ParseForge
Hugging Face Datasets Scraper
parseforge/hugging-face-datasets-scraper
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Scrape Hugging Face dataset metadata by search query, task category, language, and license. Returns name, description, tags, downloads, likes, and trending score. No API key needed.
- Total users
- 5
- Monthly active
- 2
- Total runs
- 221
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 12 days ago
Overview
Hugging Face Datasets Scraper
Scrape Hugging Face datasets by search query, task, language, or license, up to thousands per run. Every dataset comes with its name, description, tags, downloads, likes, and trending score. No API key needed. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Hugging Face hosts over 200,000 public datasets for machine learning, but browsing and filtering them manually is slow. This Actor reads the Hugging Face dataset hub directly, applying your filters for task category, language, license, and sort order, and returns each matching dataset as a clean row. No registration or API token required.
| Who uses it | What they scrape Hugging Face for |
|---|---|
| Machine learning engineers | Find datasets for a specific task like text classification or image generation without manually browsing the hub. |
| Data scientists | Discover trending or highly-downloaded datasets for a given language or license. |
| AI researchers | Collect metadata on datasets for benchmarking or survey papers. |
| Product managers | Monitor which datasets are popular in a domain to inform model training priorities. |
What it does
This Actor collects Hugging Face datasets by search term, task category, language, license, and sort order, and returns each dataset as a flat row with its metadata.
- 🔍 Search by query: Free-text search across dataset names and descriptions.
- 📂 Filter by task: Narrow to categories like text-classification, image-classification, or text-generation.
- 🌐 Filter by language: Target datasets in English, Chinese, French, and more.
- 📜 Filter by license: Restrict to Apache-2.0, MIT, CC-BY-4.0, or other licenses.
- 📊 Sort by popularity: Order by trending score, downloads, likes, or last modified.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with Hugging Face data
🔍 Find datasets for a specific ML task.
A machine learning engineer searches for 'text classification' datasets filtered by English language and Apache-2.0 license to quickly build a training pipeline.
📈 Monitor trending datasets in a domain.
A data scientist sorts by trending score and filters by 'image-classification' to see what the community is using this week.
🌐 Collect multilingual datasets.
A researcher filters by language code 'zh' to gather Chinese-language datasets for a cross-lingual NLP project.
📋 Audit dataset licenses for compliance.
A product manager filters by license 'cc-by-4.0' to ensure all datasets used in a commercial product meet licensing requirements.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key needed | Scrape the public Hugging Face hub without any registration or token. |
| Flexible filters | Combine search, task, language, and license to pinpoint exactly the datasets you need. |
| Sort by relevance | Choose trending score, downloads, likes, or last modified to prioritize the most useful datasets. |
| Export to any format | Get results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for direct use in your workflow. |
How it compares
No other Store actor targets Hugging Face the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.
| Hugging Face Datasets Scraper | Build it in-house | By hand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Run it now, zero config | Days of engineering | None, but hours per pull |
| When Hugging Face changes | Maintained for you | You fix it | You re-learn the page |
| Proxies, retries, anti-bot | Built in | Your problem | Browser only |
| Output | Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export | Whatever you build | Copy-paste |
| Cost | Pay per result | Engineering time | Analyst hours |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor from a search query, task category, language, and license, alone or together, and filters run as each dataset is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.
A first run with the defaults:
{
"maxItems": 10
}
A larger pull:
{
"maxItems": 200
}
Pricing
Pay-per-result: $0.03199 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $3.20 |
| 1,000 results | $31.99 |
| 10,000 results | $319.90 |
New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.
Free users
Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.
Run it
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the Hugging Face Datasets Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.
Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.
Use with AI agents (MCP)
Give an AI agent live access to Hugging Face through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/hugging-face-datasets-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Check that your filters (query, task, language, license) are not too restrictive. Try removing filters one by one to see which one is causing the issue.
The run is taking too long.
Reduce the 'maxItems' value to a smaller number. Also, ensure your sort order is not causing the Actor to scan many pages.
I see duplicate datasets in the output.
Duplicates are rare but can occur if the hub pagination changes. Try reducing 'maxItems' or adding a more specific query.
Can I scrape datasets from a specific user or organization?
Not directly with the current filters. You can use the search query to include the username, e.g., 'google' to find datasets from Google.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a Hugging Face API key? | No. This Actor scrapes the public Hugging Face dataset hub directly, so no login or API key is required. |
| How many datasets can I scrape per run? | You set the maximum number of datasets via the 'maxItems' input. There is no hard limit, but very large runs may take longer. |
| Can I filter by multiple languages at once? | Currently, the language filter accepts a single language code. For multiple languages, run the Actor multiple times with different codes. |
| What task categories are available? | You can use any task category from the Hugging Face hub, such as 'text-classification', 'image-classification', 'text-generation', 'question-answering', and many more. |
| Does this scrape the actual dataset files? | No. It scrapes dataset metadata (name, description, tags, downloads, likes, trending score) from the hub listing pages, not the underlying data files. |
| Can I sort by downloads or likes? | Yes. Use the 'sort' input to choose 'downloads', 'likes', 'trendingScore', or 'lastModified'. |
| What export formats are supported? | Results can be exported as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset. |
| Is there a rate limit? | The Actor respects Hugging Face's public rate limits. For large runs, it may slow down to avoid being blocked. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Hugging Face, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| maxItems | integer | Maximum number of datasets to collect per run. | 10 |
| query | string | Free text search query to filter datasets (e.g., 'text classification', 'image', 'llm'). | not set |
| taskCategory | string | Filter by task category (e.g., 'text-classification', 'image-classification', 'text-generation'). | not set |
| language | string | Filter by language code (e.g., 'en', 'zh', 'fr'). | not set |
| license | string | Filter by license (e.g., 'apache-2.0', 'mit', 'cc-by-4.0'). | not set |
| sort | string (4 options) | Sort datasets by this field. | trendingScore |
| direction | string (2 options) | Sort direction: descending (highest first) or ascending (lowest first). | desc |
Pricing
from $23.99 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| Actor Start | Charged once when the run starts. | $0.005 |
| Result Item | Charged once per result collected. | $0.02399 to $0.03199 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~hugging-face-datasets-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.