Lemmy Posts & Communities Scraper

Scrapes posts, comments, and community data from any Lemmy instance using its public API. Works with lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, beehaw.org, or any other Lemmy server.

What data does it extract?

Field	Description
type	Item type: post, comment, or community
id	Lemmy item ID
title	Post title or community title
body	Post/comment body text or community description
author	Author username
authorDisplayName	Author display name
community	Community short name
communityTitle	Community full title
score	Net score (upvotes minus downvotes)
upvotes	Number of upvotes
downvotes	Number of downvotes
commentCount	Number of comments (posts) or child comments (comments)
url	External link (posts) or community actor ID
postUrl	ActivityPub permalink
published	Publication date
thumbnailUrl	Thumbnail image URL
nsfw	NSFW flag
subscribers	Subscriber count (communities only)
postsCount	Total posts (communities only)
activeUsers	Monthly active users (communities only)
instance	Lemmy instance hostname
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 scrape timestamp

Use cases

• Fediverse monitoring -- Track discussions and trending topics across Lemmy instances.
• Community analytics -- Compare subscriber counts, activity, and growth across communities.
• Content research -- Collect posts on specific topics for analysis or content ideas.
• Reddit alternative tracking -- Monitor the Lemmy ecosystem as users migrate from Reddit.
• Sentiment analysis -- Gather comments from specific communities to gauge public opinion.

How to use

Hot posts from the technology community on lemmy.world:

{
    "instance": "lemmy.world",
    "mode": "posts",
    "communities": ["technology"],
    "sort": "Hot",
    "maxResults": 100
}

Search across all communities:

{
    "instance": "lemmy.world",
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "rust programming",
    "maxResults": 50
}

List the most active communities:

{
    "instance": "lemmy.ml",
    "mode": "communities",
    "sort": "Top",
    "maxResults": 50
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
instance	string	lemmy.world	Lemmy instance hostname (without https://)
mode	string	posts	What to scrape: posts, comments, communities, search
communities	string[]	[]	Filter to specific community names. Empty = all
searchQuery	string	""	Search query (required for search mode)
sort	string	Hot	Sort order: Hot, New, Top, Old, MostComments
maxResults	integer	50	Max items to return (1-500)

Output example

{
    "type": "post",
    "id": 12847561,
    "title": "Firefox 130 released with per-site cookie controls",
    "body": null,
    "author": "techfan42",
    "authorDisplayName": "TechFan",
    "community": "technology",
    "communityTitle": "Technology",
    "score": 487,
    "upvotes": 512,
    "downvotes": 25,
    "commentCount": 83,
    "url": "https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox-130",
    "postUrl": "https://lemmy.world/post/12847561",
    "published": "2026-03-27T18:45:00.000Z",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/abc123.jpg",
    "nsfw": false,
    "instance": "lemmy.world",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-03-28T14:00:00.000Z"
}

Performance & cost

• Pure HTTP requests, no browser. Fetches up to 50 items per API page.
• A typical run of 100 posts finishes in under 5 seconds.
• Costs well under $0.01 per run on the Apify platform.

FAQ

Can I scrape any Lemmy instance? Yes, as long as the instance has its API publicly accessible. Most Lemmy instances do by default.

What's the difference between posts mode and search mode? posts mode lists posts from the instance feed (optionally filtered by community). search mode does full-text search and returns a mix of posts, comments, and communities that match your query.

Do I need an account on the Lemmy instance? No. The actor uses the public API endpoints that don't require authentication.

Why did I get fewer results than maxResults? The instance may simply have fewer matching items than you requested. Small or new communities often have limited content.