# Substack Newsletter & Author Directory Scraper (`mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-scraper`) Actor

Fast and lightweight scraper for Substack publications. Extracts newsletter names, author names, descriptions, reader estimates, and direct URLs for sponsorship outreach and lead generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Mustafa Deniz Karatoprak](https://apify.com/mdkaratoprak) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Marketing, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## 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 & Author Directory Scraper

Fast, reliable, and lightweight scraper to extract publication directories, newsletters, authors, estimated subscriber tiers, and descriptions from **Substack**.

Ideal for:

- **PR & Media Agencies**: Find newsletters to pitch stories and secure press coverage.
- **Sponsorship & Ad Managers**: Discover high-growth newsletters to sponsor.
- **Content Creators**: Research competing publications in your niche.
- **Lead Generation**: Build targeted outreach lists of verified creators and publication owners.

***

### ⚡ Features

- **Author & Publication Info**: Scrapes publication title, author name, subdomain, and direct URLs.
- **Audience Estimates**: Extracts subscriber count badges and member statistics (e.g., *"Over 50,000 subscribers"*).
- **Keyword Filtering**: Optionally filter publications by niche keywords (e.g. `tech`, `crypto`, `finance`, `health`).
- **Deep Sitemap Crawling**: Crawls across 400+ Substack publication sitemaps covering hundreds of thousands of newsletters.
- **Zero Captchas / Zero Block**: Optimized lightweight HTTP worker pool for maximum speed and stability.

***

### 📥 Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
| :--- | :---: | :---: | :--- |
| `max_results` | `integer` | `100` | Maximum number of newsletters to extract. |
| `search_keyword` | `string` | `""` | Optional keyword filter (matches name, description, author). |
| `sitemap_page` | `integer` | `1` | Sitemap page index (1 to 446). Each page covers ~300 unique publications. |

***

### 📤 Sample Output Data (JSON)

```json
{
  "name": "ByteByteGo Newsletter",
  "subdomain": "bytebytego",
  "url": "https://bytebytego.substack.com",
  "about_url": "https://bytebytego.substack.com/about",
  "author": "Alex Xu",
  "reader_estimate": "Over 1,000,000 friendly readers",
  "description": "Explain complex systems with simple terms, from the authors of the best-selling system design book series.",
  "logo_url": "https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/..."
}
```

***

### 🚀 How to Run

1. Click **Try for free** on Apify Store.
2. Enter your desired `max_results` and optional keyword filter.
3. Click **Start** and export the clean data to **Excel, CSV, or JSON**.

# Actor input Schema

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of newsletters and publications to extract.

## `search_keyword` (type: `string`):

Filter newsletters whose name or description contains this keyword (e.g., 'tech', 'crypto', 'finance'). Leave empty for all.

## `sitemap_page` (type: `integer`):

The sitemap index to crawl (from 1 to 446). Each page contains ~300 unique publications.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "max_results": 100,
  "search_keyword": "",
  "sitemap_page": 1
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Main dataset containing scraped Substack newsletters.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-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 '{}' |
apify call mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,mdkaratoprak/substack-newsletter-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/dUzoplweGANP6j84b/builds/aWHduI4NCsPVSDvpa/openapi.json