# Substack Scraper: Posts, Full Text and Comments, No Login (`datagleaner/substack-scraper`) Actor

Substack scraper: posts, full text of free posts, authors, likes, tags and comments from any public newsletter, post URL or search. No login, no API key, no browser. $1.50 per 1,000 posts, $0.30 per 1,000 comments.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datagleaner/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Data Gleaner](https://apify.com/datagleaner) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Social media, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Substack Scraper: newsletter posts, full text and comments, no login

**Scrape any public Substack newsletter, post URL or Substack-wide search into JSON: title, subtitle, authors, date, full text of free posts, likes, comment count, restacks, tags and, if you want, the comments.** No Substack account, no cookies, no API key, no browser.

**Price: $1.50 per 1,000 posts** ($0.0015 per post, full text included) and $0.30 per 1,000 comments. 100 posts cost 15 cents.

### Why use this one

- **Post text is in the row.** Full text and HTML of free posts come back by default at no extra charge. Paywalled posts return the public preview and are marked `isPaywalled: true` and `isBodyTruncated: true`, so you know which text is complete.
- **Custom domains work** (`https://www.lennysnewsletter.com`, a `name.substack.com` address or just the subdomain).
- **A bad newsletter does not sink the run.** Unavailable newsletters are reported in the log and run summary, skipped and not billed; one bad post never loses the others.
- **Three inputs in one run:** newsletters, single posts and search queries, de-duplicated together; `postsSince` ("7 days") for scheduled feeds.
- **Honest limit:** nothing behind a paywall is fetched, and search returns what Substack's own search ranks first.

### Minimal input

```json
{"publications": ["https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 20, "postsSince": "30 days"}
```

### Sample output row (real platform run, long text shortened)

```json
{
  "type": "post",
  "id": 215694124,
  "title": "All of the Lenny & Friends Summit talks are now online!",
  "subtitle": "Plus, some reflections and takeaways from the day",
  "url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "slug": "all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "publicationName": "Lenny's Newsletter",
  "publicationUrl": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Lenny Rachitsky",
      "handle": "lenny",
      "url": "https://substack.com/@lenny"
    }
  ],
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-29T13:15:57+00:00",
  "postType": "newsletter",
  "audience": "everyone",
  "isPaywalled": false,
  "isBodyTruncated": false,
  "wordCount": 1276,
  "likes": 284,
  "reactions": {
    "❤": 284
  },
  "commentCount": 6,
  "restacks": 5,
  "coverImage": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9fed347c-0e02-4190-a590-1236719b99de_9213x6142.jpeg",
  "tags": [],
  "bodyText": "👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I share deeply researched product, growth, and career advice. For more: Len...",
  "bodyHtml": "<p><em>👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I share deeply researched product, growth, and career advice. For mo...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-11T06:37:27+00:00",
  "input": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
}
```

### What does Substack Scraper do?

It reads a newsletter's archive (newest or most popular first), fetches each post's body, and returns one row per post in the Apify dataset, exportable as JSON, CSV or Excel or readable through the API. Typical uses:

- **Newsletter monitoring.** Track what competitors, analysts or creators publish, and how many likes and comments each post gets.
- **Content research.** Find the top posts on a topic with Substack-wide keyword search.
- **Datasets for AI and RAG.** Get clean text (and HTML) of free posts for summaries, embeddings or training pipelines.
- **Audience and sentiment research.** Collect the comments under a post, with their reply structure.
- **Lead and creator discovery.** Search a topic, list the newsletters that write about it, and rank them by likes per post.
- **Recurring feeds.** Use `postsSince` to pull only the last day or week on a schedule.

Paywalled posts return only the public preview Substack shows to anonymous readers. They are marked `isPaywalled: true` and `isBodyTruncated: true`, so you always know which text is complete.

### Input

| Field | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `publications` | list of text | Newsletter URLs or subdomains: `https://www.lennysnewsletter.com`, `https://lenny.substack.com` or `lenny`. Custom domains work. |
| `postUrls` | list of text | Single posts, `https://<newsletter>/p/<slug>`. |
| `searchQueries` | list of text | Keywords to search across all of Substack. |
| `searchType` | `posts` / `publications` | `posts` (default) returns the matching posts. `publications` finds matching newsletters and returns their latest posts. |
| `sort` | `new` / `top` | Order of a newsletter's archive. Default `new`. |
| `maxPostsPerPublication` | number | Cap per newsletter. Default 20. Also your cost cap per newsletter. |
| `maxPostsPerSearch` | number | Cap per search query (posts search). Default 20. |
| `maxPublicationsPerSearch` | number | With `searchType: publications`, how many newsletters to read per query. Default 5. |
| `postsSince` | text | Skip older posts. A date (`2026-10-01`) or relative time (`7 days`, `2 weeks`, `3 months`). |
| `includeBody` | true/false | Fetch the full text and HTML of each post. Default true, no extra charge. |
| `includeComments` | true/false | Also return the comments of each post. Default false. |
| `maxCommentsPerPost` | number | Cap per post when comments are on, replies included. Default 50. |
| `requestDelaySeconds` | number | Pause between requests, default 0.5 s (randomised up to 1.4x). |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Optional Apify Proxy. Default is no proxy. |

```json
{
  "publications": ["https://www.lennysnewsletter.com", "https://www.astralcodexten.com"],
  "searchQueries": ["ai agents"],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 50,
  "maxPostsPerSearch": 30,
  "postsSince": "30 days",
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 100
}
```

Posts are deduplicated across all inputs of a run.

