Telegram Channel Scraper

Here is one real result, with every field a post record returns:

{
  "thumbnail": "https://cdn1.telesco.pe/file/vMsNFMSndJw-Nb8U-JA0gVKYgiJMQBNhllnhk0vB0Ht ... [URL trimmed for brevity; the real field returns the full signed URL]",
  "type": "post",
  "channel": "telegram",
  "channelTitle": "Telegram News",
  "id": 453,
  "url": "https://t.me/telegram/453",
  "text": "350 Million GIFs. The GIF panel now contains over 350 million GIFs in 36 languages. Your Telegram GIF searche ... [text trimmed for brevity; the real field returns the full post text]",
  "author": "Telegram News",
  "datetime": "2026-07-19T17:58:17+00:00",
  "views": 1180000,
  "viewsLabel": "1.18M",
  "mediaType": "video",
  "mediaUrl": "https://cdn1.telesco.pe/file/e07208aa9b.mp4?token=AxV7Ou6RhKX2RJn6mBOqqZ ... [signed URL trimmed for brevity]",
  "mediaThumbnail": "https://cdn1.telesco.pe/file/vMsNFMSndJw-Nb8U-JA0gVKYgiJMQBNhllnhk0vB0Ht ... [URL trimmed for brevity]",
  "mediaUrls": ["https://cdn1.telesco.pe/file/e07208aa9b.mp4?token=... [trimmed]"],
  "videoDuration": "0:09",
  "documentTitle": null,
  "forwardedFrom": null,
  "forwardedFromUrl": null,
  "replyToUrl": null,
  "isForwarded": false,
  "linkPreview": null,
  "links": ["https://t.me/telegram/450", "https://t.me/telegram/451", "... [trimmed]"],
  "hashtags": null,
  "reactions": null,
  "totalReactions": null,
  "observedAt": "2026-08-10T14:33:08.021Z",
  "error": null
}

The thumbnail, text, media URLs and links values above are trimmed to keep this example readable; the actor returns the full text, signed CDN URLs and complete arrays. All other values are the exact record from a live run.

The most complete Telegram channel scraper available. It returns a channel-metadata record (subscribers, verified status, media counts) plus one record per post with the text, author, views, media (photo, video, document with direct CDN URLs), link previews, reactions and forwarding details, and it lets you scrape many public channels in one run with an optional keyword filter.

📥 Input · 📤 Output · 💰 Pricing · ▶️ Examples

Table of contents

• What it does
• Quickstart
• Input reference
• Output reference
• Example output record
• Run via API and CLI
• Fetch results
• Billing and limits
• FAQ and troubleshooting

What it does

The actor reads one or more public Telegram channels from their web preview (t.me/s/<channel>), and writes to the run's dataset one channel-metadata record per channel (subscribers, description, verified status, photo/video/link counts) followed by one record per post, newest first. Each post record carries the text, author, timestamp, view count, any attached media with direct CDN URLs, link previews, outbound links, hashtags, reactions and forwarding details. An optional searchQuery keeps only posts that match the given text. Missing source values are returned as null rather than invented.

Only public channels are accessible. Private and invite-only channels cannot be read.

Quickstart

Open the actor, paste this into the input, and press Run. It returns the channel metadata plus the 10 most recent posts of the official Telegram channel.

{
  "channels": ["telegram"],
  "maxPosts": 10
}

Enter channels as a username (durov), an @username, or a full t.me link. Leave searchQuery empty to collect the most recent posts.

Input reference

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
channels	string[]	yes	["telegram"]	Public channels to scrape. Each as a username (for example durov), an @username, or a full t.me link. Private and invite-only channels cannot be accessed.
maxPosts	integer	no	10	Maximum posts to collect from each channel, newest first. Range 1 to 1000000.
searchQuery	string	no	(empty)	Only return posts matching this text within the given channels. Empty collects the most recent posts.

Output reference

The dataset contains two record kinds, distinguished by type: one channel record per channel, then post records. Types: string, integer, boolean, string[], object, or null when the source value is absent.

