Stack Overflow Questions Scraper — Tags, Scores & Views

Stack Overflow Questions Scraper exports public Stack Overflow questions found by search text, tags, or exact question URLs, with title, tags, score, view count, answer count, accepted-answer state, author, dates, licence, and an optional question body. It is built for developer-relations, documentation, and research teams who need Stack Overflow data as a clean dataset, and costs $20 per 1,000 questions on the FREE tier ($0.02 each) plus a $0.005 start fee.

What Stack Overflow data does it return?

It returns one dataset record per unique question. Values Stack Overflow does not provide, such as the reputation of a deleted user, stay null.

Field	What it contains
questionId, url, title	Question ID, canonical link, and decoded title
tags	Stack Overflow tags on the question
score, viewCount, answerCount	Votes, views, and number of answers at scrape time
isAnswered, acceptedAnswerId	Whether it counts as answered, and the accepted answer's ID
authorName, authorId, authorReputation	Public author details when available
creationDate, lastActivityDate, lastEditDate	ISO 8601 UTC timestamps
closedDate, closedReason	Closure details for closed questions
contentLicense	Licence reported for the post, for example CC BY-SA 4.0
bodyHtml, bodyText	Question body as HTML and plain text when includeBody is true; otherwise null
source, scrapedAt	Always Stack Exchange API v2.3, plus retrieval time

The dataset holds questions only. Each run also writes an OUTPUT record with status (data, empty, rejected, blocked, or failed), records, apiRequests, quotaRemaining, and warnings.

How do I scrape Stack Overflow questions by keyword or tag?

Put a phrase in searchQuery, tags in tags, or both. The Actor reads Stack Overflow's official public API, pages through results up to maxResults, and removes duplicate question IDs.

• Text search (searchQuery set) ranks by relevance by default; you can also sort by activity, creation, or votes.
• Tag browse (searchQuery empty, tags set) lists questions that carry every tag you give, sorted by activity, creation, or votes. Relevance needs a search phrase.
• Filters: minScore (not with relevance sorting), and fromDate / toDate as YYYY-MM-DD creation-date bounds in UTC.

Can I build a Stack Overflow dataset for one tag over time?

Yes. Browse a tag with sort: "creation" and a date window, and export the dataset. Repeating the run per month gives you question counts, scores, and answer rates per tag, the "questions per month" view that analysts often ask for.

{
  "searchQuery": "",
  "tags": ["rust"],
  "sort": "creation",
  "fromDate": "2026-09-01",
  "toDate": "2026-09-30",
  "maxResults": 500
}

One run returns at most 500 questions, so busy tags need narrower date windows.

When should I use it, and when not?

Use it when you need:

• unanswered or low-answer questions on your product's tag, for docs and developer-relations work;
• the most-viewed questions for a technology, for content planning;
• exact questions by URL, with or without their body text;
• a recurring snapshot of new questions on a set of tags.

Do not use it when you need:

• answers, comments, revisions, or full user profiles: the Actor returns questions only;
• the full history of every question: Stack Exchange's official data dump suits bulk analysis better;
• developer rants and sentiment: use devRant Scraper;
• open-source repositories by language or stars: use GitHub Repository Search Scraper.

How do I run it?

Text search with bodies:

{
  "searchQuery": "typescript generics",
  "tags": ["typescript"],
  "sort": "relevance",
  "includeBody": true,
  "maxResults": 25
}

Exact questions by URL. Set searchQuery to an empty string; otherwise any maxResults slots left after the URLs are filled from the text search:

{
  "searchQuery": "",
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37233735/interfaces-vs-types-in-typescript" }
  ],
  "sort": "activity",
  "maxResults": 1
}

Input	Default	Bounds
searchQuery	typescript	Up to 300 characters; may be empty for tag browse or URL lookup
tags	none	Up to 5 tags
startUrls	none	stackoverflow.com/questions/<id>/… URLs only
sort	relevance	relevance, activity, creation, votes
minScore	none	−100 to 100,000; not with relevance
fromDate, toDate	none	YYYY-MM-DD
includeBody	false	Adds bodyHtml and bodyText
maxResults	25	1–500, also the billing cap

Invalid combinations, such as relevance sorting without a search phrase or a date range that ends before it starts, are rejected before any question is charged.

JavaScript (apify-client)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('muhammadafzal/stack-overflow-questions-scraper').call({
  searchQuery: 'python async await',
  tags: ['python'],
  maxResults: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((q) => [q.score, q.answerCount, q.title]));

Python (apify-client 3.x)

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("muhammadafzal/stack-overflow-questions-scraper").call(
    run_input={"searchQuery": "python async await", "tags": ["python"], "maxResults": 50}
)
for q in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(q["score"], q["answerCount"], q["title"])

Use it from an AI assistant

The Actor works from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client through Apify's MCP server. Add https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=muhammadafzal/stack-overflow-questions-scraper as a server, then ask, for example: "Find the 30 most-voted Stack Overflow questions tagged rust from this year and list which ones still have no accepted answer."

