# Telegram Channel Scraper - Messages, Views & Reactions (`atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public Telegram channels without login or API keys: posts with text, date, views, reactions, media, links, hashtags, forwards and channel subscriber counts. Search inside a channel and filter by date. $1.50 per 1,000 posts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Atesen Software](https://apify.com/atesen-software) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Telegram Channel Scraper - Posts, Views & Reactions

Scrape **public Telegram channels** without a Telegram account, phone number or API key. Give it channel names like `durov` or links like `https://t.me/telegram` and get every post as JSON, CSV or Excel: **text, date, views, reactions, photos, videos, links, hashtags, forwards and link previews**, plus a free channel profile with the **subscriber count**.

- **No login, no API key, no browser.** Reads the public web preview at `t.me/s/<channel>`.
- **Search inside a channel** (`searchQuery`) and **stop at a date** (`onlyPostsNewerThan`) so scheduled runs only pay for new posts.
- Start from any post link (`https://t.me/channel/500`) and go back in history.
- Channel profiles and problem rows are **free**. No start fee beyond Apify's minimum.
- Never fails on bad input: private invite links, users, bots and typos become free `status` rows.

### Use cases

- **Crypto, trading and signal channel monitoring**: collect every call with its date and view count.
- **News and OSINT research**: archive channels, track what is forwarded from where.
- **Brand and competitor monitoring**: search channels for your brand or product names.
- **Marketing analytics**: compare views, reactions and posting frequency across channels; find which posts perform.
- **Lead and partner research** for Telegram ad buying: subscriber counts and engagement per channel.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `channels` | Usernames or links: `durov`, `@durov`, `https://t.me/durov`, `https://t.me/durov/500` |
| `maxPostsPerChannel` | Default 100, newest first. `0` = whole history |
| `onlyPostsNewerThan` | Stop at this date, e.g. `2026-01-01` |
| `searchQuery` | Only posts containing this text |
| `includeChannelInfo` | Free profile row per channel (default on) |
| `maxConcurrency` | Channels in parallel (default 3) |

```json
{
  "channels": ["durov", "https://t.me/telegram"],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 100,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "2026-01-01"
}
```

### Output

One row per post (`type: "post"`):

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `channel`, `postId`, `url` | Channel username, message ID, link to the post |
| `date` | Publication time (ISO, UTC) |
| `text` | Post text with line breaks |
| `views` | View count (e.g. `5820000`) |
| `reactions`, `reactionsTotal` | Each reaction (emoji or custom-emoji ID, Telegram Stars as `telegram-stars`) with its count |
| `photoUrls`, `videoCount` | Photo links and number of videos |
| `hasDocument`, `documentTitle`, `hasPoll` | Files and polls |
| `links`, `hashtags`, `linkPreview` | Links in the post, hashtags, link preview card |
| `forwardedFrom`, `forwardedFromUrl`, `replyToUrl` | Forward source and replied-to post |
| `author`, `edited` | Signed author (if the channel signs posts), edited flag |

Plus one free `type: "channel"` row per channel: `title`, `description`, `subscribers`, `verified`, `photoUrl`, `counters` (photos, videos, links, files).

Example post:

```json
{
  "type": "post",
  "channel": "telegram",
  "postId": 460,
  "url": "https://t.me/telegram/460",
  "date": "2026-08-26T19:12:34+00:00",
  "text": "For all the info from today's update ...",
  "views": 1980000,
  "reactionsTotal": 0,
  "links": ["https://telegram.org/blog/welcome-messages-buttons-TG-13"]
}
```

#### Status rows (free)

| status | meaning |
|---|---|
| `invalid_input` | Not a valid username / link, or a bad date |
| `private_channel` | Invite links (`t.me/+...`) point to private chats |
| `no_public_preview` | A user, bot, group or a channel with web preview turned off |
| `not_found` | No channel with this username |
| `no_posts` | Nothing matched the search or date range |
| `failed` / `unreachable` | Telegram did not answer; try again |

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.0015 per result** ($1.50 per 1,000 saved rows). Each saved data row is one `result` event. Status rows, error rows and empty lookups are not charged. The run stops when it reaches the maximum cost per run. No Apify proxy and no login.

### Tips

- Schedule the actor daily with `onlyPostsNewerThan` set to yesterday to collect only new posts.
- Media files themselves are not downloaded; you get their links (Telegram CDN links expire after some time).
- Only **public channels** with web preview are supported. Private groups and chats need an account and are out of scope.

This actor reads only what Telegram shows publicly on `t.me`. Use the data responsibly and respect Telegram's terms and local law.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Public channel usernames or links: "durov", "@durov", "https://t.me/durov" or a post link "https://t.me/durov/500" (starts from that post and goes back).

## `maxPostsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest posts first. 0 = everything the channel has.

## `onlyPostsNewerThan` (type: `string`):

Stop when posts get older than this date (e.g. 2026-01-01).

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Optional. Only posts that contain this word or phrase (Telegram's own channel search).

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Add one free row per channel with title, description, subscriber count, photo, video and link counters.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many channels are scraped at the same time.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "https://t.me/telegram"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 100,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `allFields` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "durov",
        "https://t.me/telegram"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "channels": [
        "durov",
        "https://t.me/telegram",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "https://t.me/telegram"
  ]
}' |
apify call atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,atesen-software/telegram-channel-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/xzFQQxPhnwItEUVPW/builds/zmihffGnErVhYoQOe/openapi.json