# Weibo Trending Scraper — Hot Search Board (`hipersoft/weibo-scraper`) Actor

Scrape the Weibo (微博) hot-search / trending board: rank, topic, heat value, category and label (new/hot/boiling). Realtime board or government board.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/weibo-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.001 / topic scraped

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

## Weibo Scraper — Trending Topics, Hot Search Board, Heat & Rankings (微博热搜)

**Scrape Weibo** hot-search and trending data into clean JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. This Weibo scraper extracts the full **微博热搜 hot-search board — rank, topic, heat value (搜索指数), category and label** (new / hot / boiling / exploding) for every trending topic, plus a ready-to-open search link. A fast, cheap, no-code way to track what China is talking about right now.

No login, no setup and no complicated tooling: add your inputs, click Run, and get a structured dataset of Weibo's live trending topics you can push straight into analytics, dashboards, an LLM pipeline or a spreadsheet.

![Weibo Scraper input — options in the Apify Console](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SUfvnaFLd9z9eBCtV/records/weibo-scraper-input.png)

### What does the Weibo Scraper do?

The Weibo Scraper crawls and extracts the public **Weibo hot-search / trending board** and returns it as structured data points — the rank of each topic, its heat value, its category, its status label and a direct search URL. Choose the main realtime board (微博热搜) or the side board (government + realtime), set how many topics you want, and export everything as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. Because the board updates in real time, you can schedule the Actor to build a running time series of trending topics, viral hashtags and breaking news across Chinese social media.

### What data can you scrape from Weibo?

| Group | Fields |
|---|---|
| 🔥 **Trending topic** | rank, topic / hashtag text, heat value (搜索指数), board |
| 🏷️ **Status & category** | label (新 new / 热 hot / 沸 boiling / 爆 exploding), category, is-new flag, is-hot flag |
| 🔗 **Link** | direct Weibo search URL for the topic |
| ⏱️ **Timestamp** | collectedAt — when the topic was captured, for building time series |

### Use cases

- **China social-trend monitoring** — track the realtime hot-search board and see what's trending across Chinese social media minute by minute.
- **PR & brand tracking** — get alerted when your brand, campaign or executive lands on the Weibo trending board.
- **News & story discovery** — surface breaking stories and viral topics before they hit Western outlets.
- **Virality & marketing research** — study how topics climb the ranks, peak on heat value and fade, and time your own posts.
- **Build a trending dataset** — schedule the Actor to record rank and heat over time for topic modelling and forecasting.
- **Competitor & industry watch** — filter by category to follow entertainment, tech, auto, sports or finance topics.
- **Content & editorial planning** — feed live trending topics into a newsroom or content calendar.
- **Academic & market research** — analyse public attention, agenda-setting and information flow on the world's largest Chinese microblog.

### How to scrape Weibo trending data

1. Click **Try for free / Start** to open the Weibo Scraper.
2. Choose the **board** — `realtime` for the main 微博热搜 hot-search board, or `side` for the government + realtime side board.
3. Set **maxItems** — how many trending topics you want per run.
4. Click **Run**.
5. Download the results as **JSON, CSV, Excel or XML**, or pull them from the Apify API.

### Input

Pick a board and a topic limit — that's the whole setup.

```json
{
  "board": "realtime",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `board` | string | Which board to scrape: `realtime` (the main 微博热搜 hot-search board) or `side` (government + realtime side board). Default `realtime`. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum number of trending topics to scrape (1–1000, default 100). The board typically returns about 50 realtime topics. |

#### Scrape the realtime hot-search board (微博热搜)

Set `board` to `realtime` to pull the iconic Weibo hot-search list — roughly 50 live topics ranked by heat, the same board millions of users refresh throughout the day.

#### Scrape the side board (gov + realtime)

Set `board` to `side` to add the government board alongside the realtime topics, useful for policy, news and official-topic monitoring.

### Output

![Weibo Scraper output — a trending/hot-search dataset with rich fields](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SUfvnaFLd9z9eBCtV/records/weibo-scraper-output.png)

Each trending topic is one dataset item:

