# Reddit Search Comments Scraper (`data_direct/reddit-comments-scraper`) Actor

Search Reddit comments by keyword across every subreddit

- **URL**: https://apify.com/data\_direct/reddit-comments-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Data Direct](https://apify.com/data_direct) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 pages

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Reddit Search Comments Scraper

Search for Reddit comments by keyword across all subreddits. Returns comment text, parent post URL, subreddit, author, comment upvotes, and parent post engagement metrics. Supports fetching multiple pages in a single API call (billed per page).

### Features

- Real-time Reddit data — results are fetched live at run time, never cached or stale
- No login, cookies, or proxy configuration needed — just provide the input and run
- Each result is pushed as a separate dataset item, exportable as JSON, CSV, or Excel
- Fast: a typical run finishes in seconds

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | yes | Search query (max 500 characters) |
| `pages` | integer | no | Number of pages to fetch and merge (1-5). Billed per page. |
| `sort_by` | string | no | Sort order for results One of: most\_recent, relevance, top. |

### Pricing

This Actor is billed **per page of results** — **$0.003 per page**.

- Results come in pages. Use the `pages` input to choose how many pages to fetch (1–5); more pages means more results.
- You pay $0.003 for each page you fetch, so `pages: 3` costs **$0.009** and `pages: 1` costs **$0.003**.
- You’re only charged when a run succeeds. Failed runs are free.

### Example output

```json
{
  "count": 18,
  "pages": 1,
  "posts": [
    {
      "author": "Lawsoffire",
      "date": "2026-04-04 21:12:30",
      "domain": "reddit.com",
      "snippet": "In the context of a post-2023 world, I really don't feel that a program doing what its programmed to, but now the input and output is somewhat dynamic qualifies on anywhere near the same linguistic scale as anything after the initial release of ChatGPT. I mean, sure, you can call them both artificial intelligence. But it must be recognized that they practically have nothing to do with each other under the hood.",
      "source": "Reddit (Comment)",
      "subreddit": "pcgaming",
      "title": "Lawsoffire on pcgaming",
      "type": "comment",
      "upvotes": 87,
      "post_upvotes": 2341,
      "post_comments": 312,
      "url": "https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nothing-in-our-games-will-be-ai-generated-ever-says-warframe-director/1100-6539194/"
    },
    {
      "author": "LiquidAether",
      "date": "2026-04-04 21:07:13",
      "domain": "reddit.com",
      "snippet": "LLMs are basically unrelated to actual artificial intelligence. And breakthroughs in that direction will have to come from a different source.",
      "source": "Reddit (Comment)",
      "subreddit": "movies",
      "title": "LiquidAether on movies",
      "type": "comment",
      "upvotes": 42,
      "post_upvotes": 1850,
      "post_comments": 274,
      "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1scjg3o/movie_plots_that_are_uncomfortably_close_to/"
    },
    {
      "author": "sajberhippien",
      "date": "2026-04-04 21:01:44",
      "domain": "reddit.com",
      "snippet": "> There is actually value in not claiming every stupid automation is in some way artificial intelligence. Windmills are automation, and noone is claimin
  ... (truncated)
```

### About

Maintained by **Data Direct** — a small suite of fast, reliable Reddit and web-data scrapers. Each actor returns clean, structured results with no login, cookies, or proxy setup required. Have a question or a custom data need? Open an issue on this actor.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search query (max 500 characters)

## `pages` (type: `integer`):

Number of pages to fetch and merge (1-5). Billed per page.

## `sort_by` (type: `string`):

Sort order for results

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "python",
  "pages": 1,
  "sort_by": "most_recent"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "python"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("data_direct/reddit-comments-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 = { "query": "python" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("data_direct/reddit-comments-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "python"
}' |
apify call data_direct/reddit-comments-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=data_direct/reddit-comments-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/xCrAbRFYPqg2OBb6h/builds/N4m1sSomM5437RiQB/openapi.json