# Substack Scraper — Newsletter Posts, Engagement & Authors (`pepeschuster/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape every post from any Substack newsletter — title, author, date, reactions, comments, restacks, word count, tags and text — with zero setup. No login, no API key.

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

## Pricing

$50.00 / 1,000 publication scanneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Substack Scraper — Newsletter Posts, Engagement & Authors

**Scrape every post from any Substack newsletter with zero setup — no login, no API key. Pass a handle, a `*.substack.com` subdomain, or a custom domain and get clean, structured post data with engagement metrics.**

Substack has no useful public API for reading other people's newsletters, so getting a newsletter's post history and engagement means scraping. This Actor does it the easy way — clean JSON out, no account, no tokens, no browser hassle.

### What you get per post

Title, subtitle, author, publish date, canonical URL, post type (newsletter / podcast / thread), audience (free vs paid), **reactions (likes), comment count, restacks**, word count, tags, cover image, and a text preview — with the **full body** available on demand.

### Why use it

- ✅ **Zero-config** — no Substack account, no API key, no OAuth. Enter publications and run.
- 📊 **Real engagement data** — likes, comments, and restacks per post, not just titles (great for spotting what performs).
- 🏢 **Any publication** — works on both `*.substack.com` subdomains and custom domains.
- 💸 **Cheap & predictable** — billed **per scanned publication**, however many posts come back.
- 🎯 **Clean structured output** — JSON, CSV, or Excel, or straight from the Apify API.

### Who it's for

Newsletter operators and sponsors sizing up creators, content and competitor research, media analysts, dataset builders, and anyone archiving or tracking a Substack.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `publications` | Up to 20 Substack handles / subdomains / custom domains (e.g. `noahpinion`, `platformer.news`). Each is one scanned publication. |
| `sort` | `new` (newest first) or `top`. |
| `maxPostsPerPublication` | How many posts to pull per publication (paginated). |
| `includeBody` | Include the full post body (HTML + text). Off by default. |
| `maxItems` | Optional overall safety cap on total posts. |

**Example input**

```json
{
  "publications": ["noahpinion", "astralcodexten"],
  "sort": "new",
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 50
}
```

### Output

One record per post. **Example:**

```json
{
  "id": 213463624,
  "publication": "www.noahpinion.blog",
  "title": "Roundup #87: Technology BAD!!",
  "subtitle": "The Hugging Face attack; TV and loneliness…",
  "author": "Noah Smith",
  "url": "https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/roundup-87-technology-bad",
  "postDate": "2026-09-01T02:26:19.061Z",
  "type": "newsletter",
  "audience": "everyone",
  "likes": 306,
  "commentCount": 103,
  "restacks": 41,
  "wordcount": 3088,
  "tags": ["economics"]
}
```

Fields: `id`, `publication`, `title`, `subtitle`, `author`, `url`, `postDate`, `type`, `audience`, `likes`, `commentCount`, `restacks`, `wordcount`, `tags`, `coverImage`, `truncatedText` (+ `bodyHtml`/`bodyText` when `includeBody` is on). Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, or via the API.

### Pricing

**Pay per scanned publication** — one unit per publication, no matter how many posts come back, with no monthly fee. Predictable and cheap.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Substack account or API key?** No — nothing to set up.
**Does it get paywalled content?** No — it returns what Substack serves publicly (free posts in full, free previews for paid posts) plus public engagement metrics.
**Can I schedule it?** Yes — run it on a schedule to keep a rolling archive of newsletters you follow.
**What formats can I export?** JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or via the API.

### Notes

Returns publicly available Substack data only. Please scrape responsibly and comply with applicable terms and laws.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack publications to scrape — a handle (e.g. 'noahpinion'), a \*.substack.com subdomain, or a custom domain (e.g. 'www.noahpinion.blog'). Each is billed as one scanned publication.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Order of posts within each publication.

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

How many posts to pull from each publication (paginated). Keep cost predictable.

## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Include the full post body (HTML + plain text). Off by default for a lighter, faster result — free-tier previews only for paywalled posts.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Optional overall safety cap on total posts returned across all publications.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Advanced. Defaults to Apify Proxy for reliable, rate-limit-friendly access. Leave as-is unless you know you need to change it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "noahpinion",
    "astralcodexten",
    "www.thebulwark.com"
  ],
  "sort": "new",
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 50,
  "includeBody": false,
  "maxItems": 5000,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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": [
        "noahpinion"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pepeschuster/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": ["noahpinion"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pepeschuster/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": [
    "noahpinion"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call pepeschuster/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pepeschuster/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/0xxeRLMuuRZIRonrW/builds/z9B1MDGAp9GoLAe33/openapi.json