Substack Notes Scraper — Extract Notes & Engagement From the Fastest-Growing Writer Platform

Scrape Notes from Substack profiles or search across all Substack Notes at scale for writer research, content monitoring, and trend detection. Get clean, structured data with author info, engagement metrics, and media — no authentication required. The only Substack Notes scraper on Apify, powered by browser automation since no public API exists for Notes.

What data can you extract from Substack?

For each note, you get:

• Note content — full text, note URL, posted date, note ID
• Author info — handle, display name, avatar URL
• Engagement metrics — likes, replies, and restacks per note
• Media — media URLs for notes with images or embeds
• Mentions — parsed and extracted from note text
• Linked posts — URL of any linked Substack post referenced in the note

Sample output

{
  "note_id": "c-1234567890",
  "author_handle": "platformer",
  "author_name": "Platformer",
  "author_avatar": "https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/example.jpg",
  "text": "The future of media is independent. Substack Notes is where writers are building real communities.",
  "like_count": 342,
  "reply_count": 28,
  "restack_count": 56,
  "posted_date": "2026-08-01T14:30:00.000Z",
  "note_url": "https://substack.com/@platformer/note/c-1234567890",
  "has_media": true,
  "media_urls": ["https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/note-example.jpg"],
  "mentions": ["@caseynewton"],
  "linked_post": "https://platformer.com/the-end-of-the-social-media-era"
}

How to use the Substack Notes Scraper

1. Choose a mode — Select profile to get notes from a specific author, or search to find notes by keyword across all of Substack
2. Enter a handle or search query — For profile mode, provide a Substack handle (e.g., platformer). For search mode, enter a keyword
3. Set max notes — Choose how many notes to extract (up to 500)
4. Run the actor — Click Start and get your data in minutes
5. Export — Download as JSON, CSV, XML, Excel, or HTML

Input fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
mode	string	Yes	profile	profile for author notes, search for keyword search
handle	string	profile mode	—	Substack handle without @ (e.g., platformer)
searchQuery	string	search mode	—	Keyword to search across all Substack Notes
maxNotes	integer	No	50	Maximum notes to return (1-500)

Use cases

• Writer research — Find popular Substack writers and analyze their Notes engagement
• Content monitoring — Track what writers are saying about your brand or topic
• Trend detection — Identify trending notes and discussions on the fastest-growing writer platform
• Competitor tracking — Monitor competing publications' Notes activity and engagement
• Influencer identification — Discover high-engagement Substack writers for partnerships
• Audience analysis — Understand which topics and writers drive the most discussion on Substack
• Academic research — Study the evolution of independent media and short-form publishing

How much does it cost to scrape Substack?

$0.03 per result. You only pay for the data you actually receive — failed or empty requests are not charged.

Results	Cost
50 notes	~$1.50
100 notes	~$3.00
250 notes	~$7.50
500 notes	~$15.00

The first run is free under Apify's free tier, so you can test with a small batch before scaling up.

Is scraping Substack legal?

Yes. This scraper only accesses publicly available Notes data through browser automation of public Substack pages. It does not bypass authentication or access private data. Always check Substack's Terms of Service for restrictions on how you use the data.

FAQ

What are Substack Notes?

Notes are Substack's short-form social posts, similar to tweets. They include text, media, mentions, and engagement metrics. Notes can be posted by any Substack writer and are visible on the platform's social feed.

Do I need a Substack account?

No, the scraper works with public notes. No authentication is required. Both search mode and profile mode work without any login credentials.

Can I get notes from a specific author?

Yes, use profile mode with the author's handle (e.g., platformer). The scraper will pull all available notes from that author's profile page.

What is the difference between profile and search mode?

Profile mode pulls all notes from a specific Substack author's profile. Search mode scrolls through the Substack Notes feed and filters results by your keyword, giving you notes from across the entire platform.

How many results can I get per run?

You can retrieve up to 500 results per run using the maxNotes parameter. For broader searches, run multiple times with different keywords or handles.

Can I integrate this with my existing pipeline?

Yes. Apify provides a REST API, webhooks, and integrations with Zapier, Make, Airbyte, and LangChain. You can schedule runs, export to S3 or Google Sheets, and chain actors together.

Related actors

Check out our other social media scrapers:

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Threads Profile Scraper	Threads	Meta's text platform
BitChute Video Scraper	BitChute	Alternative video platform data
Farcaster Cast Scraper	Farcaster	Web3 social data
Spoutible Profile Scraper	Spoutible	Twitter alternative monitoring
Gab Search Scraper	Gab	OSINT & alternative platform monitoring

Support

Need a custom feature or found a bug? Open an issue on the Actor's page and we'll respond within 24 hours. We can also build custom scrapers for your specific use case — just reach out.