Weibo Scraper

What does Weibo Scraper do?

Weibo Scraper collects public data from Weibo (微博), China's largest open social network, without a Weibo account, login or cookies of your own. It returns three kinds of data in one dataset. First, the live Weibo hot search list (微博热搜): about 50 trending topics with rank, heat score, label such as 新 or 热, category and a search link. Second, public posts for any keyword or #topic#. Third, the latest public posts of an account you give by URL. Every post comes with plain text, publish time in ISO format, reposts, comments and likes counts, full-size image URLs, a video URL when there is one, the topic tags used in the text, and a minimal author record (public display name, id and verified flag). Use it for brand monitoring, trend tracking, media research and China market analysis. You pay $17.75 per 1,000 results and only for results actually returned.

What you can use it for

• Track the Weibo hot search list over time with scheduled runs
• Monitor what people say about a brand, product or #topic# on Weibo
• Follow the latest posts of official accounts, media outlets and brands
• Measure engagement (reposts, comments, likes) of posts on a theme
• Build Chinese social media datasets for research

Features

• No login, no account cookies: uses the same anonymous visitor access a logged-out phone browser gets
• One input, any mix: hot search, keywords or topics, and account URLs in the same run
• Full post text: long posts are expanded, so text is never cut at "全文"
• Plain text: HTML, link icons and emoji images are turned into readable text (emoji as [name])
• Stable English field names and ISO dates
• Duplicates removed: a post found by several keywords is returned and charged once
• Retries on a fresh proxy IP with a fresh visitor session when Weibo rate-limits

Input

{
  "includeHotSearch": true,
  "searchKeywords": ["咖啡", "#新能源汽车#"],
  "accountUrls": ["https://weibo.com/u/2803301701"],
  "maxPostsPerSource": 30,
  "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}

Field	Description
includeHotSearch	Adds the current hot search list (about 50 topics)
searchKeywords	Keywords to find posts for. Wrap a topic in hashes, for example #咖啡#
accountUrls	Numeric account URLs: weibo.com/u/<id>, weibo.com/<id>, m.weibo.cn/u/<id> or m.weibo.cn/profile/<id>
maxPostsPerSource	Upper limit of posts per keyword and per account (default 30)
maxConcurrency	Sources processed at the same time (default 3)
maxRequestRetries	Attempts per source, each on a new proxy IP (default 5)
proxy	Residential proxy recommended (default)

Output

Each item has a type field: hotSearch or post. The dataset has a view for each.

Hot search item:

{
  "type": "hotSearch",
  "rank": 1,
  "keyword": "在梅边 夯爆了",
  "heat": 1754902,
  "label": "新",
  "url": "https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%E5%9C%A8%E6%A2%85%E8%BE%B9%20%E5%A4%AF%E7%88%86%E4%BA%86",
  "category": "综艺"
}

Rank 0 is the item Weibo pins above the list. It has no heat value or category.

Post item:

{
  "type": "post",
  "id": "5355129526292461",
  "mid": "5355129526292461",
  "url": "https://weibo.com/2803301701/Rn8aAqoXj",
  "text": "【#人民日报夜读#：#做人要知足知止知进#】\n[心]守好知足的心：幸福往往就藏在平凡烟火里……",
  "createdAt": "2026-10-17T14:03:55.000Z",
  "reposts": 105,
  "comments": 284,
  "likes": 324,
  "images": [],
  "videoUrl": null,
  "topics": ["人民日报夜读", "做人要知足知止知进"],
  "author": { "id": "2803301701", "name": "人民日报", "verified": true },
  "source": "account: 2803301701"
}

images holds full-size image URLs. videoUrl is the best MP4 link Weibo offers (720p when available). source tells you which keyword or account produced the post.

Pricing

$17.75 per 1,000 results. A result is one hot search topic or one post in the dataset. You pay only for results returned. Sources that fail after all retries, accounts with no visible posts and unsupported URLs are not charged. They are listed in FAILED_ITEMS in the run's key-value store with the reason.

Known limits

• First page only without login. Weibo shows logged-out visitors one page of results. In our tests that meant about 10 latest posts per account and about 28 to 30 posts per keyword (the actor reads the latest, popular and default search tabs and merges them). Asking for more than that returns no more.
• Account URLs must be numeric. Custom names such as weibo.com/rmrb are not resolved. Open the account and copy the URL with the number, for example weibo.com/u/2803301701.
• Video links expire after about an hour. Download soon after the run.
• Images may need a Referer header (https://weibo.com/) when you download them from some networks.
• Reposts are returned as the reposting post. The original post is not attached.
• No comments, follower lists or profile details. This is by design.

Responsible use

This actor only reads public content that any logged-out visitor can see, and it keeps author data to a display name, id and verified flag. It does not log in, does not solve or skip captchas or verification checks, and stops retrying when Weibo refuses. You are responsible for using the data lawfully, including China's PIPL and the data protection law where you live.

FAQ

Do I need a Weibo account or cookies?

No. The actor uses the anonymous visitor access Weibo gives every logged-out browser. You never provide account cookies.

How many posts can I get per keyword?

About 28 to 30 per keyword in our tests, because Weibo only shows the first page of each search tab to logged-out visitors. Add more related keywords or topics to collect more.

How do I scrape a Weibo topic (hashtag)?

Put the topic in searchKeywords wrapped in hashes, for example #咖啡#. The topics field of each post lists every hashtag used in its text.

How often does the hot search list change?

Weibo updates it many times a day. Schedule the actor with only includeHotSearch enabled to build a history; each run costs about 51 results.

Why did a source fail?

Usually rate limiting after all retries, an account with no public posts, or a non-numeric account URL. Check FAILED_ITEMS in the key-value store. Failed sources are never charged.

Can I get comments or follower lists?

No. To keep personal data to a minimum, this actor does not collect comments, followers or profile details.