WeChat Articles Scraper - Official Accounts, Full Text & Albums

What does WeChat Articles Scraper do?

WeChat Articles Scraper extracts WeChat Official Account (微信公众号) articles and accounts. Give it search keywords, album (合集) links, article links or account names. Each article comes back as one row: title, summary, account, publish time, cover and link. Two add-ons are optional: the full text from the article page, and one profile row per account (gh_ id, WeChat ID, AppID, signature, avatar, QR code). It is built for China market research, brand and competitor monitoring, media teams and AI / RAG pipelines.

Also known as: WeChat scraper · Weixin scraper · 公众号 scraper · Sogou WeChat search scraper · WeChat article API

• Search WeChat articles by keyword: the actor reads Sogou WeChat search (weixin.sogou.com), the public index of 公众号 articles: up to ~100 articles per keyword, each followed to its mp.weixin.qq.com address.
• Full text on request: plain text, Markdown (and HTML) from the article page, with author, gh_ id, WeChat ID, the original (原创) flag, publishing region, images, links, #topics and word count.
• Account profiles: name, gh_ id, WeChat ID, AppID, signature, avatar, account type, original-article count, region, follow QR code and the articles the run found.
• Albums (合集): every article of an album, newest first, with permanent links.
• No login, no cookies, no API key: no WeChat or Sogou account is used.
• Pay per result: no start fee. Nothing is charged for duplicates, filtered articles, deleted articles or pages WeChat did not serve.
• Run it on a schedule: monitor mode returns only articles that earlier runs did not deliver.

What data can you get from WeChat Official Accounts?

📰 Title (`title`)	📝 Summary (`summary`)	📅 Publish time (`publishedAt`)
👤 Account name (`accountName`)	🆔 gh_ id (`accountId`)	💬 WeChat ID (`accountAlias`)
🔗 Article link (`articleUrl`)	🖼️ Cover (`coverUrl`)	🧾 Full text (`contentText`, `contentMarkdown`)
✍️ Author (`author`)	🏅 Original badge (`isOriginal`)	📍 Publishing region (`ipRegion`)
🏷️ #Topics (`hashtags`)	📚 Albums (`albums`)	🔢 Word count (`wordCount`)
🖼️ Images (`images`)	🔗 Links in the text (`links`)	🧩 biz / mid / idx ids (`articleId`)
📇 Account signature	🔑 AppID (`appId`)	📱 Follow QR code (`qrCodeUrl`)

Measured on real runs (2026-10-28): search rows had a title, account, avatar, publish time, cover and Sogou link on 180 of 180 rows, and a summary on 179; 96 of 96 rows got their mp.weixin.qq.com address. On a 15-article run with the full text on, all 15 rows had text (3 were image posts: their caption, pictures and #topics). gh_ id, biz, article id, original flag and region were on 15 of 15 rows, images on 11, the author on 8, a WeChat ID on 6.

How to scrape WeChat articles with WeChat Articles Scraper

1. Create a free Apify account. It comes with $5 of monthly credit and no card is needed.
2. Open WeChat Articles Scraper and click Try for free.
3. Type your words into Search keywords, for example 人工智能 or 新能源汽车. You can paste article links, album links or account names instead.
4. Turn on Full text and/or Account profiles if you need them, and set Max articles.
5. Click Start. Rows appear in the dataset as they are read.
6. Open the Storage tab and Export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or connect a schedule.

