Reddit Search & Comments Scraper – Posts + Threads

Collect public Reddit posts and nested comments without creating a Reddit API application. Search topics, restrict a query to selected subreddits, or crawl hot, new, and top subreddit feeds into one normalized dataset.

Start in under a minute

{
  "queries": [],
  "subreddits": ["electricvehicles"],
  "sort": "new",
  "time": "month",
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxPosts": 5,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 0
}

This first-run example collects a lightweight subreddit feed. Add search phrases to queries when you need keyword filtering, and enable comments only when you need full discussion context.

Example post row

{
  "type": "post",
  "id": "t3_example",
  "parentId": null,
  "postId": "example",
  "subreddit": "electricvehicles",
  "author": "public_username",
  "title": "What changed your mind about EVs?",
  "text": "Discussion text...",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicles/comments/example/",
  "permalink": "/r/electricvehicles/comments/example/",
  "score": 42,
  "commentsCount": 18,
  "createdAt": "2026-08-09T09:00:00.000Z",
  "query": "electric vehicles",
  "depth": null,
  "source": "reddit-live",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-09T10:37:46.000Z"
}

Comments use the same schema with type: "comment", parentId, and depth.

Why use this Actor

• No Reddit API application or OAuth setup.
• Search queries and subreddit feeds in one input.
• Optional nested comment collection with hard per-post caps.
• Deduplication across queries and subreddit targets.
• Partial success: one failed target does not discard successful rows.
• Explicit source field on every row.

Use it as an MCP tool

Expose this Actor directly to an MCP-compatible AI client through Apify's hosted MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "signal-lab-reddit": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=signal_lab/reddit-search-comments"
    }
  }
}

On the first connection, Apify opens its OAuth flow; no API token needs to be pasted into the configuration. Your agent can then ask for a bounded dataset, for example: “Collect the 20 newest posts about electric vehicle charging from r/electricvehicles, without comments, and return the source URLs.”

See the official Apify MCP setup guide for supported clients and authentication options.

Live and archive behavior

The Actor first requests public live Reddit data. When Reddit blocks a cloud request for a subreddit target, it can fall back to the public Arctic Shift archive. Archive rows are labeled source: "arctic-shift"; live rows are labeled source: "reddit-live". Archive freshness and coverage can differ from live Reddit, and global searches without a subreddit do not have this fallback.

Pricing and responsible use

Current launch pricing starts at $1 per 1,000 Reddit items; check the Pricing tab for every billable event and exact run cost.

Use conservative limits and collect only public content. Do not use the data for harassment, sensitive-person profiling, or attempts to re-identify deleted users. Deleted or removed authors are returned as null.

Free product guide

See the Reddit Search & Comments workflow, use cases, and expected output, or browse all Signal Lab data tools.