# Reddit Scraper - Posts, Comments, Users, Search & Subreddits (`dltik/reddit-scraper-api`) Actor

Scrape Reddit via the official API. Posts, full comment trees, user history, subreddit rules/mods, search, sentiment, media download and monitoring. No browser. From $0.60 per 1,000 comments, $2 per 1,000 posts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dltik/reddit-scraper-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Walid](https://apify.com/dltik) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 actor starts

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?

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 Scraper - Posts, Comments, Users, Search & Subreddits

> Bookmark this actor (top-right) - it keeps it visible on the Store and funds new features.

**Reddit Scraper** extracts public Reddit data through Reddit's official OAuth Data API - no headless browser, no residential proxy, no Reddit account required. One actor covers posts, full comment trees, user profiles and history, subreddit analytics, and search, with built-in sentiment, optional AI enrichment, media download, and true incremental monitoring. Output is clean JSON built for AI agents, market research, and social listening.

Because it rides the sanctioned `oauth.reddit.com` JSON API instead of rendering Chrome, this Reddit Scraper is **faster, cheaper, and more complete** than browser-based competitors - and it does not silently break when Reddit changes its HTML.

**Compatible with:** Apify MCP Server (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor), LangChain, Make.com, Zapier, n8n, and the direct REST API.

### Why this Reddit Scraper beats the rest

- **Cheapest deep-thread pricing on the Store** - $0.60 per 1,000 comments. A 5,000-comment thread costs $3 here versus ~$15 on flat-priced scrapers.
- **Split per-entity pricing** - posts, comments, users and subreddits are billed separately, so a comment-heavy job is not billed at the post rate.
- **No browser, no forced proxy** - an HTTP + OAuth stack runs in seconds on 1 GB, not minutes on a 2 GB Chrome. That is why it can be priced this low.
- **Deep comment trees** - recursive `load more comments` expansion via Reddit's morechildren API, so long threads are not truncated at the first page.
- **Full user intelligence** - total, link, comment, awardee and awarder karma, trophies, account age, plus post/comment history beyond Reddit's ~1,000-item cap via a free archive.
- **Subreddit governance** - subscribers, description, and the rules array (and moderators where public) - data no other Reddit scraper returns.
- **True incremental monitoring** - only-new-since-last-run with cross-run dedup, so you never pay twice for the same post.
- **Real media download** - images, ordered galleries, and audio-muxed Reddit video stored to your dataset instead of expiring URLs.
- **AI-native output** - default JSON, `jsonl-finetune` (LLM SFT pairs), or `rag-markdown` (vector-DB chunks), plus optional sentiment/intent/entity enrichment.
- **Hard cost ceiling** - set `maxTotalChargeUsd` and the run stops billing when it is reached. No overage surprises.

### What can this Reddit Scraper do?

Provide any combination of inputs and the actor routes each to the right mode:

- **Subreddits** - scrape posts from any subreddit sorted by hot, new, top, rising, or controversial, with a time filter.
- **Search** - keyword search across all of Reddit or one subreddit; return posts, comments, communities, or users. Supports quoted exact phrases and `author:`/`subreddit:` operators.
- **Post URLs** - paste post links (or `redd.it` short links / ids) to pull the post plus its full comment thread.
- **Usernames** - profile, karma breakdown, trophies, and optional post/comment history.
- **Subreddit analytics** - standalone metadata records with rules and moderators.
- **Monitoring** - incremental runs that only return new items since the last run.
- **Archive** - deep historical backfill via the free Arctic Shift archive, past Reddit's live truncation.

### What data you get

#### Reddit posts (`type: "post"`)

`id`, `post_id`, `url`, `permalink`, `title`, `body`, `body_html`, `author`, `author_id`, `author_flair`, `subreddit`, `subreddit_subscribers`, `post_type` (text/link/image/video/gallery), `flair`, `score`, `upvotes`, `upvote_ratio`, `num_comments`, `num_crossposts`, `total_awards`, `content_url`, `external_url`, `domain`, `media_urls`, `video` (fallback/HLS/DASH + duration), `is_nsfw`, `is_spoiler`, `is_locked`, `is_stickied`, `edited`, `distinguished`, `removed_by_category`, engagement metrics (`age_hours`, `score_per_hour`, `comments_per_hour`, `engagement_total`, `is_high_engagement`), `sentiment_score`, `sentiment_label`, `created_at`, `scraped_at`.

#### Reddit comments (`type: "comment"`)

`id`, `comment_id`, `post_id`, `post_title`, `parent_id`, `permalink`, `author`, `body`, `score`, `controversiality`, `depth`, `child_count`, `is_submitter`, `distinguished`, `is_stickied`, `gilded`, `total_awards`, `is_removed`, `age_hours`, `sentiment_score`, `sentiment_label`, `created_at`.

#### Reddit users (`type: "user"`)

`username`, `user_id`, `url`, `total_karma`, `link_karma`, `comment_karma`, `awardee_karma`, `awarder_karma`, `trophies`, `is_gold`, `is_mod`, `is_employee`, `is_verified`, `bio`, `account_created_at`, `account_age_days`.

