# Telegram Channel Scraper — Messages, Views & Reactions (`jeffev/telegram-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape messages from public Telegram channels without login: text, date, views, reactions, photos, videos, links and forwards, plus channel info and subscriber count. Full history backwards, date filter and in-channel search.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jeffev/telegram-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jefferson Valandro](https://apify.com/jeffev) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 message delivereds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Telegram Channel Scraper — messages, views & reactions

Scrape **public Telegram channels without logging in**: every message with its text, date, views, reactions, photos, videos, links and forward source, plus the channel's title, description and subscriber count.

Great for monitoring news and crypto channels, brand and competitor tracking, research datasets and feeding LLMs with fresh content.

### Why this one

- **No account, no API keys, no phone number**: uses Telegram's public channel preview (`t.me/s/...`).
- **Full history**: goes back through the channel 20 messages at a time until your limit or date.
- **Date filter**: `sinceDate: "2025-01-01"` stops at that date.
- **Search inside channels** with Telegram's own search (`searchQuery`).
- **Clean text**: formatting removed, line breaks kept where the author put them.
- **Engagement numbers as integers**: views and each reaction count (`2.1M` → `2100000`), plus paid Star reactions.
- **Pay only per message delivered.** Channel info items are free; private or missing channels are reported, free.

### Input

```json
{
  "channels": ["durov", "@telegram", "https://t.me/s/bloomberg"],
  "maxMessagesPerChannel": 500,
  "sinceDate": "2025-01-01",
  "searchQuery": ""
}
```

### Output

Messages (`type: "message"`):

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `channel`, `messageId`, `url`, `date` | identity and ISO date |
| `text` | message text |
| `views`, `reactions`, `totalReactions` | engagement (`reactions`: type, emoji or custom emoji id, count) |
| `photos`, `videos`, `document`, `links` | media and links |
| `author`, `forwardedFrom`, `isEdited` | signature, forward source, edited flag |

Channels (`type: "channel"`): `title`, `description`, `subscribers`, `photos`, `videos`, `links`, `photo`.

### Example output

One real item from a test run (long texts and lists shortened):

```json
{
  "type": "message",
  "channel": "durov",
  "messageId": 545,
  "url": "https://t.me/durov/545",
  "date": "2026-08-30T09:10:19+00:00",
  "text": "A high-school student just made $20,000 from a Telegram Gift.\n\nJonathan He, an IOI gold medalist ranked #7 in the world, sold his Algorithm Cup — an NFT we g...",
  "views": 2660000,
  "author": "Pavel Durov",
  "forwardedFrom": null,
  "photos": [],
  "videos": [],
  "document": null,
  "links": [
    "https://stats.ioinformatics.org/people/9089",
    "https://t.me/nft/algorithmcup-7",
    "https://t.me/durov/540"
  ],
  "reactions": [
    {
      "type": "stars",
      "emoji": null,
      "emojiId": null,
      "count": 4430
    },
    {
      "type": "emoji",
      "emoji": null,
      "emojiId": "5399847211989246390",
      "count": 42000
    },
    {
      "type": "emoji",
      "emoji": null,
      "emojiId": "5373223594484587136",
      "count": 12300
    }
  ],
  "totalReactions": 68460,
  "isEdited": true
}
```

### Limits

Only **public channels with web preview enabled** can be scraped. Private channels, groups and chats are not accessible.

### How much does it cost?

You pay only for results delivered, at a fixed price per item. **Apify platform usage is included** in that price, so there are no compute costs on top. Errors and items that couldn't be found are free.

| What you get | Price | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Message delivered | $0.002 each | 1,000 message delivereds = $2.00 |

The Apify **Free plan includes $5 of monthly credit**, enough for about **2,500 message delivereds** per month at no cost. You can also set a maximum spend per run.

On paid Apify plans it gets cheaper automatically: **10% off on Starter, 20% on Scale and 30% on Business**.

### Feedback

Found a bug, a site change, or need an extra field? Open an issue in the **Issues** tab: every issue is read and answered. If this actor saved you time, a **review** helps other people find it.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Public channel usernames or links: durov, @telegram, https://t.me/telegram.

## `maxMessagesPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest first, going back in history.

## `sinceDate` (type: `string`):

Stop when messages get older than this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Only messages matching this term, using Telegram's own in-channel search.

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

One item per channel with title, description, subscribers and media counts (free).

## `proxy` (type: `object`):

Used automatically if Telegram rate-limits the server IP.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "telegram"
  ],
  "maxMessagesPerChannel": 100,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `messages` (type: `string`):

One item per message (type=message) plus one per channel with its info (type=channel).

# 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 = {
    "channels": [
        "durov",
        "telegram"
    ],
    "proxy": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jeffev/telegram-channel-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 = {
    "channels": [
        "durov",
        "telegram",
    ],
    "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jeffev/telegram-channel-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "telegram"
  ],
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call jeffev/telegram-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,jeffev/telegram-channel-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/27ha6bcFjYGh0xyEN/builds/UwjBvOEVAGdd96yx9/openapi.json