# Substack Newsletter & Author Leads Scraper (Emails & Socials) (`beatsprom/substack-leads-scraper`) Actor

Extract Substack newsletters, creator profiles, subscriber tiers, Twitter/X handles, and verified direct business emails for sponsorship outreach and lead generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/beatsprom/substack-leads-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Beatsprom](https://apify.com/beatsprom) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 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

## 📩 Substack Newsletter & Author Leads Scraper

> **The ultimate B2B lead generation & newsletter intelligence tool.**\
> Extract thousands of Substack newsletters, creator profiles, subscriber tiers, Twitter/X handles, LinkedIn links, and **direct contact emails** for influencer sponsorship and outreach.

***

### 🚀 Why Use This Scraper?

Substack is home to over 35,000+ top authors, journalists, founders, and subject-matter experts. However, Substack does **not** provide a directory with exportable emails, social handles, or audience metrics.

This Actor solves that problem:

- 🎯 **Direct Business Emails:** Extracts verified emails directly from publication settings and `/about` pages.
- 📈 **Audience & Revenue Metrics:** Extracts subscriber tiers (e.g. *Over 1,100,000 subscribers*, *Over 50,000 subscribers*) and bestseller ranking badges.
- 🔗 **Social Media Handles:** Grabs Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and YouTube profile links of authors.
- ⚡ **Lightning Fast & Ultra Low-Cost:** Runs without heavy browser emulation, scraping 100+ newsletters in seconds with near-zero compute cost.

***

### 🔍 Use Cases

1. **Newsletter Sponsorship & Advertising:** Brands and marketing agencies looking to sponsor high-converting newsletters in tech, finance, crypto, lifestyle, or business.
2. **B2B Cold Outreach & PR:** Publicists, SaaS founders, and podcast bookers pitching story ideas, product launches, or guest appearances.
3. **Market Research & Competitive Intelligence:** Track top trending publications, new entrants, and content focus across 20+ categories.

***

### ⚙️ Input Parameters

| Field | Type | Description | Default |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Scrape Mode (`mode`)** | String | Choose between `Browse by Category`, `Search by Keyword`, or `Custom Publication URLs` | `category` |
| **Category (`category`)** | Select | Select any Substack category (Technology, Business, Finance, Crypto, Culture, News, Science, etc.) | `technology` |
| **Search Keyword (`searchKeyword`)** | String | Search across all Substack newsletters by specific topic (e.g. `artificial intelligence`, `real estate`) | `artificial intelligence` |
| **Custom URLs (`customUrls`)** | Array | List of specific Substack links to enrich with author details and emails | `[]` |
| **Max Items (`maxItems`)** | Integer | Maximum number of newsletters to scrape (from 1 to 5,000) | `100` |
| **Extract Direct Emails (`extractEmails`)** | Boolean | Automatically visits `/about` pages to extract direct business contact emails | `true` |

***

### 📊 Sample Output (JSON)

```json
{
  "name": "ByteByteGo Newsletter",
  "subdomain": "bytebytego",
  "url": "https://blog.bytebytego.com",
  "customDomain": "blog.bytebytego.com",
  "authorName": "Alex Xu",
  "authorHandle": "@alexxubyte",
  "authorBio": "Software engineer and author of System Design Interview books.",
  "heroText": "Covering topics and trends in large-scale system design.",
  "subscribersTier": "Over 500,000 subscribers",
  "bestsellerTier": 10000,
  "rankingDetail": "#1 in Technology",
  "primaryEmail": "hi@bytebytego.com",
  "allEmails": [
    "hi@bytebytego.com"
  ],
  "twitterUrl": "https://x.com/alexxubyte",
  "linkedInUrl": "https://linkedin.com/in/alex-xu",
  "hasPodcast": false,
  "createdAt": "2021-11-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "aboutSnippet": "ByteByteGo covers system design interview topics, architecture deep dives..."
}
```

***

### 💡 Tips for Best Results

- **For Sponsorship Outreach:** Filter your exported dataset by `primaryEmail` and `subscribersTier` to immediately identify high-impact publications with active contact details.
- **For Targeted Niche Campaigns:** Use `Search by Keyword` to find specific sub-niches (e.g., *SaaS growth*, *longevity*, *biohacking*, *indie hacker*).

***

### 🔒 Privacy & Compliance

This Actor extracts exclusively public metadata and contact info voluntarily published by authors on their public Substack profiles and about pages.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose whether to browse by Category or Search across Substack by Keyword

## `category` (type: `string`):

Select the Substack category to scrape (used in 'Browse by Category' mode)

## `searchKeyword` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search across newsletters (used in 'Search by Keyword' mode, e.g. 'AI', 'marketing', 'real estate')

## `customUrls` (type: `array`):

List of specific Substack URLs to enrich (e.g. https://bytebytego.substack.com)

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of publications to return

## `extractEmails` (type: `boolean`):

Visit each publication's /about page to extract direct business contact emails and social links

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Use Apify Proxy to rotate IP addresses and bypass 429 rate limits

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "category",
  "category": "technology",
  "searchKeyword": "artificial intelligence",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "extractEmails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

A dataset containing all scraped Substack newsletters and contacts.

# 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 = {
    "searchKeyword": "artificial intelligence"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("beatsprom/substack-leads-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 = { "searchKeyword": "artificial intelligence" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("beatsprom/substack-leads-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 '{
  "searchKeyword": "artificial intelligence"
}' |
apify call beatsprom/substack-leads-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,beatsprom/substack-leads-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/hdIe6Ef20CYk0tIwV/builds/td6IXDJb7bjzVCsIy/openapi.json