# Reddit Search Scraper - Keyword & Brand Monitoring ($1.5/1k) (`harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper`) Actor Search Reddit by keyword and scrape every matching post, comment, and subreddit. Monitor brand mentions, track topics, and find leads with sort and time-range filters — all of Reddit or one community. No API key, no login. Export CSV/Excel/JSON. From $1.50 per 1,000 results. - **URL**: https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Harsh Maur](https://apify.com/harshmaur) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Social media, Agents - **Stats:** 89 total users, 46 monthly users, 99.4% runs succeeded, 4 bookmarks - **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars ## Pricing from $1.50 / 1,000 result saveds 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? Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. - **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use). - **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`. - **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`. - **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`. - **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Reddit Search Scraper — Search Reddit by Keyword & Scrape the Results (No API Key) **The Reddit keyword search scraper: turn any search term into structured posts, comments, and subreddits. No login, no API key, no rate limits — from $1.50 per 1,000 results.** [![Try on Apify](https://img.shields.io/badge/Apify-Try%20Now-00C7B7?style=for-the-badge\&logo=apify)](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper) [![Input Schema](https://img.shields.io/badge/Input-Schema-blue?style=for-the-badge)](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper/input-schema) [![API Docs](https://img.shields.io/badge/API-Docs-orange?style=for-the-badge)](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper/api) [What it does](#what-does-reddit-search-scraper-do) • [How to use](#how-to-search-reddit-by-keyword-step-by-step) • [Input](#input-example-reddit-keyword-monitoring) • [Output](#output-example) • [Use cases](#what-can-you-do-with-scraped-reddit-search-results) • [Pricing](#how-much-does-reddit-search-scraper-cost) • [FAQ](#faq) *** ### What does Reddit Search Scraper do? **Reddit Search Scraper** is built around one job: you give it keywords, it runs each one as a [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/) search and saves everything that matches as clean, structured data. Each term can return **posts** (the default), **comments**, and **communities (subreddits)** — pick any combination per run. You stay in control of how Reddit ranks the matches: sort by **relevance, hot, top, new, or comment count**, and narrow the window from the **last hour** all the way out to **all time**. Want laser focus instead of site-wide coverage? Point `withinCommunity` at a single subreddit (`gaming` and `r/gaming` both work) and the search never leaves it. You can even flip on `crawlCommentsPerPost` to pull the discussion under every post the search finds. There is **no Reddit account, no OAuth app, and no API key** involved — the scraper reads public Reddit directly and sidesteps the official API's 600-requests-per-10-minutes ceiling. Results land in your Apify dataset ready to export as **JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML**, or to flow into **n8n, Zapier, Make, the REST API, or MCP-connected AI agents**. *** ### How to search Reddit by keyword (step by step) Going from a keyword to a downloadable dataset takes about a minute: 1. [Sign up for Apify](https://apify.com/) for free, or log in to your existing account 2. Open [Reddit Search Scraper](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper) 3. Add one or more **Search keywords** — each one runs as its own independent Reddit search 4. Tick what you want back: **posts** (on by default), **comments**, and/or **communities** 5. Pick a **sort order** (relevance / hot / top / new / comments) and a **time range** (last hour → all time) 6. Optionally fill **Limit search to a community** to stay inside one subreddit 7. Hit **Start**, then grab your results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the dataset tab > 💡 Every saved item carries the `searchTerm` that produced it, so multi-keyword runs are trivial to split apart afterwards. **Fine-tuning knobs:** `maxPostsCount`, `maxCommentsCount`, and `maxCommunitiesCount` cap how much each search term saves; `crawlCommentsPerPost` + `maxCommentsPerPost` add the comment thread under each matched post; `includeNSFW` opts into 18+ content (off by default). *** ### Input example: Reddit keyword monitoring A classic reddit brand monitoring setup — watch a brand name across all of Reddit, freshest mentions first, restricted to the past week: ```json { "searchTerms": ["Notion", "Notion AI"], "searchPosts": true, "searchComments": true, "searchCommunities": false, "searchSort": "new", "searchTime": "week", "maxPostsCount": 100, "maxCommentsCount": 200, "includeNSFW": false, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] } } ``` To keep the same watchlist inside one community, add `"withinCommunity": "r/productivity"` — the search then