# Reddit Search Scraper — Posts, Comments & Users (`logiover/reddit-search-scraper`) Actor Scrape Reddit subreddit search with no API key or login. Export posts and comments to CSV/JSON — a Reddit API alternative for keyword monitoring. - **URL**: https://apify.com/logiover/reddit-search-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Logiover](https://apify.com/logiover) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Social media, News - **Stats:** 66 total users, 14 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $2.00 / 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? 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 Any Subreddit by Keyword (No API Key, No Login) ![Apify Actor](https://img.shields.io/badge/Apify-Actor-00A67E?logo=apify\&logoColor=white) ![No API key](https://img.shields.io/badge/No%20API%20key-required-2ea44f) ![Pay per result](https://img.shields.io/badge/Pricing-Pay%20per%20result-1C7ED6) ![Social Media](https://img.shields.io/badge/Category-Social%20Media-8B5CF6) ![Export](https://img.shields.io/badge/Export-JSON%20%7C%20CSV%20%7C%20Excel-F59E0B) Search **within any subreddit** on **Reddit** by keyword, sort mode and time window — **no login, no OAuth app, no API key**. Returns each matching **post or comment** with **title, author, subreddit, body text, permalink and timestamps** in clean, deduplicated JSON. Pass a whole list of `{query, subreddit, sort, time, type}` searches and each one runs independently. Built on Reddit's only surviving logged-out search surface — the **subreddit-scoped Atom feed** (`/r/{sub}/search.rss`) — with residential-proxy session rotation for reliable fetches. > ### 🏆 Why this Reddit search scraper? > > **Bulk multi-search** (many keyword × subreddit × sort × time combos per run) · clean decoded post & comment text · residential-proxy backed · export to JSON / CSV / Excel. The **no-API-key Reddit search alternative** for brand monitoring, niche-community intel and NLP/sentiment pipelines — after Reddit hard-blocked the legacy `search.json` API. *** ### ⚠️ Read this before you buy — how it works & what it does NOT return As of mid-2026 Reddit **hard-blocks the legacy `search.json` API** — both `www.reddit.com` and `old.reddit.com` return `403`, even over residential proxies with a browser fingerprint. The only logged-out search endpoint Reddit still serves is the **subreddit-scoped Atom feed** (`/r/{sub}/search.rss`). This Actor uses that feed, which has three consequences you should understand up front: - **A `subreddit` is REQUIRED on every search.** All-of-Reddit (global) search has no working logged-out endpoint anymore — searches without a subreddit are skipped with a warning. - **~25 results per search, no pagination.** The feed returns at most ~25 of the most relevant items per query and exposes no cursor. To widen coverage, run **more searches** (vary keyword, subreddit, sort and time window). - **No numeric signals.** The RSS feed does **not** carry `score`, `upvoteRatio`, `numComments` or `awards` — those lived only on the now-dead `.json` API. If you need upvote or comment counts, this is not the right tool; use a dedicated OAuth-based Reddit tool instead. Those fields still exist in the output object (always `null`) purely for schema stability — see the field reference below. *** ### ✨ What this Actor does / Key features - 🔎 **Keyword search inside any subreddit** — supply a `query` and a target `subreddit`; get back the most relevant matching posts or comments. - 📚 **Bulk multi-search** — pass many `{query, subreddit, sort, time, type}` objects in one run; each executes independently and its rows are tagged with the search that found them. - 🔀 **All feed sort modes** — `relevance`, `hot`, `top`, `new` and `comments`. - ⏳ **All time windows** — `hour`, `day`, `week`, `month`, `year` and `all`. - 🧵 **Posts or comments** — set `type` to `link` (posts, default) or `comment`. - 🧼 **Clean decoded text** — handles Reddit's double-encoded HTML entities and returns readable `title` and `text`, deduplicated per run. - 🔗 **Full attribution** — every row carries the Reddit `id`, `fullname` (e.g. `t3_...