# 📚 Substack People Scraper (`easyapi/substack-people-scraper`) Actor

A powerful scraping tool that extracts comprehensive Substack author and publication data using keywords. Get detailed insights about writers, their publications, themes, and engagement metrics to understand the newsletter ecosystem.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/easyapi/substack-people-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [EasyApi](https://apify.com/easyapi) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Integrations, Other
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 63 total users, 0 monthly users, 50.0% runs succeeded, 2 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 People Scraper

Scrape Substack author profiles and user information based on keywords. Get detailed data about Substack writers, publications, and their content.

### 🔍 What does Substack People Scraper do?

This actor allows you to:

- Search and scrape Substack author profiles using keywords
- Extract detailed publication information including name, description, custom domains
- Get author details like bio, photo URL, handle, and social links
- Collect publication themes and styling preferences
- Track subscription and membership states
- Monitor community engagement settings

### ✨ Features

- 🎯 Keyword-based search targeting
- 📊 Comprehensive profile data extraction
- 🚀 High-performance scraping with Puppeteer
- 🛡️ Built-in anti-detection mechanisms
- ⚡ Parallel processing support
- 🔄 Automatic pagination handling
- 💾 Structured JSON output

### 💡 Use Cases

- Content creator research
- Newsletter market analysis
- Competitor monitoring
- Audience insights gathering
- Publication trend tracking
- Writer community mapping

### 📋 Input Parameters

The actor accepts the following parameters:

- `keywords`: Array of search terms to find Substack authors
- `maxItems`: Maximum number of results to collect

### 📦 Output

Results are stored in JSON format containing:

- Author profile details
- Publication information
- Subscription data
- Theme configurations
- Community settings

### 💪 Benefits

- Save hours of manual research
- Get structured, ready-to-analyze data
- Stay updated on Substack ecosystem
- Discover new writers and publications
- Track industry trends

### 🔒 Compliance

This actor respects Substack's robots.txt and implements reasonable delays between requests.

#### Input Example

A full explanation of an input example in JSON.

```json
{
    "keywords": [
        "sam"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50
}
```

#### Output sample

The results will be wrapped into a dataset which you can always find in the **Storage** tab. Here's an excerpt from the data you'd get if you apply the input parameters above:

