Reddit Comment Scraper Extract comments and replies from Reddit posts with full conversation threads preserved. ## 🎯 What does this actor do? This actor scrapes comments from Reddit posts, capturing: - All comments and nested replies in a tree structure - Comment text, author, timestamp, and depth level - Complete conversation threads with parent-child relationships - Support for both top-level comments only or full reply chains Perfect for: - Market Research - Analyze customer opinions and feedback - Sentiment Analysis - Understand community reactions - Content Analysis - Study discussion patterns and trends - Community Monitoring - Track conversations about your brand ## 📥 Input | Field | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | postUrls | Array | Yes | - | List of Reddit post URLs to scrape | | maxComments | Number | No | 500 | Maximum number of comments to collect | | includeReplies | Boolean | No | true | Whether to include nested replies | | sortBy | String | No | "top" | Comment sort order (top, new, best, controversial) | ### Example Input json { "postUrls": [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/example/discussion_thread/" ], "maxComments": 100, "includeReplies": true, "sortBy": "top" } ## 📤 Output The actor outputs one row per comment for clean Excel/CSV exports. Each comment (including replies) becomes a separate row with full context. ### Output Format (Flattened for Easy Analysis) Each row contains: json { "postUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/...", "postTitle": "Post title here", "postAuthor": "original_poster", "postScore": "1234", "subreddit": "technology", "commentDepth": 0, "commentAuthor": "user1", "commentText": "This is the comment text", "commentTimestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z", "commentId": "abc123", "commentPath": "0", "parentPath": null, "isTopLevel": true, "replyCount": 3, "scrapedAt": "2024-01-15T12:00:00Z" } ### Output Fields Explained Post Context (same for all comments from a post): - postUrl - URL of the Reddit post - postTitle - Title of the post - postAuthor - Original post author - subreddit - Subreddit name Comment Details: - commentDepth - Nesting level (0 = top-level, 1 = first reply, etc.) - commentAuthor - Username of comment author - commentText - The actual comment content - commentTimestamp - When the comment was posted - commentId - Reddit's comment ID Threading Information: - commentPath - Path showing position in thread (e.g., "0/2/1" = first comment → third reply → second sub-reply) - parentPath - Path to parent comment (null for top-level) - isTopLevel - Boolean indicating if it's a main comment - replyCount - Number of direct replies to this comment ### Example: How Threading Works If a post has this structure: Comment A (path: "0") └── Reply B (path: "0/0") └── Reply C (path: "0/0/0") Comment D (path: "1") └── Reply E (path: "1/0") You'll get 5 rows in your export: 1. Row for Comment A with commentPath: "0", parentPath: null 2. Row for Reply B with commentPath: "0/0", parentPath: "0" 3. Row for Reply C with commentPath: "0/0/0", parentPath: "0/0" 4. Row for Comment D with commentPath: "1", parentPath: null 5. Row for Reply E with commentPath: "1/0", parentPath: "1" ### Benefits of This Format ✅ Excel/CSV Ready - Each comment is a row, no nested JSON columns ✅ Easy Filtering - Filter by depth, author, or isTopLevel ✅ Preserved Threading - Use commentPath/parentPath to reconstruct conversations ✅ Analysis Friendly - Count comments per author, average reply depth, etc. ## 🚀 How to Use ### Via Apify Console 1. Add Reddit post URLs to the postUrls array 2. Set maxComments to limit data collection (useful for large threads) 3. Toggle includeReplies based on your needs: - true - Get full conversation threads - false - Get only top-level comments 4. Choose sortBy to control comment ordering 5. Click "Run" to start scraping ### Via API javascript const input = { postUrls: [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xyz/what_is_your_opinion/" ], maxComments: 200, includeReplies: true, sortBy: "best" }; // Run via Apify API const run = await client.actor("your-username/reddit-comment-scraper").call(input); ### Processing Multiple Posts You can scrape multiple posts in one run: json { "postUrls": [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/post1/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/post2/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/post3/" ], "maxComments": 100 } ## 💡 Use Cases ### Market Research Analyze product discussions and customer feedback: - Track mentions of your brand - Understand customer pain points - Identify feature requests ### Sentiment Analysis Study community reactions: - Measure response to announcements - Track opinion trends over time - Identify influential commenters ### Content Strategy Understand what resonates: - Find popular discussion topics - Identify content gaps - Study engagement patterns ## ⚠️ Limitations - Works with new Reddit interface (reddit.com) - Respects Reddit's rate limits - Some very deeply nested threads may require clicking "Continue thread" links - Deleted/removed comments are skipped - Maximum runtime: 60 minutes per run ## 🔧 Advanced Features ### Comment Filtering - Set includeReplies: false to get only top-level comments - Use maxComments to limit data collection - Comments are sorted according to sortBy parameter ### Data Structure - Nested reply structure preserves conversation context - Each comment includes depth level for easy filtering - Timestamps allow temporal analysis ## 📊 Example Analysis With the scraped data, you can: - Count replies per comment to find most engaging topics - Analyze comment depth to understand conversation complexity - Track author participation across threads - Build word clouds from comment text - Perform sentiment analysis on discussions ## 🆘 Support Having issues? Check these common solutions: 1. No comments found - Verify the Reddit post URL is correct and public 2. Timeout errors - Reduce maxComments for very large threads 3. Missing replies - Ensure includeReplies is set to true For additional support, please open an issue or contact support. ## 📝 Changelog ### Version 1.0.0 - Initial release with Shreddit (new Reddit) support - Full comment tree structure with nested replies - Configurable comment limits and sorting - Support for multiple posts in single run