n8n + Apify Integration Guide: Automate Web Scraping Workflows (2026)

Contains affiliate links. Disclosure.

n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool. Apify provides cloud-hosted web scraping Actors. Together they form a powerful pipeline: Apify collects data, n8n orchestrates where it goes next — Google Sheets, Slack, databases, AI models, or downstream APIs.

This guide shows three integration patterns with working node configurations.

Integration Architecture

[Trigger] → [Run Apify Actor] → [Wait for Completion] → [Fetch Dataset] → [Process + Store]

n8n can trigger Apify in two ways:

1. HTTP Request node — call Apify's REST API directly
2. Webhook node — receive Apify run completion notifications (push model)

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Pattern 1: Schedule + Scrape + Store to Google Sheets

This runs an Apify Actor on a schedule and stores results in a Google Sheet.

Step 1: Schedule Trigger

• Node: Schedule Trigger
• Interval: Every day at 9 AM

Step 2: Run Apify Actor

• Node: HTTP Request
• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apify~google-maps-scraper/runs?fpr=use-apify
• Headers:

  { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN", "Content-Type": "application/json" }

• Body:

  {
    "searchStringsArray": ["coffee shops London"],
    "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 50
  }

Step 3: Wait for Run to Complete

• Node: HTTP Request (poll or use built-in wait)
• Method: GET
• URL: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apify~google-maps-scraper/runs/%7B%7B?fpr=use-apify $json.data.id }}
• Use n8n's Wait node (60 seconds) before this check
• Continue only when status === "SUCCEEDED"

Step 4: Fetch Dataset Items

• Node: HTTP Request
• Method: GET
• URL: https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/%7B%7B?fpr=use-apify $json.data.defaultDatasetId }}/items?format=json
• Headers: { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" }

Step 5: Split Into Items

• Node: Split In Batches (to handle the array)

Step 6: Append to Google Sheets

• Node: Google Sheets → Append Row
• Map fields from Apify output to sheet columns

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Pattern 2: Webhook-Driven (Event-Based)

Instead of polling, configure Apify to push run completion to n8n:

In n8n:

1. Add a Webhook node (trigger mode)
2. Copy the webhook URL (e.g., https://your-n8n.example.com/webhook/abc123)

In Apify Console:

1. Go to your Actor → Settings → Webhooks
2. Add webhook:
   • Event: ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED
   • URL: Your n8n webhook URL
   • Payload: { "runId": {{runId}}, "datasetId": {{defaultDatasetId}} }

n8n continues on webhook receipt:

[Webhook] → [HTTP: Fetch dataset items] → [Process] → [Store]

This is more efficient than polling for long-running Actors.

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Pattern 3: AI Data Pipeline (Apify → n8n → OpenAI → Slack)

Scrape competitor mentions, summarize with GPT-4o, and post to Slack:

[Schedule] → [Apify: Twitter Scraper] → [Split items] → [OpenAI: Summarize] → [Slack: Post summary]

HTTP Request to Apify Twitter Scraper:

{
  "searchTerms": ["your-brand"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "since": "2026-03-18"
}

OpenAI node:

• Model: gpt-4o
• Prompt: Summarize the sentiment and key themes in these tweets: {{ $json.full_text }}

Slack node:

• Channel: #competitive-intel
• Message: {{ $node['OpenAI'].json['choices'][0]['message']['content'] }}

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Useful Apify API Endpoints for n8n

Action	Method + URL
Run Actor	POST /v2/acts/{actorId}/runs
Check run status	GET /v2/actor-runs/{runId}
Get dataset items	GET /v2/datasets/{datasetId}/items
List last runs	GET /v2/acts/{actorId}/runs

All endpoints require Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN header.

Get your API token at console.apify.com → Settings → Integrations.

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n8n vs Make.com for Apify Integration

Both tools integrate with Apify via HTTP nodes:

	n8n	Make.com
Apify native node	No (use HTTP)	Yes (Apify module)
Pricing	Free self-hosted	Free 1,000 ops/month
Complexity	Higher (more flexible)	Lower (visual mapping)
Self-hosting	Yes	No
Best for	Developers, complex flows	Business users, quick setup

For the easiest setup, Make.com's native Apify module eliminates the need to construct API calls manually.