Substack Scraper — Posts, Likes, Comments, Full Text, No Login

Get the posts of any Substack publication — on *.substack.com or a custom domain — as JSON, CSV or Excel, or straight into your own tools via API. No login, no cookies: it reads the same public archive that powers the publication's own "Archive" page.

Paste publication URLs, subdomains or author handles, set how many posts you need (or a date like "90 days"), optionally turn on Include post content to get the text of every post.

Why this Actor

• Works with custom domains and moved subdomains, and with @author handles
• Likes, comments, restacks, word count, paid/free flag and authors for every post
• Optional full text of free posts — and the public preview of paid ones, exactly as an anonymous reader sees it
• Public archive API only: no login, nothing scraped from HTML
• Checked every day by an automated run; fixed within 24 hours when Substack changes its API

Sample output

One item of the dataset (long values shortened):

{
  "publication": "www.astralcodexten.com",
  "publicationName": "Astral Codex Ten",
  "publicationAuthor": "Scott Alexander",
  "title": "Your Book Review: This Is Going To Hurt",
  "subtitle": "Finalist #9 in the Book Review Contest",
  "url": "https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-this-is-going-to",
  "date": "2026-09-18T20:53:58.344Z",
  "type": "newsletter",
  "isPaid": false,
  "wordCount": 12639,
  "reactionCount": 144,
  "commentCount": 295,
  "restacks": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Scott Alexander",
      "handle": "astralcodexten",
      "url": "https://substack.com/@astralcodexten"
    }
  ]
}

What you get

Field	Description
publication, publicationName, publicationAuthor	Host (e.g. www.lennysnewsletter.com), name and author of the publication
id, slug, url, title, subtitle, description	The post and its listing summary
date, type	Publication time (UTC); newsletter, podcast, thread or video
audience, isPaid, wordCount	Free vs paywalled, length
reactions, reactionCount, commentCount, restacks	Engagement as shown publicly
authors, tags, section, coverImage	Bylines with handles, tags, section
podcastUrl, podcastDuration	For podcast posts
previewText	First lines of the post as Substack lists them
bodyText, bodyHtml	Only with Include post content: full text of free posts; for paid posts the public preview an anonymous reader sees

Posts come newest first per publication. A per-publication summary (name, author, posts fetched, errors) is saved to the key-value store as SUMMARY.

Input

• Publications — any mix of lenny, astralcodexten.substack.com, https://www.astralcodexten.com, a post URL, or an author handle @lenny / https://substack.com/@lenny (resolved to the author's primary publication).
• Max posts per publication — newest first, read in pages of 25.
• Only posts newer than — 2026-01-31 or 7 days / 2 weeks / 3 months / 1 year. Scraping stops at the first older post, so a daily run with 1 day costs almost nothing.
• Include post content — one extra request per post, charged as a separate event.
• Proxy — off by default.

Limits and notes

• Paywalled posts return exactly what Substack shows to non-subscribers: metadata plus the public preview. The Actor cannot and does not bypass paywalls.
• Comments and Notes are not included.
• A subdomain that was moved to a custom domain (e.g. lenny.substack.com) is followed automatically. If a subdomain turns out to be a personal profile rather than a publication, the run says so and continues with the rest.
• Public data only; the Actor stores nothing beyond the dataset of your run.

Input example

{
  "publications": [
    "lennysnewsletter",
    "https://www.astralcodexten.com"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 50,
  "postedAfter": "90 days",
  "includeContent": false
}

How much does it cost?

Pay per post — no subscription, no minimum, no charge for platform usage.

Volume	Price
1,000 posts	$1.00 (+ $1.00 with content)
10,000 posts	$10.00 (+ $10.00 with content)
100,000 posts	$100.00 (+ $100.00 with content)

The Apify free plan includes $5 of usage every month — about 5,000 posts with this Actor, no card needed. Nothing else is charged: platform usage is included in the price, and Apify Bronze, Silver and Gold subscribers get 10%, 20% and 30% off these prices.

Use it from code, n8n, Make, Zapier or an AI agent

Run the Actor and download the dataset in one call (JSON by default; add &format=csv or xlsx):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/chorelet~substack-posts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"publications": ["lennysnewsletter", "https://www.astralcodexten.com"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 50, "postedAfter": "90 days", "includeContent": false}'

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("chorelet/substack-posts-scraper").call(run_input={"publications": ["lennysnewsletter", "https://www.astralcodexten.com"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 50, "postedAfter": "90 days", "includeContent": false})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

• n8n, Make, Zapier — use the Apify node/module: run the Actor, then "get dataset items".
• Google Sheets, Slack, webhooks — add an integration on the run's Integrations tab.
• AI agents — the Actor is available as a tool through the Apify MCP server; the dataset schema describes every field for the model.
• Schedules — run it hourly, daily or weekly from the Schedules tab.

FAQ

Does it work for publications on their own domain?

Yes. Paste the domain (https://www.astralcodexten.com), the old subdomain or the author's @handle — all are resolved automatically.

Can it read paywalled posts?

No. For paid posts you get the metadata and the public preview that Substack shows to non-subscribers — nothing more.

How do I get the full text?

Turn on includeContent. Free posts come in full (bodyText, bodyHtml); the Actor fetches them four at a time.

How far back can I go?

The whole archive, 25 posts per page. Use postedAfter (90 days) or maxPostsPerPublication to limit it.

What does a run cost?

$1 per 1,000 posts, plus $1 per 1,000 posts when full content is requested. The free plan's $5 a month covers about 5,000 posts.

Support

Questions, missing fields or a source that changed? Open an issue on the Issues tab or write to support@chorelet.app — problems are usually fixed within a day, and the Actor is checked every morning by an automated test run. If the Actor saved you time, a short review on its Store page helps other people find it.