Reddit Search Engine

Posts, comments, and full profiles on Reddit, as clean structured JSON. No account, no API key, no login. Reaches deep historical content and profiles Reddit's own search will not show you.

Who uses it

Who	What they use it for
Market researchers	what a niche is discussing this week, and what it discussed years ago
Brand and product teams	mentions, feature requests, and complaints across subreddits
Data and AI teams	clean post and comment datasets for sentiment, RAG, and training
Lead generation	people asking for what your product solves
Analysts and researchers	one account's full posting history, across subreddits and years

What you can extract

Posts (the full thread body, comments optional)

• url, title, subreddit, author, body, score, createdAt, postId
• set maxComments above 0 to add a comments array (most-upvoted first), each with author, body, score, createdAt

Profile (a user's full posts and comments)

• subreddit, url, isOp
• post: title, author, score, createdAt, isNSFW, body
• userComments: each with body, score, and repliedTo (the author and text they replied to, so you get the conversation, not an orphaned quote)

Modes

Mode	Returns	Use it for
Post	the post only (title, body, score, fields)	cheap bulk post text
Search	the post plus its comments (set maxComments)	threads, sentiment, market research, AI and RAG data
Comment	comments only, each with its post link (needs a subreddit)	comment mining, opinion tracking
Profile	a user's posts and comments, with the context they replied into	account research, community analysis, hidden profiles included

Global search (global: true) is a toggle for Post and Search mode. Off, you name the subreddits to search (any number). On, it searches across all of Reddit by keyword, past Reddit's own ~250-result search limit and back years, so you find threads without knowing which subreddits they live in. It adds a $2 one-time fee per run. Comment mode always runs within named subreddits.

Why choose this actor

• Reaches past Reddit's limit. Reddit's search runs out after a few hundred results and a shallow time window. This actor pulls deep historical threads that Reddit's own search will not show you, back years, across every subreddit.
• Regex filtering. Keep or drop results with a real regular expression on the text, not just a keyword box. Nobody else offers this.
• No run fee. You pay only for results. There is no actor-start charge on every run, and a run that errors costs you nothing. Many actors bill a fee just to start a run; this one does not.
• Honest output. Deleted authors show as [deleted], not blank. Unknown values come back as null, never a fake zero.
• No login, no API key, no CAPTCHA. Nothing to configure. Leave the proxy on its default.

How it compares

Compared with four Reddit actors you will see often in the Store, on the numbers and the features that decide a run.

	This actor	trudax/reddit-scraper-lite	fatihtahta/reddit-scraper-search-fast	harshmaur/reddit-scraper	automation-lab/reddit-scraper
Price / 1,000	$2 posts, $0.60 comments	$4.00	$1.49	$2.00	$1.15
Real scores (not best-effort 0s)	yes	yes	yes	yes	partial
History past Reddit's ~1,000-item cap	yes	no	partial	no	no
Works on hidden profiles	yes	no	no	no	no
Regex include and exclude	yes	no	no	no	no
AI output formats (fine-tune JSONL, RAG markdown)	yes	no	no	no	no

Prices are each actor's Store rate on 2026-09-16 and may change. Most competitors bill one flat rate per 1,000 results, whether a row is a post or a comment; this actor bills comments at $0.60/1,000, so a comment-heavy pull (a thread has dozens) comes out far cheaper. It is also a flat rate with no plan-tier discount games. Where it pulls ahead on features: real scores from the archive (automation-lab's own listing warns its scores can be 0), years past Reddit's ~1,000-item cap, hidden profiles, real regex, and fine-tune/RAG output none of these four offer.

Refine your search

• Sort: top (default) returns the highest-scored posts and comments, a representative sample; new returns the most recent, for monitoring
• Keywords: a result must contain all your search terms (whole words, any order); turn on matchAny to keep results with any one of them, or exactPhrase to require each term as an exact phrase
• Exclude terms: drop any result containing one of these words
• Date range reaching back years, or a quick time preset (hour, day, week, month, year)
• Regex: keep only results matching a pattern, or drop results matching one. Any of several words: docker|podman; all of them: (?=.*docker)(?=.*compose)
• NSFW: included by default (Reddit tags a lot of ordinary content and whole subreddits 18+); turn includeNSFW off for a work-safe set
• Removed and deleted: included by default, each carrying a removed flag; turn includeRemoved off to drop content a moderator removed or the author deleted

Pricing

Pay per event. You are charged only for what a run returns, and a run that errors costs nothing.

Prices below are the standard rate. Higher Apify subscription tiers can pay a little less through Store discounts, so heavy users get a better rate.

