# Reddit Post & Comment Scraper (JSON API) (`andok/reddit-json-scraper`) Actor

Bypass headless browsers. Extract Reddit posts, comments, and upvote ratios instantly using fast JSON endpoints for social listening.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/andok/reddit-json-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Andok](https://apify.com/andok) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Developer tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 59 total users, 5 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.47 / 1,000 post extracteds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Reddit Post & Comment Scraper

Monitor Reddit discussions for product signals, brand mentions, and market trends. Extract structured post and comment data from any subreddit or thread URL using Reddit's public JSON endpoints — no browser, no login, no API key required. Processes hundreds of URLs per run with full control over item limits and timeouts.

### Features

- **Subreddit scanning** — extract all visible posts from any subreddit listing page
- **Thread comments** — scrape full comment threads from individual post URLs
- **Structured output** — get titles, scores, authors, vote ratios, comment counts, and selftext in clean JSON
- **No authentication** — uses Reddit's public `.json` endpoints, no API keys or login needed
- **Bulk processing** — pass multiple URLs and extract up to 500 items per URL
- **Pay-per-result** — only pay for posts and comments actually extracted

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `urls` | `array` | Yes | — | List of Reddit subreddit or post URLs to scrape |
| `maxItems` | `integer` | No | `100` | Maximum number of posts or comments to extract per URL (1-500) |
| `timeoutSeconds` | `integer` | No | `15` | HTTP request timeout in seconds per URL (1-120) |

#### Input Example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/",
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1abc123/example_post"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "timeoutSeconds": 15
}
```

### Output

Each dataset item represents one Reddit post or comment with structured metadata.

Key fields:

- `id` (string) — Reddit item ID
- `subreddit` (string) — subreddit name
- `title` (string) — post title (null for comments)
- `author` (string) — Reddit username
- `score` (number) — net upvotes
- `upvoteRatio` (number) — ratio of upvotes to total votes
- `numComments` (number) — comment count (posts only)
- `selftext` (string) — post body text or comment body
- `permalink` (string) — full URL to the post or comment
- `createdUtc` (number) — Unix timestamp
- `isComment` (boolean) — true if the item is a comment

#### Output Example

```json
{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/.json",
  "id": "1h2x3y4",
  "subreddit": "Entrepreneur",
  "title": "How I grew my SaaS to $10k MRR in 6 months",
  "author": "startup_founder",
  "score": 342,
  "upvoteRatio": 0.94,
  "numComments": 87,
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1h2x3y4/how_i_grew_my_saas/",
  "selftext": "I started building my product last year after leaving my job...",
  "createdUtc": 1709312400,
  "isComment": false
}
```

### Pricing

| Event | Cost |
|-------|------|
| Post Extracted | Included in platform usage |

You are charged per dataset item (post or comment) extracted. The actor respects the per-run max charge limit — processing stops automatically when the budget is reached.

### Use Cases

- **Brand monitoring** — track mentions of your product or company across relevant subreddits
- **Market research** — analyze sentiment and feature requests in niche communities
- **Competitor analysis** — monitor what users say about competing products
- **Content strategy** — find trending topics and high-engagement discussions in your industry
- **Lead generation** — identify users asking for solutions your product solves
- **Academic research** — collect discussion data for social media analysis

### Related Actors

| Actor | What it adds |
|-------|-------------|
| [Subreddit Media Downloader](https://apify.com/andok/subreddit-media-downloader) | Download images and videos from the same subreddits you monitor |
| [Hacker News API Scraper](https://apify.com/andok/hackernews-scraper) | Extend discussion monitoring to the tech/startup community |
| [Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/andok/google-news-scraper) | Complement Reddit signals with mainstream news coverage |

### Notes

- Reddit's public JSON endpoints may rate-limit aggressive requests. Keep `timeoutSeconds` reasonable and avoid running thousands of URLs in a single run.
- Some subreddits or posts may be private, quarantined, or age-restricted — these will return an error in the output.
- The actor appends `.json` to the provided URL automatically, so standard Reddit URLs work directly.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

List of Reddit URLs to scrape. Supports subreddit URLs (e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/) and individual post URLs with comments.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of posts or comments to extract per URL. Set lower for faster runs or higher for comprehensive extraction.

## `timeoutSeconds` (type: `integer`):

HTTP request timeout in seconds. Increase if you experience timeouts on slow connections.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "timeoutSeconds": 15
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `run` (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 = {
    "urls": [
        "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("andok/reddit-json-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 = { "urls": ["https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("andok/reddit-json-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 '{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/"
  ]
}' |
apify call andok/reddit-json-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,andok/reddit-json-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/6GAQmLYPRXbgcEWyi/builds/Ye278RiMHsxbxvgQN/openapi.json