Switching from Apify

If you call Apify’s TikTok or Instagram scraper today, point the same client at SideShift. The actor names, inputs, and item fields stay the same. Change two values: your token and your base URL.

What changes

Value	Apify	SideShift
Base URL	`https://api.apify.com`	`https://app.sideshift.app/api`
Token	Your Apify API token	Your Scraper API key (`scrape_live_...`)

Send the token as an Authorization: Bearer header, or as a ?token= query parameter. The apify-client library sends it as a header for you.

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({
  token: process.env.SIDESHIFT_SCRAPER_KEY,
  baseUrl: "https://app.sideshift.app/api",
});

const run = await client.actor("clockworks/tiktok-scraper").call({
  profiles: ["mrbeast"],
  resultsPerPage: 10,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(
    os.environ["SIDESHIFT_SCRAPER_KEY"],
    api_url="https://app.sideshift.app/api",
)

run = client.actor("clockworks/tiktok-scraper").call(
    run_input={"profiles": ["mrbeast"], "resultsPerPage": 10}
)

items = client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).list_items().items

Do not add /v2 to the Python client’s api_url. The client adds it for you. Direct HTTP calls use the full path, for example https://app.sideshift.app/api/v2/acts/clockworks~tiktok-scraper/runs.

Without a client library, call the HTTP API directly:

cURL

curl -X POST "https://app.sideshift.app/api/v2/acts/clockworks~tiktok-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SIDESHIFT_SCRAPER_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "profiles": ["mrbeast"], "resultsPerPage": 10 }'

Supported actors and inputs

SideShift supports two actors: clockworks/tiktok-scraper and apify/instagram-scraper. Each actor accepts a subset of the inputs the Apify actor accepts. The API rejects any other input with a 400 error that names the field.

`clockworks/tiktok-scraper`

Input	What it does	Items per upstream request
`profiles`	Lists a profile’s posts, up to `resultsPerPage` (default 1)	30
`hashtags`	Lists a hashtag’s posts	20
`searchQueries`	Searches for videos	29
`postURLs`	Gets post details	1
`commentsPerPost`	Adds comments to each requested post. Each post with comments is one extra request.	Up to 50 comments

oldestPostDateUnified drops posts older than the date you set. This applies to profiles, hashtags, and search queries. Only a profile run stops paging early at that date. A profile lists its posts newest first. A hashtag or search run does not list posts in date order. It pages through every result and drops old posts along the way. newestPostDate drops posts newer than the date you set. It never stops paging early. excludePinnedPosts is also supported. The API rejects these inputs with a 400 error that names the field:

shouldDownloadVideos
shouldDownloadCovers
shouldDownloadSlideshowImages
shouldDownloadAvatars
shouldDownloadMusicCovers
shouldDownloadSubtitles
scrapeRelatedVideos
maxFollowersPerProfile, when set to a value greater than 0
maxFollowingPerProfile, when set to a value greater than 0
profileSorting, unless set to latest
profileScrapeSections, unless set to videos

`apify/instagram-scraper`

directUrls accepts a profile URL, a post or reel URL, or a hashtag URL. resultsType chooses what the run returns for a profile URL.

Input	What it does	Items per upstream request
`directUrls` + `resultsType: posts`	Lists a profile’s posts, up to `resultsLimit` (default 200)	12
`directUrls` + `resultsType: reels`	Lists a profile’s reels, up to `resultsLimit` (default 200)	12
`directUrls` + `resultsType: details`	Gets profile details	1
`directUrls` + `resultsType: comments`	Gets a post’s comments	13
`search` + `searchType: hashtag`	Searches for a hashtag	7
`search` + `searchType: user` (or `profile`)	Searches for a profile, then fetches each match with the run’s `resultsType`, up to `searchLimit` (default 1)	1 search request. With `resultsType: details`, each match costs 1 request. With `posts` or `reels`, each match costs 1 request per 12 items, up to `resultsLimit` (default 200).

onlyPostsNewerThan stops paging once a page is older than the date you set, for posts and reels. Set resultsType: details and a small searchLimit when you want only the matched profiles. The default resultsType (posts) also fetches each match’s posts, which costs more. The API rejects these inputs with a 400 error that names the field:

resultsType, set to mentions or stories
searchType, set to place
addParentData

resultsType: comments needs a post or reel URL in directUrls. The API rejects a profile or hashtag URL with a 400 error.

