# Telegram Channel Scraper (`uber_byte/telegram-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape posts from public Telegram channels: text, views, reactions, media, links, forwards and channel stats. No login, no phone number, no API keys.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/uber_byte/telegram-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Marlon Lee](https://apify.com/uber_byte) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 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

## Telegram Channel Scraper

Scrape posts from public Telegram channels without a Telegram account, phone number or API keys. You get each post's text, date, views, reactions, photos, videos, links, forwards and edit status, plus the channel's title, description and subscriber count. Built for news and crypto monitoring, researchers and teams feeding Telegram content into AI pipelines.

### What you get

One row per post:

- `channel`, `postId`, `url`, `date`
- `text`, `author`, `forwardedFrom`, `isEdited`
- `views` and `reactions` (emoji, custom emoji ID or paid Stars, with a count for each)
- `photos` and `videos` (media URLs) and `links` found in the post text
- `channelInfo` (optional): title, description, subscribers, and the channel's photo, video and link counts

**What you can do with the input**

- Scrape many public channels in one run, given as usernames, `@handles` or `t.me` links.
- Stop at a date, so a daily run fetches only new posts.
- Search inside a channel by keyword, using Telegram's own channel search.

The Actor reads Telegram's public web preview pages, with no browser and no login, so runs are fast and cheap.

### Use cases

- **Crypto, trading and news monitoring.** Track signal channels and news feeds every day.
- **Brand and competitor monitoring.** See what channels post about you and how many people view it.
- **Research and journalism.** Archive public channels for analysis.
- **Marketing.** Find which posts get the most views and reactions.
- **AI and LLM pipelines.** Feed clean channel text into summarizers and RAG systems.

### How to use

1. Open the Actor in the Apify Console and click **Try for free**.
2. Add **Channels**, for example `durov`, `@telegram` or `https://t.me/s/bbcnews`.
3. Set **Max posts per channel** (default 100) and, for monitoring, **Only posts newer than**.
4. Optionally add a **Search within channel** keyword and turn **Include channel info** on or off.
5. Click **Start** and download the posts as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

### Input example

```json
{
  "channels": ["durov", "@telegram", "https://t.me/s/bbcnews"],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 200,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "2026-01-01",
  "searchQuery": "update",
  "includeChannelInfo": true
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "channel": "durov",
  "postId": 548,
  "url": "https://t.me/durov/548",
  "date": "2026-09-11T16:04:02+00:00",
  "text": "Telegram has become the sponsor of Codeforces...",
  "views": 1780000,
  "reactions": [
    { "type": "paid_stars", "emoji": null, "customEmojiId": null, "count": 14300 },
    { "type": "emoji", "emoji": null, "customEmojiId": "5265077361648368841", "count": 132000 }
  ],
  "author": "Pavel Durov",
  "forwardedFrom": null,
  "isEdited": false,
  "photos": [],
  "videos": [],
  "links": ["https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/156620"],
  "channelInfo": { "title": "Pavel Durov", "description": "Founder of Telegram.", "subscribers": 10600000, "photos": 102, "videos": 46, "links": 200 }
}
```

### Pricing

This Actor charges per result: you pay for each post saved, with no monthly rental. Set a maximum cost per run in the Apify Console and the Actor stops cleanly when it reaches it.

### FAQ

**Is it legal to scrape Telegram channels?**
The Actor collects only what Telegram publishes openly on the web preview at `t.me/s/<channel>`, which anyone can open without an account. You're responsible for how you use the data, including privacy laws such as GDPR.

**Do I need a proxy?**
The Actor uses Apify Proxy by default, which we recommend for large runs.

**Can it scrape private channels or groups?**
No. It reads channels with the public web preview enabled. If a channel returns no posts, it's private, doesn't exist, or has the preview disabled, and the run log says so.

**Are views and reactions exact?**
Telegram shows rounded counts such as "1.78M". The Actor converts them to numbers, so large values are approximate.

**Why are some reaction emojis `null`?**
Telegram renders many reactions as custom emojis. For those you get `customEmojiId`, and each reaction includes its count.

**What are the limits?**

- **Max posts per channel** counts the newest posts in each channel separately.
- With **Only posts newer than** set, the Actor stops paging a channel once it reaches older posts.

# Actor input Schema

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

Channel usernames or links, e.g. durov, @durov, https://t.me/durov

## `maxPostsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest posts to collect from each channel.

## `onlyPostsNewerThan` (type: `string`):

Stop once posts are older than this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Only return posts matching this keyword (uses Telegram's own channel search).

## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Attach subscriber count, title and description to each post.

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

Apify Proxy is recommended for large runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "durov"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerChannel": 100,
  "includeChannelInfo": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("uber_byte/telegram-channel-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "channels": ["durov"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("uber_byte/telegram-channel-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "durov"
  ]
}' |
apify call uber_byte/telegram-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,uber_byte/telegram-channel-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 <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/pKpNtaGN1R1gJ4zH5/builds/Qao7ubDDl7dEVdriq/openapi.json