# TrustATrader Scraper (`crawlerbros/trustatrader-scraper`) Actor

Scrape TrustATrader, the UK's trusted trades directory. Search by trade and location, browse by trade category, or fetch individual trader profiles. Extracts name, trade, rating, reviews, phone, location, and verification status.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/trustatrader-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## TrustATrader Scraper

Extract UK trade professionals from [TrustATrader](https://www.trustatrader.com) — the UK's leading vetted trades directory. Search by keyword and location, browse by trade category, or scrape individual trader profile pages.

### Features

- **Search mode** — find traders by keyword (e.g. "plumber", "electrician") and location
- **By Trade mode** — browse any of 20 trade categories filtered by UK town or city
- **Trader Profile mode** — fetch detailed profiles by URL including phone number, description, and rating
- **By URL mode** — scrape any TrustATrader category or profile URL directly
- **Pagination** — automatically pages through all results up to `maxItems`
- **Optional profile enrichment** — fetch each trader's full profile page for phone number, logo, and extended description

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `mode` | select | What to scrape: `search`, `byTrade`, `traderProfile`, or `byUrl` |
| `searchQuery` | string | Trade keyword for search mode (e.g. `plumber`, `electrician`) |
| `location` | string | UK city or town (e.g. `London`, `Manchester`, `Bristol`) |
| `trade` | select | Trade category for byTrade mode (20 options: plumbers, electricians, builders, etc.) |
| `startUrls` | list | TrustATrader URLs for traderProfile or byUrl mode |
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum records to emit (1–500, default 20) |
| `fetchProfiles` | boolean | Fetch each trader's profile page for full data (default false) |

#### Example Inputs

**Search by keyword and location:**

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

**Browse by trade category:**

```json
{
  "mode": "byTrade",
  "trade": "electricians",
  "location": "Manchester",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

**Fetch specific trader profiles:**

```json
{
  "mode": "traderProfile",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.trustatrader.com/traders/some-trader-london"
  ]
}
```

**With full profile enrichment:**

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "builder",
  "location": "Birmingham",
  "maxItems": 30,
  "fetchProfiles": true
}
```

### Output

Each record represents one UK trade professional:

```json
{
  "name": "J Smith Plumbing",
  "trade": "Plumbers",
  "rating": 9.8,
  "reviewCount": 142,
  "location": "London",
  "city": "London",
  "phone": "020 1234 5678",
  "description": "Fully qualified plumber covering all of Central London...",
  "logoUrl": "https://www.trustatrader.com/...",
  "verified": true,
  "url": "https://www.trustatrader.com/traders/j-smith-plumbing",
  "slug": "j-smith-plumbing",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `name` | string | Trader or business name |
| `trade` | string | Trade category (when available from profile page) |
| `rating` | number | TrustATrader rating score (0–10) |
| `reviewCount` | integer | Number of verified reviews |
| `location` | string | Town or city |
| `city` | string | Same as location |
| `phone` | string | Phone number (requires `fetchProfiles: true` or profile mode) |
| `description` | string | Business description |
| `logoUrl` | string | Trader logo image URL |
| `verified` | boolean | Whether trader is vetted/approved |
| `url` | string | TrustATrader profile URL |
| `slug` | string | URL slug identifier |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO-8601 timestamp of when the record was scraped |

Fields are omit-empty — only fields with real values are included in each record.

### Trade Categories

The following 20 trade categories are supported for `byTrade` mode:

`plumbers`, `electricians`, `builders`, `decorators`, `roofers`, `plasterers`, `gas-engineers`, `landscapers`, `carpet-fitters`, `tilers`, `joiners`, `carpenters`, `driveway-contractors`, `kitchen-fitters`, `bathroom-fitters`, `double-glazing`, `locksmiths`, `painters`, `loft-conversions`, `extensions`

### Performance

- Search and category pages: ~20–50 traders per page
- With `fetchProfiles: false` (default): fast, ~100 traders/minute
- With `fetchProfiles: true`: full data including phone, ~30 traders/minute
- Respects site rate limits with automatic retries on 429/503

### FAQs

**Does this require API keys or login?**
No. TrustATrader is publicly accessible. No authentication, cookies, or proxy required.

**What UK locations are supported?**
Any UK town, city, or area that TrustATrader indexes — London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, and hundreds more.

**Why does `phone` only appear sometimes?**
Phone numbers are only on individual trader profile pages. Enable `fetchProfiles: true` or use `mode: traderProfile` to retrieve them.

**What is the `verified` field?**
TrustATrader vets all its traders — the `verified: true` flag indicates the trader has passed their checks.

**What is `byUrl` mode for?**
Paste any TrustATrader category URL (e.g. `/plumbers-in-london`) or profile URL directly if you want to scrape a specific page not covered by other modes.

**How does pagination work?**
The scraper automatically follows `?page=N` pagination until `maxItems` is reached or no more results are found.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to scrape.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Trade or service keyword, e.g. 'plumber', 'electrician', 'builder'.

## `location` (type: `string`):

UK town, city, or postcode area, e.g. 'London', 'Manchester', 'Bristol'.

## `trade` (type: `string`):

Trade category to browse.

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

One or more trustatrader.com trader profile or category page URLs.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted trader records (min 1, max 500).

## `fetchProfiles` (type: `boolean`):

If enabled, each trader's profile page is fetched for full data (phone, logo, description). Doubles request count.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "byTrade",
  "searchQuery": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "trade": "plumbers",
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "fetchProfiles": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `traders` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped TrustATrader profiles.

# 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 = {
    "mode": "byTrade",
    "searchQuery": "plumber",
    "location": "London",
    "trade": "plumbers",
    "startUrls": [],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "fetchProfiles": false
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/trustatrader-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 = {
    "mode": "byTrade",
    "searchQuery": "plumber",
    "location": "London",
    "trade": "plumbers",
    "startUrls": [],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "fetchProfiles": False,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/trustatrader-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 '{
  "mode": "byTrade",
  "searchQuery": "plumber",
  "location": "London",
  "trade": "plumbers",
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "fetchProfiles": false
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/trustatrader-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,crawlerbros/trustatrader-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/dclXyRjrpDXwbkbiD/builds/I9LDzvR5Sa6k8O0TQ/openapi.json