Reddit Subreddit Post & Comment Harvester

Pull posts from any subreddit with score, media, flairs, awards and moderation flags, plus optional nested comment threads. Filter by date, score, keyword, author, post type and more. No API key or login.

Open on Apify GitHub source

Input schema

Input fields, types, required flags, descriptions, defaults, and prefills come from the published definition. Prefill examples are distinct from defaults.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`subreddits`	array	required	List of subreddits to scrape. Accepts bare names (python), r/ prefixed (r/python) or full URLs (https://www.reddit.com/r/python/).
`maxPosts`	integer	optional	Maximum number of posts to keep from each subreddit after filters. Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial.
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Global safety cap on the total number of records pushed for the whole run (posts and comments combined).

Show all input fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`subreddits`	array	required	List of subreddits to scrape. Accepts bare names (python), r/ prefixed (r/python) or full URLs (https://www.reddit.com/r/python/).
`maxPosts`	integer	optional	Maximum number of posts to keep from each subreddit after filters. Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial.
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Global safety cap on the total number of records pushed for the whole run (posts and comments combined).
`sort`	string	optional	How to sort posts in the subreddit. Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial.
`timeFilter`	string	optional	Time filter when sorting by 'top' or 'controversial'.
`includeComments`	boolean	optional	When enabled, the full comment thread (including nested replies) is collected for every scraped post. Significantly increases run time and output.
`maxCommentsPerPost`	integer	optional	Maximum number of comments to scrape per post (only used when 'Include comments' is enabled).
`commentSort`	string	optional	How to sort the comment threads.
`postedAfter`	string	optional	Only keep posts created on or after this date (UTC). When set, collection runs newest-first (sort=new) and the sort option above is ignored. Reddit caps each listing at roughly 1,000 posts, so a distant date window on a very active subreddit may not be fully reachable.
`postedBefore`	string	optional	Only keep posts created on or before this date (interpreted as the end of that day, UTC).
`includeNSFW`	boolean	optional	Include posts Reddit explicitly flags as NSFW. Posts in 18+ communities are served by the actor's adult-content cookie and are not distinguishable at community level.
`onlyWithFlair`	boolean	optional	When enabled, posts without a flair tag are dropped from the results.
`postType`	string	optional	Keep only posts of the selected content type (based on Reddit's listing type). Leave unset to keep all types. Legacy 'self' is treated as 'text'.
`minScore`	integer	optional	Only keep posts with a score at or above this value. Leave unset to keep all scores.
`maxScore`	integer	optional	Only keep posts with a score at or below this value. Useful for finding overlooked/low-visibility posts. Leave unset to keep all scores.
`minComments`	integer	optional	Only keep posts with at least this many comments. Leave unset to keep all posts.
`maxComments`	integer	optional	Only keep posts with at most this many comments. Useful for finding under-discussed posts. Leave unset to keep all posts.
`excludeStickied`	boolean	optional	When enabled, posts pinned/stickied by moderators (e.g. rules, weekly threads) are dropped from the results.
`minUpvoteRatio`	number	optional	Only keep posts whose upvote ratio (fraction of votes that are upvotes, 0-1) is at or above this value. Useful for filtering out controversial/divisive posts. Leave unset to keep all ratios.
`excludeCrossposts`	boolean	optional	When enabled, posts that are crossposts from another subreddit are dropped from the results, keeping only original submissions to the scraped subreddit.
`excludeSpoilers`	boolean	optional	When enabled, posts marked as a spoiler by their author are dropped from the results.
`titleContains`	string	optional	Only keep posts whose title contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Leave empty to keep all titles.
`contentContains`	string	optional	Only keep self (text) posts whose body contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Link/image/video posts have no body text and are excluded when this is set. Leave empty to keep all posts.
`flairContains`	string	optional	Only keep posts whose flair text contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Leave empty to keep all flairs.
`authors`	array	optional	Only keep posts submitted by one of these usernames (bare name or u/-prefixed, case-insensitive). Leave empty to keep posts from all authors.
`domain`	string	optional	Only keep posts whose link domain contains this text (case-insensitive, e.g. 'youtube.com' or 'self.python'). Leave empty to keep all domains.
`minAwards`	integer	optional	Only keep posts with at least this many total awards. Leave unset to keep all posts.
`excludeDeletedAuthor`	boolean	optional	When enabled, posts whose author account was deleted (shown as [deleted]/[removed]) are dropped from the results.
`excludeAuthors`	array	optional	Drop posts submitted by any of these usernames (bare name or u/-prefixed, case-insensitive) — useful for filtering out bots (e.g. AutoModerator) or known spam accounts. Leave empty to keep posts from all authors.
`excludeKeywords`	array	optional	Drop posts whose title, self-text body or flair contains any of these keywords or phrases (case-insensitive substring match) — useful for filtering out megathreads, giveaways or spam boilerplate. Leave empty to keep all posts.
`minContentLength`	integer	optional	Only keep self (text) posts whose body is at least this many characters long. Link/image/video posts have no body and are excluded when this is set. Useful for dropping one-line/low-effort text posts when building NLP datasets. Leave unset to keep all lengths.
`maxContentLength`	integer	optional	Only keep self (text) posts whose body is at most this many characters long. Leave unset to keep all lengths.
`fullSubreddit`	boolean	optional	When enabled, walk Reddit's 'new' listing as deep as the source allows (roughly 1,000 posts per listing) instead of stopping at the first page. Combine with a higher 'Maximum posts per subreddit'.