```json
{
  "rank": 1,
  "topic": "小米发布会",
  "heat": 1092924,
  "category": "汽车",
  "label": "新",
  "isNew": true,
  "isHot": false,
  "board": "realtime",
  "url": "https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E5%B0%8F%E7%B1%B3%E5%8F%91%E5%B8%83%E4%BC%9A%23",
  "collectedAt": "2026-07-30T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

#### Output schema

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `rank` | integer | Position of the topic on the board (1 = hottest). |
| `topic` | string | The trending topic or hashtag text. |
| `heat` | integer | Weibo's heat value / search index (搜索指数) — higher means hotter. |
| `category` | string | Topic category, e.g. entertainment, tech, auto, sports. |
| `label` | string | Status label: 新 (new), 热 (hot), 沸 (boiling) or 爆 (exploding). |
| `isNew` | boolean | Whether the topic is flagged as newly trending. |
| `isHot` | boolean | Whether the topic carries the hot (热) label. |
| `board` | string | Which board the topic came from — `realtime` or `side`. |
| `url` | string (URL) | Direct Weibo search URL for the topic. |
| `collectedAt` | string (ISO date) | Timestamp when the topic was captured, for building time series. |

### Need more Chinese platform data?

Building a wider view of Chinese social media and culture? Pair the Weibo Scraper with our other China-focused Actors:

- [Bilibili Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/bilibili-scraper) — videos, channels, views and stats from China's biggest video platform.
- [Xiaohongshu Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/xiaohongshu-scraper) — notes, posts and creators from RED / Little Red Book.
- [Douban Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/douban-scraper) — movie, book and TV ratings and reviews.
- [Toutiao Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/toutiao-scraper) — trending news articles and headlines.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Weibo account or login?**
No. There's no setup and no login — just choose a board, set a topic limit and run.

**How many topics can I scrape per run?**
The realtime hot-search board returns roughly 50 topics; the side board adds a government board. Use `maxItems` to cap how many you keep per run.

**How fresh is the data?**
The hot-search board is realtime. Schedule the Actor (for example every 15–30 minutes) to build a continuous time series of what's trending in China.

**Can I filter by category?**
Every item includes a `category` and status `label`, so you can filter the dataset to entertainment, tech, auto, sports, finance and more after each run.

**How does billing work?**
You pay only per topic you get, so a run costs in proportion to the data it returns — one of the cheapest ways to monitor Weibo trends.

**What export formats are supported?**
JSON, CSV, Excel and XML, plus webhooks and the Apify API.

**Can I automate or integrate the Weibo Scraper?**
Yes. The Weibo Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to [integrations on the Apify platform](https://apify.com/integrations). It works with [Make](https://apify.com/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://apify.com/integrations/zapier), [Slack](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/slack), [Airbyte](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/airbyte), [GitHub](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/github), [Google Drive](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/drive) and [many more](https://apify.com/integrations), plus the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2), JavaScript/Python clients and MCP. Or use [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks) to trigger an action whenever a run finishes — get a notification, or kick off another process such as loading your data downstream.

**Is scraping Weibo legal?**
The Actor collects only public data. You are responsible for how you use it and for complying with Weibo's terms and applicable laws.

### Related Actors

- [Bilibili Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/bilibili-scraper) — videos, channels and view counts.
- [Xiaohongshu Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/xiaohongshu-scraper) — notes, posts and creators.
- [Douban Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/douban-scraper) — ratings and reviews for film, books and TV.
- [Toutiao Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/toutiao-scraper) — trending news and headlines.

### Notes

Original clean-room implementation. Collects only public Weibo data; you are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with Weibo's terms. This is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Weibo.

# Actor input Schema

## `board` (type: `string`):

Which hot-search board to scrape.

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

Maximum trending topics to scrape.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "board": "realtime",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The scraped results as dataset items.

# 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("hipersoft/weibo-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("hipersoft/weibo-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 hipersoft/weibo-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/weibo-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/Lz48PaphR8zJEBinp/builds/3SExWbylLfAisuc7f/openapi.json