# Telegram Public Channel Messages Scraper (No Login) (`talcoe/telegram-public-channels`) Actor

Scrape messages, views, reactions, media and links from public Telegram channels without an account, filtered by keyword, date window and media; priced per result.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/talcoe/telegram-public-channels.md
- **Developed by:** [M Usama](https://apify.com/talcoe) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does Telegram Public Channel Messages Scraper do?

It reads the public web preview of Telegram channels (`t.me/s/<channel>`) and returns each message as a clean record: text, date, views, reactions, photos, videos, files, links, hashtags, link preview, forwarded source, and the channel's title and subscriber count. No Telegram account, API key or phone number is needed. Filter by keyword, date window and media so a run returns only what you need. Pricing is per result.

### Data source

Public Telegram channel preview pages (`https://t.me/s/<channel>`), read live on every run and paged backwards from the newest message.

### Why use it?

- Monitor news, crypto, brand or competitor channels and push new messages to Slack, Google Sheets or a webhook.
- Measure reach: views, reactions and subscriber counts per message and per channel.
- Build research datasets of public posts, links and media for a topic or a set of channels.
- Replace manual scrolling, copy and paste, or running your own Telegram API client and session.

### How to use it

1. Open the Actor and enter one or more channels (usernames or links).
2. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
3. Add a Schedule and an Integration (Slack, Google Sheets, webhook) to get new records automatically.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `channels` | Public channel usernames or links, for example `durov` or `https://t.me/durov`. |
| `keywords` | Optional. Keep only messages whose text, link preview or hashtags contain at least one keyword (case insensitive). |
| `maxMessagesPerChannel` | Newest first. Each channel stops after this many matching messages. Default 20. |
| `daysBack` | Optional. Stop paging a channel once messages are older than this many days. |
| `onlyWithMedia` | Skip messages without photos, videos or files. |
| `maxResults` | Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs. |

Example input:

```json
{
    "channels": ["durov", "telegram", "bloomberg"],
    "keywords": [],
    "maxMessagesPerChannel": 20,
    "maxResults": 60
}
```

### Output

Every record has the same shape (text and links trimmed here):

```json
{
    "id": "durov/546",
    "messageId": 546,
    "channel": "durov",
    "url": "https://t.me/durov/546",
    "date": "2026-08-31T16:30:15.000Z",
    "text": "Gram Wallet in Telegram is ready and is now accessible to a select group of users. ...",
    "html": "...",
    "views": 3260000,
    "reactions": [
        { "emoji": "star", "count": 35600 },
        { "emoji": "custom:5399847211989246390", "count": 26900 }
    ],
    "reactionsTotal": 78370,
    "mediaTypes": ["video"],
    "media": [{ "type": "video", "url": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/...mp4", "thumbnailUrl": "https://cdn4.telesco.pe/file/...jpg", "durationText": "0:20" }],
    "links": [],
    "hashtags": [],
    "mentions": [],
    "linkPreview": null,
    "forwardedFrom": null,
    "replyToMessageId": null,
    "author": "Pavel Durov",
    "isEdited": false,
    "channelTitle": "Pavel Durov",
    "channelSubscribers": 10500000,
    "channelVerified": true,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-05T08:25:53.125Z"
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `id` | Stable key (`channel/messageId`), safe for deduplication between runs |
| `date` | Message time in ISO 8601, UTC |
| `text` / `html` | Plain text and the original HTML of the message |
| `views` | View count as shown by Telegram (large numbers are rounded by Telegram, for example 3.26M) |
| `reactions` / `reactionsTotal` | Reaction counts. Custom emoji appear as `custom:<id>`, paid stars as `star` |
| `mediaTypes` / `media` | Photo, video, document, voice, sticker or poll items with preview URLs, plus `link` when a link preview is attached |
| `linkPreview` | Site name, title, description and image of an attached link |
| `forwardedFrom` / `replyToMessageId` | Original source and replied message when present |
| `channelTitle`, `channelSubscribers`, `channelVerified` | Channel details at the time of the run |

### Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee when a run starts, then a fixed price per result returned. You only pay for records that pass your filters. Set `maxResults` to cap any run.

### Limitations

- Only public channels with web preview enabled. Private channels, groups, and channels that disabled the preview (many large news outlets) return no messages and the run logs a warning.
- Telegram rounds large view and reaction counts, and hides some content from the web preview (for example sensitive media).
- Video and file links point to Telegram's CDN and may expire. Download them soon after the run if you need the files.
- Keyword searches scan up to about 500 recent messages per channel.

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** The Actor reads pages that Telegram publishes for any visitor without a login and stores only what those pages show. You are responsible for how you use the data.

**A channel returns nothing.** Open `https://t.me/s/<channel>` in a browser. If it redirects or shows no posts, the channel has no public preview and cannot be scraped without an account.

**Something is missing or broken?** Open an issue in the Issues tab; response time is usually under a day.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Public channel usernames or links, for example durov or https://t.me/durov. Channels with web preview disabled return nothing.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Only keep messages whose text, link preview or hashtags contain at least one of these words (case insensitive). Leave empty to keep everything.

## `maxMessagesPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest messages first. Each channel stops after this many matching messages.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Stop paging a channel once messages are older than this many days. Leave empty for no date limit.

## `onlyWithMedia` (type: `boolean`):

Skip text only messages and link previews.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "telegram",
    "bloomberg"
  ],
  "keywords": [],
  "maxMessagesPerChannel": 20,
  "onlyWithMedia": false,
  "maxResults": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "durov",
        "telegram",
        "bloomberg"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("talcoe/telegram-public-channels").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channels": [
        "durov",
        "telegram",
        "bloomberg",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("talcoe/telegram-public-channels").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channels": [
    "durov",
    "telegram",
    "bloomberg"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call talcoe/telegram-public-channels --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,talcoe/telegram-public-channels"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/rax5YZeLlauvcuu6V/builds/VgD0OopxylR9tbKVV/openapi.json