Facebook Post Scraper

Extract structured data from public Facebook posts — content, author, timestamp, reactions, shares, media, and comments — with no login required.

This is a post data scraper. It captures the key metrics and content of a post quickly and reliably. It is not a dedicated comment scraper and does not paginate through all comments on a post.

What does Facebook Post Scraper do?

Facebook Post Scraper takes a list of public Facebook post URLs and returns structured JSON for each — including the full post text, author details, reaction and share counts, publish timestamp, attached media, and top comments.

Built on Apify, you get automatic scheduling, API access, proxy rotation, dataset export (JSON, CSV, Excel), and monitoring out of the box.

Why use Facebook Post Scraper?

• Content monitoring — track public posts about your brand, product, or campaign
• Research & analysis — collect engagement data for academic or market research
• Competitive intelligence — monitor competitor page posts at scale
• Media tracking — log reactions and shares on public news or media posts
• Archival — save structured snapshots of posts before they change or disappear

How to use Facebook Post Scraper

1. Open the Input tab in Apify Console
2. Paste one or more Facebook post URLs into the queries array
3. Adjust optional settings (comments, full content, video views)
4. Click Start — results appear in the Output tab in real-time
5. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel when the run completes

Input

Pass a JSON object via the Input tab or the Apify API:

{
    "queries": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.facebook.com/NASA/posts/pfbid0F2Hd...",
            "label": "nasa-post"
        },
        "https://www.facebook.com/somepage/posts/123456789"
    ],
    "includeComments": true,
    "scrapeFullContent": true,
    "includeVideoViews": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}

Input fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
queries	array	—	Required. List of post URLs. Each item is either a URL string or { "url": "...", "label": "..." }
includeComments	boolean	true	Include top comments from the post. Does not paginate through all comments — see note below
scrapeFullContent	boolean	true	Extract full untruncated post text instead of the short description
includeAuthorPictures	boolean	false	Add comment author profile picture URLs to comment objects
includeVideoViews	boolean	true	Include video/reel play count in output
proxyConfiguration	object	residential	Proxy settings (residential recommended for large-scale runs)

Supported URL formats

• https://www.facebook.com/username/posts/123456789
• https://www.facebook.com/permalink/post?id=123456789
• https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=123456789
• https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=123456789
• https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/groupname/posts/123456789

Output

Each post produces one item in the dataset. You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

{
    "postUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/NASA/posts/pfbid0F2Hd...",
    "postId": "1496561611839210",
    "postType": "photo",
    "authorName": "NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration",
    "author": {
        "name": "NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration",
        "profileUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/NASA",
        "id": "NASA"
    },
    "content": "A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals...",
    "timestamp": "2024-03-15T18:00:00+00:00",
    "timestampRaw": "March 15 at 6:00 PM",
    "reactions": { "total": 651865 },
    "reactionsTotal": 651865,
    "sharesCount": 42310,
    "commentsCount": 15763,
    "isSharedPost": false,
    "media": [
        { "type": "photo", "url": "https://scontent.fbcdn.net/v/...", "alt": "Webb telescope image" }
    ],
    "comments": [
        {
            "commentId": "987654321",
            "author": { "name": "Jane Smith", "profileUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/janesmith", "id": "janesmith" },
            "content": "Absolutely breathtaking!",
            "timestamp": "2024-03-15T18:30:00+00:00",
            "reactions": { "total": 120 }
        }
    ],
    "queryLabel": "nasa-post",
    "scrapedAt": "2024-03-16T09:00:00+00:00",
    "error": null
}

Note on comments: The comments array contains the top comments returned for the post. The commentsCount field reflects the total comment count (e.g. 15,763). If you need full comment extraction at scale, consider a dedicated comment scraper.

Data table

Field	Format	Description
postUrl	link	Canonical post URL
postId	text	Numeric post/content ID
postType	text	post, photo, video, reel
authorName	text	Author display name
author	object	name, profileUrl, id
content	text	Full post text
timestamp	date	ISO-8601 publish time (UTC)
timestampRaw	text	Raw timestamp as shown on page
reactions.total	number	Total reaction count
sharesCount	number	Share count
commentsCount	number	Total comment count on the post
videoViewCount	number	View/play count (video/reel posts only)
media	array	Attached images/videos with URLs and alt text
comments	array	Top comments from the post
isSharedPost	boolean	Whether the post is a reshare
sharedFrom	link	Original post URL if shared
queryLabel	text	Label passed in the input query
error	text	Error message if scraping failed, otherwise null

Comment object fields

Field	Description
commentId	Numeric comment ID
author	name, profileUrl, id
content	Comment text
timestamp	ISO-8601 (UTC)
reactions.total	Reaction count
pictureUrl	Author profile picture (only when includeAuthorPictures is enabled)

Pricing / Cost estimation

A typical run of 100 posts completes in seconds and uses a fraction of a cent in compute. The Apify free plan ($5/month credit) covers thousands of posts per month.

For large-scale batch runs, residential proxies improve reliability — available on paid Apify plans.

Tips and advanced options

• Proxies: residential proxies significantly improve reliability and speed for large batches
• Labels: tag each query with a label field to filter output records by campaign, page, or date
• Timestamps: very recent posts sometimes show relative times ("2 hours ago") — timestampRaw preserves the original; timestamp is ISO when parseable
• Private posts: posts requiring login return an error record with error explaining why — no crashes, just a graceful skip

FAQ, disclaimers, and support

Is scraping Facebook posts legal? This actor accesses only publicly visible data — posts available to any anonymous visitor. Always verify compliance with Facebook's Terms of Service and applicable local laws before use. Do not use this tool to collect private data or violate user privacy.

Why aren't all comments returned? This is a post data scraper, not a comment scraper. It returns the top comments available for the post. The commentsCount field shows the full total. For complete comment extraction, a dedicated comment scraper is the right tool.

Why might a post fail? Posts behind a login wall (private profiles, friends-only posts, age-gated content) return an error record rather than data. The error field explains why.

Known limitations

• Private or login-required posts are inaccessible — by design, no credentials are used
• Reaction breakdowns by type (Like / Love / Haha / etc.) are not available via the public interface
• Story content is not supported

Need help or found a bug? Open an issue on the Issues tab. Custom solutions for higher-volume or specialized use cases are available on request.