Reddit Search Scraper

Search Reddit by keyword and export posts, comments, subreddits, users, and media as structured data — no Reddit login, no OAuth app approval, and no proxy pool to maintain.

Paste one or more search terms, choose the content types you care about, and run. Every result is written to an Apify dataset as a normalized record: full post text in markdown and HTML, vote and comment counts, author and community IDs, direct media links, and the keyword that produced it. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or pull it through the API into your own workflow.

Runs stop the moment maxItems is reached, so a 100-result run never requests more than 100 results — and you are charged per stored result, not per request or per page.

What you get

For each keyword you submit, the Actor searches the content types you enabled and returns one normalized row per result:

• Posts — title, full body (markdown and HTML), author, community, upvotes, upvote ratio, comment count, media links, timestamps.
• Comments — comment text, author, parent thread, community, score, timestamps.
• Subreddits — name, r/name, URL, title, and description.
• Users — username, user ID, profile URL, display name, and about text.
• Media — images, videos, and GIFs, returned as post rows with imageUrls / videoUrls populated.

Every row also carries searchKeyword and searchType, so multi-keyword runs stay traceable back to the exact term and content type that produced each item.

✨ Key features

• Search five content types in one run. Enable any combination of posts, comments, communities, users, and media; each enabled type is searched for every keyword.
• Predictable, capped runs. Set maxItems and the run stops as soon as the limit is reached — nothing beyond it is ever requested.
• Structured output ready for automation. Use the same results in spreadsheets, databases, APIs, or AI workflows without manually cleaning the page.
• No login or API key from you. Access is handled by the Actor itself; you never supply a Reddit credential, and the results never carry one.
• Clean data built in. Duplicate items are removed automatically, NSFW content can be excluded, and placeholder nodes (ads, recommendations, deleted posts) are dropped before they reach the dataset.
• Batch-friendly. Submit many keywords in one run instead of starting a separate run for every term.

🚀 Quick start

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Paste the smallest valid input:

{
    "searches": ["byd"],
    "searchPosts": true
}

3. Click Start.
4. Open the Dataset tab when the run finishes.
5. Export the results or call the dataset API.

That's it — no browser session, no login, no manual export step. The default input searches posts for the keyword byd and stops at 100 results.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searches	string[]	— (required)	One or more Reddit keywords. Each term is searched independently.
searchPosts	boolean	true	Search for matching posts.
searchComments	boolean	false	Search for matching comments.
searchCommunities	boolean	false	Search for matching subreddits.
searchUsers	boolean	false	Search for matching users.
searchMedia	boolean	false	Search for matching images, videos, and GIFs.
sort	string	RELEVANCE	RELEVANCE, HOT, TOP, NEW, or COMMENTS. Applies to posts, comments, and media; ignored for communities and users.
time	string	all	all, hour, day, week, month, or year. Applies to posts and media only.
maxItems	integer	100	Stop after this many results (1–100,000).
includeNSFW	boolean	false	Include adult content. When off, NSFW items are filtered out before storage.
safeSearch	boolean	false	Enable strict safe search.

When several search types are enabled, all of them run for every keyword. If no search type is enabled, post search is used as a fallback.

Common input recipes

Search one topic across posts and comments:

{
    "searches": ["byd"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "searchComments": true
}

Monitor several brand keywords this week:

{
    "searches": ["byd", "dolphin", "seal"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "searchComments": true,
    "time": "week"
}

Collect the top posts of the month for a keyword:

{
    "searches": ["electric vehicle"],
    "sort": "TOP",
    "time": "month",
    "maxItems": 200
}

Collect only media:

{
    "searches": ["byd"],
    "searchMedia": true,
    "searchPosts": false
}

Output

Each dataset item is a normalized record. Field names follow the conventions used by the most popular Reddit scrapers on Apify Store, so existing pipelines keep working after switching.

Example item from a real run for the keyword byd:

{
    "dataType": "post",
    "id": "t3_1v3zahb",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/BYDAU/comments/1v3zahb/has_byd_ruined_other_brands_for_you/",
    "title": "Has BYD ruined other brands for you?",
    "body": "Currently in an Audi Q7 for reasons I couldn't be bothered explaining...",
    "communityName": "BYDAU",
    "parsedCommunityName": "r/BYDAU",
    "username": "Dear_Marketing_4932",
    "upVotes": 111,
    "numberOfComments": 120,
    "upVoteRatio": 0.79,
    "createdAt": "2026-07-23T01:16:22.717Z",
    "imageUrls": [],
    "videoUrls": [],
    "searchKeyword": "byd",
    "searchType": "post"
}

Field reference

Group	Field	Type	Description
Common	dataType	string	post, comment, community, or user.
Common	id / parsedId	string	Full id (t3_1v3zahb) and the id without its type prefix (1v3zahb).
Common	url	string	Permalink to the item.
Common	createdAt / scrapedAt	string	When the item was posted and when it was collected (ISO 8601).
Common	searchKeyword / searchType	string	The keyword and search type that produced this row.
Post	title	string	Post title.
Post	body / html	string	Post content as markdown and as HTML.
Post	username / userId	string	Author name and id.
Post	communityName / parsedCommunityName	string	Subreddit name (BYDAU) and prefixed name (r/BYDAU).
Post	numberOfComments	integer	Comment count.
Post	upVotes	integer	Post score.
Post	upVoteRatio	float	Ratio of upvotes to all votes.
Post	authorFlair	string | null	Author flair text, or null.
Post	isVideo / isAd / over18	boolean	Content flags.
Post	imageUrls / videoUrls	string[]	Media links found on the item.
Comment	body / html	string	Comment text.
Comment	title	string	Parent thread title.
Comment	communityName	string	Subreddit the comment appeared in.
Comment	upVotes	integer	Comment score.
Community	communityName / parsedCommunityName	string	Subreddit name (BYDAU) and prefixed name (r/BYDAU).
Community	body	string	Subreddit description.
User	username / userId	string	Username and user id.
User	body	string	About text.

