Competitor Intelligence

Analyze competitors using Apify Actors to extract data from multiple platforms.

Prerequisites

(No need to check it upfront)

• .env file with APIFY_TOKEN

• Node.js 20.6+ (for native --env-file support)

• mcpc CLI tool: npm install -g @apify/mcpc

Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Task Progress:

• Step 1: Identify competitor analysis type (select Actor)
• Step 2: Fetch Actor schema via mcpc
• Step 3: Ask user preferences (format, filename)
• Step 4: Run the analysis script
• Step 5: Summarize findings

Step 1: Identify Competitor Analysis Type

Select the appropriate Actor based on analysis needs:

User Need Actor ID Best For

Competitor business data compass/crawler-google-places

Location analysis

Competitor contact discovery poidata/google-maps-email-extractor

Email extraction

Feature benchmarking compass/google-maps-extractor

Detailed business data

Competitor review analysis compass/Google-Maps-Reviews-Scraper

Review comparison

Hotel competitor data voyager/booking-scraper

Hotel benchmarking

Hotel review comparison voyager/booking-reviews-scraper

Review analysis

Competitor ad strategies apify/facebook-ads-scraper

Ad creative analysis

Competitor page metrics apify/facebook-pages-scraper

Page performance

Competitor content analysis apify/facebook-posts-scraper

Post strategies

Competitor reels performance apify/facebook-reels-scraper

Reels analysis

Competitor audience analysis apify/facebook-comments-scraper

Comment sentiment

Competitor event monitoring apify/facebook-events-scraper

Event tracking

Competitor audience overlap apify/facebook-followers-following-scraper

Follower analysis

Competitor review benchmarking apify/facebook-reviews-scraper

Review comparison

Competitor ad monitoring apify/facebook-search-scraper

Ad discovery

Competitor profile metrics apify/instagram-profile-scraper

Profile analysis

Competitor content monitoring apify/instagram-post-scraper

Post tracking

Competitor engagement analysis apify/instagram-comment-scraper

Comment analysis

Competitor reel performance apify/instagram-reel-scraper

Reel metrics

Competitor growth tracking apify/instagram-followers-count-scraper

Follower tracking

Comprehensive competitor data apify/instagram-scraper

Full analysis

API-based competitor analysis apify/instagram-api-scraper

API access

Competitor video analysis streamers/youtube-scraper

Video metrics

Competitor sentiment analysis streamers/youtube-comments-scraper

Comment sentiment

Competitor channel metrics streamers/youtube-channel-scraper

Channel analysis

TikTok competitor analysis clockworks/tiktok-scraper

TikTok data

Competitor video strategies clockworks/tiktok-video-scraper

Video analysis

Competitor TikTok profiles clockworks/tiktok-profile-scraper

Profile data

Step 2: Fetch Actor Schema

Fetch the Actor's input schema and details dynamically using mcpc:

export $(grep APIFY_TOKEN .env | xargs) && mcpc --json mcp.apify.com --header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" tools-call fetch-actor-details actor:="ACTOR_ID" | jq -r ".content"

Replace ACTOR_ID with the selected Actor (e.g., compass/crawler-google-places ).

This returns:

• Actor description and README

• Required and optional input parameters

• Output fields (if available)

Step 3: Ask User Preferences

Before running, ask:

• Output format:

• Quick answer - Display top few results in chat (no file saved)

• CSV - Full export with all fields

• JSON - Full export in JSON format

• Number of results: Based on character of use case

Step 4: Run the Script

Quick answer (display in chat, no file):

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js
--actor "ACTOR_ID"
--input 'JSON_INPUT'

CSV:

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js
--actor "ACTOR_ID"
--input 'JSON_INPUT'
--output YYYY-MM-DD_OUTPUT_FILE.csv
--format csv

JSON:

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js
--actor "ACTOR_ID"
--input 'JSON_INPUT'
--output YYYY-MM-DD_OUTPUT_FILE.json
--format json

Step 5: Summarize Findings

After completion, report:

• Number of competitors analyzed

• File location and name

• Key competitive insights

• Suggested next steps (deeper analysis, benchmarking)

Error Handling

APIFY_TOKEN not found

• Ask user to create .env with APIFY_TOKEN=your_token

mcpc not found

• Ask user to install npm install -g @apify/mcpc

Actor not found

• Check Actor ID spelling Run FAILED
• Ask user to check Apify console link in error output Timeout
• Reduce input size or increase --timeout