# Substack Scraper — Posts, Likes, Comments & Full Text (`highbrow_fame/substack-posts`) Actor

Substack posts from any publication: title, date, authors, likes, comments, restacks, word count, paid or free, tags and optionally the full text. Many publications per run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/highbrow\_fame/substack-posts.md
- **Developed by:** [yestrue](https://apify.com/highbrow_fame) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 post delivereds

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 — Posts, Likes, Comments & Full Text

Get the posts of any Substack publication — title, subtitle, date, authors, likes, comments, restacks, word count, free or paid, tags — and, if you want, each post's text. Put in as many publications as you like; one run does them all.

**Why this one**

- 📰 **Any publication, however it is addressed.** Its name (`lenny`), its substack.com address, or its own domain (`www.lennysnewsletter.com`).
- 📊 **Engagement numbers.** Likes, comments and restacks for every post — sort by newest or by most popular.
- 📝 **The text too.** Switch on **Post text** for the full text of free posts, and the free preview of paid ones. In a live test run, 589 of 600 posts came with their text.
- 🧾 **Honest results.** A site that is not on Substack is recognised at once and comes back as a free record with the reason.
- 💸 **You pay only for posts delivered.** With **Free posts only** on, skipped paid posts are free too.

### What you get

For every post:

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `title`, `subtitle`, `url`, `slug`, `postId` | the post |
| `publishedAt` | publish time, ISO 8601 |
| `type` | newsletter, podcast or thread |
| `audience`, `isPaid` | who can read it: everyone, or paid subscribers only |
| `authors` | the bylines |
| `wordCount`, `likes`, `comments`, `restacks` | size and engagement |
| `section`, `tags` | how the publication files it |
| `description`, `coverImage`, `podcastUrl` | listing details |
| `content`, `contentIsPreview` | with **Post text** on: the text, and whether it is only the free preview of a paid post |
| `publication`, `input`, `position`, `scrapedAt` | where it came from |
| `status`, `error` | `OK`, or why a publication gave nothing |

#### Example

A real record from a live run, 24 September 2026 (text shortened):

```json
{
  "publication": "https://lenny.substack.com",
  "title": "Announcing Lenny’s Jobs: The best place in the world to find, vet, and land your dream job",
  "url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/announcing-lennys-jobs-the-best-place",
  "publishedAt": "2026-08-18T15:40:06.921Z",
  "type": "newsletter",
  "audience": "everyone",
  "isPaid": false,
  "authors": ["Lenny Rachitsky"],
  "wordCount": 933,
  "likes": 378,
  "comments": 18,
  "restacks": 9,
  "tags": ["Career"],
  "content": "👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I share deeply researched product, growth, and career advice…",
  "status": "OK"
}
```

### How to use it

1. Add **Publications**, one per line.
2. Set **Max posts per publication**, the **Order**, and optionally a **Search**.
3. Switch on **Post text** if you need the text, and **Free posts only** if you want to skip paid posts.
4. Press **Start**, and download the results from the **Output** tab as JSON, CSV or Excel.

To follow new posts from a set of newsletters, save your input as a task and schedule it daily with a small **Max posts per publication**.

You can also call it from the Apify API, from Make, Zapier or n8n, or from an AI agent through the Apify MCP server.

### Pricing

You are charged **per post delivered** — see the price on this page. Publications that do not exist or are not on Substack are free, and so are paid posts skipped with **Free posts only**.

### FAQ

**Do I get the full text of paid posts?** No — the free preview Substack shows to everyone. `contentIsPreview` marks those.

**A publication came back as `NOT_FOUND`.** It does not exist, or it has moved off Substack (Platformer, for example, now runs elsewhere).

**Is this affiliated with Substack?** No. This is an independent tool that reads what Substack publications publish.

**Like it?** A short review on the Store page helps other people find this Actor. Something missing or broken? Tell us on the Issues tab — we read every one.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack publications, one per line: the name (lenny), the substack.com address (lenny.substack.com) or the publication's own domain (www.lennysnewsletter.com).

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

Stops each publication after this many posts.

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

Newest first, or the most liked first.

## `search` (type: `string`):

Optional: only posts matching these words, as the publication's own search finds them.

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

Add each post's text (one extra request per post). For paid-only posts this is the free preview.

## `onlyFree` (type: `boolean`):

Skip paid-only posts. Skipped posts are not charged.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many publications to work on at the same time.

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

Used only to try again after a network error: the first try goes out directly.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "sort": "new",
  "includeContent": false,
  "onlyFree": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 3,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Every result as a JSON record, with a status for each input.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same records as CSV, for a spreadsheet.

# 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"
    ],
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("highbrow_fame/substack-posts").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"],
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("highbrow_fame/substack-posts").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"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call highbrow_fame/substack-posts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/eMsKgj8zWzbRrMiyS/builds/UB7zCEX7iFrFDQZTg/openapi.json