#### Subreddit analytics (`type: "subreddit_analytics"`)

`name`, `title`, `description`, `subscribers`, `active_users`, `subreddit_type`, `is_nsfw`, `created_at`, `community_icon`, `rules` (short\_name, description, kind, priority), `rule_count`, `moderators`, `moderator_count`.

Every run also writes `OUTPUT` and `RUN_SUMMARY` to the key-value store with a terminal status (`COMPLETE`, `PARTIAL`, `VALID_EMPTY`, `INVALID_INPUT`, `UPSTREAM_FAILED`), item counts, warnings, and the estimated charge.

### How to use it

#### Apify Console (no code)

1. Click **Try for free**.
2. Paste subreddits, a search query, post URLs, or usernames.
3. Set **Max posts**, toggle **Include comments**, choose **Sort** and **Time filter**.
4. Click **Start** and export as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

#### AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT) via MCP

Connect through the [Apify MCP Server](https://apify.com/apify/actors-mcp-server) and ask naturally:

> "Get the top 100 posts from r/MachineLearning this week with all their comments."
> "Search Reddit for posts about GPT-5 and return the top 50 with sentiment."
> "Pull u/spez profile, karma, and last 200 comments."

#### REST API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dltik~reddit-scraper-api/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "subredditUrls": ["r/MachineLearning"],
    "maxPosts": 50,
    "sort": "top",
    "timeFilter": "week",
    "includeComments": true,
    "maxCommentsPerPost": 50
  }'
```

### How much does Reddit scraping cost?

Pay per result. No monthly fee.

| Event | Price | Per 1,000 |
|-------|-------|-----------|
| Post scraped | $0.0020 | $2.00 |
| Comment scraped | $0.0006 | $0.60 |
| User profile scraped | $0.0010 | $1.00 |
| Subreddit analytics | $0.0015 | $1.50 |
| Media downloaded (opt-in) | $0.0015 | $1.50 |
| AI enrichment (opt-in) | $0.0005 | $0.50 |
| Actor start | $0.005 flat per run | - |

**Example:** 100 posts with 50 comments each = 100 posts ($0.20) + 5,000 comments ($3.00) = **$3.20** plus the $0.005 start. The same job on a flat $0.003/result scraper costs $15.30.

Set `maxTotalChargeUsd` to cap spend - the run stops billing when the ceiling is reached.

### Optional: bring your own Reddit app

The actor works out of the box with built-in access. For higher throughput or a private rate budget, register a free app at [reddit.com/prefs/apps](https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps) (type "installed app" needs only the id) and set `redditClientId`.

### Limitations

Public Reddit data only. No private, quarantined, banned, deleted, or login-only content. The moderators list is returned only where a subreddit exposes it to app-only access. Broad searches and very high-volume runs are bounded by Reddit's rate limits; those cases are reported in `RUN_SUMMARY`. Use the data only where your rights and downstream purpose allow.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Reddit account or API key?** No. It works out of the box. You can optionally add your own Reddit app id for a higher rate budget.

**How do I get more than 1,000 posts?** Reddit caps live listings around 1,000 items. Enable **Use archive** to backfill deeper history via the free Arctic Shift archive.

**Can I scrape a whole comment thread?** Yes. Enable **Include comments**; the full nested tree is expanded, including "load more comments," up to your per-post cap.

**How do I only get new posts on a schedule?** Turn on **Monitoring mode** with a **Monitor key** and schedule the actor. It returns only items not seen in previous runs.

**How do I filter posts and comments in the output?** Every record has a `type` field - filter on `post`, `comment`, `user`, or `subreddit_analytics`.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Universal input. Paste any Reddit URLs - subreddits, posts, user profiles, or search pages. Each URL is routed to the right mode automatically. Also accepts bare forms like 'r/python', 'u/spez', a post id, or a redd.it short link.

## `subredditUrls` (type: `array`):

Subreddit names or URLs to scrape posts from (e.g. 'programming', 'r/python', or a full community URL). Use with Sort and Time filter below.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Keyword or topic to search across all of Reddit (or one subreddit via 'Within subreddit'). Supports quoted "exact phrases" and author:/subreddit: operators.

## `withinSubreddit` (type: `string`):

Scope the search query to a single subreddit (name or URL). Leave empty to search all of Reddit.

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

What the search query returns: posts, comments, communities, or users.

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

Direct post URLs (or ids / redd.it short links) to scrape with their full comment thread.

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Reddit usernames or profile URLs to scrape (profile + karma breakdown + trophies). Enable 'Include user history' for their posts/comments.

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

Sort order for subreddit feeds and search. Feeds: hot/new/top/rising/controversial. Search: relevance/hot/top/new/comments.

## `timeFilter` (type: `string`):

Time window for 'top'/'controversial' sorts and search.

## `maxPosts` (type: `integer`):

Maximum posts (or search results) to scrape per source. Reddit live feeds cap around 1000 per listing; use Archive mode for deeper history.

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

Also scrape the comment thread of each post. Comments are billed separately and cheaply ($0.60 / 1,000).

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

