Snapchat Stories Scraper

Collect active public Snapchat stories and curated profile highlights as structured data without a Snapchat login, browser runtime, residential proxy, or external API key. The Snapchat Stories Scraper returns direct media and preview URLs, story and highlight identifiers, snap order, timestamps, attachment and transcription links, media type, and creator profile metadata.

The Actor reads Snapchat's server-rendered public profile data and clearly labels each row as either active_story or curated_highlight. It deduplicates snaps by public snap ID or a deterministic media key and saves one snap per dataset row for JSON, CSV, Excel, API, webhook, and scheduled workflows.

What can you use it for?

• Monitor active public stories from a defined creator watchlist.
• Archive metadata about curated public profile highlights.
• Compare which story snaps are added or removed between snapshots.
• Build a reviewed creator-content research table.
• Route public image, video, preview, attachment, or transcript URLs to an internal workflow.
• Separate ephemeral active stories from durable curated highlights.
• Track public story timestamps and snap order.
• Enrich a creator list with public profile category and bio fields.

This Actor collects only data exposed on anonymous public profile pages. It does not sign in, access friends-only Snaps, bypass audience controls, send messages, follow users, post content, or claim access to a complete private or historical archive.

Input

{
  "usernames": ["nasa", "jeremy-lynch"],
  "includeActiveStory": true,
  "includeCuratedHighlights": true,
  "maxProfiles": 10,
  "maxSnapsPerProfile": 15
}

Input fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
usernames	array	["nasa"]	Public Snapchat usernames, @handles, or profile URLs.
includeActiveStory	boolean	true	Return currently active public story snaps when exposed.
includeCuratedHighlights	boolean	true	Return public curated profile highlight snaps.
maxProfiles	integer	10	Maximum supplied profiles processed, from 1 to 100.
maxSnapsPerProfile	integer	15	Maximum combined snap rows saved per profile, from 1 to 100.

The default profile has durable curated highlights, so the Actor can produce a non-empty first run even when no active story is live. Add a creator with a current public story to test the active_story path. Handles are normalized from plain usernames, @handles, /add/ routes, and snapchat.com/@... URLs.

At least one of includeActiveStory or includeCuratedHighlights must remain enabled. The result limit applies to the combined rows for each profile, with active story snaps processed before curated highlights.

Output

Each dataset item represents one public story or highlight snap.

{
  "record_id": "MJLMErgqQyaMh8jCMQUkewAAexample",
  "source_type": "active_story",
  "story_id": "MJLMErgqQyaMh8jCMQUkewAAstory",
  "highlight_id": null,
  "story_type": 5,
  "story_title": null,
  "story_subtitle": null,
  "story_emoji": null,
  "story_thumbnail_url": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/example-thumbnail",
  "story_share_id": null,
  "story_canonical_suffix": null,
  "story_tap_id": "0",
  "snap_id": "MJLMErgqQyaMh8jCMQUkewAAexample",
  "snap_index": 0,
  "media_type": "video",
  "media_url": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/example-media",
  "preview_url": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/example-preview",
  "overlay_url": null,
  "attachment_url": null,
  "transcript_url": null,
  "snap_title": null,
  "snap_subtitles": null,
  "is_sponsored": null,
  "has_attachment": null,
  "latitude": null,
  "longitude": null,
  "published_at": "2026-07-07T12:00:00+00:00",
  "creator_username": "public-creator",
  "creator_name": "Public Creator",
  "creator_url": "https://www.snapchat.com/@public-creator",
  "creator_profile_picture_url": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/example-profile",
  "creator_subscriber_count": 0,
  "creator_badge": 1,
  "creator_category": "public-profile-category-v3-people",
  "creator_subcategory": "public-profile-subcategory-v3-creator",
  "creator_bio": "Public profile bio",
  "rank": 1,
  "source_url": "https://www.snapchat.com/@public-creator",
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-11T12:00:00+00:00"
}

Story and highlight fields

• source_type distinguishes an ephemeral active_story from a curated_highlight.
• story_id, highlight_id, and snap_id preserve the public source identifiers when present.
• record_id is always available. When Snapchat omits a snap ID for a curated highlight, the Actor creates a deterministic key from the story, snap index, and media URL.
• snap_index preserves the order within the source story or highlight.
• story_title, story_subtitle, story_emoji, and story_thumbnail_url describe the containing highlight when supplied.

Media fields

media_url and preview_url are current public Snapchat CDN resources. overlay_url, attachment_url, and transcript_url are retained when the source provides them. media_type is normalized to video or image for known values, while unknown future source values are preserved rather than guessed.

CDN links may expire or rotate. Use them promptly inside a legitimate workflow and keep record_id, snap_id, and source_url for traceability. Returning a public media URL does not transfer copyright or grant republication rights.

