# Reddit API Scraper (`rl1987/reddit-api-scraper`) Actor Scrape Reddit posts, comments, search results, subreddits, and user profiles via Reddit's OAuth data API. No login required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/rl1987/reddit-api-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [R.L.](https://apify.com/rl1987) (community) - **Categories:** Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.00 / 1,000 dataset rows This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Reddit API Scraper **Reddit API Scraper** extracts **posts, comments, search results, subreddit metadata, and user profiles** from [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com) — fast, structured, and without a login. It talks directly to Reddit's official OAuth data API (the same endpoints the Reddit mobile app uses), so you get clean JSON instead of brittle HTML scraping. Point it at a subreddit, a search query, a post URL, or a username and download the results as JSON, CSV, or Excel. Running on the Apify platform, you also get scheduling, a REST API, webhook and integration support, proxy rotation, and run monitoring out of the box. ### Why use Reddit API Scraper? - **Market & audience research** — track what communities are discussing around your product, niche, or competitors. - **Brand & reputation monitoring** — surface every mention of a keyword across Reddit and read the full comment threads. - **Content & trend discovery** — pull top/hot/rising posts from any subreddit to spot emerging topics. - **Sentiment & NLP datasets** — collect large, structured post + comment corpora for analysis or model training. - **Lead and community analysis** — profile users and inspect their posting history. ### How to use Reddit API Scraper 1. Open the Actor and go to the **Input** tab. 2. Fill in **one or more** source fields: **Subreddits**, **Search queries**, **Post URLs / IDs**, or **Usernames**. 3. Optionally set the sort order, time window, item limits, and whether to include comments. 4. Click **Start** and watch the run log. 5. When it finishes, open the **Output** / **Storage** tab and download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel. ### Input You can combine any of the source types in a single run. At least one is required. | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `subreddits` | array | Subreddit names, `r/`-prefixed names, or URLs to pull post listings from. | | `sort` | enum | Listing sort: `hot`, `new`, `top`, `rising`, `controversial`. | | `time` | enum | Time window for `top`/`controversial`: `hour`–`all`. | | `searchQueries` | array | Full-text search queries to run. | | `searchSort` | enum | Search sort: `relevance`, `hot`, `top`, `new`, `comments`. | | `searchInSubreddits` | boolean | Restrict each search query to the listed subreddits. | | `postUrls` | array | Individual post permalinks/IDs — fetches full self-text + comments. | | `usernames` | array | Users to scrape (profile + history). | | `userContent` | enum | `overview`, `submitted`, `comments`, or `about`. | | `includeComments` | boolean | Also fetch comment trees for posts collected from subreddits/searches. | | `maxComments` | integer | Max comments emitted per post. | | `commentSort` | enum | Comment sort: `confidence`, `top`, `new`, `controversial`, `old`, `qa`. | | `maxItemsPerSource` | integer | Max posts per subreddit/search/user (0 = unlimited). | | `includeNsfw` | boolean | Include NSFW results in search. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Proxy settings (Apify Proxy recommended for larger runs). | #### Example input ```json { "subreddits": ["programming", "r/python"], "sort": "top", "time": "week", "maxItemsPerSource": 100, "includeComments": true, "maxComments": 50, "searchQueries": ["large language models"], "searchSort": "new" } ```` ### Output Each item is pushed to the dataset with a `type` field (`post`, `comment`, `subreddit`, or `user`). You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel. #### Example output (a post) ```json { "type": "post", "id": "1ukim8j", "subreddit": "programming", "title": "Open source is a thankless job...", "author": "swithek", "selftext": "", "score": 1092, "upvoteRatio": 0.97, "numComments": 267, "createdAt": "2026-07-01T11:09:38+00:00", "url": "https://example.com/article", "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1ukim8j/..." } ``` #### Example output (a comment) ```json { "type": "comment", "id": "ouw01y8", "postId": "1ukim8j", "author": "SP-Niemand", "body": "As a user, you get to demand exactly nothing...", "score": 453, "depth": 0, "createdAt": "2026-07-01T12:30:00+00:00" } ``` #### Data fields | Field | Applies to | Description | |-------|-----------|-------------| | `type` | all | `post`, `comment`, `subreddit`, or `user`. | | `id` | all | Base-36 Reddit ID. | | `subreddit` | post, comment | Subreddit name. | | `title` | post, subreddit | Post title / subreddit title. | | `author` | post, comment | Username of the author. | | `selftext` / `body` | post / comment | Full text