`), `permalink`, `author`, `subreddit` and ISO `createdAt` / `editedAt` timestamps. - 🛡️ **Residential-proxy backed** — Reddit blocks Apify datacenter IPs, so the Actor defaults to the residential pool and rotates sessions + user-agents on `403`/`429` with backoff. - 🔓 **No login, no API key** — no Reddit account, OAuth app or developer credentials required. Only an Apify account. - 📦 **Export-ready** — clean flat rows straight to CSV, JSON, Excel, XML or JSONL from the Apify Dataset. ### 🚀 Quick start (3 steps) 1. **Configure** — add one or more search objects to `searches`. Each needs a `query` and a **required** `subreddit`; `sort`, `time` and `type` are optional. 2. **Run** — click **Start**. The Actor fetches each subreddit search feed over a residential proxy and streams matching rows into your dataset. 3. **Get your data** — open the **Output** tab and export to **JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or JSONL**, or pull it via the Apify API. ### 📥 Input Provide at least one search object in `searches` — each must include a `subreddit`. Everything else is optional. #### Example — monitor two communities for AI keywords ```json { "searches": [ { "query": "ai agent", "subreddit": "MachineLearning", "sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" }, { "query": "openai", "subreddit": "OpenAI", "sort": "top", "time": "week", "type": "link" } ], "maxResultsPerSearch": 25 } ``` #### Example — same keyword across several subreddits (brand monitoring) ```json { "searches": [ { "query": "shopify", "subreddit": "ecommerce", "sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" }, { "query": "shopify", "subreddit": "Entrepreneur", "sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" }, { "query": "shopify", "subreddit": "smallbusiness","sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" } ] } ``` #### Example — mine comments for a sentiment / NLP pipeline ```json { "searches": [ { "query": "side hustle", "subreddit": "Entrepreneur", "sort": "top", "time": "all", "type": "comment" } ], "proxyConfig": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } } ``` | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `searches` | array | List of search objects. Each: `query` (required text), `subreddit` (**REQUIRED** — the sub to search within, e.g. `MachineLearning`), `sort`, `time`, `type`. Each runs as a separate search and returns up to ~25 most-relevant items. **Required.** | | `searches[].query` | string | Keyword to search for inside the subreddit. | | `searches[].subreddit` | string | Subreddit to search within (without `r/`). **Required** — global all-of-Reddit search is not available logged-out. | | `searches[].sort` | string | `relevance`, `hot`, `top`, `new` or `comments`. | | `searches[].time` | string | `hour`, `day`, `week`, `month`, `year` or `all`. | | `searches[].type` | string | `link` (posts, default) or `comment`. | | `maxResultsPerSearch` | integer | Cap items per search (1–25). Reddit's logged-out feed returns ~25 max with no pagination, so values above 25 have no extra effect. Default `25`. | | `proxyConfig` | object | Apify Proxy settings. Reddit blocks datacenter IPs, so the residential pool is used by default; set `apifyProxyCountry: "US"` for a higher success rate. | > **Want more than ~25 per topic?** The feed cap is per-search, so add more `searches` entries — vary the keyword, `sort` (`new` vs `top`) and `time` window to surface different slices of the same community. That is the only way to widen coverage. ### 📤 Output One clean, deduplicated row per matching result. Here is a sample post record: ```json { "resultType": "link", "id": "1twtdob", "fullname": "t3_1twtdob", "subreddit": "MachineLearning", "author": "Intellerce", "title": "We built a source-available LLM reliability library", "text": "TL;DR: Reliability techniques that boost an LLM's correctness...", "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/1twtdob/...", "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/1twtdob/...", "createdAt": "2026-06-04T16:51:29+00:00", "editedAt": "2026-06-04T16:51:29+00:00", "searchQuery": { "query": "ai agent", "subreddit": "MachineLearning", "sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" }, "scrapedAt": "2026-07-06T17:59:00.000Z" } ```
📋 Full field reference (click to expand) | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `resultType` | string | `link` (post) or `comment` | | `id` | string | Reddit's base-36 item ID | | `fullname` | string | Reddit fullname (e.g. `t3_` for posts, `t1_` for comments) | | `subreddit` | string | Subreddit the result came from | | `author` | string | Reddit username of the poster/commenter | | `title` | string | Post title (null for comment results) | | `text` | string | Decoded post/comment body text | | `url` | string | Content URL (link posts point outward; self-posts point to the thread) | | `permalink` | string | Permalink to the post or comment on reddit.com | | `createdAt` | string | ISO 8601 creation timestamp | | `editedAt` | string | ISO 8601 last-edit timestamp | | `searchQuery` | object | The exact `{query, subreddit, sort, time, type}` search that produced this row | | `scrapedAt` | string | ISO 8601 scrape timestamp | | `score` / `upvoteRatio` / `numComments` / `awards` / `flair` / `thumbnail` / `isNsfw` | — | Present for schema stability but **always `null`** in RSS mode — the feed does not carry them. Do not rely on them. |
The **Overview** table view surfaces `title`, `subreddit`, `author`, `text`, `createdAt` and `permalink` for quick scanning; the full schema is always available in the raw JSON/CSV export. ### 💡 Use cases - **Brand / keyword monitoring** — watch specific communities for mentions of your product, competitor or campaign; run on a schedule with `sort=new`. - **Competitor & topic intel** — search niche subreddits where your audience actually hangs out and pull the most relevant threads. - **Trend research & content discovery** — pull `sort=top, time=week` per subreddit to see what's resonating right now. - **Sentiment & NLP pipelines** — bulk-ingest decoded post and comment `text` across many searches as input for classification or LLM workflows. - **Community research** — compare how the same keyword is discussed across several subreddits by fanning one query out over multiple `searches`. - **Lead & audience discovery** — find people asking questions your product answers, complete with `author` and `permalink` for follow-up. ### 👥 Who uses it Growth marketers & social-listening teams · community and brand managers · founders & indie hackers doing customer research · market researchers & data journalists · ML/NLP engineers building sentiment and discussion datasets. ### 💰 Pricing This Actor runs on a simple **pay-per-result** model — you only pay for the rows actually returned, with no separate Apify platform fees to calculate. Because each search caps at ~25 items, costs stay small and predictable even across many searches. Try it on the **free tier** first, then scale up. See the **Pricing** tab on this page for the current rate. ### ❓ Frequently Asked Questions **Is it legal to scrape Reddit?** The Actor reads only publicly available content from Reddit's public subreddit search feed. You are responsible for using the data in compliance with Reddit's terms and applicable law, such as GDPR. **Does Reddit have a public search API?** Not for logged-out clients anymore. As of mid-2026 Reddit hard-blocks the legacy `search.json` API (`www` and `old.reddit` both return `403`). The only logged-out search surface still served is the subreddit-scoped Atom feed (`/r/{sub}/search.rss`), which is exactly what this Actor uses. **Do I need an API key or a login?** No. There is no Reddit account, OAuth developer app or API key required — only an Apify account. The Actor reads the public subreddit feed over a residential proxy. **Do I need a proxy?** Reddit blocks Apify datacenter IPs aggressively, so the Actor defaults to the residential proxy pool and rotates sessions on `403`/`429`. You can leave proxy settings at their default; setting `apifyProxyCountry: "US"` can improve the success rate. **How much data can I get?** Each individual search returns at most ~25 of the most relevant items (the feed's cap, with no pagination). To scale up, add more `searches` entries — vary the keyword, subreddit, `sort` and `time` window. Total results scale with the number of searches you run, not with a per-search limit. **Why are `score`, `numComments` and `upvoteRatio` empty?** Those numeric signals lived only on the now-blocked `.json` API. The RSS feed does not carry them, so they are always `null`. This Actor is for discovering and reading matching posts/comments, not for upvote/comment analytics. #### Is this a Reddit API alternative for searching subreddits? Yes. Reddit's logged-out `search.json` API is hard-blocked as of mid-2026, so this Actor acts as a no-API-key way to search any subreddit by keyword. It returns posts and comments from the subreddit-scoped feed, with a ~25-result cap per search. #### Can I scrape Reddit without an API or login? Yes — no login, OAuth or developer app is required. The Actor reads Reddit's public subreddit search feed over a residential proxy, so it works without a Reddit account or API credentials. #### How do I export Reddit posts and comments to CSV or JSON? Run your searches and Apify stores the matching rows in a dataset you can download as CSV, JSON, Excel, XML or JSONL (or pull via the API). Each row carries title, author, subreddit, text, permalink and timestamps — ready for a spreadsheet or NLP pipeline. #### How do I monitor a subreddit for brand or keyword mentions? Add a search object with your keyword and the target subreddit, set `sort` to `new`, and schedule the run to capture the latest matching posts over time. Fan the same keyword across several subreddits with multiple search objects for wider brand coverage. #### Can I search several subreddits for the same keyword at once? Yes. Pass multiple search objects, each with the same `query` but a different `subreddit`; every one runs independently and each returned row is tagged with the `searchQuery` that found it. #### Can I collect comments as well as posts? Yes. Set `type` to `comment` on a search object to pull matching comments (with decoded `text` and `permalink`) instead of posts. Posts and comments share the same row format and can be merged downstream. ### 🔗 More social & community scrapers by logiover Building a cross-platform community-discussion dataset? Pair Reddit search with the rest of the social/dev/content suite: | Source | Actor | |---|---| | 👽 Reddit | [Reddit Subreddit Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/reddit-subreddit-scraper) · [Reddit Historical Archive Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/reddit-historical-archive-scraper) | | 🟠 Hacker News | [Hacker News Search Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/hacker-news-search-scraper) | | 💬 Q\&A | [Stack Exchange Questions Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/stack-exchange-questions-scraper) | | 🐦 Microblogs | [X / Tweet Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/x-tweet-scraper) · [Threads Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/threads-scraper) | | 👩‍💻 Dev content | [Dev.to Articles Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/devto-articles-scraper) · [Substack Newsletter Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/substack-newsletter-scraper) | | ▶️ YouTube | [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/logiover/youtube-comments-scraper) | | 🎵 TikTok | [TikTok Brand Mention Monitor](https://apify.com/logiover/tiktok-brand-mention-monitor) | 👉 Browse all **[logiover scrapers on Apify Store](https://apify.com/logiover)** — 180+ actors across real estate, jobs, crypto, social media & B2B data. ### ⏰ Scheduling & integration Schedule this Actor on Apify to monitor your subreddits daily or hourly and build a growing keyword-mention dataset. Export results to JSON, CSV or Excel, sync to **Google Sheets**, or push to your database, BI tools and **webhooks** through the Apify API. Connect it to **Make, n8n or Zapier** to route fresh Reddit mentions straight into Slack, Discord, Notion or any HTTP endpoint the moment they appear. ### ⭐ Support & feedback Found a bug or need an extra field? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab — response is usually fast. If this Actor saves you time, a **★★★★★ review** on the Store page genuinely helps and is hugely appreciated. 🙏 ### ⚖️ Legal This Actor extracts only publicly available data from Reddit's public subreddit search feed and is intended for legitimate research, analytics and monitoring use. You are responsible for complying with Reddit's terms of service, GDPR and any applicable local laws. *** ### 📝 Changelog #### 2026-08-01 - Completed the August 2026 full health check: verified empty/programmatic default, Console UI default, and two source-informed alternative inputs on Apify. - Confirmed successful live execution, non-empty structured output, dataset-field/type integrity, and logical sample quality within the 5-minute quality window. #### 2026-07-06 - ✨ README overhaul: added a badge row, ready-to-run example scenarios, a collapsible full field reference, an expanded high-intent FAQ (API alternative, no-login export, data volume) and a curated social/community cross-promo grid. Kept the RSS-only reality (subreddit required, ~25/search cap, no