# Substack Newsletter Scraper: Posts & Stats (`tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper`) Actor Scrape Substack posts from any newsletter: titles, publish dates, paywall status, reactions, comments and word count, plus the full text of free posts. - **URL**: https://apify.com/tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Seungki Min](https://apify.com/tindacloud) (community) - **Categories:** News, AI, Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.20 / 1,000 posts 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 ## Substack Newsletter Scraper: Posts & Stats **Scrape Substack posts** from any newsletter: publish date, paywall status, reactions, comments and word count — plus the full text of free posts. Works with substack.com subdomains and custom domains alike; just give the name. ### What can you do with Substack newsletters data? - **Competitive research** — how often a newsletter publishes, how long the posts are, what gets reactions. - **Content research** — pull the full text of free posts for analysis or summarising. - **Track a list of newsletters** — `onlyNewPosts` on a schedule gives you only what's new. - **Find the paywall line** — `isFree` and `audience` show exactly what is gated. ### How to scrape Substack newsletters | Field | What it does | |---|---| | `publications` | "lennysnewsletter", "astralcodexten", or a full URL | | `maxPostsPerPublication` | Newest first | | `includePostText` | Full text of free posts | | `onlyFreePosts` | Drop subscriber-only posts | | `publishedAfter`, `keywords` | Date and title/subtitle filters | | `onlyNewPosts` | Monitoring mode | ### What the Substack newsletters output looks like ```json { "publication": "www.lennysnewsletter.com", "publicationName": null, "postId": "214360366", "title": "60+ new creative growth ideas", "subtitle": "How to stand out when everyone is running the same playbook", "url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/60-creative-growth-ideas", "slug": "60-creative-growth-ideas", "publishedAt": "2026-09-15T12:45:28.445Z", "type": "newsletter", "audience": "only_paid", "isFree": false, "isPaywalled": true, "wordCount": 5674, "reactionCount": 383, "commentCount": 6, "coverImage": "https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NVVg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20cbbe62-5c82-4d4f-a316-de9b885e56f2_1456x970.png", "authors": [], "description": "How to stand out when everyone is running the same playbook", "scrapedAt": "2026-09-21T07:25:01.710Z" } ``` ### How fast is it and how much does it cost to scrape Substack newsletters? 45 posts from 3 publications took **29 seconds**, including resolving each name to its real domain. ### Limits you should know about - Paywalled posts return every metadata field, but no body text — that is what the paywall is. - A publication that has moved off Substack is reported with a warning and not charged. ### Ready-made examples Open one, change the fields, press Start — nothing to configure: - [Scrape Substack posts](https://apify.com/tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper/examples/scrape-substack-posts) ### Frequently asked questions about scraping Substack newsletters #### Do I need an API key or a login? No. Paste your input, press Start. There is nothing to connect and no account on the target site to create. #### How do I export the results? Every run produces a dataset you can download as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read through the Apify API from your own code. You can also connect it to Make, Zapier or n8n. #### Can I run this on a schedule? Yes. Apify schedules run it every hour, day or week without you being there. With the monitoring option on, you only get posts published since the last run. #### Can I call it from Python or JavaScript? Yes — the Apify API runs any Actor and returns the dataset, and the official Python and JavaScript clients wrap it in a few lines. AI agents can call it too, through Apify's MCP server. #### What does it cost? You pay per result, not per hour. Filters are applied before anything is charged, so narrowing the input directly lowers the bill. Pages that cannot be read are reported in the log and never charged. #### Is this data public? Everything collected here is what Substack shows to anyone without logging in. Check the target site's terms and the rules that apply to you before using the data commercially. ### Related scrapers - [Website to Markdown for AI & RAG](https://apify.com/tindacloud/website-to-markdown) — turn any site into clean Markdown - [Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/tindacloud/google-news-scraper) — news articles with full text - [Telegram Channel Scraper](https://apify.com/tindacloud/telegram-channel-scraper) — public channel posts with view counts # Actor input Schema ## `publications` (type: `array`): Names or URLs — “lennysnewsletter”, “platformer.news”, “https://stratechery.com”. Custom domains work too. ## `maxPostsPerPublication` (type: `integer`): Newest first. ## `includePostText` (type: `boolean`): Fetches the article body for free posts. Paywalled posts return metadata only. ## `onlyFreePosts` (type: `boolean`): Drop subscriber-only posts. ## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`): YYYY-MM-DD. Paging stops once posts get older. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Match against the title and subtitle. ## `onlyNewPosts` (type: `boolean`): Monitoring mode. Returns only posts published since the last run. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Total limit. ## `proxy` (type: `object`): Apify Proxy is used by default — Substack blocks direct datacenter requests. ## Actor input object example ```json { "publications": [ "lennysnewsletter" ], "maxPostsPerPublication": 50, "includePostText": false, "onlyFreePosts": false, "onlyNewPosts": false, "maxResults": 1000, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): All results in a table view. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "publications": [ "lennysnewsletter" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "publications": ["lennysnewsletter"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper").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 '{ "publications": [ "lennysnewsletter" ] }' | apify call tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,tindacloud/substack-newsletter-scraper" } } } ``` 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 ` 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/LqxQlKhT3Q39af7pD/builds/D4VKJufsK5T2aoyfQ/openapi.json