# Udemy Course Scraper - Search Courses by Keyword (`thirdwatch/udemy-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Udemy courses by keyword: title, headline, instructor(s), rating, enrollment count, level, duration, lectures, categories, and topics. No login required. Uses course landing pages for rich data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thirdwatch/udemy-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Thirdwatch](https://apify.com/thirdwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** AI
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Udemy Course Scraper

> **Thirdwatch portfolio:** 5K users across 88 public Actors, 2M+ records delivered, and >99% run success. [Explore all Thirdwatch Actors](https://apify.com/thirdwatch).

Extract Udemy course data by keyword — no login, no browser, no API key required.

Search any topic and get structured data for each course: title, instructors, rating, enrollment count, level, duration, lecture count, category, and more.

### What This Scraper Returns

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `title` | 100 Days of Code: The Complete Python Pro Bootcamp |
| `url` | https://www.udemy.com/course/100-days-of-code/ |
| `headline` | Master Python by building 100 projects in 100 days... |
| `instructor_names` | \["Dr. Angela Yu"] |
| `rating_avg` | 4.688 |
| `num_reviews` | 424933 |
| `num_students` | 1784593 |
| `level` | All Levels |
| `content_duration` | 56h 46m 52s |
| `num_lectures` | 657 |
| `category` | Development |
| `primary_topic` | Python |
| `topics` | \["Python", "Data Science", "Machine Learning"] |
| `is_paid` | true |
| `is_free` | false |
| `locale` | en-US |
| `has_certificate` | true |
| `updated_on` | 2025-11-15 |

### How It Works

1. Downloads Udemy's public course sitemaps (~50,000 course URLs per page)
2. Filters course slugs that match your search keywords
3. Fetches each course landing page and extracts data from the embedded React Server Components (RSC) payload
4. No browser required — uses `impit` Chrome TLS fingerprinting to bypass bot detection

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["python", "excel", "photoshop"],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `queries` | array of strings | `["python"]` | Keywords to search for. Matched against course URL slugs. |
| `maxResults` | integer | 50 | Maximum courses to extract across all queries. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | none | Optional Apify proxy config. Datacenter proxy works; use RESIDENTIAL if blocked. |

### Pricing

Pay-per-result pricing:

| Tier | Price per course |
|---|---|
| FREE | $0.002 |
| BRONZE | $0.0017 |
| SILVER | $0.0013 |
| GOLD | $0.001 |

**Cost estimate:** 100 courses ≈ $0.20. Cheaper than any browser-based alternative.

### Limitations

- **Price not available** — Udemy does not expose course prices to logged-out users in the page HTML
- **Slug-based matching** — searches match course URL slugs, not full-text titles. A course titled "Master Microsoft Excel" may not match the keyword "spreadsheet"
- **Sitemap lag** — newly published courses may take a few days to appear in Udemy's sitemap
- **English-language bias** — slug matching works best for English keywords

### Use Cases

- Course marketplace research and competitive analysis
- EdTech data aggregation and catalog building
- Price monitoring (check `is_free`/`is_paid`, combine with your own price tracking)
- Instructor discovery and ranking by ratings/enrollments
- Building course recommendation engines
- Market research for new course creators

### Related Actors

- [G2 Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/g2-reviews-scraper) — course platform reviews
- [LinkedIn Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/linkedin-jobs-scraper) — skill demand data to complement course research

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search for courses. The scraper filters Udemy's course catalog by slug-matching these keywords. Examples: python, excel, photoshop, javascript, data-science, machine-learning.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum total number of courses to extract across all queries.

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

Optional proxy settings. Leave blank for datacenter proxy (default). Use RESIDENTIAL for better bypass rates if blocked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "python",
    "excel",
    "photoshop"
  ],
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "python",
        "excel",
        "photoshop"
    ],
    "maxResults": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thirdwatch/udemy-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 = {
    "queries": [
        "python",
        "excel",
        "photoshop",
    ],
    "maxResults": 50,
}

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

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "python",
    "excel",
    "photoshop"
  ],
  "maxResults": 50
}' |
apify call thirdwatch/udemy-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=thirdwatch/udemy-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/MTH6IQjivuZIvvx8j/builds/mOyBwHTIwNJM48sSS/openapi.json