runs only against that subreddit. To also capture the conversation under each matching post, set `"crawlCommentsPerPost": true` with a `"maxCommentsPerPost"` cap. *** ### Output example Every match is saved as a flat JSON object with a `dataType` discriminator (`post`, `comment`, or `community`). Here's a post item found by a keyword search: ```json { "dataType": "post", "id": "t3_1kx94qe", "parsedId": "1kx94qe", "title": "Switched our whole team to Notion AI — honest review after 3 months", "body": "We migrated from a mix of Confluence and Google Docs back in March...", "postType": "text", "flair": "Review", "authorName": "ops_lead_42", "authorId": "t2_9k3mfa", "parsedAuthorId": "9k3mfa", "communityName": "r/productivity", "parsedCommunityName": "productivity", "subredditName": "productivity", "subredditId": "t5_2qkq6", "subredditSubscribers": 2890000, "postUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/1kx94qe/", "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/1kx94qe/", "score": 847, "upVotes": 847, "upvoteRatio": 0.94, "commentsCount": 213, "totalAwardsReceived": 1, "nsfw": false, "over18": false, "isSelf": true, "locked": false, "stickied": false, "edited": false, "domain": "self.productivity", "mediaType": "text", "hasMedia": false, "isVideo": false, "isGallery": false, "ageHours": 52.4, "scorePerHour": 16.16, "commentsPerHour": 4.06, "engagementTotal": 1060, "commentToScoreRatio": 0.25, "isHighEngagement": true, "titleLength": 62, "bodyLength": 1845, "wordCount": 322, "createdAt": "2026-06-07T09:14:00.000Z", "crawledAt": "2026-06-09T13:38:00.000Z", "searchTerm": "Notion AI" } ``` Posts arrive with 70+ fields in total — including media details (`galleryImages`, `mediaAssets`, `videoUrl`), moderation flags, and derived engagement analytics. Comment items add thread context (`postTitle`, `parentId`, `depth`, `controversiality`, `isSubmitter`), and community items report `membersCount`, `onlineUsersCount`, descriptions, and icons. *** ### What can you do with scraped Reddit search results? - 🔔 **Reddit brand monitoring** — track keywords on Reddit like your brand, product names, and common misspellings; sort by `new`, schedule the run, and catch every mention while it's still answerable. - 🎯 **Lead generation** — search phrases your buyers actually type ("looking for a CRM", "alternative to X") and surface threads where a helpful reply can win a customer. - 📊 **Market research** — pull unfiltered opinions on a product category from across Reddit or inside one niche subreddit, then mine the `body` text for pain points and feature requests. - 📈 **Trend tracking** — re-run the same keywords on a schedule with `searchTime: "day"` and watch `score`, `commentsCount`, and `scorePerHour` to spot topics gaining momentum before they peak. - ✍️ **Content discovery** — find the top-voted questions and discussions around your topic (`searchSort: "top"`) to fuel blog posts, videos, and FAQ pages people already want. *** ### How much does Reddit Search Scraper cost? Billing is **pay per result** — there is no subscription and no platform markup. You're charged a small fee to start the run plus a per-item fee for every result stored: - **Run start:** $0.02 - **Per stored result:** $0.0015 That works out to **$1.52 for 1,000 results**, $15.02 for 10,000, and so on — roughly **from $1.50 per 1,000 results**, with zero cost between runs. A daily keyword-monitoring schedule that saves 50 mentions per day costs about $0.10/day. Keep runs cheap by tuning `maxPostsCount` / `maxCommentsCount` per search term: you only pay for what gets stored. *** ### FAQ #### Do I need a Reddit API key or account? No. Reddit Search Scraper reads publicly visible search results directly, so there's nothing to register: no API key, no OAuth app, no Reddit login. It also isn't bound by the official API's 600 requests per 10 minutes limit. #### Can I monitor a keyword on Reddit over time? Yes — this is the actor's sweet spot. Configure your keywords with `searchSort: "new"` and a short window like `searchTime: "day"`, then create a **Schedule** in the Apify Console to re-run it hourly or daily. Pair it with a webhook or an n8n/Zapier/Make flow and new mentions land in Slack, a spreadsheet, or your CRM automatically. #### Can I search within a single subreddit? Yes. Set `withinCommunity` to the subreddit — plain name (`gaming`) or prefixed (`r/gaming`) both work — and every search term runs only inside that community. Leave it empty to search all of Reddit. #### What's the difference between searching for posts, comments, and communities? They're three independent toggles. `searchPosts` (default on) returns submissions that match your keywords, `searchComments` returns individual matching comments with their thread context, and `searchCommunities` returns subreddits whose name or description matches. Enable any mix in one run; the `dataType` field tells each item apart. #### Can I also get the comments under each post the search finds? Yes. Turn on `crawlCommentsPerPost` and the scraper visits every matched post and collects its comment thread, capped by `maxCommentsPerPost`. Expect longer runs and more stored items when this is enabled. #### How do the sort