Collectors · Lead generation

Business directory API in Python

Businesses listed in Italian directories for a category and a place — the small ones Google misses. One POST from Python with query and location, rows back as JSON with 20 fields, $0.001 per delivered business. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the business_directory collector returns one dict per business, at $0.001 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/business_directory/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "query": "<query>",
        "location": "<location>",
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("name"), row.get("category"), row.get("address"), row.get("street"))

Python: one Business directory run, printing name, category, address, street

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the Business directory collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`query`	string	yes	What the businesses do, as the directory categorises it — e.g. "autonoleggio", "dentista", "idraulico".
`location`	string	yes	Comune or quartiere — e.g. "Milano", "Milano Quartiere Affori", "Monza".
`sources`	array	no	Which directories to read (default paginegialle). Pagine Bianche is best-effort: it refuses repeated requests more often.
`only_with_phone`	boolean	no	Drop and do not bill businesses with no published phone number.
`country`	string	no	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code — proxy exit geo and Google locale (gl). Omit for the default pool.
`max_results`	integer	no	How many businesses to deliver at most (1–100). You pay only for delivered businesses.

Response fields

20 fields per business.

Fields of each row (business)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position in the merged result set.
`name`	string	Business name as listed.
`category`	string, nullable	The directory's own category for the business.
`address`	string, nullable	Full printed address.
`street`	string, nullable	Street and number.
`postal_code`	string, nullable	CAP.
`city`	string, nullable	Comune.
`province`	string, nullable	Two-letter province code.
`phone`	string, nullable	First published phone number.
`phones`	string[]	Every phone number on the listing.
`description`	string, nullable	Blurb the business published on the listing, when it has one.
`profile_url`	string, nullable	The directory page for this business.
`source`	string	Which directory delivered the row.
`source_id`	string, nullable	The directory's own id — a stable dedup key.
`website`	string, nullable	The business's own website, when the listing links one.
`whatsapp`	string, nullable	WhatsApp contact as https://wa.me/<number>, when the listing has the button.
`reviews`	integer, nullable	Review count shown next to the stars.
`opening_hours`	string[], nullable	Weekly hours from the listing, one entry per opening range: "Mo 09:00 - 13:00", "Mo 14:00 - 19:00".
`sponsored`	boolean	True for the placements the directory marks as suggested.
`listing_type`	string, nullable	"paid", "free" or "self" — the kind of listing the business holds on the directory.

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/business_directory/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"query":"<query>","location":"<location>"}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.001 per delivered business.

What Business directory rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.001
1,000	$1.00
10,000	$10.00

Up to 100 businesses per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 2,000 businesses. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free Business directory API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 2,000 businesses of this collector at $0.001 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 100 businesses per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.001 per delivered business, no subscription.

Get an API key Business directory API