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Substack newsletter posts as data: engagement, free-vs-paid and the authors behind each one

The Substack Newsletter Scraper returns any newsletter's posts straight from its public API — one clean row per post with title, URL, publish date, free or paid, word count, reactions, comments, restacks, tags and authors, plus optional full body text. No API key, no login, no browser.

Who it's for

• Content and competitive researchers studying what a rival newsletter publishes and how it performs.
• Creator lead-gen teams collecting the authors behind newsletters in their niche.
• Monetisation analysts measuring how much a newsletter gates behind paid.
• Topic and trend researchers pulling posts with tags and full text.

What you get

A real row (trimmed):

{
  "newsletter": "www.lennysnewsletter.com",
  "title": "All of the Lenny & Friends Summit talks",
  "type": "newsletter",
  "audience": "everyone",
  "isPaid": false,
  "postDate": "2026-09-29T...",
  "wordcount": 1276,
  "reactionCount": 287,
  "commentCount": 7,
  "restacks": 5,
  "authors": ["Lenny Rachitsky"]
}

Input

{ "newsletters": ["bariweiss", "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"], "maxPostsPerNewsletter": 20 }

Honest limits

• No subscriber counts — those are behind Substack's login; the Actor returns posts, engagement, audience and authors, never a fabricated number.
• A custom-domain host that doesn't serve the public API returns a clear, free error row — use the exact Substack host (often www. or {handle}.substack.com).
• Paid posts may be truncated behind the paywall in bodyText; empty tags means the post wasn't tagged (returned only when present).
• A value Substack didn't give is null, never 0.

Pricing

Pay per result: one post event per delivered row. An unreachable newsletter returns a free error row and is not charged. Current prices are on the actor's Pricing tab on Apify.

Related

On other creator sources, the Bluesky Scraper gives creator reach and engagement, the X Profile Scraper account activity and growth, and the YouTube Channel Finder a niche's channels.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a Substack account or API key?

No. It reads each newsletter's own public post API — the same endpoint the site itself calls — with no key, no login and no browser.

Can I get subscriber counts?

No — those are behind Substack's login. This Actor returns posts, engagement, audience and authors, never a fabricated subscriber number.

How do I enter a custom-domain newsletter?

Use the exact host that serves it, often www. or the {handle}.substack.com subdomain. If a host doesn't serve the public API you get a clear, free error row.

Can I get the full article text?

Yes — turn on includeBody for the post's full body as plain text (HTML stripped). Paid posts may be truncated behind the paywall.

What does free vs paid look like?

Each post carries an audience value (everyone or only_paid) and an isPaid flag, so you can see how much a newsletter gates behind a subscription.

Using the data lawfully

It reads each newsletter's own public post API — the same endpoint the site calls. Posts carry author names published publicly; personal data is protected by the GDPR and similar laws, so only process it with a legitimate basis. Not affiliated with Substack Inc.