CrowdPull FB Comment Scraper

Extract all comments and replies from any public Facebook post — no login or cookies required.

Works with group posts, page posts, permalinks, and share links. No browser automation — just fast, lightweight HTTP requests.

Why this scraper

• No browser — pure HTTP, no Playwright overhead. Faster and cheaper to run than browser-based alternatives.
• Reaction breakdown — per-type counts (like, love, haha, wow, sorry, anger, support) for sentiment analysis without NLP. Most scrapers only give you a total count.
• Spam & moderation signals — Facebook's own spam classification, disabled/hidden status, and reply-locked threads. Filter junk before it hits your pipeline.
• Group context — group ID, anonymous posting flags, and member profile status for cross-group audience analysis.
• Smart Scrape dedup — skip posts already scraped in previous runs. No other comment scraper offers incremental extraction.
• @handle extraction — mentions and URLs parsed from comment text, ready for lead gen or network mapping.
• Structured dataset output — typed schema with table preview in the Apify Console. Browse results without downloading.

Features

• No login required — extracts comments anonymously from public posts
• Reply expansion — automatically fetches nested reply threads
• Pagination — automatically loads all comments, not just the first few
• Multi-post support — process multiple posts in a single run with concurrent workers
• Comment scraper chaining — trigger automatically from the feed scraper via webhook

What you get per comment

Field	Description
commentId	Unique Facebook comment ID
authorName	Commenter's display name
authorId	Facebook user ID
authorProfileUrl	Link to commenter's profile
authorProfilePicture	Profile picture URL
authorGender	MALE, FEMALE, or empty
authorType	User or Page
text	Full comment text
timestamp	ISO 8601 timestamp
isReply	Whether this is a reply to another comment
depth	Nesting depth (0 = top-level, 1 = reply, 2+ = nested)
parentCommentId	ID of the parent comment (for threading)
replyCount	Number of replies to this comment
reactionCount	Total reaction count
reactionBreakdown	Per-type counts: like, love, haha, wow, sorry, anger, support
spamDisplayMode	Facebook's spam classification
isDisabled	Whether the comment has been hidden/removed
groupCommentInfo	Group ID, anonymous posting, nickname usage, member status
commentUrl	Direct permalink to the comment
extractedUrls	URLs found in comment text
extractedHandles	@handles and mentions found in comment text
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp of when extraction occurred

Automatic chaining via webhook

The easiest way to run the comment scraper is to trigger it automatically when the CrowdPull FB Group Posts Scraper finishes. Set up an Apify webhook on the posts scraper:

1. Go to the posts scraper actor/task Integrations tab
2. Add integration: Apify (Connect Actor or Task) → select this comment scraper task
3. Event: Run succeeded
4. Input mapping: {"datasetId": "{{resource.defaultDatasetId}}", "minComments": 0}

The comment scraper loads the posts dataset, filters by minComments, and extracts comments from all matching posts. No API tokens or manual URL copying needed.

How it works

1. Fetches the post page anonymously — no login, no cookies, no browser
2. Extracts all available comments from the page response
3. Paginates to load additional comments beyond the initial batch
4. Expands nested reply threads automatically
5. Deduplicates across multiple data sources for complete coverage

Anonymous vs authenticated mode

Capability	Anonymous (default)	With cookies
Top-level comments	All	All
Reply threads	~1 reply per thread	All replies
Overall coverage	~85% of visible comments	~100%

For full reply coverage, provide Facebook cookies via the fbCookies input field.

Smart Scrape (incremental dedup)

Enable Smart Scrape to skip posts already scraped in previous runs. Ideal for recurring monitoring jobs — you only pay for new posts.

1. On first run, all posts are scraped normally and cached in a persistent store
2. On subsequent runs, cached posts are skipped (charged at a reduced cache-check rate)
3. Optionally set a refresh window to re-scrape recent posts that may have gained new comments

Cost comparison (50 posts/week, ~10 comments/post average)

Scenario	Without Smart Scrape	With Smart Scrape
Week 1 (all new)	500 comments extracted	500 comments extracted
Week 2 (10 new posts)	500 comments extracted	100 comments + 40 cache checks
Week 4 (10 new/week)	2,000 comments total	800 comments + 120 cache checks
Monthly cost	Full price	~55% cheaper

Built-in incremental extraction — only pay for new comments on recurring runs.

Use cases

• Market research — analyze customer sentiment and questions in niche groups
• Lead generation — extract URLs, @handles, and active community members
• Content analysis — use reaction breakdowns to measure sentiment without NLP
• Competitive intelligence — monitor competitor post discussions
• Community health — track spam rates, disabled comments, and moderation patterns

Input example

{
  "postUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakeryforbeginners/posts/903456049205823/"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 50,
  "includeReplies": true,
  "extractUrls": true
}

Output example

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakeryforbeginners/posts/903615849189843/",
  "commentId": "903620162522745",
  "authorName": "Sandy D Crusan",
  "authorId": "pfbid0zfQhxbUdLXKEU...",
  "authorGender": "FEMALE",
  "authorType": "User",
  "text": "I wish NJ allowed alcohol infused products with a Cottage License.",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-25T23:20:03.000Z",
  "isReply": false,
  "depth": 0,
  "replyCount": 0,
  "reactionCount": 1,
  "reactionBreakdown": { "like": 1, "love": 0, "haha": 0, "wow": 0, "sorry": 0, "anger": 0, "support": 0 },
  "spamDisplayMode": "none",
  "isDisabled": false,
  "groupCommentInfo": {
    "group": { "id": "683303171221113" },
    "is_author_anonymous": false,
    "is_author_nickname": false,
    "is_author_with_member_profile": true
  },
  "extractedUrls": [],
  "extractedHandles": [],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-02-26T00:33:54.010Z"
}

Cost estimate

This Actor uses no browser — just lightweight HTTP requests.

PPE Event	Description	Cost
actor-start	One-time per run	$0.005
comment-extracted	Per comment pushed to dataset	Per-1K pricing (see Store)
cache-check	Per post skipped by Smart Scrape	Reduced rate (see Store)

A typical run extracting 50 comments costs ~$0.01-0.02 in platform fees.

Limitations

• Only works with public posts (private groups/posts return 0 comments)
• Anonymous mode returns ~1 reply per thread (Facebook's anonymous rate limit)
• Very new posts (minutes old) may not have comments indexed yet
• Facebook may change internal APIs; report issues if extraction stops working
• reactionBreakdown only populates when comments have reactions (zeros otherwise)
• authorGender depends on the user's Facebook privacy settings
• Anonymous feed API returns commentCount: 0 for all posts — when using webhook chaining, set minComments: 0 to process all posts

Is it legal to scrape Facebook comments?

This Actor extracts publicly visible data from Facebook posts. Here are the key legal considerations:

• Public data: Only public posts are accessible. Private groups and posts behind login walls return zero results.
• No authentication by default: The scraper works anonymously without any Facebook account, accessing only what any visitor can see.
• Terms of Service: Web scraping of public data has been upheld in multiple court rulings (hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn, 2022). However, Facebook's Terms of Service restrict automated data collection. Use this tool responsibly and in compliance with applicable laws.
• GDPR/CCPA: Extracted data may contain personal information (names, profile pictures, comment text). If you process this data in the EU/EEA or for California residents, ensure you have a lawful basis under GDPR/CCPA. Consider anonymizing or pseudonymizing personal data before storage.
• Rate limiting: The scraper includes built-in delays and respects Facebook's rate limits to minimize server impact.

You are responsible for ensuring your use of this data complies with all applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction.