Telegram Channel Scraper — Public Messages, No Account

Scrape messages, views, forwards, replies and media from any public Telegram channel — no Telegram account, no API key, no phone number. Uses the public t.me/s/ preview, so it works for channels you are not a member of.

Why this actor

• Zero auth — most Telegram scrapers require MTProto/Telethon sessions that break on re-auth. This one just works.
• MCP / pipeline ready — stable JSON schema, pay-per-event pricing, perfect for n8n, LangChain, Claude/agent workflows and scheduled monitoring.
• Built for crypto, trading & news monitoring — track channel volume, views and forwarded signals in near-real time.

Input

Field	Type	Description
channels	string[]	Channel usernames or URLs (durov, @durov, https://t.me/durov)
maxMessagesPerChannel	integer	Max recent messages per channel (default 20, ~20 per page)
oldestMessageDate	string	Optional ISO date cutoff (e.g. 2026-08-01)

Output

One dataset item per message:

Field	Description
channel	Channel username
messageId	Numeric message ID
messageUrl	Direct t.me link
date	ISO publish datetime
text	Full message text
views / forwards / replies	Engagement counters (K/M suffixes resolved to numbers)
mediaType / mediaUrl	photo / video / document / voice / sticker + URL
links	URLs embedded in the message
scrapedAt	Scrape timestamp

Pricing

Pay per event: $1.00 per 1,000 messages ($0.001/message). No start fee. You only pay for messages actually delivered to the dataset.

Example

{ "channels": ["durov", "telegram"], "maxMessagesPerChannel": 50 }

Notes

• Only public channels are accessible; private/restricted channels return a warning.
• Forward counters are only exposed by Telegram on some messages; field is null otherwise.

How to use Telegram Channel Scraper

1. Open Telegram Channel Scraper on Apify Store and click Try for free.
2. Fill in the input (the form is prefilled with a working example) and click Start.
3. Watch results appear in the Output tab, then download them as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the API.
4. Optional: save the input as a task and add a schedule to run it automatically, or connect it to your tools with integrations and webhooks.

Use Telegram Channel Scraper with AI agents (MCP)

Give Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client this Actor as a tool through the hosted Apify MCP server. The agent sees the input fields with descriptions and example values, runs the Actor, and reads the results.

MCP server URL (this Actor only):

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper

Claude Code:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper" --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"

Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop and other clients (mcp.json or the client's MCP settings):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Clients that support sign-in (such as Claude.ai connectors) can use the URL without a token and log in to Apify instead. Get your token in Apify Console → Settings → API & Integrations, or generate a ready config for your client at mcp.apify.com. In the agent the tool is named technicaldost--telegram-channel-scraper; ask it, for example, to "run Telegram Channel Scraper with {"channels": ["durov"]}".

AI agents without an Apify account can also run and pay for this Actor per request with x402 agentic payments.

Run Telegram Channel Scraper via API

Run the Actor and get its results in one call (replace YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/technicaldost~telegram-channel-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels": ["durov"]}'

Python (pip install apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper").call(run_input={"channels": ["durov"]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

JavaScript / TypeScript (npm install apify-client):

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper').call({"channels": ["durov"]});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Long runs: start them with POST /v2/acts/technicaldost~telegram-channel-scraper/runs and fetch the dataset when the run finishes, or receive a webhook.

Related Actors

• YouTube Channel & Video Scraper — Given YouTube channels, return their recent videos with title, views, likes, publish date, thumbnails and desc

FAQ

Can I use Telegram Channel Scraper with AI agents like Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes. Connect the Apify MCP server with ?tools=technicaldost/telegram-channel-scraper (see above) and the agent can run the Actor and read its results on its own.

Can I call Telegram Channel Scraper from my own code?

Yes. Use the REST API, or the official Python and JavaScript clients shown above. Results are available as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML.

How do I run it on a schedule?

Save your input as a task in Apify Console and add a schedule (for example, daily). Use webhooks or integrations to send each run's results onward.

Is it legal to use this Actor?

It works with publicly available data. Make sure your use complies with the source website's terms and with data protection laws such as GDPR, especially for personal data.

Something doesn't work or I need a feature. What should I do?

Open an issue in the Issues tab on this Actor's page with an example input, and we'll look into it.