Telegram Group Scraper

Extract accounts shown as authors of posts in Telegram's public web previews. This Actor does not enumerate a group's full member roster. It emits only fields actually visible in the live preview.

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What does Telegram Group Scraper do?

Telegram Group Scraper extracts publicly visible post authors and optional group/channel summaries from public Telegram web previews. For channels, publishing accounts are identified as publishers, not subscribers.

It serves as a fast, reliable, and lightweight Telegram API alternative for lead generation, audience research, group monitoring, influencer discovery, and competitive analysis.

• Extract visible usernames/names, role evidence, message counts within inspected posts, and available public avatar/verification signals.
• Collect summary fields only when Telegram exposes them in the fetched public page.
• Mentioned usernames are not treated as group members; a mention is not proof of membership.
• Export results directly into JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or XML formats via Apify API or Console.

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Why use Telegram Group Scraper?

• Public-preview extraction: Uses lightweight HTTP parsing of Telegram's public web preview.
• No roster access: Public previews do not expose complete participant lists. This Actor returns observed authors only and does not bypass privacy/access controls.
• Dynamic Output Filtering: Output only group members, group overview summaries, or both based on your INPUT.json configuration.
• Duplicate Protection: Automatically normalizes handles, cleans input URLs, and deduplicates extracted member records.
• Apify Cloud Integration: Run on schedule, trigger via Webhooks, or integrate with Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, or REST APIs.

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What data can Telegram Group Scraper extract?

The scraper extracts public post-author fields and group-summary fields that are present in the live response:

Member Output Fields

Field Name	Type	Description
username	String	Telegram handle (e.g. durov)
name	String	Member display name
role	String	Observed public role (owner, public_post_author, or channel_publisher)
membershipVerified	Boolean	True for visible group post authors or explicit owners; false for channel publishers
groupUsername	String	Target group username
groupTitle	String	Target group title
photoUrl	String	Direct URL to user profile picture
isVerified	Boolean	Whether user has official Telegram verified badge
messageCount	Integer	Number of posts/messages contributed in scraped sample
lastActiveDate	String	ISO 8601 timestamp of user's latest activity
telegramUrl	String	Web URL (https://t.me/username)
deepLink	String	Telegram deep link (tg://resolve?domain=username)

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How to scrape Telegram groups

1. Enter Group Handles / URLs: Provide public Telegram group links or usernames (e.g., https://t.me/durov, @telegram, durov) in the groups array or groupList text area.
2. Configure Limits: Set maxMembers per group and maxPosts to analyze.
3. Select Output Type: Choose members, groups, or all.
4. Run the Scraper: Click Start or run programmatically via Apify CLI / REST API.
5. Download Data: Export your scraped audience dataset in JSON, CSV, or Excel format.

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Limitations

• The public web preview exposes a bounded set of recent messages, not all group participants.
• Mentioned usernames are excluded because a mention does not prove membership.
• A channel publisher is not labeled as a channel subscriber; see role and membershipVerified.

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Input Parameters

The Actor accepts input via .actor/input_schema.json or INPUT.json:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
groups	Array	["@durov"]	List of group handles, URLs, or invite links
groupList	String	""	Alternative newline-separated group handles
maxMembers	Integer	100	Maximum visible post authors per group (0 = unlimited; not a complete roster)
maxPosts	Integer	50	Maximum recent public posts to inspect for authors
outputType	String	"members"	"members", "groups", or "all"
proxyConfiguration	Object	{"useApifyProxy": true}	Optional permitted network routing; does not bypass access controls or rate limits
maxConcurrency	Integer	10	Maximum parallel requests
debugLog	Boolean	false	Enable detailed debug logs

Example INPUT.json

{
  "groups": [
    "https://t.me/durov",
    "@telegram"
  ],
  "maxMembers": 100,
  "maxPosts": 50,
  "outputType": "members",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "debugLog": false
}

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Output Example

With outputType: "members", the dataset contains live public-author records from the requested preview pages. No canned or placeholder dataset records are emitted; fields vary with the current response.

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FAQ & Legal Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Our Actors are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as private phone numbers or password hashes. They only extract information that users have chosen to share publicly on Telegram web previews. You should ensure that your use of scraped data complies with GDPR, local regulations, and applicable Terms of Service.

Common Questions

• Can it scrape private Telegram groups? No, this scraper is built specifically for public Telegram groups and channels accessible via web preview links.
• Can I run this on a schedule? Yes! Use Apify's built-in Schedules feature to run group scrapes hourly, daily, or weekly.