Reddit Scraper

Extract posts, comments, users, and entire subreddits from Reddit in one run. Mix any combination of subreddit names, search keywords, and direct Reddit URLs — every row is tagged with a recordType so you can filter posts, comments, users, and communities in a single dataset.

Why This Scraper?

• Four record types in one run — posts, comments, users, and subreddits, each with rich metadata
• Mix and match sources — feed it subreddit names, search keywords, and full Reddit URLs (post links, user profiles, search URLs) in any combination
• Deep comment trees — walk every reply branch, with knobs for maximum comments per post and nesting depth
• Date cutoffs — scrape only posts or comments after a given date (great for daily refreshes)
• NSFW toggle — keep or filter over-18 content
• 20 inputs, sensible defaults — works out of the box with zero configuration, but every knob is exposed
• Pay only for results — no compute charges, no proxy bills, no surprises
• Reliable JSON output — every row uses stable, camelCase field names you can pipe straight into a database

Use Cases

Market Research & Competitive Intelligence

• Track conversation volume around a brand, product, or competitor across communities
• Monitor sentiment in niche subreddits before launching a product
• Discover trending topics and rising subreddits by category

Lead Generation & Audience Building

• Find users asking buying-intent questions in your industry
• Build prospect lists from active contributors in target communities
• Identify niche influencers ranked by karma and engagement

Brand Monitoring & PR

• Catch mentions of your brand or product in real time using keyword searches
• Pull entire comment threads from posts that mention you
• Track sentiment and response rates over weeks or months

Academic Research & Data Science

• Build labeled datasets for natural-language processing or sentiment models
• Study community dynamics, moderation, and user behavior at scale
• Capture longitudinal snapshots of subreddits with date cutoffs

Content & SEO

• Discover the most-asked questions in any niche
• Mine high-engagement post titles for content ideas
• Track which external links perform best in target communities

Getting Started

Scrape posts from a subreddit

The simplest possible run — pull the latest 100 posts from r/programming:

{
    "subreddits": ["programming"],
    "sort": "new",
    "maxItems": 100
}

Search across Reddit

Find the top posts of the past month matching a keyword:

{
    "searches": ["best espresso machine"],
    "searchPosts": true,
    "sort": "top",
    "time": "month",
    "maxItems": 200
}

Get every comment on a specific post

Paste any Reddit post URL — the actor pulls the post and walks the full comment tree:

{
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1abc234/whats_your_favourite_book/"
    ],
    "maxComments": 500,
    "maxCommentDepth": 10
}

Scrape a user's posts and comments

Pull a user's profile, every post they've submitted, and every comment they've made:

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/user/spez/"],
    "sort": "new",
    "maxItems": 1000
}

Daily refresh of a subreddit

Combine a subreddit source with a date cutoff to grab only what's new since yesterday:

{
    "subreddits": ["wallstreetbets"],
    "sort": "new",
    "postDateLimit": "2025-04-24",
    "skipComments": true,
    "maxItems": 0
}

Input Reference

Sources

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
subreddits	string[]	["popular"]	Subreddit names to scrape (the r/ prefix is optional). Each subreddit is fetched independently.
searches	string[]	[]	Keywords to search across Reddit. Each keyword runs as its own query.
startUrls	URL[]	[]	Reddit URLs to scrape directly — accepts subreddit, post, user-profile, and search URLs. Mix any types.

Search Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchCommunityName	string		Restrict every search keyword to a single subreddit (e.g. programming). Leave empty to search all of Reddit.
searchPosts	boolean	true	Include matching posts in keyword search results.
searchComments	boolean	false	Include matching comments in keyword search results (see Tips — Reddit's comment-search index is limited).
searchCommunities	boolean	false	Include matching subreddits in keyword search results.
searchUsers	boolean	false	Include matching user profiles in keyword search results.

Sort & Filter

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
sort	string	"new"	Result ordering: New, Hot, Top, Rising, Most comments, or Relevance (search only).
time	string	"all"	Date window for Top sort and keyword searches: All time, Past hour, Past 24 hours, Past week, Past month, Past year.
includeNSFW	boolean	true	When off, posts and subreddits flagged as over-18 are filtered out.
postDateLimit	string		Earliest post date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Only posts on or after this date are kept.
commentDateLimit	string		Earliest comment date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Older comments are dropped.

What to Extract

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
skipComments	boolean	false	When scraping a post (via URL or search), skip its comment tree and keep only the post metadata.
skipUserPosts	boolean	false	When scraping a user profile, skip their submitted posts.
skipUserComments	boolean	false	When scraping a user profile, skip their comments.
skipCommunityInfo	boolean	false	When scraping a subreddit, omit the metadata row (member count, description) and emit only the posts.

Limits

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
maxItems	integer	100	Cap on total rows in the output dataset. Use 0 for unlimited.
maxComments	integer	100	Maximum comments to fetch from each post. Use 0 to fetch the entire comment tree.
maxCommentDepth	integer	10	Maximum nesting depth when walking a comment tree (0 = top-level only).

Output

Every record carries a recordType field — post, comment, user, or subreddit — so you can filter the dataset down to just what you need.

Post

{
    "recordType": "post",
    "id": "1abc234",
    "fullId": "t3_1abc234",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1abc234/rust_2025_release/",
    "createdAt": "2025-04-20T14:32:11Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2025-04-25T09:01:42Z",
    "sourceQuery": "r/programming",
    "title": "Rust 2025 release notes",
    "text": "The Rust team just announced...",
    "subreddit": "programming",
    "author": "rustacean99",
    "score": 4321,
    "upvoteRatio": 0.97,
    "numComments": 412,
    "permalink": "/r/programming/comments/1abc234/rust_2025_release/",
    "linkUrl": "https://blog.rust-lang.org/2025/04/20/Rust-2025.html",
    "domain": "blog.rust-lang.org",
    "flair": "News",
    "isNsfw": false,
    "isSpoiler": false,
    "isStickied": false,
    "isLocked": false,
    "isVideo": false,
    "thumbnail": "https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/abc.jpg"
}

Field	Type	Description
recordType	string	Always "post"
id	string	Reddit short ID
fullId	string	Reddit fullname (t3_<id>)
url	string	Public Reddit URL
createdAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp of extraction
sourceQuery	string	Which input source produced this row
title	string	Post title
text	string	Self-text body (when present)
subreddit	string	Subreddit name
author	string	Username of the poster
score	number	Net upvotes
upvoteRatio	number	Upvote ratio (0.0–1.0)
numComments	number	Total comment count
permalink	string	Path on reddit.com
linkUrl	string	Outbound link for link posts
domain	string	Hostname of the linked URL
flair	string	Post flair text
isNsfw	boolean	Marked over-18
isSpoiler	boolean	Marked as spoiler
isStickied	boolean	Pinned to subreddit
isLocked	boolean	Comments locked
isVideo	boolean	Native Reddit video
media	object	Media payload (video, gallery, or preview)
thumbnail	string	Thumbnail image URL

Comment

{
    "recordType": "comment",
    "id": "k9j2x4",
    "fullId": "t1_k9j2x4",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1abc234/_/k9j2x4/",
    "createdAt": "2025-04-20T15:11:08Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2025-04-25T09:01:42Z",
    "sourceQuery": "r/programming",
    "body": "This is huge for the embedded space.",
    "author": "embeddev",
    "score": 187,
    "subreddit": "programming",
    "postId": "t3_1abc234",
    "postTitle": "Rust 2025 release notes",
    "parentId": "t3_1abc234",
    "depth": 0,
    "isStickied": false,
    "isSubmitter": false,
    "flair": "Senior Engineer"
}

Field	Type	Description
recordType	string	Always "comment"
id	string	Reddit short ID
fullId	string	Reddit fullname (t1_<id>)
url	string	Direct link to the comment
createdAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp of extraction
sourceQuery	string	Which input source produced this row
body	string	Comment text
author	string	Comment author username
score	number	Net upvotes
subreddit	string	Subreddit name
postId	string	Parent post fullname
postTitle	string	Parent post title
parentId	string	Parent comment or post fullname
depth	number	Nesting depth (0 = top-level)
permalink	string	Path on reddit.com
isStickied	boolean	Pinned to top of thread
isSubmitter	boolean	Author is the original poster
flair	string	Author flair text

User

{
    "recordType": "user",
    "id": "abc123",
    "fullId": "t2_abc123",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/rustacean99/",
    "createdAt": "2014-08-12T03:22:55Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2025-04-25T09:01:42Z",
    "sourceQuery": "u/rustacean99",
    "username": "rustacean99",
    "displayName": "Rust Enthusiast",
    "linkKarma": 28412,
    "commentKarma": 91204,
    "totalKarma": 119616,
    "isGold": true,
    "isMod": false,
    "verified": true,
    "description": "Open-source contributor. Rust, embedded, systems.",
    "iconUrl": "https://styles.redditmedia.com/abc.png",
    "bannerUrl": "https://styles.redditmedia.com/banner.jpg"
}

Field	Type	Description
recordType	string	Always "user"
id	string	Reddit short ID
fullId	string	Reddit fullname (t2_<id>)
url	string	Public profile URL
createdAt	string	Account creation timestamp
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp of extraction
sourceQuery	string	Which input source produced this row
username	string	Reddit username
displayName	string	Profile display name
linkKarma	number	Post karma
commentKarma	number	Comment karma
totalKarma	number	Combined karma
isGold	boolean	Premium subscriber
isMod	boolean	Moderates one or more subreddits
verified	boolean	Email-verified account
description	string	Profile bio
iconUrl	string	Avatar image URL
bannerUrl	string	Profile banner URL

Subreddit

{
    "recordType": "subreddit",
    "id": "2qh16",
    "fullId": "t5_2qh16",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/",
    "createdAt": "2008-01-25T03:00:24Z",
    "scrapedAt": "2025-04-25T09:01:42Z",
    "sourceQuery": "r/programming",
    "name": "programming",
    "displayName": "r/programming",
    "title": "Computer Programming",
    "publicDescription": "Computer Programming",
    "subscribers": 6342118,
    "activeUsers": 2841,
    "isNsfw": false,
    "lang": "en",
    "iconUrl": "https://styles.redditmedia.com/community.png",
    "bannerUrl": "https://styles.redditmedia.com/banner.jpg"
}

Field	Type	Description
recordType	string	Always "subreddit"
id	string	Reddit short ID
fullId	string	Reddit fullname (t5_<id>)
url	string	Public subreddit URL
createdAt	string	Subreddit creation timestamp
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp of extraction
sourceQuery	string	Which input source produced this row
name	string	Subreddit name without prefix
displayName	string	Display name with r/ prefix
title	string	Full title
description	string	Long-form description (markdown)
publicDescription	string	Short tagline
subscribers	number	Member count
activeUsers	number	Currently online members
isNsfw	boolean	Over-18 community
lang	string	Primary language code
iconUrl	string	Community icon URL
bannerUrl	string	Community banner URL

Tips for Best Results

• Comment search returns recent posts, not standalone comments. Reddit's public comment-search index has been limited since 2021, so the Search returns comments toggle may return zero rows for many queries. To find comments containing a keyword reliably, search for posts and let the actor walk each post's comment tree.
• Per-listing cap is ~1,000 items. Reddit's pagination tops out at roughly 1,000 entries per source (subreddit, search, or user). To go deeper, use multiple sorts or narrower date windows.
• Use sort: "new" with postDateLimit for clean refreshes. With this combination the actor stops paginating as soon as it hits the cutoff date — no wasted requests.
• Set maxComments: 0 only when you really need every reply. Popular AskReddit threads can have 50,000+ comments; capping at a few hundred is usually plenty.
• Mix sources in one run. Combine subreddits, searches, and startUrls in a single input to consolidate data into one dataset and pay one bill.
• NSFW is on by default. Toggle includeNSFW off if you need a strictly safe-for-work dataset.

Pricing

$1.00 per 1,000 results — pay only for the rows you receive.

Results	Cost
100	$0.10
1,000	$1.00
10,000	$10.00

No compute charges — you only pay per result returned. Storage, proxies, and platform fees are included.

Integrations

Export results in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS. Connect to 1,500+ apps:

• Apify API — Full programmatic access to runs and datasets
• Webhooks — Get notified the moment a run completes
• Google Sheets — Direct spreadsheet export
• Zapier / Make / n8n — Workflow automation across thousands of apps
• Slack / Email — Notifications on new results

Legal & Ethical Use

This actor extracts publicly available information from Reddit for legitimate research, monitoring, and analytics purposes. You are responsible for complying with Reddit's Terms of Service, the Reddit User Agreement, and all applicable laws including the GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations.

Do not use the extracted data for spam, harassment, doxxing, training models that violate Reddit's policies, or any unlawful purpose. Avoid collecting personal data on private individuals, and respect any user who has requested removal of their content. When in doubt, treat the data the same way Reddit's own product would.