⬇️ Input

Parameter	Type	Description
keywords	array	Search keywords, one per line (Chinese or English). A Sogou WeChat search link works here too. Prefilled with 人工智能.
articleUrls	array	mp.weixin.qq.com links: short (/s/xxxx) or long (/s?__biz=...&mid=...&idx=...&sn=...&chksm=...). Each returns its full text and account fields.
albumUrls	array	Album links (/mp/appmsgalbum?__biz=...&album_id=...).
accounts	array	Account display names (e.g. 36氪) or a link to one of the account's articles.
searchUrls	array	Sogou WeChat search links (weixin.sogou.com/weixin?type=2&query=...). Reading starts at the page in the link.
maxPagesPerQuery	integer	Sogou pages per keyword, 1-10 (10 articles each). Default 10.
sortBy	string	relevance (Sogou's order, default) or newest (reads every page, then delivers newest first).
publishedWithin	string	any, day, week, month, halfYear, year. Older articles are skipped before they are charged.
publishedAfter / publishedBefore	string	Dates, YYYY-MM-DD.
excludeKeywords	array	Skip articles whose title or summary contains any of these words.
onlyFromAccounts	array	Keep only articles from these account names.
includeContent	boolean	Full text add-on (default off).
includeMarkdown / includeHtml	boolean	With the full text: Markdown (default on) and HTML (default off).
includeAccounts	boolean	One profile row per account behind the articles (default off; always on for accounts).
resolveArticleUrls	boolean	Follow each Sogou result to its mp.weixin.qq.com address (default on). Turn it off for a faster, cheaper run: rows then carry Sogou's link only.
translateToEnglish	boolean	Adds titleEn and summaryEn (machine translation, no extra charge).
monitorMode / monitorStoreName / resetMonitor	boolean / string / boolean	Only articles earlier runs did not deliver.
maxItems	integer	Most article rows in the run. Default 100, 0 = no limit.
maxItemsPerQuery	integer	Most articles per keyword, link or account.
maxArticlesPerAlbum	integer	Default 100, 0 = the whole album.
compact	boolean	Core fields only, for AI agents and MCP.
proxyConfiguration	object	Optional. By default the run connects directly. It moves to Apify's datacenter and residential proxy only when Sogou refuses a route.
requestDelaySecs	number	Pause between Sogou requests. Default 0.5 s.
maxConcurrency	integer	Article pages read at once (default 3 at 256 MB, 2 at 128 MB).

Field names used by other WeChat actors are accepted too: searchQueries, queries, searchTerms, urls, articleLinks, maxResults, fetchFullContent, includeAccountProfile, onlyNew, publishTime.

Example input

{
    "keywords": ["新能源汽车", "跨境电商"],
    "publishedWithin": "month",
    "includeContent": true,
    "includeAccounts": true,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Turn off "Resolve article links" for a faster, cheaper run

Each result is followed to its mp.weixin.qq.com address with one extra request. If the Sogou row is enough for you (title, summary, account, date, cover, Sogou link), turn Resolve article links off: a 100-article search then takes about 17 seconds instead of about 35.

Use Chinese words for the richest results

Sogou indexes WeChat in Chinese. 人工智能 returns far more than AI, and brand names work in either script. One keyword returns at most ~100 articles (Sogou shows 10 pages to a visitor who is not signed in), so split a wide topic into narrower keywords, for example 特斯拉 降价 and 特斯拉 Model Y.

Follow an account by its display name

Put the name exactly as WeChat shows it into Accounts (36氪, 丁香医生). The actor searches Sogou for it and keeps the articles that account published. It also returns the account's profile row. Some very large accounts are not listed under their own name on Sogou (人民日报 returned none of its own articles in our test). For those, paste one of their article links instead to get the profile.

Paste links as WeChat shows them

A long link should keep its chksm= part (the actor drops the personal key, uin and pass_ticket parts of a copied link and never sends them). Short /s/xxxx links work as they are.

⬆️ Output

One dataset item per article ("type": "article") and, with Account profiles, one per account ("type": "account"). A search row from a real run (2026-10-28, keyword 新能源汽车, full text on, text and lists shortened here):

