Reddit Lead Finder: Buying-Intent Posts

Deprecated (November 2026). Reddit has closed keyword search to visitors who are not logged in and is ending public access to its data: new API access closed in October 2026 and the remaining public access ends in March 2027. This Actor finds leads through keyword search, so it returns nothing now. We don't work around Reddit's access rules, so it will be unpublished. You are only charged for posts actually delivered.

Find people on Reddit who are ready to buy: asking what tool to use, looking for an alternative to a competitor, comparing options or complaining about what they have. Tell it what you sell and who you compete with; it runs the right searches, reads the posts (and optionally the comments) and keeps only the ones with buying intent - each tagged with the intent and the phrase that showed it. Schedule it daily and get just the new leads in Slack, e-mail or a spreadsheet. No Reddit account or API keys needed.

Built for founders and SaaS marketers, agencies doing social selling, sales teams looking for warm conversations, and anyone who wants to answer "what should I use for...?" before a competitor does.

Why this lead finder

• Searches like a growth marketer. Each product category becomes X recommendation, best X and looking for X; each competitor becomes X alternative, switching from X and X vs. You don't write search queries.
• Keeps only buying intent. Posts are kept only when someone asks for a recommendation, looks for an alternative, weighs options or complains - announcements, memes and news are dropped for free.
• Tells you why. Every lead carries intent (recommendation_request, alternative_seeking, comparison, pain_point) and intentPhrase, so you can sort and reply to the hottest first.
• Only new leads on a schedule. Turn on Only new and each run returns just the posts earlier runs haven't delivered - you pay only for those.
• Fast and cheap to run. Quick to run. Reddit's rate limits are handled for you; with the (default) Apify proxy runs stay quick.

How to use it

1. In Product categories, describe what you sell the way buyers say it - CRM, email marketing tool, invoice software.
2. In Competitors, add the products you want to win customers from - HubSpot, Mailchimp.
3. Optionally limit to Subreddits (e.g. smallbusiness, SaaS, startups), pick the Time range, tick Include comments, and press Start.

Example input

{
  "keywords": ["CRM", "sales pipeline tool"],
  "competitors": ["HubSpot", "Pipedrive"],
  "subreddits": ["smallbusiness", "sales", "startups"],
  "time": "month",
  "includeComments": true,
  "onlyNew": true
}

What you get

Field	Description
intent	recommendation_request, alternative_seeking, comparison or pain_point
intentPhrase	The phrase that showed it, e.g. alternative to, any recommendations
type	post or comment
title / text	Post title and body, or the comment text
subreddit / author	Where it was posted and by whom
url	Link to the post or comment - reply there
postTitle	For comments: the post they belong to
publishedAt	When it was posted (ISO 8601)
source	Which search found it
scrapedAt	When it was collected

Example (shortened):

{
  "type": "post",
  "intent": "recommendation_request",
  "intentPhrase": "looking for some",
  "subreddit": "HoneyBook_Official",
  "title": "A small business owner here who's new to the CRM world. How do you evaluate integrations and automations for a centralized system?",
  "text": "Been doing a small wedding photography setup for about 7 months now ... I've never used a CRM before ... Looking for something viable that integrates Gmail, Google Calendar and social media ...",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/HoneyBook_Official/comments/...",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-21T17:37:14+00:00",
  "source": { "keyword": "CRM recommendation" }
}

Vote scores and comment counts aren't included.

Pricing

Pay per result: $2 per 1,000 leads, plus $0.10 per 1,000 posts read (kept or not) and a small start fee per run. Reading is charged because every post read is proxy traffic, so a narrow search still costs only what it reads - 1,000 posts read cost 10 cents. Duplicates and (with Only new) already-delivered leads are free. See the Pricing tab, and set a maximum charge per run to cap spend: the run stops cleanly when it's reached.

On Apify's free plan each run returns up to 300 leads. Any paid Apify plan removes the limit.

Related Actors

• Reddit Scraper & Keyword Monitor - every post and comment for your keywords, subreddits or users, with the same intent tags.
• Hiring Signals - which companies are hiring for the roles you sell to.

FAQ

Do I need the proxy? No, but without it Reddit allows only about one request per minute, so each search adds a minute. Keep it on for anything beyond a quick test.

How is intent detected? From clear phrases in the title or text ("can anyone recommend", "alternative to", "X vs Y", "too expensive"). It's transparent - the phrase is in every row - and it never guesses from vague wording.

Can I reply automatically? No - the Actor only finds the conversations. Reply yourself, and follow each subreddit's rules on self-promotion.

Is it legal? The Actor collects publicly posted content. Follow Reddit's terms and the privacy rules that apply to you when you use it.

Support

Found a problem or a phrase it misses? Open an issue on the Issues tab - requests decide what gets built next.