Substack Leaderboard Scraper

Use this Substack scraper to export leaderboard rankings as clean publication data for newsletter research, creator discovery, competitor tracking, and market dashboards. Select categories and Top Bestsellers or Rising boards, then receive ranked newsletters with public author, subscriber, pricing, and publication details. The Actor provides Substack newsletter data through the Apify API, schedules, and MCP.

What data can you export?

• Exact leaderboard rank, category, and board type
• Publication identity, URL, description, language, and images
• Public author name, handle, bio, and profile
• Public subscriber count signals and bestseller tier
• Monthly and annual subscription pricing
• Free and paid subscription benefits
• Podcast, community, and payments availability
• Optional previous rank, rank movement, and new-entry status

Example input

{
  "categories": ["technology", "business"],
  "boardTypes": ["paid", "rising"],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeRankHistory": true
}

Example output

{
  "publicationId": 6349492,
  "rank": 1,
  "publicationName": "SemiAnalysis",
  "publicationUrl": "https://newsletter.semianalysis.com",
  "subdomain": "semianalysis",
  "customDomain": "newsletter.semianalysis.com",
  "description": "Bridging the gap between semiconductors and business.",
  "logoUrl": "https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/...",
  "coverPhotoUrl": null,
  "language": "en",
  "publicationType": "newsletter",
  "createdAt": "2025-09-22T15:54:12.958Z",
  "authorId": 21783302,
  "authorName": "Dylan Patel",
  "authorHandle": "semianalysis",
  "authorBio": "Semiconductor industry analysis.",
  "authorPhotoUrl": "https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/...",
  "category": "technology",
  "boardType": "paid",
  "bestsellerBadgeTier": 1000,
  "subscriberCount": "307,000",
  "subscriberCountMagnitude": "307K+",
  "paidSubscriberDetail": "Thousands of paid subscribers",
  "totalSubscriberDetail": "Hundreds of thousands of subscribers",
  "monthlyPrice": 50,
  "annualPrice": 500,
  "currency": "USD",
  "freeSubscriptionBenefits": ["Free posts"],
  "paidSubscriptionBenefits": ["Full archive"],
  "paymentsEnabled": true,
  "podcastEnabled": false,
  "communityEnabled": true,
  "profileUrl": "https://substack.com/@semianalysis",
  "subscribeUrl": "https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/subscribe",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-06T13:42:37.044Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://substack.com/leaderboard/technology/paid",
  "sourceCategory": "technology",
  "sourceBoardType": "paid",
  "sourcePage": 0,
  "rankChange": null,
  "previousRank": null,
  "isNew": true
}

Input settings

Field	Type	Description
categories	string[]	One or more Substack category slugs, such as technology, business, or culture.
leaderboardUrls	URL[]	Optional explicit public leaderboard URLs.
boardTypes	string[]	paid, rising, or both.
maxItems	integer	Maximum total publications across all selected boards.
includeRankHistory	boolean	Compare results with the prior snapshot in the same Actor storage.
changedSince	string	Optional ISO timestamp for incremental monitoring.

Output fields

Fields	Meaning
publicationId, rank, publicationName, publicationUrl	Stable publication identity and current position
subdomain, customDomain, description, language, publicationType, createdAt	Publication profile
logoUrl, coverPhotoUrl	Public publication images
authorId, authorName, authorHandle, authorBio, authorPhotoUrl, profileUrl	Public author profile
category, boardType, sourceCategory, sourceBoardType, sourcePage, sourceUrl	Ranking provenance
bestsellerBadgeTier, subscriberCount, subscriberCountMagnitude, paidSubscriberDetail, totalSubscriberDetail	Public audience and paid-subscriber signals
monthlyPrice, annualPrice, currency	Active public subscription pricing
freeSubscriptionBenefits, paidSubscriptionBenefits	Public plan benefits
paymentsEnabled, podcastEnabled, communityEnabled, subscribeUrl	Publication capabilities and subscription link
scrapedAt, rankChange, previousRank, isNew	Snapshot and monitoring metadata

Input recipes

Category research: use three categories, boardTypes: ["paid"], and maxItems: 100.

Rising-newsletter monitor: use boardTypes: ["rising"], includeRankHistory: true, and schedule the Actor daily.

One public board URL: provide leaderboardUrls: [{"url":"https://substack.com/leaderboard/technology/paid"}].

Who is it for?

Newsletter operators can monitor competitors, creator-economy analysts can compare category leaders, and growth teams can discover partnership targets or enrich recurring market dashboards.

Pricing

This Actor uses pay per event. A small start event is charged once per run, and a result event is charged only for each publication saved. See the live Pricing tab for current tier rates.

Tips and limits

• A category board currently exposes up to 100 publications.
• maxItems is a global cap, so earlier selected boards can fill it first.
• Subscriber counts are public source labels, not private subscriber identities.
• Rank history uses the Actor's key-value store; reuse the same task/storage for comparisons.
• If one board fails after others succeed, already saved rows are preserved and the run log identifies the failed board.

API usage

JavaScript

const run = await client.actor('fetch_cat/substack-leaderboard-scraper').call({
  categories: ['technology'], boardTypes: ['paid'], maxItems: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('fetch_cat/substack-leaderboard-scraper').call(run_input={
    'categories': ['technology'], 'boardTypes': ['paid'], 'maxItems': 50,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fetch_cat~substack-leaderboard-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"categories":["technology"],"boardTypes":["paid"],"maxItems":50}'

Use with MCP and AI agents

Connect Apify MCP at https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch_cat/substack-leaderboard-scraper, then ask your agent to export and compare Substack category leaders.

FAQ

What data can I export with Substack scraper?

You can export leaderboard rank, publication and author profiles, subscriber signals, public subscription prices and benefits, feature flags, source provenance, and optional rank-change fields.

Does this return private subscriber data?

No. It exports public leaderboard and publication metadata only.

Can it track rank changes?

Yes. Enable includeRankHistory and reuse the same task storage on later runs.

Why is a price or biography empty?

Substack does not expose every optional field for every publication. Missing public values remain null rather than being guessed.

Can I export CSV or Excel?

Yes. Download the Apify dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported format.

Can I run this through an API, schedule, or MCP client?

Yes. Use the Substack API workflow example above with the Apify client, create a recurring Apify schedule, or connect the Actor through the MCP URL shown above.

How much does it cost to use Substack Leaderboard Scraper?

The Actor charges a small start event and one result event per saved publication. Your current tier rates are always shown on the live Pricing tab.

Related Actors

• Substack Posts Scraper for article content from known publications.
• Substack Notes Scraper for public Notes discovery.

Support

Open an issue from the Actor page with the input, run URL, expected behavior, and observed behavior. We review reproducible reports and source changes.