and time filters work? `searchSort` mirrors Reddit's own search ranking: `relevance`, `hot`, `top`, `new`, or `comments`. `searchTime` constrains results to the `hour`, `day`, `week`, `month`, `year`, or `all` time. For monitoring, `new` + a tight window works best; for research, `top` + `year` or `all` surfaces the canonical threads. #### Can I pull results for an exact date range, like a past calendar year? Use `postedAfter` / `postedBefore` (and `commentedAfter` / `commentedBefore` for comments) with `YYYY-MM-DD` dates or ISO-8601 timestamps in UTC. These define an absolute window, which `searchTime` cannot — its `year` option means the trailing 12 months, not 2025. With a date range set, the scraper searches newest-first and stops once it reads past your start date. Keep in mind Reddit returns at most ~1,000 results per keyword, so pairing the date range with a focused keyword (and `withinCommunity`) is what lets you reach further into the past. #### Can I keep only flaired posts? Turn on `onlyWithFlair` to discard search hits that have no flair and keep only the ones tagged with a flair. Combine it with a keyword and `withinCommunity` to pull, say, only the "Discussion"-style categorized posts from a community. Each kept result still includes its `flair` field. #### How many results can I get per keyword? Each search term gets its own budget: up to `maxPostsCount` posts (default 50, up to 50,000), `maxCommentsCount` comments, and `maxCommunitiesCount` subreddits. Set a limit to `0` to switch that result type off entirely. #### Which export formats and integrations are supported? Datasets download as **JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML** straight from Apify. For automation, trigger and consume runs via **n8n, Zapier, Make, or the REST API** — and MCP-compatible AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can call the actor as a tool through the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com/). *** ### More Reddit scrapers Searching by keyword is just one way in. If your starting point is a URL, a user, or a whole community, one of these siblings will fit better: | Actor | When to use it instead | | --- | --- | | [Reddit Scraper](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-scraper) | The all-in-one: combine keyword search, direct post/profile/subreddit URLs, and full-subreddit crawls in a single run. | | [Reddit Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-comments-scraper) | You already have post URLs and want every comment in the thread, nested replies included. | | [Reddit User Scraper](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-user-scraper) | You're profiling specific Redditors — karma, account age, and their post/comment history. | | [Subreddit Scraper](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-subreddit-scraper) | You want a community's full post archive rather than keyword matches. | *** [![Try Reddit Search Scraper](https://img.shields.io/badge/🚀_Try_Reddit_Search_Scraper-00C7B7?style=for-the-badge)](https://apify.com/harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper) *Built by [Harsh Maur](https://github.com/harshmaur) • Questions? [Contact support](mailto:harshmaur@gmail.com)* # Actor input Schema ## `searchTerms` (type: `array`): Enter one or more keywords to search Reddit (e.g. "best laptops 2026", "AI news"). Each keyword runs as a separate search. Free Apify plans search the first 40 keywords per run (paid plans are unlimited) — extra keywords are skipped and noted in the run log. ## `searchPosts` (type: `boolean`): Include posts in search results. ## `searchComments` (type: `boolean`): Include comments in search results. ## `searchCommunities` (type: `boolean`): Include communities (subreddits) in search results. ## `withinCommunity` (type: `string`): Restrict the search to a single subreddit, e.g. gaming or r/gaming. Leave empty to search all of Reddit. ## `searchSort` (type: `string`): Controls how search results are ranked. ## `searchTime` (type: `string`): Limit results to posts from a specific time window. ## `postedAfter` (type: `string`): Only keep posts created on or after this date. Accepts YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2025-01-01) or a full ISO-8601 datetime, interpreted as UTC. When set, results are fetched newest-first and the Time range above is ignored. Reddit caps each search at ~1,000 posts, so an older window behind a very high-volume keyword may be only partly reachable. ## `postedBefore` (type: `string`): Only keep posts created on or before this date. Accepts YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2025-12-31) or a full ISO-8601 datetime; a plain date covers the whole day in UTC. ## `commentedAfter` (type: `string`): Only keep comments created on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD or ISO-8601, UTC). Applies to comment search and to per-post comments. ## `commentedBefore` (type: `string`): Only keep comments created on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD or ISO-8601, UTC). ## `onlyWithFlair` (type: `boolean`): When enabled, keep only posts that have a flair assigned and drop flairless ones. ## `maxPostsCount` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of