Shopify Detector & Spy or Apify: Which Research Workflow Fits?
Use the Chrome extension to detect and inspect a public Shopify catalog, or the separate Apify actor for supplied URLs, API calls and saved tasks.
Sometimes you are reviewing one supplier's collection. Sometimes a job needs to export several supplied store URLs every week. The source platform may be the same, but the work happens differently.
I maintain two tools for those situations: Shopify Detector & Spy for Chrome and the Shopify Product Scraper on Apify. Choose the workflow first, then verify the source and files you need.
Compare the operating model
| Question | Shopify Detector & Spy extension | Shopify Apify actor |
|---|---|---|
| Where do I begin? | The active public storefront in Chrome | Supplied store, collection, or product URLs |
| Where does collection run? | Your browser, with the popup open | An Apify run |
| How do I inspect the result? | Popup preview and local files | Dataset views and run storage |
| Can I call an API? | Use the extension's visible workflow | Yes, with an Apify token |
| Can a cloud task run without my popup? | No | A saved task can be scheduled |
| How is it billed? | Free product allowance or optional Pro plan | Separate Apify actor and platform charges |
A Shopify Detector & Spy Pro subscription does not include Apify usage, and an Apify account does not unlock extension Pro. Assess each product's current settings and terms independently.
Use Shopify Detector & Spy while you are researching a storefront
The extension makes sense when you want to detect Shopify storefront signals, inspect a competitor collection and take public product data into JSON, CSV or Excel for your own analysis.
Its popup separates website, collection, and product scopes, with a searchable list of discovered collections. Version 1.0.4 adds direct JSON alongside exact CSV. The ZIP contains a text-typed workbook, exact CSV, image links, normalized JSON, and a coverage manifest. Catalog records stay on your device; optional checkout and licensing use Dodo Payments.
Free includes 100 captured products per UTC month in the browser profile. Pro removes the monthly product quota and has no fixed product or variant cap per run. Free captures use the remaining allowance; browser resources and source access still affect coverage. Keep the popup open during capture and use saved recovery on the same storefront when needed.
The Shopify Detector & Spy tutorial walks through that workflow.
Use the actor for a supplied list or integration
The Apify actor accepts public store, collection, and product URLs. It exposes its own result limits and export options, and returns normalized product records with nested variants and images.
For a small first run, this documented input requests five products:
{
"startUrls": [{ "url": "https://silverpawdog.com/" }],
"maxProductsPerTarget": 5,
"maxProducts": 5,
"exportFormats": ["csv", "xlsx", "json", "zip"]
}
Treat the URL as an example; current source availability can change. Inspect the result and coverage manifest before increasing limits.
The actor provides a four-sheet workbook separating Products, Variants, Images, and Coverage. Its product limits and resource bounds differ from the extension's. Read the actor's current documentation rather than transferring extension settings into an API input.
The actor tutorial covers the files and supplied-URL workflow in more detail.
Schedule collection, then build comparison separately
Save a tested actor input as an Apify task and use Apify schedules when repeated collection is useful. Store each snapshot's observation time, source scope, and coverage.
A schedule runs collection again. It does not automatically create a price-change alert, deduplicate your historical database, or infer why a product disappeared. Add those comparison steps explicitly in your own workflow.
Compare stable identities within equivalent scopes. A blocked or partial snapshot should not become an alert saying the supplier removed the missing products.
Validate each tool's files independently
Both workflows emphasize observed catalog data, but their file layouts and settings are not identical. Check the SKU and image worksheet against the output you chose.
Preserve missing values and source currency evidence. Neither a public availability flag nor a catalog difference establishes stock quantity, sales, revenue, or private merchant data. Neither workflow guarantees every storefront or automatically writes a native Shopify import.
For one collection in front of you, start free with Shopify Detector & Spy. For a tested list of URLs or an API integration, start with a small Shopify actor run.