.7 (32) | $0.006 (Gold $0.003, Diamond $0.0015) | $0.00005 | One result per search term. 30-day run stats: 15,999 succeeded, 4,575 timed out, 6,188 aborted, 363 failed |
| data_xplorer / google-trends-fast-scraper | 911 | 4.9 (4) | $0.002 (Gold $0.0005) | $0.025 | Stable build updated 6 Nov 2026 |
| agenscrape / google-trends-scraper | 371 | – | $0.025 | $0.025 | Most expensive |
| khadinakbar / google-trends-scraper | 307 | – | $0.005 | $0.00005 | Created March 2026 |
| tidewell / google-trends-api (ours) | New | – | $0.003 per term; $0.001 per trending search | None | Charged per term, never per data point; failed and no-data terms free |
| data_xplorer / google-trends-trending-now | 89 | 5.0 (2) | $0.001 per trending row | $0.02 | Trending Now only |
| scrapesage / google-trends-scraper | 81 | – | $0.004/keyword, $0.005/comparison, $0.0015/trending | None | |
| vnx0 / google-trends-scraper | 71 | 5.0 (1) | $0.0012 | None | Trending only |
| unitbytes / google-trends-scraper | 47 | 4.9 (5) | $0.00045 (unit unclear) | $0.00005 | Cheapest per row |
| danthedataman / google-trends-data-api | 42 | – | $0.0015 (+$0.01 insight add-on) | $0.00005 |
"Aborted" runs can include runs users stopped themselves, so do not read the leader's figures as a pure failure rate.
Which to choose
- Big batch runs (hundreds of terms per run): data_xplorer's per-result price wins once its start fee is spread out (above about 25 terms per run compared with ours).
- Small scheduled runs, brand tracking, AI agents: no-start-fee, per-term pricing (ours, or scrapesage) is cheaper; e.g. 10 terms cost $0.03 with us against $0.045 on data_xplorer.
- Familiarity and support from Apify itself: the official actor.
- Trending Now only: vnx0, data_xplorer's trending actor, or ours at $0.01 per country.
- Free and self-hosted: pytrends (open source), if you can handle Google's rate limits and its changes yourself.
- A contract: Google's official Trends API has been in limited alpha since 2025; licensed data providers are the other route. Every scraper, ours included, may conflict with Google's Terms of Service.
Details of ours: Google Trends API by Tidewell.
Disclosure: Tidewell Software makes the Google Trends API actor (tidewell/google-trends-api). We list it alongside the alternatives, in no ranked order, and say where another option is the better fit. Figures are the platforms' own public numbers, checked on 8 November 2026. Corrections are welcome by email.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Google Trends API?
Not a generally available official one. pytrends is a free, unofficial open-source library; Apify actors charge per result and include proxies and retries. Google's official Trends API has been in limited alpha since 2025.
Why do Google Trends scrapers time out?
Google rate-limits automated requests heavily. Actors handle this with pacing, retries and proxy rotation; check each actor's public run statistics and whether failed terms are charged.
Last updated 8 November 2026. Questions or corrections: benjamin@benjaminbritton.co.uk.