Download the published input schema

View complete JSON

{
  "properties": {
    "authors": {
      "description": "Only keep posts submitted by one of these usernames (bare name or u/-prefixed, case-insensitive). Leave empty to keep posts from all authors.",
      "editor": "stringList",
      "example": [
        "spez"
      ],
      "title": "Only posts by these authors",
      "type": "array"
    },
    "commentSort": {
      "default": "confidence",
      "description": "How to sort the comment threads.",
      "enum": [
        "confidence",
        "top",
        "new",
        "controversial",
        "old",
        "qa"
      ],
      "enumTitles": [
        "Best (Confidence)",
        "Top",
        "New",
        "Controversial",
        "Old",
        "Q&A"
      ],
      "prefill": "confidence",
      "title": "Sort comments by",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "contentContains": {
      "description": "Only keep self (text) posts whose body contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Link/image/video posts have no body text and are excluded when this is set. Leave empty to keep all posts.",
      "editor": "textfield",
      "example": "tutorial",
      "title": "Post text contains keyword",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "domain": {
      "description": "Only keep posts whose link domain contains this text (case-insensitive, e.g. 'youtube.com' or 'self.python'). Leave empty to keep all domains.",
      "editor": "textfield",
      "example": "youtube.com",
      "title": "Domain contains",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "excludeAuthors": {
      "description": "Drop posts submitted by any of these usernames (bare name or u/-prefixed, case-insensitive) — useful for filtering out bots (e.g. AutoModerator) or known spam accounts. Leave empty to keep posts from all authors.",
      "editor": "stringList",
      "example": [
        "AutoModerator"
      ],
      "title": "Exclude posts by these authors",
      "type": "array"
    },
    "excludeCrossposts": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, posts that are crossposts from another subreddit are dropped from the results, keeping only original submissions to the scraped subreddit.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Exclude crossposts",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "excludeDeletedAuthor": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, posts whose author account was deleted (shown as [deleted]/[removed]) are dropped from the results.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Exclude posts with a deleted/removed author",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "excludeKeywords": {
      "description": "Drop posts whose title, self-text body or flair contains any of these keywords or phrases (case-insensitive substring match) — useful for filtering out megathreads, giveaways or spam boilerplate. Leave empty to keep all posts.",
      "editor": "stringList",
      "example": [
        "megathread"
      ],
      "title": "Exclude keywords",
      "type": "array"
    },
    "excludeSpoilers": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, posts marked as a spoiler by their author are dropped from the results.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Exclude spoiler-tagged posts",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "excludeStickied": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, posts pinned/stickied by moderators (e.g. rules, weekly threads) are dropped from the results.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Exclude stickied/pinned posts",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "flairContains": {
      "description": "Only keep posts whose flair text contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Leave empty to keep all flairs.",
      "editor": "textfield",
      "example": "Discussion",
      "title": "Flair contains keyword",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "fullSubreddit": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, walk Reddit's 'new' listing as deep as the source allows (roughly 1,000 posts per listing) instead of stopping at the first page. Combine with a higher 'Maximum posts per subreddit'.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Full subreddit mode (deepest reachable history)",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "includeComments": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, the full comment thread (including nested replies) is collected for every scraped post. Significantly increases run time and output.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Include comments for each post",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "includeNSFW": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "Include posts Reddit explicitly flags as NSFW. Posts in 18+ communities are served by the actor's adult-content cookie and are not distinguishable at community level.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Include NSFW (18+) content",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "maxComments": {
      "description": "Only keep posts with at most this many comments. Useful for finding under-discussed posts. Leave unset to keep all posts.",
      "example": 500,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Maximum number of comments",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "maxCommentsPerPost": {
      "default": 0,
      "description": "Maximum number of comments to scrape per post (only used when 'Include comments' is enabled).",
      "example": 100,
      "maximum": 100000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "prefill": 0,
      "title": "Maximum comments per post",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "maxContentLength": {
      "description": "Only keep self (text) posts whose body is at most this many characters long. Leave unset to keep all lengths.",
      "example": 5000,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Maximum post body length (characters)",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "maxItems": {
      "default": 10000,
      "description": "Global safety cap on the total number of records pushed for the whole run (posts and comments combined).",