Supported endpoints

Every path below starts with https://app.sideshift.app/api/v2. Use acts or actors. Both work.

Method and path	What it does
`POST /acts/{actor}/runs`	Starts a run. Query: `waitForFinish` (0–60 seconds), `timeout` in seconds (`0` means the default of 3,600), `maxItems` (`0` means no cap).
`POST /acts/{actor}/run-sync-get-dataset-items`, `GET /acts/{actor}/run-sync-get-dataset-items`	Starts a run, waits for it to finish, and returns the items. Accepts the same query parameters as the dataset items endpoints below. Waits up to 290 seconds. Returns a 408 error if the run has not finished by then.
`GET /acts/{actor}`	Gets the actor’s `id`, `name`, `username`, and `title`.
`GET /acts/{actor}/runs/last`	Gets the latest run of this actor. Query: `status` filters to the latest run with that status.
`GET /acts/{actor}/runs/last/dataset/items`	Gets the items of that run.
`GET /actor-runs/{run}`	Gets one run. Query: `waitForFinish` (0–60 seconds).
`POST /actor-runs/{run}/abort`	Stops a run.
`GET /actor-runs/{run}/log`	Gets the run’s log, as plain text.
`GET /actor-runs/{run}/dataset/items`, `GET /datasets/{id}/items`	Gets the run’s items. Query: `offset`, `limit`, `desc`, `fields`, `omit`, `clean`, `skipHidden`, `skipEmpty`, `format` (`json` or `jsonl`). Returns at most 25,000 items per request. Page through more with `offset`.
`GET /datasets/{id}`	Gets the dataset’s `id`, `itemCount`, and timestamps.

Billing

A run bills the same credits, at the same price, as the rest of the Scraper API. Each upstream request a run makes costs 1 credit, charged from your account’s balance.

Actor and input	Items per upstream request
TikTok profile (`profiles`)	30
TikTok hashtag (`hashtags`)	20
TikTok search (`searchQueries`)	29
TikTok post with comments (`commentsPerPost`)	Up to 50 comments
Instagram posts (`resultsType: posts`)	12
Instagram reels (`resultsType: reels`)	12
Instagram hashtag search	7
Instagram comments (`resultsType: comments`)	13
Instagram profile details (`resultsType: details`)	1
Instagram user search (`searchType: user`)	1 search request. With `resultsType: details`, each match costs 1 request. With `posts` or `reels`, each match costs 1 request per 12 items, up to `resultsLimit` (default 200).

The run object’s usageTotalUsd field reports the cost in dollars: credits charged, multiplied by your account’s average purchase price per credit.

SideShift keeps a run and its dataset items for 7 days. After 7 days, SideShift deletes them. Save any items you need to keep.

Differences from Apify

Not supported:

Webhooks. The API rejects a webhooks value on every endpoint that starts a run, with a 400 error. This includes POST /acts/{actor}/runs and both methods of run-sync-get-dataset-items.
Key-value stores.
Tasks.
The legacy run-sync endpoint. The API rejects it with a 400 error. Use run-sync-get-dataset-items instead.
CSV, XLSX, and other dataset formats. Use format=json or format=jsonl.

Limits:

A run can request at most 1,000 inputs. Split a larger request into several runs.
To start a run, your balance must have at least 1 credit for each input.
An account can have at most 25 runs in progress. The API rejects another run with a 429 error.

Fields that are null. Every field in an Apify item exists in the matching SideShift item, with the same name and type. When SideShift cannot fill a field, the field is null, never missing. Examples:

TikTok: on hashtag and search items, authorMeta.fans, authorMeta.heart, and authorMeta.video are null. Video width and height are also null.
Instagram: on a profile, latestPosts, businessCategoryName, and highlightReelCount are null.

Quickstart

Create a Scraper key and make your first request.

Billing, errors, and limits

Credit costs, purchase rates, and rate-limit handling.

Guides

Reference

Switching from Apify

What changes

Supported actors and inputs

`clockworks/tiktok-scraper`

`apify/instagram-scraper`

Supported endpoints

Billing

Differences from Apify

Quickstart

Billing, errors, and limits

​What changes

​Supported actors and inputs

​clockworks/tiktok-scraper

​apify/instagram-scraper

​Supported endpoints

​Billing

​Differences from Apify

Quickstart

Billing, errors, and limits

What changes

Supported actors and inputs

`clockworks/tiktok-scraper`

`apify/instagram-scraper`

Supported endpoints

Billing

Differences from Apify