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Claude + Apify: Scrape Thousands of Business Leads for Free

Claude + Apify MCP — once you set this up, you won't go back to finding customers the old way.

With this MCP server, Claude can automatically pull business information from the web. Apify's free credits let you scrape roughly 3,000–4,000 businesses before you pay anything.

Setup takes about 5 minutes. Copy the prompt at the bottom, paste it into Claude, and get your leads in Excel or CSV.

What You Get

  • Business name, address, phone, website, email (when available)
  • Ratings, review counts, and category tags
  • Customizable search — city, niche, keywords, radius
  • Export to Excel, CSV, or JSON — whatever format you need
  • No manual copy-paste from Google Maps one listing at a time

Setup — 5 Minutes

Step 1: Create an Apify account

  1. Go to apify.com and sign up (free tier includes monthly credits).
  2. That's it for now — OAuth handles the rest when you connect Claude.

Step 2: Add Apify to Claude

Option A — Custom connector (recommended)

  1. Open claude.ai → Settings → Connectors (or Customize → Connectors).
  2. Click Add custom connector.
  3. Enter the server URL:
https://mcp.apify.com
  1. Save. On first use, your browser opens — sign in to Apify and authorize the connection.

Option B — Connector directory

  1. In Connectors, click Browse connectors.
  2. Search for Apify and install it.
  3. Authorize when prompted.

Step 3: Enable Apify in your chat

  1. Start a new conversation in Claude.
  2. Click + in the chat input → Connectors.
  3. Toggle Apify on.

Step 4: Paste the prompt below

Copy the full prompt from the next section, paste it into Claude, and run.

Verify It's Working

After setup, try this quick test:

Search Apify for a Google Maps scraper Actor and tell me what it does.

If Claude lists Apify tools and responds with Actor details, you're connected.

Copy & Paste — Business Lead Scraper Prompt

Copy everything inside the block below and paste it into Claude:

Use the Google Maps Scraper (compass/crawler-google-places) connected in Apify to scan carpet cleaning / rug cleaning businesses in Ümraniye, Istanbul.

Search terms: "halı yıkama Ümraniye" and "halı temizleme Ümraniye"
Maximum results: 60

For each business, pull the following:

* Business name
* Phone number
* Address
* Website / Instagram link if available
* Google rating and review count
* Opening hours

Deduplicate the results (if the same business appears in both searches, don't list it twice), put them in a table, and provide a downloadable Excel file.

Customize Your Search

Change the niche, location, and search terms for any market:

What to changeExample
Location"Kadıköy, Istanbul", "Austin, Texas"
Business type"plumbers", "dentists", "hair salons"
Search terms"plumber Kadıköy", "diş hekimi Ümraniye"
Max results60 for a quick run, 500+ for a full list
Extra fieldsAdd "email", "Google Maps URL" to the bullet list

How Far Does the Free Tier Go?

Apify's free plan includes monthly credits. A typical Google Maps scrape costs a fraction of a cent per result — so 3,000–4,000 businesses is realistic on free credits, depending on the Actor and fields you pull.

Start with 100–200 results to test your prompt, then scale up.

Troubleshooting

Apify tools not showing in Claude

  • Make sure the connector is toggled on in the chat (+ → Connectors → Apify).
  • Remove and re-add the connector, then re-authorize via OAuth.

"Unauthorized" or run fails

  • Re-add the custom connector at https://mcp.apify.com and sign in again.

Claude says it can't find Actors

  • Update Claude to the latest version.
  • Try the test prompt in the "Verify" section above.

Results are missing emails

  • Most local businesses don't publish emails on Google Maps. Filter for businesses with websites and scrape contact pages in a follow-up run if needed.