Reddit Subreddit Post Comments - Documentation

Overview

The Reddit Subreddit Post Comments actor allows you to scrape comments from any Reddit post. Simply provide a Reddit post URL, and the actor will fetch all comments with their metadata including author, score, timestamps, and nested replies.

Use Cases

• Monitor discussions on specific Reddit posts
• Analyze comment sentiment and engagement
• Track conversation threads and replies
• Research community opinions on topics
• Build datasets for social media analysis

Input Parameters

Required Parameters

postUrl (String, Required)

The full URL of the Reddit post you want to scrape comments from.

Example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1q6mhia/president_trump_to_ban_large_institutional/

Format: Must be a valid Reddit post URL containing:

• Subreddit name (e.g., /r/wallstreet/)
• Post ID (e.g., 1q6mhia)

limit (Integer, Required)

Maximum number of comments to fetch per page.

• Minimum: 1
• Maximum: 100
• Default: 25

page (Integer, Required)

The page number to fetch (for pagination).

• Minimum: 1
• Maximum: 50
• Default: 1

sortBy (String, Required)

How to sort the comments.

Options:

• hot - Most engaging comments (default)
• new - Newest comments first
• top - Highest scored comments
• rising - Comments gaining traction
• controversial - Most debated comments

Default: hot

Output Format

The actor returns a JSON object with the following structure:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "subreddit": "wallstreet",
    "post": {
      "id": "1q6mhia",
      "title": "Post title here",
      "author": "username",
      "subreddit": "wallstreet",
      "score": 500,
      "upvoteRatio": 0.85,
      "numComments": 666,
      "created": "2026-01-07T17:58:33.000Z",
      "url": "https://i.redd.it/image.jpeg",
      "permalink": "https://reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/...",
      "isVideo": false,
      "isSelf": false,
      "selftext": "",
      "thumbnail": "https://...",
      "domain": "i.redd.it",
      "gilded": 0,
      "locked": false,
      "spoiler": false,
      "nsfw": false
    },
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "commentCount": 144,
    "after": null,
    "comments": [...]
  },
  "error": null
}

Post Object Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique post identifier
title	String	Post title
author	String	Username of post creator
score	Integer	Net upvotes (upvotes - downvotes)
upvoteRatio	Float	Ratio of upvotes (0.0 to 1.0)
numComments	Integer	Total number of comments
created	ISO Date	When the post was created
url	String	URL of linked content
permalink	String	Reddit URL to the post
isVideo	Boolean	Whether post contains video
isSelf	Boolean	Whether it's a text post
selftext	String	Text content (for text posts)
locked	Boolean	Whether commenting is disabled
nsfw	Boolean	Whether marked as NSFW

Comment Object Fields

Each comment in the comments array contains:

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique comment identifier
author	String	Username (or [deleted])
body	String	Comment text content
score	Integer	Net upvotes for the comment
created	ISO Date	When comment was posted
parentId	String	ID of parent (post or comment)
depth	Integer	Nesting level (0 = top-level)
gilded	Integer	Number of Reddit awards
permalink	String	Direct link to the comment
replies	Array	Nested replies (same structure)

Comment Threading

Comments are nested to show reply relationships:

• Depth 0: Top-level comments (direct replies to post)
• Depth 1: Replies to top-level comments
• Depth 2+: Further nested replies

The replies array contains child comments with the same structure, allowing you to traverse the entire conversation tree.

Example Usage

Basic Example

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1q6mhia/president_trump_to_ban_large_institutional/",
  "limit": 25,
  "page": 1,
  "sortBy": "hot"
}

Get More Comments

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1q6mhia/president_trump_to_ban_large_institutional/",
  "limit": 100,
  "page": 1,
  "sortBy": "top"
}

Pagination Example

To get the second page of comments:

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1q6mhia/president_trump_to_ban_large_institutional/",
  "limit": 50,
  "page": 2,
  "sortBy": "new"
}

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Analyzing Top Comments

Set sortBy: "top" and limit: 100 to get the most upvoted comments.

Scenario 2: Monitoring New Discussions

Set sortBy: "new" to track the latest comments as they come in.

Scenario 3: Finding Controversial Topics

Set sortBy: "controversial" to identify heated debates.

Scenario 4: Deep Comment Analysis

Use limit: 100 with pagination to fetch all comments from a post with many replies.

Important Notes

1. Deleted Content: Comments by deleted users show [deleted] or [removed] as the author/body
2. Rate Limits: Reddit may impose rate limits; the actor handles this automatically
3. Nested Replies: All replies are included in the replies array of parent comments
4. Pagination: Use the page parameter to fetch additional comments beyond the limit
5. Valid URLs: Ensure the post URL is complete and properly formatted

Error Handling

If an error occurs, the output will contain:

{
  "success": false,
  "message": "Error description",
  "data": null,
  "error": "Detailed error message"
}

Common errors:

• Invalid post URL format
• Post not found or deleted
• Subreddit is private
• Network connectivity issues

Tips for Best Results

• Start with limit: 25 for quick tests
• Use sortBy: "hot" for most relevant comments
• Increase limit to 100 for comprehensive scraping
• Use pagination (page: 2, 3...) for posts with many comments
• Check commentCount in the response to know total available comments

TIPS

If you encounter issues:

1. Verify the post URL is valid and accessible
2. Check that the post is not deleted or from a private subreddit
3. Try reducing the limit if timeouts occur
4. Use different sortBy options if certain sorts fail

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, please refer to the Apify platform documentation or:

1. Create an issue and share your resource
2. Send us private message
3. Contact us via Telegram: @pintoflow