Field	Type	Applies to	Description
type	string	both	channel for the metadata record, post for a post.
channel	string	both	Channel username as scraped.
channelTitle	string	both	Display title of the channel.
id	integer	both	Post ID for posts; null on the channel record.
url	string	both	Canonical t.me URL of the channel or post.
thumbnail	string	both	Channel avatar or post thumbnail URL, or null.
description	string	channel	Channel description text.
subscribers	integer	channel	Subscriber count as a number.
subscribersLabel	string	channel	Subscriber count as shown, for example 9.86M.
photosCount	integer	channel	Number of photos in the channel.
videosCount	integer	channel	Number of videos in the channel.
linksCount	integer	channel	Number of links in the channel.
isVerified	boolean	channel	true when the channel is verified.
text	string	post	Full post text.
author	string	post	Post author or signature.
datetime	string	post	Post timestamp (ISO 8601).
views	integer	post	View count as a number.
viewsLabel	string	post	View count as shown, for example 1.18M.
mediaType	string	post	Attached media type: photo, video, document, or null.
mediaUrl	string	post	Direct CDN URL of the primary media, or null.
mediaThumbnail	string	post	Media thumbnail URL, or null.
mediaUrls	string[]	post	All media URLs on the post, or null.
videoDuration	string	post	Video length as M:SS, or null.
documentTitle	string	post	Attached document title, or null.
forwardedFrom	string	post	Original channel name when the post is forwarded, or null.
forwardedFromUrl	string	post	Original channel URL when forwarded, or null.
replyToUrl	string	post	URL of the post this one replies to, or null.
isForwarded	boolean	post	true when the post is a forward.
linkPreview	object	post	Link preview card (url, siteName, title, description, thumbnail), or null.
links	string[]	post	Outbound links found in the post, or null.
hashtags	string[]	post	Hashtags in the post, or null.
reactions	object	post	Emoji reactions with counts, or null.
totalReactions	integer	post	Total reaction count, or null.
observedAt	string	both	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the record was collected.
error	string	both	null on success. On a failed run, a single item with a populated error field is written instead.

Example output record

The channel-metadata record from the same live run (input {"channels": ["telegram"], "maxPosts": 10}):

{
  "thumbnail": "https://cdn1.telesco.pe/file/duy0s_bkW1-f9R8cqXfI7Cy__6SJviapxuBmERrT9RPKef5KA ... [URL trimmed for brevity]",
  "type": "channel",
  "channel": "telegram",
  "channelTitle": "Telegram News",
  "id": null,
  "url": "https://t.me/telegram",
  "description": "The official Telegram on Telegram. Much recursion. Very Telegram. Wow.",
  "subscribers": 9860000,
  "subscribersLabel": "9.86M",
  "photosCount": 14,
  "videosCount": 225,
  "linksCount": 372,
  "isVerified": true,
  "observedAt": "2026-08-10T14:33:07.927Z",
  "error": null
}

Run via API and CLI

Start a run and wait for it to finish, then read the dataset. Replace <TOKEN> with your Apify API token.

Run synchronously and get dataset items in one call:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/scrapers_lat~telegram-channel-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels":["telegram"],"maxPosts":25}'

Start a run asynchronously:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/scrapers_lat~telegram-channel-scraper/runs?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels":["durov","telegram"],"searchQuery":"update","maxPosts":100}'

Apify CLI:

apify call scrapers_lat/telegram-channel-scraper \
  --input '{"channels":["https://t.me/telegram"],"maxPosts":50}'

Fetch results

Every run writes to a dataset. Fetch items as JSON, CSV, or Excel by changing format:

# JSON
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&clean=true&format=json"

# CSV
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&clean=true&format=csv"

# Paginate large datasets
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<DATASET_ID>/items?token=<TOKEN>&offset=1000&limit=1000"

<DATASET_ID> is returned as defaultDatasetId in the run object. Use offset and limit to page through large result sets. clean=true drops empty and internal fields.

Billing and limits

• Pay per result. You are charged per record returned (result event), including the channel-metadata record. See the pricing tab for the current per-result price.
• No charge on failure. If a run errors, the actor writes a single item with a populated error field and does not charge for it. Empty runs cost nothing.
• Spend cap respected. Set maxTotalChargeUsd on the run; once reached, the actor stops emitting and charging further billable results.
• Free Apify plans are capped at 10 posts per channel per run. Upgrade for higher maxPosts.

FAQ and troubleshooting

A channel returned no posts. Why? The channel is private or invite-only (not accessible), the username was wrong, or your searchQuery filtered everything out. Only public channels with a t.me/s/ preview can be read.

Can I read private or invite-only channels? No. This actor reads only public channels. Private and invite-only channels cannot be accessed.

Why is reactions or mediaUrl null? Not every post has reactions or attached media. When there is none, those fields are null rather than invented.

Are the media URLs downloadable? The CDN URLs are signed by Telegram and time-limited. Download them promptly; they can expire.

Can I collect posts from several channels at once? Yes. Add each channel to channels. maxPosts applies per channel.

Is this an official Telegram tool? No. This actor is independent and has no affiliation with Telegram. It reads only data that is publicly available on t.me.

Related scrapers

• Text Classifier Tool: Classify post text into your own labels.
• Text to JSON Tool: Turn post text into structured JSON fields.
• Twitter/X Scraper: Posts and profiles from X.

More scrapers at scrapers.lat

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Independent tool, not affiliated with Telegram. Accesses only publicly available channel data on t.me.