      "example": 5000,
      "maximum": 100000,
      "minimum": 1,
      "prefill": 10000,
      "title": "Maximum total items (safety cap)",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "maxPosts": {
      "default": 25,
      "description": "Maximum number of posts to keep from each subreddit after filters. Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial.",
      "example": 25,
      "maximum": 5000,
      "minimum": 1,
      "prefill": 25,
      "title": "Maximum posts per subreddit",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "maxScore": {
      "description": "Only keep posts with a score at or below this value. Useful for finding overlooked/low-visibility posts. Leave unset to keep all scores.",
      "example": 1000,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": -100000,
      "title": "Maximum score (upvotes minus downvotes)",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "minAwards": {
      "description": "Only keep posts with at least this many total awards. Leave unset to keep all posts.",
      "example": 1,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Minimum awards received",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "minComments": {
      "description": "Only keep posts with at least this many comments. Leave unset to keep all posts.",
      "example": 5,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Minimum number of comments",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "minContentLength": {
      "description": "Only keep self (text) posts whose body is at least this many characters long. Link/image/video posts have no body and are excluded when this is set. Useful for dropping one-line/low-effort text posts when building NLP datasets. Leave unset to keep all lengths.",
      "example": 100,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Minimum post body length (characters)",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "minScore": {
      "description": "Only keep posts with a score at or above this value. Leave unset to keep all scores.",
      "example": 10,
      "maximum": 1000000,
      "minimum": -100000,
      "title": "Minimum score (upvotes minus downvotes)",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "minUpvoteRatio": {
      "description": "Only keep posts whose upvote ratio (fraction of votes that are upvotes, 0-1) is at or above this value. Useful for filtering out controversial/divisive posts. Leave unset to keep all ratios.",
      "example": 0.8,
      "maximum": 1,
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Minimum upvote ratio",
      "type": "number"
    },
    "onlyWithFlair": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "When enabled, posts without a flair tag are dropped from the results.",
      "prefill": false,
      "title": "Only posts that have a flair",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "postType": {
      "description": "Keep only posts of the selected content type (based on Reddit's listing type). Leave unset to keep all types. Legacy 'self' is treated as 'text'.",
      "enum": [
        "text",
        "link",
        "image",
        "video",
        "gallery",
        "poll",
        "crosspost",
        "multi_media"
      ],
      "enumTitles": [
        "Text post",
        "Link",
        "Image",
        "Video",
        "Gallery",
        "Poll",
        "Crosspost",
        "Multi-media post"
      ],
      "title": "Only posts of this type",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "postedAfter": {
      "description": "Only keep posts created on or after this date (UTC). When set, collection runs newest-first (sort=new) and the sort option above is ignored. Reddit caps each listing at roughly 1,000 posts, so a distant date window on a very active subreddit may not be fully reachable.",
      "editor": "datepicker",
      "example": "2025-01-01",
      "title": "Posts created on or after (YYYY-MM-DD)",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "postedBefore": {
      "description": "Only keep posts created on or before this date (interpreted as the end of that day, UTC).",
      "editor": "datepicker",
      "example": "2025-12-31",
      "title": "Posts created on or before (YYYY-MM-DD)",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "sort": {
      "default": "new",
      "description": "How to sort posts in the subreddit. Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial.",
      "enum": [
        "hot",
        "new",
        "top",
        "rising",
        "controversial",
        "best"
      ],
      "enumTitles": [
        "Hot",
        "New",
        "Top",
        "Rising",
        "Controversial",
        "Best"
      ],
      "prefill": "new",
      "title": "Sort posts by",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "subreddits": {
      "description": "List of subreddits to scrape. Accepts bare names (python), r/ prefixed (r/python) or full URLs (https://www.reddit.com/r/python/).",
      "editor": "stringList",
      "example": [
        "python",
        "r/programming",
        "https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/"
      ],
      "minItems": 1,
      "prefill": [
        "python"
      ],
      "title": "Subreddits",
      "type": "array"
    },
    "timeFilter": {
      "default": "day",
      "description": "Time filter when sorting by 'top' or 'controversial'.",
      "enum": [
        "hour",
        "day",
        "week",
        "month",
        "year",
        "all"
      ],
      "enumTitles": [
        "Past Hour",
        "Past Day",
        "Past Week",
        "Past Month",
        "Past Year",
        "All Time"
      ],
      "prefill": "day",
      "title": "Time filter (for 'top' and 'controversial' sort)",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "titleContains": {
      "description": "Only keep posts whose title contains this text (case-insensitive substring match). Leave empty to keep all titles.",
      "editor": "textfield",
      "example": "launch",
      "title": "Title contains keyword",
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "subreddits"
  ],
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "title": "Reddit Subreddit Scraper Input",
  "type": "object"
}

Output schema

Published result links and storage locations. This schema is not an exhaustive contract for every field in a dataset record.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`postAndCommentRecords`	string	optional	Dataset containing one record per post, plus one record per comment when 'Include comments' is on. Records are distinguished by the `dataType` field (`post` or `comment`).

Download the published output schema

View complete JSON

{
  "actorOutputSchemaVersion": 1,
  "description": "Reddit subreddit posts with score, flair, selftext, images, galleries, video, polls and crosspost context, plus optional nested comment threads.",
  "properties": {
    "postAndCommentRecords": {
      "description": "Dataset containing one record per post, plus one record per comment when 'Include comments' is on. Records are distinguished by the `dataType` field (`post` or `comment`).",
      "template": "{{links.apiDefaultDatasetUrl}}/items",
      "title": "Post & comment records",
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "title": "Reddit Subreddit Post & Comment Harvester Output"
}

Dataset schema

Published dataset views and any declared field definitions. A view can select only a subset of the returned record fields.

Download the published dataset schema

View complete JSON

{
  "actorSpecification": 1,
  "views": {
    "overview": {
      "display": {
        "component": "table",
        "properties": {}
      },
      "title": "Reddit Posts",
      "transformation": {
        "fields": [
          "subreddit_prefixed",
          "title",
          "author",
          "score",
          "upvote_ratio",
          "num_comments",
          "post_type",
          "created_at",
          "link_flair",
          "url"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Key-value schema

Published key-value store definitions, when provided by this build.

This definition is not present in the default published build. See the published README for available documentation.

Published README

Read the full published documentation

Reddit Subreddit Post & Comment Harvester

Harvest posts from any public subreddit — hot, new, top, rising, controversial or best — with score, author, flair, selftext, images, galleries, video, polls and crossposts. Add full nested comment threads when you need the discussion too. Rich date, score, comment-count, upvote-ratio, keyword and author filters; no API key, no login, no proxy setup.