{
  "type": "article",
  "articleKey": "a:a6e3698c1d81a42bc97f",
  "title": "买的新能源汽车竟不含动力电池⁉️法院：构成根本违约，解除合同、退还费用！",
  "summary": "消费者委托汽车销售公司代购指定品牌的新能源汽车,却在卖车时发现,车辆竟然不包含动力电池...",
  "accountName": "四川法治报",
  "accountId": "gh_1576878cb43b",
  "accountAlias": "scfzbs",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-28T11:28:34.000Z",
  "articleUrl": "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?src=11&timestamp=1793209538&ver=7054&signature=56Ts...&new=1",
  "articleUrlType": "temporary",
  "coverUrl": "https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_jpg/56icmFng76AJqncJ9TMQ7fU9.../0?wx_fmt=jpeg",
  "articleId": "MjM5NDgyODI5MA==:2649197514:1",
  "articleType": "article",
  "isOriginal": false,
  "ipRegion": { "country": "中国", "province": "四川" },
  "contentIncluded": true,
  "contentText": "消费者委托汽车销售公司代购指定品牌的新能源汽车，却在卖车时发现，车辆竟然不包含动力电池……",
  "wordCount": 1611,
  "accountOriginalArticles": 337,
  "keyword": "新能源汽车",
  "searchPosition": 1
}

An account row from the same run:

{
  "type": "account",
  "accountName": "四川法治报",
  "accountId": "gh_1576878cb43b",
  "accountAlias": "scfzbs",
  "appId": "wxcdb3927f2193bd83",
  "biz": "MjM5NDgyODI5MA==",
  "qrCodeUrl": "https://open.weixin.qq.com/qr/code?username=gh_1576878cb43b",
  "description": "四川法治报社公众平台，用于四川法治报社进行普法宣传、法治教育等……",
  "accountType": "subscription",
  "verifyStatus": 3,
  "originalArticles": 337,
  "ipRegion": { "country": "中国", "province": "四川" },
  "articlesFound": 1,
  "recentArticles": [{ "title": "买的新能源汽车竟不含动力电池……", "publishedAt": "2026-10-28T11:28:34.000Z" }]
}

Fields

Field	What it is	Filled (real run)
title, accountName, publishedAt, coverUrl, sogouUrl	The search result	180 / 180 search rows
articleUrl	The mp.weixin.qq.com address (off when Resolve article links is off)	96 / 96
summary	Sogou's digest (album rows: none)	179 / 180
accountAvatarUrl, sogouAccountOpenId	The account as Sogou lists it	180 / 180
accountId, biz, mid, idx, articleId, isOriginal, articleType, commentId	From the article page (full text on)	15 / 15
contentText, contentMarkdown, wordCount, characterCount	The text (an image post: its caption)	15 / 15
author, description	Byline and the author's own summary, when set	8 / 15
accountAlias	WeChat ID, when the account set one	6 / 15
ipRegion, publisherRegion	Region WeChat shows under the article	15 / 15
images, links, linkedArticles	Images, outbound links, WeChat articles linked in the text	11 / 15, 3 / 15, 3 / 15
accountNameOnSogou	The older name Sogou still lists when the account was renamed	2 / 15
hashtags	#topics in the text	3 / 15 (the posts that use them)
albums	Albums the article belongs to	on album articles
permanentUrl, sn	Permanent link: album rows and pasted links (a search result's page carries none)	album / link rows
Account rows: accountId, appId, biz, avatarUrl, accountType, qrCodeUrl, profileUrl		15 / 15
Account rows: description, verifyStatus, accountAlias, originalArticles		13, 12, 6, 1 of 15

articleUrl from a search is the link WeChat signs for Sogou. It opens for a limited time, so store the article (or its articleId) rather than relying on the link later.

How much does it cost to scrape WeChat articles?

Event	Price	When
Article	$0.000045	each article row delivered
Article full text	$0.0009	each article delivered with its text (only with Full text on)
Account profile	$0.0045	each account row delivered

Run	Cost
100 articles	$0.0045
100 articles with full text	$0.0945
1,000 articles	$0.045
1,000 articles with full text and 300 account profiles	$2.295

There is no start fee. Duplicates, filtered articles, articles a monitor run already delivered, deleted articles and pages WeChat did not serve are not charged. Set a spending limit on the run and the actor stops when the next row would not fit: a $0.005 limit with full text on delivered 5 articles and charged exactly 5 articles + 5 texts.

How many articles does one run return?