posts to save per search (when 'Search for posts' is enabled). ## `maxCommentsCount` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of comments to save per search (when 'Search for comments' is enabled). ## `maxCommunitiesCount` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of communities to save per search (when 'Search for communities' is enabled). ## `crawlCommentsPerPost` (type: `boolean`): When enabled, comments are also collected for every post found. This significantly increases run time and data output. ## `maxCommentsPerPost` (type: `integer`): Maximum comments to scrape per individual post (when 'Scrape comments for each post' is enabled). ## `includeNSFW` (type: `boolean`): Include posts marked as Not Safe For Work in results. ## `sentimentAnalysis` (type: `boolean`): Adds AI-judged fields to every post and comment: `sentimentLabel` (positive / negative / neutral / mixed / uncertain), `sentimentScore` (-1 to 1), `intent` (question, seeking\_recommendation, complaint, praise, purchase\_intent, comparison, announcement, self\_promotion, discussion), `emotion` (joy, excitement, anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment, fear, surprise, neutral), `entities` (brands, products and companies mentioned in the text) and — for results found via Search Keywords — `relevanceScore` (0 to 1 against your query). The model understands Reddit slang and sarcasm; bot and moderator boilerplate is labelled `uncertain` free of charge. Each analyzed result is billed as one `analyzed_item` event — see the Pricing tab. Paid add-on: requires a paid Apify plan and is available on this pay-per-event listing only — ignored on free plans. ## `contentAnalysis` (type: `boolean`): Classifies each post into a `contentCategory` (News, Politics, Technology, Gaming, Entertainment, Sports, Finance, Shopping & Products, Relationships & Personal, Humor & Memes, Help & Support, Community & Meta, Adult, Other) using its title, body, subreddit and flair. Each analyzed result is billed as one `analyzed_item` event (a post with both toggles on is still charged only once). Paid add-on: requires a paid Apify plan; ignored on free plans. ## `customLabels` (type: `object`): Define your own labels as `{"label_name": "plain-language instruction"}` and the AI evaluates each one on every analyzed post and comment, returning them under `customLabels` on each result. Example: `{"mentions_pricing": "true if the text complains about pricing or cost", "competitor": "name the competing product mentioned, or none"}`. Up to 5 labels; names must be short identifiers (letters, digits, underscore). Each label evaluated on each result is billed as one `custom_label` event — 3 labels on 1,000 results = 3,000 events. An evaluation that finds nothing (an empty/null answer, when your instruction allows it) is still an evaluation and is charged; nothing is charged for results the AI could not process. Paid add-on: requires a paid Apify plan; ignored on free plans. ## `proxy` (type: `object`): Either use Apify proxy, or provide your own proxy servers. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchTerms": [ "artificial intelligence" ], "searchPosts": true, "searchComments": false, "searchCommunities": false, "withinCommunity": "", "searchSort": "new", "searchTime": "all", "onlyWithFlair": false, "maxPostsCount": 50, "maxCommentsCount": 50, "maxCommunitiesCount": 5, "crawlCommentsPerPost": false, "maxCommentsPerPost": 200, "includeNSFW": false, "sentimentAnalysis": false, "contentAnalysis": false, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): All scraped Reddit data including posts, comments, communities, and user profiles. Use 'dataType' field to filter by type. ## `runSummaryMap` (type: `string`): Visual report of this run: how many posts, comments and communities were saved, what was skipped and why, and any input we adjusted for you. ## `runSummaryJson` (type: `string`): The same run summary as machine-readable JSON, for pipelines and monitoring. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchTerms": [ "artificial intelligence" ], "searchSort": "new", "searchTime": "all", "maxPostsCount": 50, "maxCommentsCount": 50, "maxCommunitiesCount": 5, "maxCommentsPerPost": 200, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("harshmaur/reddit-search-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchTerms": ["artificial intelligence"], "searchSort": "new", "searchTime": "all", "maxPostsCount": 50, "maxCommentsCount": 50, "maxCommunitiesCount": 5, "maxCommentsPerPost": 200, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("harshmaur/reddit-search-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 '{ "searchTerms": [ "artificial intelligence" ], "searchSort": "new", "searchTime": "all", "maxPostsCount": 50, "maxCommentsCount": 50, "maxCommunitiesCount": 5, "maxCommentsPerPost": 200, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }' | apify call harshmaur/reddit-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,harshmaur/reddit-search-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 ` 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/MN5EqnkUzWk9cyNLq/builds/XEyURhdctJVWD3eQM/openapi.json