Creator fields

Creator fields repeat on every row intentionally. That makes multi-profile exports easy to filter without joining another table. Subscriber count may be hidden or returned as zero by Snapchat. A badge, category, subcategory, or bio is source metadata, not independent verification of identity or influence.

Active stories versus curated highlights

An active story is the currently visible public story surface for a creator. It can disappear quickly and may be absent at the time of a run. A curated highlight is a public set the creator keeps on the profile and is generally more stable. The Actor can collect either or both, but it does not describe curated highlights as currently active stories.

This distinction matters for monitoring:

• Use active stories to detect current public activity.
• Use curated highlights for durable thematic or portfolio research.
• Retain source_type in downstream systems.
• Do not infer deletion or intent from one missing snapshot; visibility can vary by source state or region.

A practical monitoring workflow

1. Begin with a small, reviewed list of public creator usernames.
2. Keep both source types enabled for the first run.
3. Inspect the output and decide whether the workflow needs active stories, highlights, or both.
4. Store record_id, source_type, published_at, and scraped_at in every snapshot.
5. Deduplicate historical data by record_id.
6. Compare snapshots on a daily or weekly cadence rather than polling continuously.
7. Treat public media as copyrighted content and retain only what the legitimate use requires.
8. Review any automated classifications before using them in decisions.

For account-level data, use the separate Snapchat Profile Scraper. For Spotlight engagement and video metadata, use the Snapchat Spotlight Scraper. The three Actors deliberately separate profile, story/highlight, and Spotlight workflows so users pay only for the rows they need.

Scheduling and integrations

Save a tested configuration as an Apify Task, then add a schedule or webhook. Results can feed:

• Google Sheets or Airtable for reviewed monitoring;
• n8n, Make, or Zapier for workflow automation;
• BigQuery, Snowflake, PostgreSQL, or object storage for snapshots;
• Python or JavaScript services through the Apify API;
• internal dashboards comparing public creator activity.

A daily schedule is usually enough for active-story monitoring; weekly can be sufficient for curated highlights. Avoid collecting more often than the business question requires. The Actor continues past profiles with no public rows and fails explicitly only when none of the supplied profiles returns usable story or highlight media.

Pricing

This Actor uses transparent pay-per-event pricing:

• $0.005 when the Actor starts.
• $0.002 for each unique story or highlight snap saved to the default dataset.

A 100-row run costs about $0.205 in Actor charges before ordinary Apify platform usage. Duplicate records, unavailable profiles, rows without media, and records beyond the configured limit do not create result charges. The price is lower than the closest current competing Snapchat Stories Actor's $0.09 start and $0.00299 result price.

Reliability and limitations

The engine uses Chrome-compatible TLS impersonation and direct HTTP requests. It launches no browser and requires no proxy. Requests have explicit timeouts and up to three bounded retries. Profile and output counts are capped, and empty overall output fails rather than reporting a misleading successful run.

Snapchat controls what anonymous public pages expose. A creator can have content in the app while returning no public web story. Region, age, moderation, deletion, platform experiments, or source changes can affect results. The Actor does not bypass those controls and does not paginate beyond the current active-story and curated-highlight data rendered on the profile page.

Responsible use

Use this Actor only for legitimate research involving public data. Follow Snapchat's terms, applicable copyright and privacy law, and your organization's policies. Do not use it for harassment, stalking, sensitive profiling, spam, deceptive targeting, or unauthorized content republication. Minimize stored data and delete it when the purpose ends.

This Actor is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Snapchat or Snap Inc.

Frequently asked questions

Does it require a Snapchat account?

No. It reads anonymous public profile data.

What happens when a creator has no active story?

The Actor can still return curated highlights when enabled. It logs profiles with no usable rows and continues.

Are curated highlights the same as active stories?

No. Every row includes source_type so the two surfaces remain distinct.

Does it permanently host the media?

No. It returns current source URLs. Snapchat CDN links may expire or rotate.

Can it scrape private stories?

No. It collects only story and highlight data exposed on anonymous public profile pages.

Can I schedule it?

Yes. Save an Apify Task and attach a daily or weekly schedule. Keep timestamped snapshots for comparisons.

You might also like

• Snapchat Profile Scraper for public account metadata.
• Snapchat Spotlight Scraper for public Spotlight videos and engagement metrics.
• SocialBlade Scraper for public cross-platform channel statistics.

If the Actor saved time or replaced manual work, leave a Store review. Reviews help prioritize endpoint monitoring, field improvements, and support.

Keywords: Snapchat stories scraper, Snapchat highlights scraper, public Snapchat story API, Snapchat media URL, Snapchat creator monitoring, Snapchat story downloader metadata, curated highlights data, active story scraper.