Cap comments scraped per post. Set 0 to skip comments. The full nested tree (including 'load more comments') is expanded up to this cap.

## `commentSort` (type: `string`):

How to sort each post's comment tree.

## `commentDepthLimit` (type: `integer`):

Maximum nesting depth to fetch (0 = top-level only). Leave empty for full depth.

## `expandMoreComments` (type: `boolean`):

Recursively expand collapsed 'load more comments' and 'continue this thread' nodes so giant threads are not truncated.

## `includeSubredditAnalytics` (type: `boolean`):

Emit one metadata record per subreddit with subscribers, description, rules, and moderators. Billed at $1.50 / 1,000.

## `includeUserHistory` (type: `boolean`):

For scraped usernames, also pull their post and comment history (billed as posts/comments). Enable 'Use archive' to go past Reddit's ~1000-item cap.

## `maxUserHistory` (type: `integer`):

Maximum posts and comments to pull per user history.

## `postedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only keep posts created on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `postedBefore` (type: `string`):

Only keep posts created on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `includeNsfw` (type: `boolean`):

Include NSFW (18+) posts. Off by default.

## `onlyWithFlair` (type: `boolean`):

Keep only posts that have a link flair set.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep only posts matching these keywords (see Match mode). Case-insensitive.

## `keywordMatchMode` (type: `string`):

How the keyword filter matches: any keyword, all keywords, title only, or exact phrase.

## `negativeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Drop posts containing any of these keywords (title or body). Case-insensitive.

## `minScore` (type: `integer`):

Keep only posts with at least this score (upvotes).

## `minComments` (type: `integer`):

Keep only posts with at least this many comments.

## `minUpvoteRatio` (type: `number`):

Keep only posts with at least this upvote ratio (0 to 1).

## `computeSentiment` (type: `boolean`):

Add a free built-in sentiment\_score and sentiment\_label (AFINN-165) to every post and comment. No extra charge.

## `aiAnalysis` (type: `boolean`):

Add LLM sentiment, intent, emotion, entities, relevance and category to each item. Billed $0.0005 per analyzed item.

## `customLabels` (type: `array`):

User-defined true/false labels evaluated by the AI on each item (requires AI enrichment). Billed $0.0001 per label per item.

## `downloadMedia` (type: `boolean`):

Download images, galleries and Reddit video (audio-muxed) to the key-value store instead of returning expiring URLs. Billed $0.0015 per asset stored.

## `maxMediaPerPost` (type: `integer`):

Maximum media assets to download per post (galleries can have many).

## `outputFormat` (type: `string`):

Record shape: default rich JSON, jsonl-finetune (LLM SFT message pairs), or rag-markdown (chunked markdown for vector DBs).

## `monitorMode` (type: `boolean`):

Only emit items not seen in previous runs with the same Monitor key. True incremental scraping - never pay twice for the same post.

## `monitorKey` (type: `string`):

Namespace for incremental dedup state. Use one key per recurring job.

## `useArchive` (type: `boolean`):

Use the free Arctic Shift archive to backfill history beyond Reddit's ~1000-item live cap (for user history and Archive mode). Best-effort, polite rate.

## `archiveSince` (type: `string`):

Archive mode: earliest date to fetch (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `archiveUntil` (type: `string`):

Archive mode: latest date to fetch (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `maxTotalChargeUsd` (type: `number`):

Hard cost ceiling enforced continuously in-code. The run stops billing once this is reached and finishes as PARTIAL. Leave empty for no in-code cap.

## `redditClientId` (type: `string`):

Bring your own Reddit app for a private, higher rate budget. Register a free app at reddit.com/prefs/apps ('installed app' needs only the id; 'script' also needs the secret). Leave empty to use the built-in access.

## `redditClientSecret` (type: `string`):

Secret for a 'script'-type Reddit app. Not needed for 'installed app' type.

## `tokensPerClient` (type: `integer`):

How many OAuth tokens to mint per client id (each has its own 100-req/10min budget). Higher = more throughput.

## `proxyConfig` (type: `object`):

Optional Apify proxy for IP rotation. Not required - oauth.reddit.com works from datacenter IPs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/"
  ],
  "searchType": "posts",
  "sort": "hot",
  "timeFilter": "all",
  "maxPosts": 50,
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 50,
  "commentSort": "top",
  "expandMoreComments": true,
  "includeSubredditAnalytics": false,
  "includeUserHistory": false,
  "maxUserHistory": 100,
  "includeNsfw": false,
  "onlyWithFlair": false,
  "keywordMatchMode": "any",
  "computeSentiment": true,
  "aiAnalysis": false,
  "downloadMedia": false,
  "maxMediaPerPost": 10,
  "outputFormat": "default",
  "monitorMode": false,
  "useArchive": false,
  "tokensPerClient": 2,
  "proxyConfig": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Posts, comments, users and subreddit analytics.

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dltik/reddit-scraper-api").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 = { "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dltik/reddit-scraper-api").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/"
  ]
}' |
apify call dltik/reddit-scraper-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/eXed4GIB2GokDZbrz/builds/ii8TULYuoRT4BvdIh/openapi.json