score/comments) front and center. #### 2026-07-01 - Maintenance pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data and confirmed successful runs within the 5-minute quality window on the default input. - Sharpened Store metadata (SEO title & description) and expanded the FAQ with high-intent, long-tail questions for easier discovery in Google and Apify Store search. - Added ready-to-run example tasks that cover common real-world use cases. #### 2026-06-15 - Reliability pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data with real-world inputs. Routine maintenance build. #### 2026-06-07 - 📚 Docs: added coverage for using the actor as a Reddit API alternative, exporting Reddit posts/comments to CSV/JSON, and scraping Reddit without an API key or login. #### 2026-06-06 - 📚 Docs & schema accuracy pass: README now reflects the RSS-only reality (subreddit required, ~25/search cap, no score/comments). Removed always-null `score`/`numComments` columns from the dataset table; added the populated `text` column. #### 2026-06-05 - 🛡️ Reliability fix: results no longer dropped by strict output validation — runs complete cleanly. #### 2026-06-04 - Verified live & refreshed build — reliability/maintenance pass. *** \*Maintained: last verified 2026-09-01 — checked end-to-end against live run history (reliability, output fields and types, and time/memory budgets). # Actor input Schema ## `query` (type: `string`): Keyword to search for. Leave EMPTY to browse the newest/most-popular posts instead of searching (a keyword search needs a subreddit — see below). Example: "machine learning". ## `subreddits` (type: `array`): One or more subreddits to search or browse (without the r/ prefix), e.g. MachineLearning, Entrepreneur. Leave EMPTY to browse across ALL of Reddit (r/all). Note: keyword search requires at least one subreddit — Reddit no longer serves logged-out all-of-Reddit keyword search, so an empty subreddit list with a keyword falls back to browsing r/all. ## `sort` (type: `string`): How to order results. For keyword search: relevance / hot / top / new / comments. For browsing (no keyword): hot / new / top / rising. ## `time` (type: `string`): Restrict to a time window. Applies to Top sort and to keyword search. ## `type` (type: `string`): Return posts (link) or comments. Comment results are only available in keyword-search mode. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Cap items per subreddit (or per search). Reddit's logged-out feeds return at most ~25 items each with no pagination, so values above 25 have no extra effect. Total rows scale with the number of subreddits. ## `searches` (type: `array`): Power-user override. A list of explicit search objects — each: query, subreddit, sort, time, type. When provided, this takes precedence over the fields above and each entry runs independently. Leave empty to use the simple fields above. ## `proxyConfig` (type: `object`): Reddit blocks Apify datacenter IPs aggressively, so the residential pool is used by default. For a higher success rate set the country to United States. ## Actor input object example ```json { "subreddits": [ "MachineLearning", "OpenAI" ], "sort": "hot", "time": "all", "type": "link", "maxResults": 25, "searches": [ { "query": "shopify", "subreddit": "ecommerce", "sort": "new", "time": "month", "type": "link" }, { "query": "side hustle", "subreddit": "Entrepreneur", "sort": "top", "time": "all", "type": "comment" } ], "proxyConfig": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): All records extracted by this run. Open the Dataset tab to browse, filter, and export as CSV, JSON, or Excel. # 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 = { "query": "", "subreddits": [], "maxResults": 25, "searches": [], "proxyConfig": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("logiover/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 = { "query": "", "subreddits": [], "maxResults": 25, "searches": [], "proxyConfig": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("logiover/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 '{ "query": "", "subreddits": [], "maxResults": 25, "searches": [], "proxyConfig": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }' | apify call logiover/reddit-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,logiover/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/pb74arTxftNSjmZp2/builds/L7JnZEF92CKuT1q02/openapi.json