rimulabs-trends: a drop-in replacement for pytrends

pytrends is archived and its last release was in April 2023. Google rate-limits Trends heavily, so pytrends scripts now stop with HTTP 429 "Too Many Requests" errors.

rimulabs-trends keeps pytrends' TrendReq interface and returns the same pandas DataFrames, but each request runs a maintained, hosted Google Trends API on Apify. That service paces and retries requests for you. Change one import and keep your analysis code.

pip install rimulabs-trends

# from pytrends.request import TrendReq
from rimulabs_trends import TrendReq

pytrends = TrendReq()  # reads the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable
pytrends.build_payload(["crm", "erp"], timeframe="today 12-m", geo="US")

df = pytrends.interest_over_time()        # date index, one column per keyword, plus isPartial
regions = pytrends.interest_by_region()   # geoName index, one column per keyword
related = pytrends.related_queries()      # {"crm": {"top": DataFrame, "rising": DataFrame}, ...}
today = pytrends.trending_searches(pn="united_states")

Setup

1. Create an Apify account and copy your API token from Settings → Integrations.
2. Set it as APIFY_TOKEN, or pass TrendReq(apify_token="...").

What's supported

Timeframes: now 1-H, now 4-H, now 1-d, now 7-d, today 1-m, today 3-m, today 12-m, today 5-y (the default), all, or a custom "2026-01-01 2026-06-30". gprop: "", images, news, froogle (Google Shopping) and youtube.

pytrends' connection arguments (hl, tz, timeout, proxies, retries, backoff_factor, requests_args) are accepted so existing code runs unchanged, but the hosted API handles pacing, retries and proxies itself.

Cost

The hosted API is pay-per-use on Apify: $3.00 per 1,000 keyword reports and $0.50 per 1,000 trending searches, plus Apify's small per-run fee. One build_payload() fetches every section in a single run, so calling interest_over_time(), interest_by_region() and related_queries() on the same payload is charged once per keyword. Apify's free plan includes monthly credit that covers casual use.

Good to know

• Values are relative interest from 0 to 100, not search volumes, exactly as on the Google Trends website.
• Each call runs synchronously and usually returns in 10-60 seconds. Raise run_timeout (in seconds, default 300) for slow payloads.
• Errors from the API raise rimulabs_trends.TrendsError with Apify's message, for example an invalid token or insufficient credit.

More detail and a method-by-method migration guide: rimulabs.com/guides/pytrends-alternative.

MIT licensed. Made by Rimu Labs, which also maintains the hosted API. Not affiliated with pytrends or Google. Issues and questions: GitHub issues or support@rimulabs.com. This package and its documentation were written by the AI assistant for Rimu Labs.