# Product Hunt Scraper - Launches, Products & Leaderboard (`thirdwatch/producthunt-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Product Hunt launches, product profiles, and leaderboard rankings. Extract name, tagline, votes, comments, topics, pricing, reviews, and website URLs. Daily featured products, category browsing, and historical leaderboard data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thirdwatch/producthunt-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Thirdwatch](https://apify.com/thirdwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, AI
- **Stats:** 9 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 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/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

## Product Hunt Scraper

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

> Scrape Product Hunt launches, product profiles, and daily leaderboards — name, tagline, votes, comments, topics, featured date, and daily/weekly/monthly rankings.

### What you get

Launch and product data from Product Hunt. Three modes: `launches` (daily featured products from the homepage or any topic page), `products` (full product profiles with tagline, votes, and topics), and `leaderboard` (ranked products for a specific day or historical date range). Ideal for tracking new launches, monitoring a topic, or building historical launch datasets.

### Output fields

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `name` | Product name |
| `tagline` | Product tagline |
| `url` | Product Hunt URL |
| `votes_count` | Number of upvotes |
| `comments_count` | Number of comments |
| `daily_rank` | Daily ranking position |
| `weekly_rank` | Weekly ranking position |
| `monthly_rank` | Monthly ranking position |
| `topics` | Topic/category names |
| `featured_at` | ISO date the product was featured |
| `created_at` | ISO date the product was created |
| `query` | The query or topic that produced this result |

### Example output

```json
{
    "name": "Notion AI",
    "tagline": "Write faster, think bigger, and be more creative",
    "url": "https://www.producthunt.com/posts/notion-ai",
    "votes_count": 3421,
    "comments_count": 287,
    "daily_rank": 1,
    "weekly_rank": 1,
    "monthly_rank": 3,
    "topics": ["Artificial Intelligence", "Productivity", "Writing"],
    "featured_at": "2026-04-15",
    "created_at": "2026-04-15",
    "query": "artificial-intelligence"
}
```

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| `queries` | No | Topic slugs for `launches` (e.g., `"artificial-intelligence"`, `"developer-tools"`), product slugs for `products` (e.g., `"chatgpt"`, `"notion"`). Ignored in `leaderboard` mode. Leave empty for the homepage. |
| `scrapeType` | No | One of `launches`, `products`, `leaderboard`. Default `launches`. |
| `maxResults` | No | Maximum total results across all queries/days (1-100000). Default `15`. |
| `startDate` | No | Leaderboard mode only. `YYYY-MM-DD`. If omitted, scrapes today only. |
| `endDate` | No | Leaderboard mode only. `YYYY-MM-DD`, inclusive. Defaults to `startDate` if only start is given. |
| `maxPerDay` | No | Leaderboard mode only. Cap results per daily leaderboard (e.g., `10` for top-10-per-day). |
| `proxyConfiguration` | No | Proxy settings. Leave default for best results. |

### Use cases

- **Founders and makers**: Monitor launches in your topic to gauge competition and timing.
- **Investors**: Track daily leaderboards to spot trending products before they hit mainstream press.
- **Product marketers**: Pull historical top-10s to study positioning patterns that win upvotes.
- **Analysts and journalists**: Build timelines of AI, developer-tool, or productivity launches by date range.
- **Growth teams**: Benchmark your own launch against same-day competitors.

### Pricing

Pay-per-result pricing. Tiered discounts apply automatically based on usage volume.

| Tier | Price per result |
|------|------------------|
| FREE | $0.003 |
| BRONZE | $0.0025 |
| SILVER | $0.002 |
| GOLD | $0.0015 |

### Limitations

- Product Hunt shows a homepage cap of ~24 launches per day — for historical depth, use `leaderboard` mode with a date range.
- Topic pages are paginated; very old launches on niche topics may be out of reach of the default max.
- Vote and comment counts are live values at scrape time — they change as more users engage.
- Leaderboard mode requires a date; `startDate`/`endDate` must be `YYYY-MM-DD`.
- Rankings only exist where Product Hunt itself exposes them (e.g., daily rank only for featured products that day).

### Compared to alternatives

- **vs. any Apify Store competitor**: There is no comparable Product Hunt scraper on Apify. This actor fills that gap with all three modes (launches, products, leaderboard) and historical leaderboard date ranges.
- **vs. Product Hunt's public API**: The official GraphQL API requires OAuth and enforces strict rate limits — this actor is ready for ad-hoc research and BI pipelines without key management.

Pairs well with [G2 Software Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/g2-software-reviews-scraper?fpr=9m2cd6) for launch-to-review tracking of SaaS products over time.

### FAQ

**What's the difference between `launches` and `leaderboard`?**
`launches` pulls the current homepage or a topic page — great for "what's live now". `leaderboard` gives you the ranked top products for any specific date, which is the right mode for historical datasets.

**Can I get historical launches for a given month?**
Yes. Use `scrapeType: "leaderboard"` with `startDate` and `endDate` spanning that month, plus `maxPerDay` to cap daily volume.

**Does `products` mode return votes and comments too?**
Yes — `products` returns the same vote and comment counts plus full product profiles for the specific product slugs you pass.

**How fresh is the data?**
Pulled live at run time — as fresh as Product Hunt itself.

Last verified: 2026-04

More scrapers at [thirdwatch.dev](https://thirdwatch.dev).

# Actor input Schema

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

Search terms or topic slugs to scrape. For 'launches': topic slugs like 'artificial-intelligence', 'productivity'. For 'products': product slugs like 'chatgpt', 'notion'. For 'leaderboard': ignored (uses today's date). Leave empty to scrape the homepage.

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

Maximum total number of results to return across all queries/days.

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

Start date for historical leaderboard scraping (YYYY-MM-DD). If omitted, scrapes today only. Use with endDate to scrape a range.

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

End date for historical leaderboard scraping (YYYY-MM-DD, inclusive). Defaults to startDate if only startDate given.

## `maxPerDay` (type: `integer`):

Cap results per daily leaderboard (e.g. 10 for top-10-per-day). Defaults to maxResults if unset.

## `scrapeType` (type: `string`):

What to scrape: 'launches' = daily featured products from homepage/topic pages, 'products' = full product profiles, 'leaderboard' = ranked products by day.

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

Residential proxy is required — Product Hunt 403's datacenter IPs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "artificial-intelligence",
    "developer-tools"
  ],
  "maxResults": 15,
  "scrapeType": "launches",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# 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": [
        "artificial-intelligence",
        "developer-tools"
    ],
    "maxResults": 15,
    "scrapeType": "launches",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thirdwatch/producthunt-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": [
        "artificial-intelligence",
        "developer-tools",
    ],
    "maxResults": 15,
    "scrapeType": "launches",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("thirdwatch/producthunt-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 '{
  "queries": [
    "artificial-intelligence",
    "developer-tools"
  ],
  "maxResults": 15,
  "scrapeType": "launches",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call thirdwatch/producthunt-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,thirdwatch/producthunt-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/9Jhz9za1mCdwcy7hL/builds/moBIZ5QflOfIswKqn/openapi.json