# Substack Scraper — Newsletter Posts, Likes, Comments & Text (`northbell/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape posts from any Substack newsletter, custom domains included, or find the top newsletters in a category: title, date, likes, comments, restacks, word count, free or paid, tags, and optionally the text. Only new posts since your last run. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/northbell/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Northbell](https://apify.com/northbell) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.64 / 1,000 posts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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 Scraper — Newsletter Posts, Likes, Comments & Text

Get every post from any **Substack newsletter** — including the ones on their own domain, like `www.lennysnewsletter.com` — as clean JSON: **title, subtitle, date, likes, comments, restacks, word count, free or paid, tags, cover image**, and optionally **the text**. Schedule it with *Only new posts* and each run returns just what was published since the last one.

Don't know which newsletters to watch? **Pick a category** (Technology, Finance, Food & Drink, …) and it takes the top newsletters from Substack's own category ranking, then their posts. Finding them is free.

### What you get

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `publication`, `title`, `subtitle`, `url`, `postedAt` | the post |
| `authors` | the byline names shown on the post |
| `likes`, `comments`, `restacks` | engagement as Substack shows it |
| `wordcount`, `postType` | length, and newsletter / podcast / thread / video |
| `audience`, `isPaid` | `everyone`, `only_paid` or `founding` |
| `section`, `tags`, `language`, `coverImage`, `description`, `excerpt` | context |
| `podcastDurationSeconds` | for podcast episodes |
| `content`, `contentIsPreview` | with *Include the post text*: plain text; for paid posts the free preview everyone can see |
| `publicationName`, `foundInCategory`, `categoryRank` | when you used *categories*: the newsletter, the category it came from, and its place in Substack's list |
| `isNewSinceLastRun` | `true` when the post was published after the newest post of your previous run |

Reader comments are **not** collected.

Fixed 22 Oct 2026: a post counted as new when the previous run had simply not reached it (it stopped at *max posts*), so with *Only new posts* a second run could return older posts as new and charge for them. New now means published after the newest post the previous run saw.

### Use it for

- **Newsletter research** — what a competitor or a whole niche publishes, how often, and what gets the most likes and comments
- **Content monitoring** — a daily feed of new posts from a list of newsletters into a sheet, Slack or your own database
- **AI and RAG** — clean post text for summaries, search or training your own assistant on newsletters you follow

### Input

```json
{ "publications": ["https://www.oneusefulthing.org", "platformer"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 20, "postedWithinDays": 30 }
```

Or by category:

```json
{ "categories": ["Technology", "Finance"], "maxPublicationsPerCategory": 5, "maxPostsPerPublication": 3 }
```

Measured on October 7, 2026: three newsletters, 45 posts each, in 25 seconds; 10 posts with text in 6 seconds. On October 24: two categories, 5 newsletters each, 3 posts each (30 posts) in 14 seconds.

### Pricing

**$0.80 per 1,000 posts**, or **$1.50 per 1,000 posts with text**, plus $0.01 per run. Error rows and posts left out by your filters are free. The $0.01 run-start fee is the one charge every run pays, even one that returns nothing.

### For AI agents

`{"publications": ["platformer"], "maxPostsPerPublication": 10}` returns the 10 newest posts with likes and comments. Rows have `type`: `post` or `error`. `{"categories": ["Science"], "maxPublicationsPerCategory": 10, "maxPostsPerPublication": 1}` gives the latest post of the top 10 science newsletters.

# Actor input Schema

## `publications` (type: `array`):

The newsletter address — "name.substack.com", just "name", or its own domain (e.g. "www.lennysnewsletter.com"). A post URL works too. Leave empty if you pick categories below.

## `categories` (type: `array`):

Substack's own category lists (the same newsletters it ranks on its category pages). Finding them is free; you pay only for the posts. A subcategory name such as "AI" also works via the API input.

## `maxPublicationsPerCategory` (type: `integer`):

Top N newsletters from each category, in Substack's order. Each post row shows the category and the newsletter's rank in it.

## `maxPostsPerPublication` (type: `integer`):

Newest first. Caps what you pay for.

## `postedWithinDays` (type: `integer`):

Stop at posts older than this.

## `audience` (type: `string`):

Keep all posts, only free posts, or only posts for paying subscribers (paid posts come with the preview only).

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep posts whose title, subtitle, description or tags contain any of these.

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the text of each post (one extra request per post). For paid posts this is the free preview Substack shows to everyone.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

From the second run on, return only posts this Actor has not returned before for that newsletter. Schedule it for a feed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "https://www.oneusefulthing.org",
    "platformer"
  ],
  "maxPublicationsPerCategory": 10,
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
  "audience": "all",
  "includeContent": false,
  "onlyNew": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `posts` (type: `string`):

Posts with date, likes, comments, restacks and word count.

# 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 = {
    "publications": [
        "https://www.oneusefulthing.org",
        "platformer"
    ],
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("northbell/substack-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 = {
    "publications": [
        "https://www.oneusefulthing.org",
        "platformer",
    ],
    "maxPostsPerPublication": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("northbell/substack-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 '{
  "publications": [
    "https://www.oneusefulthing.org",
    "platformer"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 20
}' |
apify call northbell/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,northbell/substack-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/yaGaLtOYeyiIQTNZt/builds/BWb45wOVkbsais4K4/openapi.json