# Substack Scraper - Newsletter Posts, Authors & Engagement (`feedforge/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Substack newsletter archives. Post titles, authors, publish dates, likes, comments and paywall status as JSON or CSV.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/feedforge/substack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Dominik](https://apify.com/feedforge) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Marketing, For creators
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

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, Authors & Engagement

Extract the full post archive of any Substack publication, including authors, publish dates, engagement and paywall status.

### What you can do with it

- **Content research** - see what a publication covers and how often.
- **Competitor monitoring** - track a rival newsletter's output and topics.
- **Newsletter discovery** - build a dataset of publications in a niche.
- **Engagement analysis** - compare comment counts across posts and topics.
- **Feed an AI agent or RAG pipeline** - clean post metadata and descriptions.

### Input

Every field is optional. Run it with no configuration and it returns useful data
straight away.

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `publications` | array | Substack URLs, e.g. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Leave empty to use a default sample. |
| `maxItems` | integer | How many posts to return across all publications. Default `200`. |
| `postedWithinDays` | integer | Only posts published in the last N days. |

### Output

Flat JSON records, exportable as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. Fields the source does
not publish come back as `null` rather than being omitted, so your schema stays
stable between runs.

### Pricing

Pay per result. You are charged only for records actually delivered - a run that
matches nothing costs nothing.

### Keeping it fresh

Use Apify **Schedules** to run this on a timer and your dataset stays current
without you touching it. Add a webhook to push new records straight into your
database, Google Sheet or Slack channel.

### Reliability

This reads the source's own public API - no logins, no bot circumvention. That is
a deliberate choice: actors that depend on defeating bot protection break without
warning. This one does not.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack URLs, e.g. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Leave empty to use a default sample.

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

How many posts to return across all publications.

## `postedWithinDays` (type: `integer`):

Only posts published in the last N days.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# 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("feedforge/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 = {}

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

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,feedforge/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/IKeOwxox20RCT30ct/builds/466uc0DDFN4tAZwco/openapi.json