What this actor does

Any public subreddit: bare name (python), r/-prefixed name (r/python) or a full Reddit URL; multiple subreddits in one run
Six listing modes: hot, new, top, rising, controversial, best; top and controversial support Reddit's six time windows
Deep history: follows Reddit's listing pages to the practical ceiling (roughly 1,000 posts for hot/new, about 500 for top/controversial)
Posts with media: score, upvote ratio, comment count, author, flair, selftext, images, gallery images (full resolution), video (HLS + MP4), poll options and votes, crosspost parent
Optional comment threads: full nested trees with 6 comment sorts, depth, parent links, OP flag, edited/deleted flags and awards
Rich filtering: date range, score, comment count, upvote ratio, post type, flair, title/body keywords, authors, domain, awards, content length and moderation flags
Empty fields are omitted from the output — no need to defend against null/empty values downstream

Output per post

dataType — always post
subreddit, subreddit_prefixed, subreddit_id
post_id, post_name, title
author, author_id
url, permalink, content_url, domain
is_self, post_type (self/link/image/video/gallery/poll), post_type_raw
score, upvote_ratio, num_comments
link_flair, link_flair_background_color, flair_url
content (self-post text), content_html
thumbnail_url
created_utc, created_at (ISO-8601 UTC)
is_stickied, is_nsfw, is_spoiler, is_crosspost
is_archived — when the comment mode loads the post page
total_awards_received, top_award_id, top_award_icon_url
media_type, has_media
images[], gallery_images[], gallery_count
video_url (direct MP4), video_hls_url (HLS)
poll_data — options, option ids, total votes, closing time
crosspost_parent_id, crosspost_parent_subreddit, crosspost_parent_url
language, crawled_at, source

For crossposts, content is the parent text Reddit renders in the listing, while post_type_raw is crosspost and the crosspost_parent_* fields identify the source post.

Output per comment

Returned when includeComments is on and maxCommentsPerPost is above 0. The parent post is emitted first, then its comments.

dataType — always comment
subreddit, subreddit_prefixed, subreddit_id
post_id, post_url, post_title, link_id
comment_id, comment_name, parent_id, parent_kind
author, avatarUrl
body, body_html
score, total_awards_received
depth (0 = top-level), position, parentPositions
is_op, collapsed, contentType
isCommentDeleted, isAuthorDeleted, isHighlighted, hasPaidAward — present only when true
created_utc, created_at, edited, edited_at
permalink, crawled_at, source

Fields not available anonymously

Reddit no longer exposes these to logged-out readers of the public pages, so they are omitted rather than guessed: author flair, raw upvotes/downvotes, post distinguished (mod/admin badge), removed_by_category, post locked, original-content marker, gilded, the award-type breakdown, video duration/bitrate/dimensions, and oEmbed title/author/HTML for external links. Link posts still carry their target URL and preview image.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
`subreddits`	array	–	Required. Subreddit names, `r/`-prefixed names or full URLs
`maxPosts`	int	`25`	Max posts per subreddit after filters (1–5,000)
`maxItems`	int	`10,000`	Global safety cap on total records (posts + comments)
`sort`	enum	`new`	`hot`, `new`, `top`, `rising`, `controversial`, `best`
`timeFilter`	enum	`day`	`hour`, `day`, `week`, `month`, `year`, `all` (top/controversial)
`includeComments`	bool	`false`	Collect comments for every harvested post
`maxCommentsPerPost`	int	`0`	Max comments per post (0–100,000); needs `includeComments`
`commentSort`	enum	`confidence`	`confidence`, `top`, `new`, `controversial`, `old`, `qa`
`postedAfter`	date	–	Only posts created on/after this date (UTC); switches the listing to `new`
`postedBefore`	date	–	Only posts created on/before this date (UTC)
`includeNSFW`	bool	`false`	Include posts explicitly flagged NSFW
`onlyWithFlair`	bool	`false`	Drop posts without a link flair
`postType`	enum	–	`text`, `link`, `image`, `video`, `gallery`, `poll`, `crosspost`, `multi_media`
`minScore`	int	–	Minimum post score
`maxScore`	int	–	Maximum post score
`minComments`	int	–	Minimum comment count
`maxComments`	int	–	Maximum comment count
`minUpvoteRatio`	number	–	Minimum upvote ratio (0–1)
`excludeStickied`	bool	`false`	Drop pinned/stickied posts
`excludeCrossposts`	bool	`false`	Drop crossposts
`excludeSpoilers`	bool	`false`	Drop spoiler-tagged posts
`titleContains`	string	–	Keep posts whose title contains this text
`contentContains`	string	–	Keep self posts whose body contains this text
`flairContains`	string	–	Keep posts whose flair contains this text
`authors`	array	–	Keep posts by these usernames
`excludeAuthors`	array	–	Drop posts by these usernames
`excludeKeywords`	array	–	Drop posts whose title/body/flair contains any keyword
`domain`	string	–	Keep posts whose link domain contains this text
`minAwards`	int	–	Minimum total awards
`excludeDeletedAuthor`	bool	`false`	Drop posts with a deleted/removed author
`minContentLength`	int	–	Minimum self-post body length
`maxContentLength`	int	–	Maximum self-post body length
`fullSubreddit`	bool	`false`	Walk the `new` listing as deep as Reddit allows