What does the output look like?

Records for the default typescript search, built from Stack Overflow's public API response on 2026-10-27:

[
  {
    "questionId": 37233735,
    "title": "Interfaces vs Types in TypeScript",
    "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37233735/interfaces-vs-types-in-typescript",
    "tags": ["typescript", "interface", "typescript-types"],
    "score": 2813,
    "viewCount": 1140498,
    "answerCount": 25,
    "isAnswered": true,
    "acceptedAnswerId": 37233777,
    "authorName": "user6101582",
    "authorId": null,
    "authorReputation": null,
    "creationDate": "2016-05-15T01:53:52.000Z",
    "lastActivityDate": "2026-07-27T16:04:10.000Z",
    "lastEditDate": "2023-07-16T08:38:38.000Z",
    "closedDate": null,
    "closedReason": null,
    "contentLicense": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
    "bodyHtml": null,
    "bodyText": null,
    "source": "Stack Exchange API v2.3",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-27T07:40:00.000Z"
  },
  {
    "questionId": 12694530,
    "title": "What is TypeScript and why should I use it instead of JavaScript?",
    "url": "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12694530/what-is-typescript-and-why-should-i-use-it-instead-of-javascript",
    "tags": ["javascript", "typescript"],
    "score": 1940,
    "viewCount": 698176,
    "answerCount": 5,
    "isAnswered": true,
    "acceptedAnswerId": 12694578,
    "authorName": "Mohammed Thabet",
    "authorId": 353953,
    "authorReputation": 21719,
    "creationDate": "2012-10-02T16:37:58.000Z",
    "contentLicense": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
    "bodyHtml": null,
    "bodyText": null,
    "source": "Stack Exchange API v2.3"
  }
]

How much does it cost to scrape Stack Overflow?

You pay per question delivered, plus one start fee. Platform usage is included in these prices.

Event	FREE	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD, PLATINUM, DIAMOND
Stack Overflow question (per question)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.016
Actor start (per started GB of allocated memory)	$0.005	$0.005	$0.005	$0.005

The default memory is 256 MB, so a run normally pays one start event. Worked totals on the FREE tier:

• Default run, 25 questions: $0.005 + 25 × $0.02 = $0.505.
• 500 questions for one tag and month: $0.005 + 500 × $0.02 = $10.005 (GOLD: $8.005).

Rejected input and searches with no matches charge no question events. The run's progress message currently quotes an older per-question figure; the table above is the live price.

Limits and reliability

• Up to 500 questions per run; each API page holds up to 100 questions.
• The Actor follows the API's backoff instructions and retries temporary errors up to three times with growing delays.
• Without an API key, Stack Overflow's API allows a limited number of requests per IP address per day. If that quota is exhausted or access is throttled, the run writes OUTPUT.status: "blocked" (or "failed" for other API errors) with the reason, saves no invented questions, charges no result events, and ends as Failed so schedules and integrations notice.
• Relevance ranking is Stack Overflow's own and can change between runs.

FAQ

Do I need a Stack Exchange API key?

No. The Actor calls the public Stack Exchange API without a key and handles paging and retries for you.

Can I get the question body text?

Yes. Set includeBody to true to add bodyHtml and a cleaned bodyText to every record.

Does it return answers or comments?

No. It returns questions with answerCount, isAnswered, and acceptedAnswerId. Answer and comment text are not collected.

How is this different from the Stack Exchange data dump?

The data dump is a periodic full export of every post, suited to bulk research. This Actor gives you current, filtered questions on demand, with today's scores and view counts, without downloading or querying the full dump.

Can I scrape other Stack Exchange sites?

No. Only stackoverflow.com questions are supported. URLs from other sites are skipped with a warning in OUTPUT.

Can I export the questions to CSV or Excel?

Yes. Export the run's dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS from Apify Console, or read it through the API.

Can I monitor new questions on my tag?

Yes. Save a tag-browse input with sort: "creation" as a Task and attach an Apify schedule.

Related Actors

• devRant Scraper: public developer rants with tags, scores, and authors.
• GitHub Repository Search Scraper: repositories by keyword, language, topic, and stars.
• AlternativeTo Scraper: ranked software alternatives for any product.
• iPad App Store Scraper: iPad app prices, ratings, and versions.

Legal and responsible use

The Actor reads public questions through Stack Overflow's official API and does not log in or bypass access controls. Questions are licensed under the contentLicense shown in each record, which requires attribution when you republish them. Follow Stack Overflow's terms and do not use author data for spam, harassment, or profiling.

Last verified: 2026-10-27