### Output

Two row types share the dataset, told apart by `type`.

**Post row (`type: "post"`)**

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `id`, `title`, `subtitle`, `url`, `slug` | Post identity and link. |
| `publicationName`, `publicationUrl` | The newsletter the post belongs to. |
| `authors` | List of `{name, handle, url}`. |
| `publishedAt` | Publication time, ISO 8601 UTC. |
| `postType` | `newsletter`, `podcast`, `thread` and so on. |
| `audience`, `isPaywalled`, `isBodyTruncated` | `everyone` / `only_free` / `only_paid` / `founding`; whether the post is paid; whether `bodyText` is only the public preview. |
| `wordCount` | Word count of the whole post, also for paywalled ones. |
| `likes`, `reactions`, `commentCount`, `restacks` | Engagement. `reactions` maps each emoji to its count. |
| `coverImage`, `tags` | Cover image URL and post tags. |
| `bodyText`, `bodyHtml` | Plain text with paragraph breaks, and the original HTML. With `includeBody` off, `bodyText` is the short preview and `bodyHtml` is null. |
| `scrapedAt`, `input` | ISO 8601 time of the scrape and the input value the row came from. |

```json
{
  "type": "post",
  "id": 215694124,
  "title": "All of the Lenny & Friends Summit talks are now online!",
  "subtitle": "Plus, some reflections and takeaways from the day",
  "url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "slug": "all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "publicationName": "Lenny's Newsletter",
  "publicationUrl": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com",
  "authors": [{"name": "Lenny Rachitsky", "handle": "lenny", "url": "https://substack.com/@lenny"}],
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-29T13:15:57+00:00",
  "postType": "newsletter",
  "audience": "everyone",
  "isPaywalled": false,
  "isBodyTruncated": false,
  "wordCount": 1276,
  "likes": 281,
  "reactions": {"❤": 281},
  "commentCount": 6,
  "restacks": 5,
  "coverImage": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9fed347c-....jpeg",
  "tags": [],
  "bodyText": "Hey there, I'm Lenny. Each week, I share deeply researched product, growth, and career advice ...",
  "bodyHtml": "<p>Hey there, I'm Lenny ...</p>",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-09T10:12:14+00:00",
  "input": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
}
```

**Comment row (`type: "comment"`)**

```json
{
  "type": "comment",
  "id": 349085941,
  "postId": 215694124,
  "postUrl": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "author": "Product Mindset",
  "authorHandle": "productmindset",
  "body": "Thank you Lenny for putting this together ...",
  "likes": 3,
  "restacks": 0,
  "createdAt": "2026-09-29T23:34:47+00:00",
  "editedAt": null,
  "parentId": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-09T10:12:14+00:00",
  "input": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit"
}
```

`parentId` is the id of the comment a reply answers, and `null` for top-level comments. A reply comes right after its parent.

### Pricing

Pay per event, with the prices final:

- **$0.0015 per post** ($1.50 per 1,000 posts), full text of free posts included
- **$0.0003 per comment** ($0.30 per 1,000 comments)

No start fee. You pay only for rows you receive: nothing for newsletters that are unavailable, failed requests or retries, and the run stops by itself when your **maximum total charge** is reached. Platform usage is included.

Example: 10 newsletters with 100 posts each is 1,000 posts, so 1,000 x $0.0015 = **$1.50**. Add 20 comments on each of 200 posts and you pay 4,000 x $0.0003 = $1.20 more.

### Use it from the API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/datagleaner~substack-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"publications": ["lenny"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 10}'
```

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("datagleaner/substack-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["ai agents"], "maxPostsPerSearch": 25, "postsSince": "7 days"})
for post in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(post["publishedAt"], post["title"], post["likes"])
```

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

Actor ID: `datagleaner/substack-scraper`

Minimal input:

```
{"publications": ["https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 5}
```

Each tool below runs this Actor with your own Apify API token.