Event	Price
Post	$2.00 / 1,000
Comment	$0.60 / 1,000
Global search (all of Reddit)	$2.00 per run
Profile lookup (base)	$1.00 each
Profile with activity	+$2.50
Hidden profile	+$4.00
Extra posts, per 100 (fullHistory)	+$0.30
Extra comments, per 100 (fullHistory)	+$0.15

Profile totals: $1 for an account with no posts and no comments, $3.50 for a profile with any posts or comments, and $7.50 when the account's profile is hidden. That flat fee covers up to 100 of the user's posts and 100 of their comments. A username that does not exist is free: it returns a row with found: false. To pull a heavy account's full history, set fullHistory: true: it adds one small block charge per additional 100 posts and per additional 100 comments (so 101 and 200 cost the same). Only runs that ask for it are ever charged the overage.

Real-world examples:

• 100 posts, no comments → $0.20
• 100 posts, top comment on each (search, maxComments: 1) → $0.26
• 100 posts with ~20 comments each → $1.40
• A Global search run across all of Reddit → +$2.00 on top of the posts and comments it returns
• One standard profile (up to 100 posts + 100 comments) → $3.50
• One hidden profile (same limit, up to 100 posts + 100 comments) → $7.50

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit, enough for well over 1,000 results, so you can try this actor at no cost before paying anything.

Quick start

Paste a Reddit URL (post, subreddit, or user), no keywords needed:

{ "mode": "post", "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/abc123/"] }

Find threads about a keyword in one subreddit, past week:

{ "mode": "post", "subreddits": ["webdev"], "searchTerms": ["how do i deploy"], "time": "week", "maxResults": 25 }

Posts with their comments (maxComments = comments per post):

{ "mode": "search", "subreddits": ["productivity"], "searchTerms": ["notion vs obsidian"], "maxComments": 30, "maxResults": 25 }

Comments only from a subreddit (maxResults = number of comments):

{ "mode": "comment", "subreddits": ["docker"], "searchTerms": ["compose"], "maxResults": 200 }

Search across all of Reddit with Global search (past Reddit's own limit), keeping only matches (regex):

{ "mode": "post", "searchTerms": ["kubernetes"], "global": true, "includeRegex": "(migrat|upgrade).*(1\\.2[0-9])", "maxResults": 50 }

Reconstruct a user (up to 100 posts + 100 comments, flat fee per username; list several to look up each):

{ "mode": "profile", "usernames": ["someuser"] }

Pull a heavy user's full history (billed per extra 100):

{ "mode": "profile", "usernames": ["someuser"], "fullHistory": true, "maxResults": 500 }

Run it from code

Every run is available over Apify's API. Put your Apify API token in a .env file (APIFY_TOKEN=...); the calls below read it from the environment. If you renamed the actor, change the slug.

Python:

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])  # reads your .env
run = client.actor("starvoid/reddit-search-engine").call(run_input={
    "mode": "post", "subreddits": ["webdev"], "searchTerms": ["deploy"], "maxResults": 50
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["title"], item["url"])

cURL:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/starvoid~reddit-search-engine/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "mode": "post", "subreddits": ["webdev"], "searchTerms": ["deploy"], "maxResults": 50 }'

It also works with AI agents through the Model Context Protocol via Apify, so an assistant can run it in plain language.

Troubleshooting

• Fewer results than expected? Broaden your filters. A tight regex, exclude list, or short time window can cut the set down fast.
• Run stopped early with a "maximum cost" note in the log? The run reached the maximum cost per run set in its options. You are billed only for what was delivered; raise the limit to get the rest. A Global search needs room for its $2 fee, and a profile for its full fee, or it is skipped unbilled.
• A profile returned only mentions? That user's own posts were not in the top results for their handle. Profile mode keeps only pages the user actually took part in, so mention-only pages are dropped rather than billed.
• A profile shows $1 and no posts or comments? The account exists but has no activity to return, so only the base is billed.
• A row with found: false? No Reddit account has that username (check the spelling). It is not billed.
• A row with found: null? The profile could not be loaded right now. It is not billed; run it again.

FAQ

Do I need a Reddit account or API key? No. Nothing to set up.

How far back does it reach? Years. With Global search on it reaches across all of Reddit, not just the shallow recent window Reddit's own search returns, so it pulls deep threads in every subreddit.

What does a post include? The full post: title, body, author, subreddit, real score, and timestamp. Comments are separate: set maxComments above 0 to add the top comments to each post (each billed as a comment). Set it to 0 for post-only, the cheapest option.

Are scores included? Yes. Posts carry their real score, and comments carry theirs when you pull them. Profile mode includes both too.

What happens on an empty search? Posts return nothing and cost nothing. A Global search still bills its $2, because the all-of-Reddit search ran; it is not billed if the search could not run on our side. A profile lookup bills the $1 base for an existing account with no activity; a username that does not exist is free.

Is this affiliated with Reddit? No. It returns content from Reddit. Do not use profile data for employment, tenancy, or credit decisions, or to identify a specific individual.