A full example produced from a real run is in ./sample-output.json.

How the data is cleaned before it reaches you:

• Deduplication — the same item appearing more than once (across pages or keywords) is stored only once per run.
• NSFW filtering — when includeNSFW is off, over18 items are removed before storage.
• Placeholder nodes — ads, recommendation tiles, and deleted content that carry no usable data are dropped silently.

💰 Pricing

• Charged per stored result. One stored item = one charged result. A run that finds nothing stores nothing.
• Bounded by maxItems. The run stops as soon as the limit is reached, so a run for 100 results requests at most 100 results.
• Failed searches stop early. Permanent failures — invalid credentials, exhausted quota, permission errors — stop the run immediately with a clear message instead of continuing to burn quota. Transient failures are retried automatically.
• Free plan note. Runs on the Apify free plan (the monthly platform credit) return at most the first page — up to 7 results per run — then stop. Paid plans (Starter / Scale / Business) are not capped.
• See the Pricing tab on the Actor page for the current rate per result.

🔌 API and automation

The Actor is built for automation. Run it manually in Apify Console, schedule recurring runs, call it through the API, or connect its dataset to your workflow. Results are readable via the dataset API and exportable as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML.

JavaScript (Apify SDK)

import { Actor } from 'apify';

await Actor.init();

const input = {
    searches: ['byd', 'electric vehicle'],
    searchPosts: true,
    searchComments: true,
    sort: 'TOP',
    time: 'month',
    maxItems: 100,
};

const run = await Actor.call('reddit-search-scraper-api', input);
const dataset = await Actor.openDataset(run.defaultDatasetId);
const { items } = await dataset.getData();
console.log(items);

Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('reddit-search-scraper-api').call(run_input={
    'searches': ['byd'],
    'searchPosts': True,
    'maxItems': 100,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reddit-search-scraper-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searches":["byd"],"searchPosts":true,"maxItems":100}'

Use with AI agents

The output is structured text plus metadata, so it drops straight into downstream AI work: feed post bodies and comments into summarization, sentiment analysis, or RAG pipelines, or let an agent query the dataset through the Apify MCP / API integration.

Use cases

• Brand monitoring — schedule daily or weekly runs for your brand and product terms, and collect new posts and comments in one dataset, tagged by keyword.
• Competitor and market research — gather what people say about competitors, features, or campaigns, and compare communities over time.
• Trend and content research — find the top discussions in a niche this month with sort: "TOP" and time: "month", then use the titles and bodies for content planning.
• Community discovery — search subreddits by topic to find active communities for outreach or placement.
• AI and data pipelines — feed the extracted text, metadata, and media references into classification, summarization, or retrieval workflows.

FAQ

Can I scrape Reddit without logging in? Yes. The Actor accesses Reddit's public content on your behalf. No login, OAuth approval, or API key is needed.

Can I search multiple keywords in one run? Yes. Pass an array to searches; each keyword is searched independently, and every row records which keyword produced it.

Which content types can I search? Posts, comments, communities, users, and media — any combination in a single run. Enable the ones you need with the search* fields.

How am I charged? Per stored result. The run stops at maxItems, so you never pay for results that were not requested. A run that finds nothing stores nothing.

Why did I get fewer results than maxItems? A few reasons: duplicates are removed, NSFW items are filtered when includeNSFW is off, placeholder nodes (ads, recommendations, deleted content) are dropped, Reddit caps search depth at roughly 1,000 items per query, and free-plan runs return at most 7 results. Any of these can lower the final count.

Can I include adult content? Yes — set includeNSFW to true. It is off by default.

Can I schedule this scraper? Yes. Use Apify's scheduled runs (Tasks) to run it daily or weekly, then read the dataset via the API.

Do I need a proxy? No. Network access is handled by the Actor; there is nothing to configure on your side.

Limitations and responsible use

• Public content only. Private, login-gated, age-restricted, or otherwise restricted content cannot be accessed. Reddit may also temporarily restrict access to some otherwise-public content.
• Platform search depth. Reddit caps listing and search depth at roughly 1,000 items per query. This is a platform limit rather than a scraper limit.
• Sort and time filters are ignored for communities and users; time applies only to posts and media, and COMMENTS sorting applies only to posts.
• Media rows are posts. Media search returns image/video/GIF results as post rows with imageUrls / videoUrls populated rather than a separate media row type.
• Media link coverage. Media links are read from the media, gallery, and thumbnail fields. Items hosted on external domains may not appear in imageUrls or videoUrls.
• Comment / community / user mapping. These record types are mapped from payloads that vary by source. The mapper is defensive and preserves every field it recognizes; a field that is not mapped yet can be requested as an improvement.
• Free plan cap. Free-plan runs return at most 7 results (first page only). Paid plans are not capped.

Results come from Reddit's public content, retrieved on your behalf while the run executes. Only publicly visible content is collected. No login, credentials, or personal data are used or stored, and access credentials belong to the Actor itself — they are never accepted through the input.

Use this Actor only for data you are permitted to access and process. You are responsible for complying with Reddit's terms, applicable privacy laws, copyright, and anti-spam regulations, and with Apify's terms of service. Do not use the output for surveillance of individuals or any purpose that violates others' rights.

Support

For help, contact support@apismith.online or open an issue on the Actor page.

When reporting a problem, include your Apify Run ID, the (non-sensitive) input you used, and any status or error message. Never share your Apify token, cookies, session IDs, or API keys.