🔍 Reddit Scraper Lite

Extract posts, comments, communities, and user data from Reddit at scale using the cost-effective JSON API approach.

Up to 80% cheaper than browser-based scrapers by leveraging Reddit's public JSON endpoints.

What does Reddit Scraper Lite do?

Reddit Scraper Lite is a fast and efficient web scraping tool that extracts public data from Reddit. Unlike browser-based scrapers that require expensive setups, this Actor uses Reddit's JSON API endpoints, making it significantly more cost-effective while maintaining reliability.

Key highlights:

• 🚀 10x faster than browser-based alternatives
• 💰 Up to 80% lower costs with the right proxy setup
• 📊 Extracts posts, comments, communities, and user profiles
• 🔍 Powerful keyword search with filters
• 📅 Date filtering for recent content only
• ✅ Works on Free Plan with RESIDENTIAL proxy

⚠️ Important: Proxy Required

Reddit blocks requests from Apify's cloud IPs. You must use a proxy to run this Actor successfully.

Your Plan	Recommended Proxy	Cost per 1000 Requests
Free	RESIDENTIAL	~$0.80
Starter+	SHADER (Datacenter)	~$0.30

The Actor defaults to RESIDENTIAL proxy, which works on all plans including Free.

Why use Reddit Scraper Lite?

Business Use Cases

Use Case	How It Helps	Recommended Setup
Brand Monitoring	Track mentions of your brand or product	Keyword search + Date filter
Sentiment Analysis	Collect comments for NLP analysis	Search comments + maxComments
Market Research	Understand trends and discussions	r/popular + Top sorting
Competitor Analysis	Monitor competitor mentions	Multi-keyword search
Lead Generation	Find potential customers	Subreddit-specific search
Content Ideas	Discover trending topics	r/popular + searchSort: top

Why This Scraper Over Others?

Feature	Reddit Scraper Lite	Browser-Based Scrapers
Technology	JSON API	Playwright/Puppeteer
Cost (Starter plan)	~$0.50/1000 posts	~$5-10/1000 posts
Cost (Free plan)	~$1.00/1000 posts	~$10-15/1000 posts
Speed	~67 posts/min	~8 posts/min
Reliability	95%+ success rate	70-90% success rate

💰 Proxy & Pricing Guide

Proxy Comparison

Proxy Type	Availability	Cost	Speed	Best For
RESIDENTIAL	All plans (Free+)	$8/GB (~$0.80/1k req)	Medium	Testing, small volumes
SHADER	Starter+ ($39/mo)	$0.60-1/IP (~$0.30/1k req)	Fast	Production, high volumes

Cost Calculator

Volume	Free Plan (RESIDENTIAL)	Starter Plan (SHADER)
100 posts	~$0.10	~$0.05
1,000 posts	~$1.00	~$0.50
10,000 posts	~$10.00	~$5.00
100,000 posts	~$100.00	~$50.00

Recommendation by Use Case

Use Case	Recommended Plan	Why
Testing/Learning	Free + RESIDENTIAL	No monthly commitment
Hobby projects (<1k/mo)	Free + RESIDENTIAL	Cost-effective for low volume
Regular use (1k-10k/mo)	Starter + SHADER	50% cheaper than RESIDENTIAL
Production (10k+/mo)	Scale + SHADER	Best price per request

How to scrape Reddit data

Step 1: Choose Your Input Method

Option A: Search Keywords (Recommended for most use cases)

{
    "searches": ["typescript", "react hooks"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Option B: Start URLs (For specific subreddits/posts)

{
    "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/" },
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/popular/" }
    ]
}

Step 2: Configure Proxy (Required!)

For Free Plan users:

{
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

For Starter/Scale/Business Plan users:

{
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["SHADER"]
    }
}

Step 3: Run and Export

Click "Start" and download results in JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML format.

What data can you extract from Reddit?

📝 Reddit Posts

Field	Description
id	Unique post identifier
title	Post title
body	Post content (text/markdown)
url	Direct link to the post
author	Username of the poster
subreddit	Community where posted
score	Upvotes minus downvotes
upvoteRatio	Percentage of upvotes
numComments	Total comment count
createdAt	Post creation timestamp

💬 Reddit Comments

Field	Description
id	Unique comment identifier
body	Comment text content
author	Username of commenter
score	Comment score
createdAt	Comment timestamp
depth	Nesting level (0 = top-level)

👥 Reddit Communities

Field	Description
name	Subreddit name
title	Display title
description	Community description
subscribers	Member count

👤 Reddit Users

Field	Description
username	Reddit username
postKarma	Total post karma
commentKarma	Total comment karma
createdAt	Account creation date