And here is the same data but in JSON. You can choose in which format to download your data: JSON, JSONL, Excel spreadsheet, HTML table, CSV, or XML.

```json
[
    {
        "keyword": "sam",
        "id": 294278669,
        "name": "Samantha",
        "handle": "clubfemboy",
        "previous_name": "Femboy Clubhouse",
        "photo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6e3cbea1-09a6-47a2-849b-4f24598bf777_1224x1224.jpeg",
        "bio": "I'm a feminine boy that loves fashion, aesthetics, and femininity in the broadest sense. I started dressing ever since I was born and never looked back!",
        "profile_set_up_at": "2024-12-03T16:48:05.365Z",
        "tos_accepted_at": null,
        "profile_disabled": false,
        "userLinks": [],
        "publicationUsers": [
            {
                "id": 361603,
                "user_id": 294278669,
                "publication_id": 435931,
                "role": "admin",
                "public": true,
                "is_primary": false,
                "publication": {
                    "id": 435931,
                    "name": "Club Femboy",
                    "subdomain": "clubfemboy",
                    "custom_domain": null,
                    "custom_domain_optional": false,
                    "hero_text": "Where every Femboy may become their most beautiful, feminine self.",
                    "logo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b9f9b588-5666-41db-9fb1-815e99f1db1d_1280x1280.png",
                    "author_id": 294278669,
                    "theme_var_background_pop": "#EA82FF",
                    "created_at": "2021-08-08T22:01:35.029Z",
                    "rss_website_url": null,
                    "email_from_name": null,
                    "copyright": "Samantha",
                    "founding_plan_name": "Founding Member",
                    "community_enabled": true,
                    "invite_only": false,
                    "payments_state": "enabled",
                    "language": null,
                    "explicit": false,
                    "is_personal_mode": false,
                    "author": {
                        "id": 294278669,
                        "name": "Samantha",
                        "handle": "clubfemboy",
                        "previous_name": "Femboy Clubhouse",
                        "photo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6e3cbea1-09a6-47a2-849b-4f24598bf777_1224x1224.jpeg",
                        "bio": "I'm a feminine boy that loves fashion, aesthetics, and femininity in the broadest sense. I started dressing ever since I was born and never looked back!",
                        "profile_set_up_at": "2024-12-03T16:48:05.365Z"
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "id": 3523594,
                "user_id": 294278669,
                "publication_id": 3457346,
                "role": "admin",
                "public": true,
                "is_primary": false,
                "publication": {
                    "id": 3457346,
                    "name": "Femboy Clubhouse",
                    "subdomain": "femboyclubhouse",
                    "custom_domain": null,
                    "custom_domain_optional": false,
                    "hero_text": "Where every femboy can blossom into their most enchanting, uwu-tastic self~",
                    "logo_url": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d36784c6-9abe-457c-bec0-ecdafb7c172d_167x167.png",
                    "author_id": 294278669,
                    "theme_var_background_pop": "#FF6719",
                    "created_at": "2024-12-03T16:48:08.340Z",
                    "rss_website_url": null,
                    "email_from_name": null,
                    "copyright": "Femme",
                    "founding_plan_name": null,
                    "community_enabled": true,
                    "invite_only": false,
                    "payments_state": "enabled",
                    "language": null,
                    "explicit": false,
                    "is_personal_mode": false,
                    "author": {
                        "id": 294278669,
                        "name": "Samantha",
                        "handle": "clubfemboy",
                        "previous_name": "Femboy Clubhouse",
                        "photo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6e3cbea1-09a6-47a2-849b-4f24598bf777_1224x1224.jpeg",
                        "bio": "I'm a feminine boy that loves fashion, aesthetics, and femininity in the broadest sense. I started dressing ever since I was born and never looked back!",
                        "profile_set_up_at": "2024-12-03T16:48:05.365Z"
                    }
                }
            }
        ],
        "subscriptions": [
            {
                "user_id": 294278669,
                "id": 635974553,
                "visibility": "public",
                "membership_state": "free_signup",
                "type": null,
                "is_founding": false,
                "email_settings": {
                    "2474": "individual",
                    "2519": "individual",
                    "2520": "individual",
                    "22019": "individual",
                    "39917": "individual"
                },
                "section_podcasts_enabled": [
                    2520,
                    39917,
                    22019,
                    2474,
                    2519
                ],
                "publication": {
                    "id": 1,
                    "name": "On Substack",
                    "subdomain": "on",
                    "custom_domain": null,
                    "custom_domain_optional": false,
                    "hero_text": "Resources, stories, and news for the writers, podcasters, musicians, video creators, and culture makers publishing on Substack. ",
                    "logo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ba81cfff-7bc5-4aef-866e-864d0942c42d_1000x1000.png",
                    "author_id": 41856304,
                    "theme_var_background_pop": "#FF6719",
                    "created_at": "2017-12-12T04:37:34.302Z",
                    "rss_website_url": null,
                    "email_from_name": "Substack",
                    "copyright": "Substack",
                    "founding_plan_name": "Founding Member",
                    "community_enabled": true,
                    "invite_only": false,
                    "payments_state": "disabled",
                    "language": null,
                    "explicit": false,
                    "is_personal_mode": false,
                    "author": {
                        "id": 41856304,
                        "name": "Substack Team",
                        "handle": "substackteam",
                        "previous_name": "Substack Writers",
                        "photo_url": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a0cc9b93-5469-46f3-b2c9-ee0392b93a64_1000x1000.png",
                        "bio": "Resources, news, and stories for @Substack writers and creators.",
                        "profile_set_up_at": "2022-06-16T19:10:43.399Z"
                    },
                    "theme": {
                        "publication_id": 1,
                        "background_pop_color": "#FF7731",
                        "cover_bg_color": "#ffffff",
                        "color_links": null,
                        "web_bg_color": "#ffffff",
                        "home_posts": "custom",
                        "font_preset_heading": "fancy_serif",
                        "font_preset_body": "fancy_serif",
                        "font_family_headings": null,
                        "font_family_body": null,
                        "font_size_body_desktop": null,
                        "font_family_ui": null,
                        "print_secondary": null,
                        "custom_css_web": null,
                        "custom_css_email": null,
                        "default_post_header_variant": null
                    }
                }
            }
        ],
        "subscriptionsTruncated": false,
        "hasGuestPost": false,
        "primaryPublication": {
            "id": 435931,
            "subdomain": "clubfemboy",
            "custom_domain_optional": false,
            "name": "Club Femboy",
            "logo_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b9f9b588-5666-41db-9fb1-815e99f1db1d_1280x1280.png",
            "author_id": 294278669,
            "user_id": 294278669,
            "handles_enabled": false,
            "explicit": false,
            "is_personal_mode": false
        },
        "max_pub_tier": 2,
        "hasActivity": true,
        "hasLikes": true,
        "lists": [],
        "rough_num_free_subscribers_int": 10000,
        "rough_num_free_subscribers": "Tens of thousands",
        "bestseller_badge_disabled": false,
        "bestseller_tier": null,
        "subscriberCountString": "24K+ subscribers",
        "subscriberCount": "24K+",
        "subscriberCountNumber": 24000,
        "hasHiddenPublicationUsers": false,
        "visibleSubscriptionsCount": 1,
        "slug": "samantha",
        "previousSlug": "femboy-clubhouse",
        "isSubscribed": false,
        "isFollowing": false,
        "followsViewer": false,
        "scrapedAt": "2025-02-10T05:12:00.935Z"
    },
    ...
]
```