- **n8n:** add the **Apify** node (`@apify/n8n-nodes-apify`). On n8n Cloud you install it from the community node registry. Choose **Run an Actor and get dataset**, set Actor to `datagleaner/substack-scraper` and paste the input above.
- **Make:** use the Apify app's **Run an Actor** module, then **Get Dataset Items** to read the results. **Watch Actor Runs** can trigger a scenario when a run finishes.
- **Zapier:** use the Apify action **Run Actor**, then the search **Fetch dataset items**. The trigger **Finished Actor run** starts a Zap when a run ends.
- **AI agents (MCP):** connect to `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datagleaner/substack-scraper`. Without a token, an agent can still find Actors with the `search-actors` tool, but running this one needs your Apify account. In Claude Code:

  ```
    claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datagleaner/substack-scraper"
  ```

  Then run `/mcp` to sign in to Apify in your browser. Then ask in plain language, for example: "Use the Substack scraper to get the latest 10 posts of lennysnewsletter.com and summarise in English what each one argues, with the like counts."
- **LangChain (Python):**

```python
## pip install langchain-apify, then set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment
import json
from langchain_apify import ApifyActorsTool
tool = ApifyActorsTool("datagleaner/substack-scraper")
result = tool.invoke({"run_input": json.loads('{"publications": ["https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 5}')})
```

### Limits

- **Paywalled posts** return only the public preview. Nothing behind a paywall is fetched.
- **Search** returns what Substack's own search ranks first; posts, not notes. It pages until your cap or until Substack stops returning results.
- **Comments** are the ones Substack shows anonymous readers. Posts with comments limited to subscribers still show them to readers where Substack does.
- Very large newsletters (thousands of posts) take a while at the default pace; lower `requestDelaySeconds` carefully.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Substack account or API key?** No. Only public data is read.

**Does it work on custom domains?** Yes, any newsletter that is public on the web, whether `name.substack.com` or its own domain.

**Why is `bodyText` short for some posts?** Those are paywalled posts. `isBodyTruncated` is `true` and `wordCount` still tells you the real length.

**Can it get a newsletter's subscriber count?** Substack does not show it publicly for most newsletters, so it is not returned.

**What happens if I start it with no input?** It runs a small built-in example, the 5 latest posts of Lenny's Newsletter (5 x $0.0015 = $0.0075), and says so in the run's status message. Give `publications`, `postUrls` or `searchQueries` for your own data.

**What happens if a newsletter does not exist?** It is skipped, reported in the log and in the `SUMMARY` record, and not billed.

### Responsible use

This Actor reads publicly available data only. You are responsible for how you use it, including copyright in the text you collect and any personal-data rules (for example GDPR) that apply to author names and comments. Do not use it to harass people or to republish paywalled content.

# Actor input Schema

## `publications` (type: `array`):

Newsletter URLs or subdomains: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com, https://lenny.substack.com or just lenny. Custom domains work. The latest (or top) posts of each are returned.

## `postUrls` (type: `array`):

Single posts, e.g. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Search all of Substack by keyword. Returns matching posts, or with Search type = publications, the latest posts of the newsletters that match.

## `searchType` (type: `string`):

posts: return the posts that match the query. publications: find newsletters that match the query and return their latest posts.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Order for publication archives: new (newest first) or top (most popular first).

## `maxPostsPerPublication` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on posts returned for each publication. Each returned post is billed, so this is also your cost cap per publication.

## `maxPostsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on posts returned for each search query (search type = posts).

## `maxPublicationsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

With search type = publications: how many matching newsletters to read for each query (each up to the max posts per publication).

## `postsSince` (type: `string`):

Optional. A date or datetime such as 2026-10-01 or 2026-10-01T12:00:00Z, or a relative time such as 7 days, 2 weeks, 3 months. Older posts are skipped (and, for newest-first listings, paging stops).

## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each post's full text and HTML (one extra request per post, no extra charge). Turn off for a faster metadata-only run; the text is then a short preview. Paywalled posts only ever return their public preview, marked isBodyTruncated.

## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`):

Also return the comments of each post as separate items (type = comment). Billed per comment. Off by default.

## `maxCommentsPerPost` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on comments returned for each post when comments are on, replies included, best comments first.

## `requestDelaySeconds` (type: `number`):

Base pause between requests to Substack; the actual pause is randomised up to 1.4x. Raise it if Substack answers with rate limits (HTTP 429).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. The default is no proxy, which works from Apify's servers. Enable Apify Proxy only if Substack rate-limits you.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
  ],
  "postUrls": [],
  "searchQueries": [],
  "searchType": "posts",
  "sort": "new",
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "maxPostsPerSearch": 20,
  "maxPublicationsPerSearch": 5,
  "includeBody": true,
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 50,
  "requestDelaySeconds": 0.5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "publications": [
        "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
    ],
    "postUrls": [],
    "searchQueries": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datagleaner/substack-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 = {
    "publications": ["https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"],
    "postUrls": [],
    "searchQueries": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

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

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "publications": [
    "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
  ],
  "postUrls": [],
  "searchQueries": [],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call datagleaner/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datagleaner/substack-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bfp4KfrdyzAvybe8I/builds/s6UwgWIhmhMQGfGix/openapi.json