# Substack Scraper - Newsletter Posts, Authors & Engagement (`feedforge/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Substack newsletter archives. Post titles, authors, publish dates, likes, comments and paywall status as JSON or CSV.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/feedforge/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Dominik](https://apify.com/feedforge) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Marketing, For creators
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

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/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

## Substack Scraper - Newsletter Posts, Authors & Engagement

Extract the full post archive of any Substack publication, including authors, publish dates, engagement and paywall status.

### What you can do with it

- **Content research** - see what a publication covers and how often.
- **Competitor monitoring** - track a rival newsletter's output and topics.
- **Newsletter discovery** - build a dataset of publications in a niche.
- **Engagement analysis** - compare comment counts across posts and topics.
- **Feed an AI agent or RAG pipeline** - clean post metadata and descriptions.

### Input

Every field is optional. Run it with no configuration and it returns useful data
straight away.

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `publications` | array | Substack URLs, e.g. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Leave empty to use a default sample. |
| `maxItems` | integer | How many posts to return across all publications. Default `200`. |
| `postedWithinDays` | integer | Only posts published in the last N days. |

### Output

Flat JSON records, exportable as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. Fields the source does
not publish come back as `null` rather than being omitted, so your schema stays
stable between runs.

### Pricing

Pay per result. You are charged only for records actually delivered - a run that
matches nothing costs nothing.

### Keeping it fresh

Use Apify **Schedules** to run this on a timer and your dataset stays current
without you touching it. Add a webhook to push new records straight into your
database, Google Sheet or Slack channel.

### Reliability

This reads the source's own public API - no logins, no bot circumvention. That is
a deliberate choice: actors that depend on defeating bot protection break without
warning. This one does not.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack URLs, e.g. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Leave empty to use a default sample.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

How many posts to return across all publications.

## `postedWithinDays` (type: `integer`):

Only posts published in the last N days.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("feedforge/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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("feedforge/substack-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 '{}' |
apify call feedforge/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/IKeOwxox20RCT30ct/builds/466uc0DDFN4tAZwco/openapi.json