Lemmy Scraper: Communities, Posts, Comments & Search

Collect posts and comments from Lemmy (the federated Reddit alternative) through each instance's public API, with no login, no browser and no code. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel, or use the API.

Collect posts and comments from Lemmy (the federated Reddit alternative) through each instance's public API: community stats, post title/link/body, score, up/down votes, comment counts, authors and dates. Pull communities (c/name@instance or URLs) or keyword search, filter by date, and monitor for new posts.

Use cases

• Brand and topic monitoring on the fediverse
• Community research for open-source / tech products
• Sentiment datasets from public discussions

Input

Field	Type	Notes
communities	array	technology@lemmy.world, !linux@lemmy.ml, or a community URL.
searchTerms	array	Keyword search for posts (federated) on the search instance.
searchInstance	string
sort	string
maxPostsPerSource	integer
includeComments	boolean
maxCommentsPerPost	integer	Top comments.
sinceDate	string	YYYY-MM-DD.
monitorMode	boolean	Remember seen post ids; flag/output only new posts.
stateStoreName	string

Example input

{
 "communities": [
  "technology@lemmy.world",
  "https://lemmy.ml/c/linux",
  "nosuchcommunity-zq81x@lemmy.world"
 ],
 "searchTerms": [
  "apify"
 ],
 "maxPostsPerSource": 3,
 "includeComments": true,
 "maxCommentsPerPost": 2,
 "monitorMode": true
}

Output

One dataset item per result. Main columns: type, community, title, url, author, score, commentCount, published, link, isNew, error. A RUN_SUMMARY record is saved to the default key-value store. See the sample output in the Output tab.

Example output

{
  "type": "community",
  "input": "technology@lemmy.world",
  "instance": "lemmy.world",
  "name": "technology",
  "title": "Technology",
  "actorId": "https://lemmy.world/c/technology",
  "description": "This is a [most excellent](https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExN3N0NmhuODNib3d3Nzg0OHU2bTFqMXA...",
  "subscribers": 88730,
  "posts": 22197,
  "comments": 969526,
  "usersActiveMonth": 14627,
  "nsfw": false,
  "published": "2023-06-11T02:16:17.173Z"
}

Pricing

Pay per result, with no monthly rental or subscription:

• Post: $0.0005
• Comment: $0.0002

Example: 1,000 results cost about $0.50 in fees. Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which is enough to test this Actor.

FAQ

Do I need an account, cookies or a login for the source site? No. Lemmy Scraper uses public data sources only, so there is nothing to connect and no account to risk.

How much will a run cost? You pay only for results delivered (see Pricing above), plus Apify platform usage, which the free plan's monthly credit easily covers for test runs. Start with a small limit to see the exact cost per run.

Can I export to CSV, Excel or Google Sheets? Yes. Every run's dataset can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or pushed to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack or a webhook through Apify integrations.

Can I run it on a schedule or from my own code? Yes. Add an Apify Schedule (hourly, daily, weekly) or call it through the Apify API / Python & JavaScript clients. It also works with AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

What happens if an input is invalid or a source is down? The run keeps going. The bad input gets a row with an error field so you can see what failed, and you are not charged for results that were not delivered.

Is this legal to use? It collects publicly available data. You are responsible for using the output in line with the source's terms and privacy laws such as GDPR/CCPA; don't use it for spam.

Something missing or broken? Open an issue on the Issues tab. Feature requests are usually added within a few days.

Scheduling / monitoring

Create a Schedule (daily/weekly) and connect a webhook or Slack/email integration.

Fair use

Official public APIs only, no login. Do not use output for spam or harassment. Respect the data sources' rate limits and terms.

Related tools

• Mastodon Scraper: Profiles, Posts & Hashtags
• Bluesky Scraper: Profiles, Posts, Engagement & Followers
• Hacker News Scraper: Search, Feeds, Comments & Who's Hiring
• RSS & Atom Feed Reader, Keyword Filter & New Item Monitor

REST API

GET https://api.mediaprotools.com/v1/lemmy-posts?items=... (header X-API-Key). Up to 5 items per call, separated by ,. Or POST {"items":[...],"options":{...}}.

Parameter	Type	Notes
items	token	technology@lemmy.world, !linux@lemmy.ml, or a community URL.
searchTerms	array	Keyword search for posts (federated) on the search instance.
searchInstance	string	Search instance
sort	string	Sort
maxPostsPerSource	integer 1-100	Max posts per community/search
includeComments	boolean	Include comments
maxCommentsPerPost	integer 1-50	Top comments.
sinceDate	string	YYYY-MM-DD.

Output fields: actorId, apId, author, authorActorId, body, commentCount, comments, community, communityActorId, description, downvotes, error, featured, id, input, instance, isNew, link, name, nsfw, posts, published, score, subscribers, thumbnailUrl, title, type, updated, upvotes, url, usersActiveMonth.