Reddit Scraper

Scrape Reddit posts, comments, users, and subreddits in a single dataset. Built directly on Reddit's .json API — no headless browser, no login, no surprises.

✅ Posts, comments, users, subreddits — one clean dataset, type field discriminates rows ✅ Native nested comment trees — replies[] filled in, not flat with parent_id ✅ Accurate in-subreddit search — uses restrict_sr=on for scoped, relevant results ✅ Per-source diagnostics — clear summary at end of run explains exactly what each input produced ✅ First 100 results free — no credit card needed

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What you can scrape

Drop in any combination of:

• Subreddit URLs (reddit.com/r/python/, reddit.com/r/python/top/) → posts
• Post URLs (reddit.com/r/python/comments/abc/...) → post + full comment tree (optionally nested)
• User URLs (reddit.com/user/spez) → user profile + their submissions
• Search queries scoped to a subreddit → relevant posts only

Every result lands in your dataset as one flat JSON record with a type field (post, comment, user, subreddit).

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Quick start

Scrape a subreddit's hot posts

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/r/python/"],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "sort": "hot"
}

Scrape a post with its full nested comment tree

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/r/python/comments/1t3x7ba/..."],
  "includeComments": true,
  "nestedComments": true,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 200
}

Search relevant posts inside a community

{
  "searches": ["pytest fixtures"],
  "searchSubreddit": "python",
  "sort": "relevance",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Scrape a user's recent activity

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.reddit.com/user/spez/"],
  "maxPostsPerSource": 25
}

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Pricing

Per actor run	$0.001
Per dataset item	$0.00349 ($3.49 / 1,000)
Free trial	first 100 results

Set maxItems on any run to cap your spend. The actor stops the moment that limit is reached.

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Output schema

Every dataset item has a type discriminator: post, comment, user, subreddit.

type: "post"

Field	Notes
id, permalink, url, subreddit, subreddit_id	Reddit identifiers
author, author_id, author_flair	Poster info — author_id is t2_xxx
title, text	text is selftext, may be empty for link posts
created_utc	Unix seconds (not ISO string — easier to filter in code)
score, upvote_ratio, num_comments	Engagement
over_18, spoiler, stickied, locked, is_video, is_ad	Flags
flair	Post flair text
media[]	Structured `{type: image

type: "comment"

Field	Notes
id, permalink, post_id, parent_id, subreddit	IDs
author, body
score, created_utc, is_submitter, depth
replies[]	Nested children when nestedComments=true, else []

type: "user"

Field	Notes
name, id	Username + Reddit's internal ID
link_karma, comment_karma, total_karma
created_utc	Unix seconds, account creation
is_employee, verified, has_verified_email, is_mod	Flags
icon_img	Avatar URL

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FAQ

Do I need a Reddit account? No. All endpoints used are public.

Will my IP / Apify account get banned? No. We don't post anything, don't authenticate, and stay well under Reddit's rate-limits. Apify's residential proxies (default) are rotated per run.

What's the difference between flat and nested comments? With nestedComments: false (default) every comment is a separate dataset row, linked by parent_id. With nestedComments: true each top-level comment includes its replies inline as a replies[] array.

Can I limit by date? Yes — set postsAfter to YYYY-MM-DD (UTC). Posts older than that are skipped.

My run returned 0 items — why? Check the run log. The actor emits an end-of-run summary listing every source URL with one of: OK, not_found (private/banned subreddit), blocked (rare), or error. If you used searches, set searchSubreddit to scope it — Reddit's global search is noisy.

Can I use my own proxy? Yes — pass it under proxy.proxyUrls. Apify's residential proxies (the default) are recommended; datacenter IPs are blocked by Reddit.

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Need a more focused tool?

These specialized actors share the same engine but have simpler input forms:

• Reddit Comments Scraper — post URLs in, full nested trees out (6 input fields)
• Reddit User Scraper — usernames in, profile + activity out (4 input fields)
• Reddit Search Scraper — keyword + community in, relevant posts out (8 input fields)

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Changelog

0.4.0

• Cleaner schema: 4 specialized actors share this engine
• Added author_id, author_flair, is_ad to post output
• End-of-run summary explains exactly what each source produced
• Input validation catches non-Reddit URLs before consuming budget

0.1.0 — Initial release

• Direct .json API (no headless)
• 4 modes: subreddit, post+comments, user, search
• Native nested-comments mode
• Firefox TLS fingerprint with fallback ladder
• restrict_sr=on for accurate in-subreddit search