Scrape Facebook Groups — Facebook Groups Search Scraper

Use this Facebook groups search scraper as a Facebook group finder scraper for publicly discoverable communities in a topic or local market. Enter keywords and optional locations, then export canonical group URLs, names, member counts when shown, privacy labels, descriptions, activity text, and search rank. Run it as a Facebook groups search API from your own workflows.

Use the dataset for community research, partnership prospecting, audience discovery, market mapping, or building a reviewed outreach list. The Actor searches only publicly discoverable results; it does not log in, scrape group posts, or expose member data.

Example input

{
  "keywords": ["tesla owners", "photography"],
  "locations": ["United States"],
  "maxGroupsPerQuery": 10
}

Example output

{
  "query": "tesla owners United States",
  "rank": 1,
  "matchedLocation": "United States",
  "sourceType": "keyword_search",
  "groupId": "teslamotorsclub",
  "groupName": "Tesla Motors Club",
  "groupUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/groups/teslamotorsclub/",
  "descriptionSnippet": "A community for Tesla owners and enthusiasts...",
  "discoverabilityText": "Anyone can find this group",
  "profilePictureUrl": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/group.jpg",
  "privacyLabel": "Public",
  "memberCountText": "128K members",
  "memberCount": 128000,
  "postFrequencyText": "10 posts a day",
  "postsPerDay": 10,
  "postsPerMonth": 300,
  "groupType": "Group",
  "viewerJoinState": "CAN_JOIN",
  "collectedAt": "2026-08-10T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Fields unavailable in a public result are returned as null, never guessed.

Input settings

Field	Type	Description
keywords	string[]	One to 20 topics, niches, brands, or community phrases.
locations	string[]	Optional cities, regions, or countries. Every location is combined with every keyword.
maxGroupsPerQuery	integer	Maximum groups saved per keyword/location query, from 1 to 100.

Output fields

Field	Description
query, rank	Exact keyword/location query and 1-based result position.
matchedLocation	Requested location refinement, or null; never presented as the group's location.
sourceType	Stable keyword_search provenance.
groupId, groupName, groupUrl	Public group identity and canonical URL.
descriptionSnippet, discoverabilityText	Public descriptive and discoverability text when visible.
profilePictureUrl	Public group image URL when visible.
privacyLabel	Public visibility label when displayed; private content is never accessed.
memberCountText, memberCount	Original public size label and normalized integer.
postFrequencyText, postsPerDay, postsPerMonth	Original activity phrase and conservative normalized rates.
groupType, viewerJoinState	Public entity and join-state labels when supplied.
collectedAt	ISO timestamp of collection.

Input recipes

Find local professional communities

{"keywords":["startup founders","digital marketing"],"locations":["London"],"maxGroupsPerQuery":20}

Map hobby communities across locations

{"keywords":["landscape photography"],"locations":["New York","California"],"maxGroupsPerQuery":30}

Pricing

Pay per event: a small Actor start fee plus each group result saved. The run charges no result event for failed queries or duplicates. Current prices are shown in the Apify Console before a run starts.

Tips and limits

• Use specific phrases for more relevant groups.
• Add locations only when geography matters; locations create a query cross-product.
• Results depend on what is publicly indexed at collection time. Profile, member, privacy, discoverability, and activity fields are null when a public source does not expose them.
• Duplicate canonical group URLs are saved once per run, preserving their first query and rank.
• A query may legitimately return no public groups. Login walls, challenges, and private-only content are rejected rather than represented as scraped data.
• Respect Facebook's terms, privacy rights, and applicable law. Review results before outreach or automated decisions.

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/anna/facebook-groups-search-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords":["startup founders"],"locations":["Berlin"],"maxGroupsPerQuery":10}'

Use the Apify API client from JavaScript or Python with Actor ID anna/facebook-groups-search-scraper. Results are available from the run's default dataset and can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS.

MCP and integrations

Connect AI tools through Apify MCP. You can also send datasets to Google Sheets, webhooks, Make, Zapier, or n8n using Apify integrations.

FAQ

What data can I export with Facebook Groups Search Scraper?

You can export the query and rank, canonical group ID and URL, group name, description snippet, privacy and member details when publicly visible, activity values when available, and collection time.

How much does it cost to use Facebook Groups Search Scraper?

Pricing is pay per event: a small start fee plus one result charge for each saved group. The Apify run page shows the exact charge as the run progresses.

Does this scrape posts or group members?

No. It discovers public group result metadata only. For a different workflow, use a dedicated known-group content Actor where access and authorization permit it.

Can I export public Facebook group URLs and member counts?

Yes. Every row includes a canonical URL, and it includes the member count whenever that value appears in the public result.

How do I search Facebook groups by location through an API?

Pass one or more values in locations with your keywords, using the REST API or an Apify client. The Actor combines every keyword and location.

Can it discover private groups?

It may report a publicly indexed group carrying a Private label, but it never logs in or accesses private content.

Why is a member count missing?

The public result did not expose a reliable count. Optional values are omitted rather than guessed.

Can I run it through the API or an AI agent?

Yes. Use the REST API, Apify clients, schedules, webhooks, or the MCP endpoint above.

What happens when one query fails?

Completed output is preserved. Other queries continue within the shared run deadline; an all-query technical failure fails the run instead of returning misleading success.

Related Actors

• Facebook Groups Scraper — content extraction for known group URLs
• Facebook Pages Scraper
• Facebook Posts Scraper
• LinkedIn Company Scraper
• Instagram Profile Scraper

Support

Open an issue from the Actor's Apify Console page with the input, run ID, expected behavior, and a public example. Do not include credentials, cookies, or personal data.