### Related Actors

- 📚 [Substack Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/substack-posts-scraper) - Extract comprehensive post data including titles, authors, and engagement metrics from Substack
- 📚 [Substack Publications Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/substack-publications-scraper) - Get detailed newsletter and publication information from Substack search results
- 🔍 [Substack Notes Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/substack-notes-scraper) - Extract notes and comments with user info and engagement metrics from Substack
- 📊 [Substack Leaderboard Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/substack-leaderboard-scraper) - Scrape top performing newsletters data from Substack leaderboards
- 📄 [Article Content Extractor](https://apify.com/easyapi/article-content-extractor) - Extract clean article content and metadata from any web page
- 🔍 [Medium User Search Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/medium-user-search-scraper) - Find and extract detailed Medium user profiles from search results
- 📝 [Medium Posts Search Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/medium-posts-search-scraper) - Get comprehensive article data from Medium's search results
- 📚 [Medium User Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/medium-user-posts-scraper) - Extract detailed post data from Medium user profiles
- 👥 [Medium Following Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/medium-following-scraper) - Get information about Medium users' following lists
- 👥 [Medium Followers Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/medium-followers-scraper) - Extract Medium user followers data and profile details
- 📚 [Goodreads Book Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/goodreads-book-scraper) - Get comprehensive book and author data from Goodreads
- 📚 [Goodreads Review Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/goodreads-review-scraper) - Extract detailed book reviews and ratings from Goodreads
- 🎯 [Twitter Email Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/twitter-email-scraper) - Find Twitter users and their email addresses based on keywords
- 📧 [Discover & Verify Professional Emails](https://apify.com/easyapi/discover-verify-professional-emails) - Find and verify professional email addresses with smart pattern generation
- 🔍 [Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/google-news-scraper) - Collect up to 5000 news articles with flexible search options

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

List of keywords to search for Substack authors

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

Maximum number of results to collect per keyword

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

Optionally, use Apify Proxy or custom HTTP proxy to avoid IP address-based blocking.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "tech"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("easyapi/substack-people-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("easyapi/substack-people-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 '{}' |
apify call easyapi/substack-people-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,easyapi/substack-people-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/zsDgXNVOWKLHUzDVV/builds/2DGSZMoP1M1IOtIgV/openapi.json