content. | | `score`, `ups`, `upvoteRatio` | post, comment | Vote metrics. | | `numComments` | post | Comment count. | | `postId`, `parentId`, `depth` | comment | Thread position. | | `subscribers`, `activeUserCount` | subreddit | Community size. | | `commentKarma`, `linkKarma`, `totalKarma` | user | Karma breakdown. | | `createdAt` | all | ISO-8601 UTC creation time. | | `permalink`, `url` | post, comment | Links. | ### How much does it cost to scrape Reddit? This Actor uses **pay-per-result** pricing: **$5.00 per 1,000 rows** ($0.005 per row). Every item written to the dataset — a post, a comment, a subreddit, or a user — counts as one row. So a run that collects 500 posts and 5,000 comments (5,500 rows) costs about **$27.50**. **Platform usage (compute + proxy) is billed on top** of the per-row price at Apify's standard rates. The Actor is lightweight — it calls a JSON API rather than rendering pages — so compute is minimal; the main variable cost is proxy traffic if you enable Apify Proxy. To control spend, set **Max total charge** on the run and/or lower `maxItemsPerSource` and `maxComments`; the Actor stops as soon as the charge cap is reached. Reddit limits each OAuth token to roughly **100 requests per minute**, so very large runs are paced accordingly. ### Tips & advanced options - **Fewer requests, faster runs:** leave `includeComments` off if you only need post metadata. - **Targeted comment collection:** put specific posts in `postUrls` — their comments are always fetched. - **Scoped search:** enable `searchInSubreddits` with a `subreddits` list to search within specific communities. - **Unlimited collection:** set `maxItemsPerSource` to `0` to page through everything the API returns (Reddit typically caps listings around ~1000 items per source). - **Scale past rate limits:** run with Apify Proxy and/or split large jobs into scheduled runs. ### FAQ, disclaimers, and support **Is scraping Reddit legal?** This Actor collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for how you use it — comply with applicable laws (including data-protection law such as GDPR) and avoid collecting personal or sensitive data without a lawful basis. **Limitations:** Reddit caps listing pagination (~1000 items per source) and comment trees may be truncated for very large threads. Search uses Reddit's REST search endpoint. **Support:** found a bug or need a field that isn't extracted? Open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab. Custom scraping solutions can also be arranged. # Actor input Schema ## `subreddits` (type: `array`): Subreddits to scrape post listings from. Accepts names (`programming`), `r/`-prefixed names, or full URLs (`https://www.reddit.com/r/programming`). ## `sort` (type: `string`): Sort order for subreddit post listings. ## `time` (type: `string`): Time window for the `top` and `controversial` sorts (ignored otherwise). ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Full-text search queries to run against Reddit. Each query is executed and its result posts are pushed to the dataset. ## `searchSort` (type: `string`): Sort order for search results. ## `searchInSubreddits` (type: `boolean`): When enabled, each search query is restricted to each subreddit listed in the Subreddits field (searches `r/{subreddit}/search` with `restrict_sr=true`). When disabled, searches are global. ## `postUrls` (type: `array`): Individual Reddit posts to fetch (including full self-text and comment threads). Accepts full permalinks, `comments/{id}` URLs, base-36 IDs, or `t3_`-prefixed fullnames. ## `usernames` (type: `array`): Reddit users to scrape. Fetches the profile and, per the `User content` option, their posts and/or comments. Accepts names, `u/`-prefixed names, or profile URLs. ## `userContent` (type: `string`): Which content to fetch for each username. ## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`): Fetch and output the comment tree for every post collected from subreddits and searches (in addition to posts given directly in Post URLs, whose comments are always fetched). ## `maxComments` (type: `integer`): Upper bound on the number of comments emitted per post. 0 = no comments (post only). ## `commentSort` (type: `string`): Sort order for comment threads. ## `maxItemsPerSource` (type: `integer`): Maximum posts to collect from each individual subreddit, search query, or user listing. 0 = unlimited (fetch until the API runs out). ## `includeNsfw` (type: `boolean`): Include NSFW results in search output. