ParseForge
Hugging Face Model Scraper
parseforge/hugging-face-model-scraper
AIDeveloper toolsOther
Scrapes Hugging Face model cards by task, library, license, language, or keyword search. Returns each model as a flat row with downloads, likes, author, tags, and last-modified date.
- Total users
- 29
- Monthly active
- 3
- Total runs
- 452
- Bookmarked
- 2
- Rating
- 5.0 (3)
- Last modified
- 12 days ago
Overview
Hugging Face Model Scraper
Scrape Hugging Face model metadata by task, library, license, or keyword, up to a million models per run. Every model comes with its downloads, likes, author, tags, and last-modified date. No API token required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
The Hugging Face Hub lists over a million models, but the web UI limits you to browsing one page at a time. This Actor reads the public model index directly, filtering by pipeline task, library, license, language, or free-text query, and returns every match in a flat, analysis-ready schema. No API key, no OAuth, no rate-limit headaches.
| Who uses it | What they scrape Hugging Face for |
|---|---|
| ML engineers | Find the most-downloaded text-generation models under the Apache 2.0 license. |
| Product managers | Track which model architectures and tasks are gaining traction week over week. |
| Venture capital analysts | Map the open-source AI landscape by library adoption and author activity. |
| Academic researchers | Build a corpus of model cards for a specific language or multimodal task. |
What it does
This Actor collects Hugging Face model cards by task, library, license, language, or keyword search, and returns each model as a flat row with its metadata and popularity signals.
- ๐ Keyword search: free-text query across model IDs and descriptions.
- ๐ท๏ธ Pipeline task filter: restrict to text-classification, image-generation, text-generation, and more.
- ๐ Library filter: isolate models built with transformers, diffusers, timm, or other frameworks.
- ๐ License filter: collect only models with a specific license identifier like mit or apache-2.0.
- ๐ Language filter: narrow results to a primary language tag such as en, zh, or multi.
- ๐ Popularity sorting: order by downloads, likes, last-modified date, or trending score.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with Hugging Face data
๐ Monitor open-source AI trends.
An ML engineer runs the Actor weekly with task=text-generation and sort=trending to spot which new models are gaining traction before they appear in benchmarks.
โ๏ธ Audit license compliance.
A legal team scrapes all models matching a company's tech stack, filters by license=apache-2.0, and exports the list for due diligence.
๐ Map multilingual model coverage.
A researcher collects every model tagged language=zh or language=multi to analyze the state of Chinese-language NLP on the Hub.
๐๏ธ Build a model discovery tool.
A startup scrapes the full model index, enriches it with computed signals, and powers an internal search engine for their engineering team.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API token | Reads the public model index; no Hugging Face account or token needed. |
| Fixed flat schema | Every model returns the same columns, ready for pandas, Excel, or a database. |
| Up to 1M rows | Collect as many models as you need in a single run. |
| Sort by popularity | Order results by downloads, likes, last-modified, or trending score. |
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 Model 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 keyword query, pipeline task, library, license, and language, alone or together, and filters run as each model 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: $0.005 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.50 |
| 1,000 results | $5.00 |
| 10,000 results | $50.00 |
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 Model 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-model-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting zero results?
Check that your filters are not too restrictive. Try running with only a query or only a task first. If you combine task, library, and license, the Hub must match all three.
The run stopped before reaching my maxItems.
The Hub returned fewer models than your limit. Your filter combination may have exhausted all available matches. Try broadening the filters or removing one.
Some model fields are empty in my dataset.
Not every model card fills in every field. Author, license, or language may be blank when the uploader left them unspecified. This is expected.
The sort order does not look right.
Confirm you set both 'sort' and 'direction'. The default is downloads descending. If you set direction to 'asc', the least-downloaded models appear first.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a Hugging Face API token? | No. This Actor reads the public model listing pages. No account, token, or login is required. |
| How many models can I scrape in one run? | You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The Actor will paginate through results until it reaches your limit or the Hub runs out of matches. |
| Can I filter by multiple tasks or libraries at once? | Each filter field accepts a single value per run. To cover multiple tasks, run the Actor once per task and merge the datasets. |
| What does the 'trending' sort option mean? | Trending is a Hugging Face computed score that weights recent downloads and likes more heavily. It surfaces models gaining momentum right now. |
| Does this Actor download model weights or files? | No. It scrapes only the metadata from the model card listing: author, downloads, likes, tags, license, and last-modified date. It does not touch model binaries. |
| Can I scrape private models? | No. This Actor only accesses publicly listed models on the Hugging Face Hub. Private or gated models are not visible. |
| What export formats are supported? | You can export your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform. |
| How do I search for a specific model name? | Use the 'query' field. It performs a free-text search across model IDs and descriptions, so 'llama' will match meta-llama/Llama-3-8B and similar. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
๐ Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
โ ๏ธ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | Free text search across model IDs and descriptions. | not set |
| task | string | Pipeline tag (e.g., text-classification, image-classification, text-generation). | not set |
| library | string | Primary library (e.g., transformers, diffusers, timm). | not set |
| license | string | License identifier (e.g., apache-2.0, mit, cc-by-4.0). | not set |
| language | string | Primary language tag (e.g., en, zh, multi). | not set |
| sort | string (4 options) | Sort field: downloads | likes | lastModified | trending. | not set |
| direction | string (2 options) | Sort order: desc (-1) or asc (1). | not set |
| maxItems | integer | How many models to collect per run. | 10 |
Pricing
from $5.00 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| Actor Start | Charged when the Actor starts running. Number of events charged depends on Actor memory (one event per GB, minimum one event). | $0.005 |
| Record | Charged once a Record is obtained | $0.005 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~hugging-face-model-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
Rated 5.0 out of 5 across 3 reviews. Read them on Apify.
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.