Example: 25 new posts from r/Python

{
  "subreddits": ["python"],
  "maxPosts": 25,
  "sort": "new"
}

Example: top image posts with media

{
  "subreddits": ["pics"],
  "maxPosts": 50,
  "sort": "top",
  "timeFilter": "week",
  "postType": "gallery"
}

Example: posts plus full comment threads

{
  "subreddits": ["technology"],
  "maxPosts": 20,
  "sort": "hot",
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 100,
  "commentSort": "top"
}

Example: brand monitoring with filters

{
  "subreddits": ["startups", "Entrepreneur", "SaaS"],
  "maxPosts": 100,
  "sort": "new",
  "postedAfter": "2026-10-01",
  "minScore": 5,
  "excludeAuthors": ["AutoModerator"],
  "excludeKeywords": ["megathread", "giveaway"]
}

Use cases

Market research — collect authentic community opinions and pain points
Brand monitoring — track product mentions across subreddits on a schedule
Content ideation — find trending questions and high-engagement topics
Training data — build clean Reddit corpora with full comment context for NLP/LLM work
Competitive intelligence — monitor launches, sentiment and competitor discussions
Academic and social research — export a subreddit's reachable history for discourse analysis

FAQ

Do I need a Reddit API key or login? No. The actor reads Reddit's public web data — no API key, no OAuth, no cookies, no account.

Do I need to configure a proxy? No. The actor chooses a working connection to Reddit automatically. Just fill in the input and run it.

What happens with private, banned or misspelled subreddits? They return no records and the run continues with the remaining subreddits. If nothing is found, the run finishes with a status message suggesting you check the names or loosen filters.

How many posts can I get from one subreddit? Up to maxPosts (5,000), but Reddit serves roughly 1,000 posts per hot/new listing and about 500 for top/controversial. fullSubreddit walks the new listing to that ceiling. Filters are applied after posts are loaded, so strict filters can return fewer rows than maxPosts.

Why did I get no comments? maxCommentsPerPost defaults to 0, which collects none. Set it (for example 100) and enable includeComments. If maxItems is tight, the actor keeps every requested post and trims comments first.

Why are some fields missing from a record? The actor omits values Reddit does not expose publicly (author flair, raw upvotes/downvotes, post distinguished/removed flags, award breakdown, video duration). Empty values are omitted rather than emitted as null, so records stay clean.

Why is the video URL a low-resolution MP4? Reddit serves a direct low-resolution MP4 plus an HLS playlist. The actor provides both: video_url for durable downloads and video_hls_url for the adaptive stream when Reddit's signed playlist is available. HLS links can expire; video_url is the stable choice.

Why are some NSFW or spoiler posts still included? includeNSFW filters posts Reddit explicitly flags. Posts in 18+ communities are served to the actor's adult-content session and cannot be distinguished at community level; use excludeSpoilers or keyword filters for tighter control.

Can I schedule recurring runs? Yes — create a schedule in Apify Console for daily or weekly monitoring. Use postedAfter or sort: "new" to collect only recent posts.

How do I export or integrate the data? Download JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML from the run, call the dataset API, or connect to n8n, Make, Zapier or the Apify MCP server.

Python quickstart

Use a schema-derived input and the Python standard library to start a run. An Apify account and token are required for execution.

Open the step-by-step Python guide →

Source build qdSuwLoNAqkhDc3y4. Documentation is regenerated from the default published build; private drafts are not included.