How to Scrape Reddit Data (No-Code Tutorial)
Extract posts, comments, subreddit listings, and profile-level public data from Reddit using a pre-built Apify Actor, without managing Reddit API quotas yourself.
Apify's Reddit Scraper extracts posts, comments, user profiles, and subreddit content from Reddit without API rate limits. Export to JSON or CSV.
Reddit holds long-form discussion, niche expertise, and product sentiment. This tutorial walks through no-code scraping of public threads so you can analyze the data or pipe it into your own tools.
When to use an Apify Reddit Actor vs. the Reddit API
Use a Store Reddit Scraper when you want fast setup, bulk exports, and predictable pay-per-event pricing on Apify without building OAuth flows. Choose the official Reddit API when you need first-party integration that must follow Reddit's developer policies end to end.
What you'll do:
- Find Reddit scrapers via the Apify Store Reddit search.
- Configure inputs for subreddits, searches, posts, or profiles.
- Run the Actor and download JSON or CSV (or fetch results via API).
What you need
- An Apify account. The free plan includes monthly credits you can use for test runs.
We use Reddit Scraper Lite as a concrete example. It is widely used on the Store and covers posts, comments, communities, and user profiles from public pages. Pricing and limits are defined on the Actor listing; verify details before large jobs.
Step 1: Find the Reddit Scraper Actor
Open Reddit tools in the Apify Store and pick a scraper that matches your input type (subreddit vs search vs URL list). For this walkthrough, open Reddit Scraper Lite and click Try for free to reach the run console.
Step 2: Configure your scrape
Typical modes:
- Subreddit URLs: e.g.
https://www.reddit.com/r/webdevto scrape listing posts. - Search terms: site-wide or scoped search text.
- Post URLs: one or more threads, including comment trees.
- User profiles: recent submissions from a public user (subject to Actor options).
Example for a first run:
- URLs:
https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev - Max items: keep small for testing (e.g. 20–50 posts), then raise after you validate cost and fields.
Step 3: Start the Reddit scraper
Click Start. Watch logs for HTTP or parsing errors; if Reddit throttles or the layout changes, switch to another maintained Actor from the Store search.
Step 4: Download your Reddit data
When the run finishes, open Storage / Dataset. Preview rows, then download CSV, Excel, or JSON. For automation, use the Apify API to start runs and read datasets from your own code or orchestrator.
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| id | Unique post/comment identifier | t3_1b8k2mx |
| url | Direct link to the post | https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1b8k2mx/... |
| username | Author's Reddit username | dev_sarah_codes |
| title | Post title | Finally migrated our monolith to microservices — here's what I learned |
| communityName | Subreddit name | r/webdev |
| body | Post text content | After 8 months of planning and execution... |
| upVotes | Number of upvotes | 2847 |
| numberOfComments | Total comments on the post | 312 |
| createdAt | Post creation timestamp | 2024-03-15T14:32:08.000Z |
| dataType | Type of data (post or comment) | post |
Each Reddit post in your dataset will look similar to this JSON object.
{
"id": "t3_1b8k2mx",
"parsedId": "1b8k2mx",
"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1b8k2mx/finally_migrated_our_monolith_to_microservices/",
"username": "dev_sarah_codes",
"title": "Finally migrated our monolith to microservices — here's what I learned",
"communityName": "r/webdev",
"parsedCommunityName": "webdev",
"body": "After 8 months of planning and execution, we finally completed the migration. Here are the biggest lessons...",
"numberOfComments": 312,
"upVotes": 2847,
"isVideo": false,
"isAd": false,
"over18": false,
"createdAt": "2024-03-15T14:32:08.000Z",
"scrapedAt": "2024-03-15T14:35:12.409Z",
"dataType": "post"
}
What you can do with Reddit data
- Market research: Track honest product opinions across subreddits.
- Content strategy: Find recurring questions and threads with high engagement.
- Sentiment and topic modeling: Feed text into classifiers or LLM pipelines.
- Competitive intel: Monitor mentions of brands and alternatives.
- ML datasets: Build text corpora (respect copyright, privacy, and Reddit’s terms).
Compare maintainers, input modes, and pricing in one place.
Scraping public Reddit data may be permitted in some contexts, but legality depends on jurisdiction, how you access data, Reddit’s Terms, and whether you process personal data. This is not legal advice. See our web scraping legal guide and Is Apify legal?, and consult counsel for regulated use.
Actors like Reddit Scraper Lite are designed to work from public pages without you supplying Reddit API credentials. You still must comply with applicable laws and Reddit’s policies.
Reddit’s API follows Reddit’s developer rules and rate limits. Apify Actors bill on Apify’s model and are built for bulk dataset exports. Choose the path your legal and product review approves.
Reddit Scraper Lite uses pay-per-event pricing shown on its Store page. Run a small test, then check Apify billing to extrapolate monthly cost for your volume.
Yes. Create schedules in Apify, trigger runs via API, or connect to n8n/Make/Zapier. Export fresh JSON/CSV each run or load datasets into your warehouse.