Input Examples by Use Case

🔍 Brand Monitoring

Track mentions of your brand in the last week:

{
    "searches": ["your-brand", "YourCompany"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "searchComments": true,
    "searchSort": "new",
    "searchTime": "week",
    "maxItems": 500,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

📊 Sentiment Analysis

Collect comments for NLP analysis:

{
    "searches": ["product-name"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "maxItems": 100,
    "maxComments": 50,
    "skipComments": false,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

📈 Trend Discovery

Find what's trending right now:

{
    "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/popular/" }
    ],
    "maxItems": 100,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

🎯 Subreddit Research

Deep dive into specific communities:

{
    "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/" },
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/" }
    ],
    "sort": "top",
    "time": "month",
    "maxPostCount": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

🔎 Targeted Keyword Search

Search within specific subreddits:

{
    "searches": ["nextjs 15", "app router"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "searchInSubreddits": ["nextjs", "reactjs", "webdev"],
    "searchSort": "top",
    "searchTime": "month",
    "maxItems": 200,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

👤 User Research

Analyze a specific user's activity:

{
    "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/target-user/comments/" }
    ],
    "maxItems": 100,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

Output Example

{
    "dataType": "post",
    "id": "1abc123",
    "title": "How to optimize React performance in 2024",
    "body": "Here are my tips for making React apps faster...",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/reactjs/comments/1abc123/",
    "author": "dev_enthusiast",
    "subreddit": "reactjs",
    "score": 1542,
    "upvoteRatio": 0.96,
    "numComments": 234,
    "createdAt": "2024-11-28T14:30:00.000Z",
    "isVideo": false,
    "over18": false,
    "scrapedAt": "2024-12-01T10:00:00.000Z"
}

Supported URL Types

URL Type	Example	What It Scrapes
Subreddit	reddit.com/r/webdev/	Posts from the subreddit
Subreddit (sorted)	reddit.com/r/webdev/top/	Top posts
Post	reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/abc123/	Post + comments
User	reddit.com/user/username/	User profile
User Comments	reddit.com/user/username/comments/	User's comment history
Popular	reddit.com/r/popular/	Trending posts
Leaderboard	reddit.com/subreddits/leaderboard/crypto/	Top communities
Search	reddit.com/search/?q=keyword	Search results

Advanced Features

Session Pool

Maintains consistent IP addresses during pagination for better results:

{
    "useSessionPool": true,
    "proxyRotationOnError": true
}

Date Filtering

Only collect posts after a specific date:

{
    "postDateLimit": "2024-11-01",
    "searchSort": "new"
}

Note: When postDateLimit is set, the sort order automatically switches to "new" for chronological consistency.

Debug Mode

Enable detailed logging for troubleshooting:

{
    "debugMode": true
}

Is it legal to scrape Reddit?

This scraper only collects publicly available data that anyone can view without logging in. It does not:

• ❌ Access private subreddits
• ❌ Scrape private messages
• ❌ Collect email addresses or personal data
• ❌ Bypass authentication

Important: You are responsible for ensuring your use case complies with:

• Reddit's Terms of Service
• GDPR if processing EU user data
• Local data protection laws

We recommend:

• Respecting rate limits
• Not storing personal data unnecessarily
• Using data only for legitimate purposes

Troubleshooting

Getting 403 Errors?

This is the most common issue. Reddit blocks Apify's cloud IPs.

Solution: Make sure you have proxy enabled:

{
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

"You do not have access to proxy groups: SHADER"

SHADER (Datacenter proxy) requires a paid plan (Starter or higher).

Solutions:

1. Use RESIDENTIAL proxy instead (works on Free plan)
2. Upgrade to Starter Plan ($39/mo)

No Results?

1. Check your search keywords aren't too specific
2. Verify the subreddit exists and is public
3. Ensure date filter isn't too restrictive

Slow Performance?

1. Make sure proxy is enabled (required for Reddit)
2. Reduce maxComments if not needed
3. Set skipComments: true for posts-only scraping

Integration with Other Tools

Export your data and integrate with:

• Google Sheets: Direct export via Apify integration
• Zapier: Automate workflows with new data
• Make (Integromat): Complex automation scenarios
• Webhooks: Real-time notifications
• API: Programmatic access to all results

Support & Feedback

• 🐛 Found a bug? Open an issue in the Issues tab
• 💡 Feature request? Let us know in the Issues tab
• 📧 Questions? Contact support@apify.com

Related Actors

Looking for other social media scrapers?

• Twitter Scraper - Extract tweets and user data
• Instagram Scraper - Scrape posts and profiles
• YouTube Scraper - Extract video data

---

Built with ❤️ using Crawlee and the Apify SDK