• Search: up to ~100 per keyword (Sogou's 10 pages to a signed-out visitor; page 10 often holds fewer than 10). Measured: 2 keywords → 180-192 articles in 3-3.5 minutes.
• Albums: the whole album, newest first, 20 articles per request (or up to Max articles per album).
• Accounts: the account's articles that Sogou lists under its name (20 by default).
• Memory: 256 MB by default. Searches run the same at 128 MB; the full text works there too but reads pages about 4 times slower.
• Sogou ranks by relevance, not date. Many results are older articles (in one 180-row run, 77 were from 2026 and the rest from 2016-2025). Use Published within or Order: newest first for fresh articles.

Run it on a schedule

Turn on Only new articles and give the schedule its own Monitor name. Each run delivers only articles that earlier runs with that name did not. Measured: the first run delivered 10. A second run delivered the next 10 (it skipped the 10 it had already sent). A third run delivered 0 and charged nothing, at a platform cost of $0.00017.

{
    "keywords": ["你的品牌名", "竞品名"],
    "monitorMode": true,
    "monitorStoreName": "brand-watch",
    "publishedWithin": "week",
    "includeContent": true
}

Create the schedule in Schedules in the Apify Console (for example daily at 08:00), or call the API on your own timer. A webhook on the run can push each new batch to Slack, Google Sheets, Make, Zapier or n8n.

Integrations, API and MCP

• API: start a run and read its dataset with apify-client for JavaScript or Python, or with plain HTTP. The API tab of this actor shows ready-made calls.
• MCP: AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can call the actor through the Apify MCP server. Use compact: true for small rows.
• Exports: JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, HTML. Integrations with Google Sheets, Slack, Make, Zapier, n8n and webhooks.

Use cases

• 📈 Brand and competitor monitoring: daily new WeChat articles that mention a brand, with the account and region.
• 🇨🇳 China market research: what industry media and associations publish on a topic, with the full text.
• 🧠 AI / RAG: clean Chinese text and Markdown with title, account and date for embeddings and summarisation.
• 🤝 KOL and media lists: account profiles with gh_ id, WeChat ID, AppID and QR code from a topic search.
• 📚 Album archiving: every article of a 合集 with permanent links.
• 📰 News tracking: a topic's newest articles every day with Published within: Last 24 hours.

FAQ

Does WeChat Articles Scraper need a WeChat login or cookies?

No. It reads Sogou WeChat search and the public article and album pages that anyone can open. No account, cookie, QR scan or API key is used.

Why do search results have a temporary article link?

Sogou links each result to an address WeChat signs for Sogou visitors. It opens the article for a limited time. Album rows and pasted links carry the permanent __biz / mid / idx / sn link, and every full-text row carries articleId (biz:mid:idx), which identifies the article for good.

Can WeChat Articles Scraper get read counts, likes or comments?

No. WeChat serves read counts, likes and comments only inside the WeChat app (the article page answers "no session" for them). This actor returns what the public pages show.

How many articles can I get per keyword?

About 100. Sogou shows 10 pages to a visitor who is not signed in. Use several narrower keywords for more.

Can I schedule WeChat Articles Scraper to watch a brand?

Yes. Turn on Only new articles, set a Monitor name and add a schedule; each run then returns only new articles. A run with nothing new is free.

Why did an account return no articles?

Sogou lists some accounts' articles only under other searches (e.g. 人民日报). Check the name is exactly as WeChat shows it, or paste one of the account's article links to get its profile.

Can I use WeChat Articles Scraper through the API or MCP?

Yes, through the Apify API (any language), the JavaScript and Python clients, and the Apify MCP server for AI agents.

Why is a row's account name different from the search result?

Accounts can be renamed. The article page shows the current name (accountName). When Sogou still lists the old one it is kept in accountNameOnSogou.

Do I pay for articles that were deleted?

No. A result whose page says it was deleted (or that its account moved) is skipped when the full text is on, and nothing is charged for it.

Your feedback

Found a missing field or a run that did not return what you expected? Open an issue in the Issues tab and we will look at it.

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