# Substack Scraper — Newsletter Posts & Full Text (`workstream/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Substack newsletters and custom domains: title, date, authors, likes, comments, restacks, paid/free and optional full text. Search inside newsletters, sort newest or top, date filter. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/workstream/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ahmad Shaaban](https://apify.com/workstream) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Social media, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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 Scraper — Newsletter Posts, Likes & Full Text

Scrape posts from any **Substack newsletter**, including custom domains: title, authors, likes, comments, restacks, paid/free status — and optionally the full post text.

### Who this is for

- Content aggregators and research tools
- Competitive newsletter tracking
- AI agents that read Substack archives
- Lead gen from newsletter bylines

### What you get

`publication, title, subtitle, url, postDate, authors, wordCount, likes, comments, restacks, isPaid, tags, coverImage, previewText` (+ `contentHtml`, `contentText` with content)

### Features

- Custom domains (e.g. lennysnewsletter.com) and `name.substack.com`
- Search inside a newsletter; sort by Newest or Top
- Date filter for incremental monitoring
- Full content for free posts (paid posts return the public preview)

### Input example

```json
{
  "publications": ["lennysnewsletter.com", "noahpinion", "substack.com/@handle"],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 200,
  "sortBy": "new",
  "dateFrom": "2026-01-01",
  "includeContent": true
}
```

### Pricing

- **$0.0005 per post** (metadata)
- **$0.001 per post with full content**
  No start fee. Cheaper than Actors at $0.01/post.

### FAQ

**Paid posts?** Public preview only — no login is used.
**Author profiles?** `substack.com/@handle` resolves to their primary publication when available.

# Actor input Schema

## `publications` (type: `array`):

Substack newsletters: name.substack.com, custom domains (lennysnewsletter.com), bare names (platformer) or author profiles (substack.com/@handle).

## `maxPostsPerPublication` (type: `integer`):

Goes back through the whole archive.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Archive order.

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

Only posts matching this keyword.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Stop when older posts are reached (Newest sort).

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

Adds full HTML and plain text (free posts; paid posts give the public preview). Priced as post-with-content.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "lennysnewsletter.com",
    "https://www.astralcodexten.com",
    "noahpinion"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 50,
  "sortBy": "new",
  "includeContent": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Scraped items

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Counts and errors per input

# 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 = {
    "publications": [
        "lennysnewsletter.com",
        "https://www.astralcodexten.com",
        "noahpinion"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("workstream/substack-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 = { "publications": [
        "lennysnewsletter.com",
        "https://www.astralcodexten.com",
        "noahpinion",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("workstream/substack-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.com",
    "https://www.astralcodexten.com",
    "noahpinion"
  ]
}' |
apify call workstream/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,workstream/substack-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/taVdZx5f0TehCFOGI/builds/g8d0UA9Zolmftfcb3/openapi.json