# Substack Newsletter & Sponsor Leads Scraper (`jaiveda/substack-sponsor-scraper`) Actor

Extract newsletter metadata, author profiles, subscriber tiers, and recent sponsor / advertiser leads from Substack.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jaiveda/substack-sponsor-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Bhavadharini](https://apify.com/jaiveda) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Newsletter & Sponsor Leads Scraper

Extract publication metadata, creator details (bios, Twitter/X handles), subscriber ranking badges, paid pricing plans, and **active sponsor leads with outbound URLs** directly from any Substack newsletter or custom domain publication.

***

### 🌟 Why Scrape Substack?

Substack hosts the world's most influential independent tech, business, finance, and culture newsletters. These creators reach millions of affluent professionals and decision-makers:

- 🎯 **Sponsorship Prospecting**: Find out which brands (e.g. *Shopify*, *Retool*, *Vanta*, *Reducto*, *Jack & Jill*) are actively sponsoring top newsletters so you can pitch your own audience or find verified sponsor budgets.
- 💼 **Media Buying & PR Outreach**: Discover creator Twitter/X handles, pricing tiers ($/month, $/year), and subscriber badges to negotiate sponsorship placements.
- 🔍 **Competitor Newsletter Intelligence**: Benchmark subscriber tiers, pricing strategies, and content cadences across any niche.

***

### ⚡ Key Features

- **High-Precision Sponsor Detection**: Scans recent newsletter posts to extract active sponsor brand names, outbound campaign URLs with UTM parameters, context snippets, and publication dates.
- **Custom Domain & Substack.com Support**: Seamlessly works with native Substack URLs (`lenny.substack.com`) and custom branded domains (`notboring.co`, `newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com`).
- **Creator Socials & Contacts**: Unpacks creator names, bios, Twitter/X handles, and Substack handles.
- **Pricing Plans & Tiers**: Captures monthly, annual, and founding tier prices in standard currency.
- **Subscriber Badges**: Collects verified Substack ranking badges (e.g., *"Tens of thousands of paid subscribers"*).
- **Ultra-Fast & Lightweight**: Built on Cheerio and direct SSR hydration, executing in seconds without headless browser bloat.

***

### 📥 Input Configuration

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| `startUrls` | Array | `["https://notboring.co", "https://lenny.substack.com"]` | List of Substack publications to analyze. |
| `extractRecentSponsors` | Boolean | `true` | When enabled, scans recent posts to extract sponsor leads and outbound links. |
| `postsPerNewsletter` | Integer | `5` | Number of recent articles to inspect for sponsorships. |
| `maxItems` | Integer | `10` | Maximum number of publications to scrape. |

#### Example Input:

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://notboring.co" },
    { "url": "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com" },
    { "url": "https://lenny.substack.com" }
  ],
  "extractRecentSponsors": true,
  "postsPerNewsletter": 5,
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

***

### 📤 Output Data Format

```json
{
  "publicationName": "Not Boring by Packy McCormick",
  "url": "https://www.notboring.co/",
  "subdomain": "notboring",
  "customDomain": "www.notboring.co",
  "authorName": "Packy McCormick",
  "authorBio": "Author of Not Boring",
  "authorTwitter": "packyM",
  "description": "Tech strategy, analysis, and philosophy, but not boring.",
  "subscribersRanking": "Hundreds of paid subscribers",
  "pricingPlans": [
    {
      "interval": "month",
      "amount": 20,
      "currency": "USD"
    },
    {
      "interval": "year",
      "amount": 200,
      "currency": "USD"
    }
  ],
  "logoUrl": "https://substackcdn.com/...",
  "sponsors": [
    {
      "sponsorName": "Jack & Jill",
      "sponsorUrl": "https://jackandjill.ai/jill?utm_source=notboring",
      "contextSnippet": "This Week’s Weekly Dose is Brought to you by… Jack & Jill",
      "postTitle": "Weekly Dose of Optimism #212",
      "postUrl": "https://www.notboring.co/p/weekly-dose-of-optimism-212",
      "publishedDate": "2026-09-25T12:36:02.277Z"
    }
  ],
  "totalSponsorsFound": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-02T01:19:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### 🔗 Integrations & Automations

- **Google Sheets & Airtable**: Automatically build a dynamic directory of newsletter sponsors.
- **HubSpot & Salesforce**: Feed sponsor company names and marketing URLs into your sales CRM for partner prospecting.
- **Slack & Webhooks**: Receive real-time alerts whenever a newsletter in your tracking list signs a new sponsor.

***

### ❓ Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Does this scraper work on custom domains like notboring.co or pragmaticengineer.com?**\
A: Yes! It automatically identifies whether a custom domain is hosted on Substack and pulls the full publication metadata and pricing plans seamlessly.

**Q: How does sponsor detection work?**\
A: The scraper analyzes recent newsletter articles for high-intent sponsorship placements (e.g. *"Brought to you by..."*, *"Thanks to our sponsor..."*) and extracts the exact sponsor brand name and outbound campaign URL (including UTM parameters).

**Q: Can I export the data to CSV or Excel?**\
A: Yes! You can download your dataset directly as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Apify Console, or sync via API.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack publication URLs to scrape (e.g. https://lenny.substack.com or https://pragmaticengineer.com).

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

Maximum number of newsletters to extract.

## `extractRecentSponsors` (type: `boolean`):

Inspect recent posts to identify sponsors, partners, and advertiser links.

## `postsPerNewsletter` (type: `integer`):

Number of recent posts per newsletter to scan for sponsor mentions.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://lenny.substack.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://pragmaticengineer.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://notboring.co"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "extractRecentSponsors": true,
  "postsPerNewsletter": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Dataset containing extracted Substack newsletters, creator profiles, subscriber tiers, and detected sponsor leads.

# 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": [
        {
            "url": "https://lenny.substack.com"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://pragmaticengineer.com"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://notboring.co"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jaiveda/substack-sponsor-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 = { "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://lenny.substack.com" },
        { "url": "https://pragmaticengineer.com" },
        { "url": "https://notboring.co" },
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jaiveda/substack-sponsor-scraper").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": [
    {
      "url": "https://lenny.substack.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://pragmaticengineer.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://notboring.co"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call jaiveda/substack-sponsor-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/FVPzMvjQaO09M06Y2/builds/CEiDFBQffp9JkDWlj/openapi.json