# Substack Scraper — Posts, Engagement & Newsletter Analytics (`samwise.agency/substack-scraper`) Actor

Scrape any Substack publication: full post archives with likes, comments, restacks, paywall status, and optional full text. Works with custom domains. Clean JSON/CSV for newsletter research, competitive analysis, and content strategy.

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

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 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 — Posts, Engagement & Newsletter Analytics

Competitive intelligence for the newsletter economy. Point this Actor at any **Substack publication** — including custom domains — and get the full post archive with engagement metrics and optional full text.

**What you can extract:**

- 📰 **Full archives** — every post, newest first, with title, subtitle, date, URL
- ❤️ **Engagement** — likes, comments, restacks per post
- 🔒 **Paywall intelligence** — free vs paid post mix (`audience`, `paywalled`)
- 📄 **Full text** (optional) — for free posts, ready for LLM analysis
- 🎙️ **Podcast posts** — duration included

### Quick start

1. Click **Run** — default pulls the latest 25 posts from a major tech newsletter
2. Swap in the publications you track (yours, competitors', your niche)
3. Schedule weekly → engagement time series for the whole niche

### Sample output

```json
{
    "type": "post",
    "publication": "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com",
    "title": "The Pulse: Big Tech hiring is back",
    "slug": "the-pulse-big-tech-hiring",
    "url": "https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-pulse-big-tech-hiring",
    "postDate": "2026-07-16T16:48:53.106Z",
    "audience": "everyone",
    "paywalled": false,
    "likes": 412,
    "comments": 38,
    "restacks": 51,
    "wordCount": 2450
}
```

### Use cases

- **Newsletter operators** — benchmark cadence, length, and engagement vs competitors
- **Sponsorship buyers** — verify a newsletter's real activity before paying for ads
- **Content strategists** — what topics and formats earn likes in your niche
- **Ghostwriters & agencies** — research a client's niche in minutes
- **LLM pipelines** — full text of free posts for summarization/analysis

### Pricing

Pay per post row delivered.

### FAQ

**Custom domains?** Yes — enter the domain (e.g. `newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com`) and it just works.

**Paywalled content?** Metadata only. This Actor does not bypass paywalls.

# Actor input Schema

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

Substack URLs (https://name.substack.com), custom domains (newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com), or bare names.

## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch the full text of each free post (paywalled posts return metadata only). Slower and one extra request per post.

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

Newest first.

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

Apify Proxy keeps requests reliable at scale.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publications": [
    "newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
  ],
  "includeBody": false,
  "maxPostsPerPublication": 25,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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": [
        "newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("samwise.agency/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": ["newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("samwise.agency/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": [
    "newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call samwise.agency/substack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,samwise.agency/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/anOiRcr6c754grnIa/builds/m86vKlo7a8bxglLrq/openapi.json