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Reddit rate-limits per IP and per OAuth token (~100 req/min); residential or datacenter proxies help distribute load. Recommended for larger runs. ## Actor input object example ```json { "subreddits": [ "programming", "r/news", "https://www.reddit.com/r/python" ], "sort": "hot", "time": "all", "searchQueries": [ "large language models", "rust vs go" ], "searchSort": "relevance", "searchInSubreddits": false, "postUrls": [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1ab2cd/title/" ], "usernames": [ "spez" ], "userContent": "overview", "includeComments": false, "maxComments": 50, "commentSort": "confidence", "maxItemsPerSource": 100, "includeNsfw": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "subreddits": [ "programming" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("rl1987/reddit-api-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "subreddits": ["programming"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("rl1987/reddit-api-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "subreddits": [ "programming" ] }' | apify call rl1987/reddit-api-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=rl1987/reddit-api-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Reddit API Scraper", "description": "Scrape Reddit posts, comments, search results, subreddits, and user profiles via Reddit's OAuth data API. No login required.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "OeXmLDM6Z28jS4bqT" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/rl1987~reddit-api-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-rl1987-reddit-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/rl1987~reddit-api-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-rl1987-reddit-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/rl1987~reddit-api-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-rl1987-reddit-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "subreddits": { "title": "Subreddits", "type": "array", "description": "Subreddits to scrape post listings from. Accepts names (`programming`), `r/`-prefixed names, or full URLs (`https://www.reddit.com/r/programming`).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "sort": { "title": "Subreddit sort", "enum": [ "hot", "new", "top", "rising", "controversial" ], "type": "string", "description": "Sort order for subreddit post listings.", "default": "hot" }, "time": { "title": "Time window", "enum": [ "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "all" ], "type": "string", "description": "Time window for the `top` and `controversial` sorts (ignored otherwise).", "default": "all" }, "searchQueries": { "title": "Search queries", "type": "array", "description": "Full-text search queries to run against Reddit. Each query is executed and its result posts are pushed to the dataset.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "searchSort": { "title": "Search sort", "enum": [ "relevance", "hot", "top", "new", "comments" ], "type": "string", "description": "Sort order for search results.", "default": "relevance" }, "searchInSubreddits": { "title": "Restrict search to subreddits", "type": "boolean", "description": "When enabled, each search query is restricted to each subreddit listed in the Subreddits field (searches `r/{subreddit}/search` with `restrict_sr=true`). When disabled, searches are global.", "default": false }, "postUrls": { "title": "Post URLs / IDs", "type": "array", "description": "Individual Reddit posts to fetch (including full self-text and comment threads). Accepts full permalinks, `comments/{id}` URLs, base-36 IDs, or `t3_`-prefixed fullnames.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "usernames": { "title": "Usernames", "type": "array", "description": "Reddit users to scrape. Fetches the profile and, per the `User content` option, their posts and/or comments. Accepts names, `u/`-prefixed names, or profile URLs.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "userContent": { "title": "User content", "enum": [ "overview", "submitted", "comments", "about" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which content to fetch for each username.", "default": "overview" }, "includeComments": { "title": "Include comments for scraped posts", "type": "boolean", "description": "Fetch and output the comment tree for every post collected from subreddits and searches (in addition to posts given directly in Post URLs, whose comments are always fetched).", "default": false }, "maxComments": { "title": "Max comments per post", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Upper bound on the number of comments emitted per post. 0 = no comments (post only).", "default": 50 }, "commentSort": { "title": "Comment sort", "enum": [ "confidence", "top", "new", "controversial", "old", "qa" ], "type": "string", "description": "Sort order for comment threads.", "default": "confidence" }, "maxItemsPerSource": { "title": "Max posts per source", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum posts to collect from each individual subreddit, search query, or user listing. 0 = unlimited (fetch until the API runs out).", "default": 100 }, "includeNsfw": { "title": "Include NSFW (over-18) results", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include NSFW results in search output.", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Reddit rate-limits per IP and per OAuth token (~100 req/min); residential or datacenter proxies help distribute load. Recommended for larger runs.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```