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SKILL FILE

Scrape Substack with AI

Extract Substack newsletter posts, subscriber counts, and author data using Apify scrapers and Claude Code.

35M+ Substack users or records
400 items scraped per minute
$0.30 per 1,000 posts
Download Skill File ↓
CROSS-DEPARTMENT FLOW

How scraped Substack data flows across your company

One scrape generates intelligence for every department — automatically

Scrape Substack Substack newsletter posts, subscriber counts, and author data
1 Configure Targets
2 Apify Actor Runs
3 Data Processed
4 Stored in CRM
Sales
  • → Identify prospects from scraped data
  • → Track competitor activity
  • → Source outreach targets
  • → Build lead lists
Marketing
  • → Content research and ideation
  • → Competitor strategy analysis
  • → Trend monitoring
  • → Audience insights
Growth
  • → Market sizing and analysis
  • → Engagement benchmarking
  • → Growth opportunity identification
  • → Platform trend tracking
CRM
  • → Data records stored
  • → Engagement metrics indexed
  • → Source attribution tagged
  • → Historical data tracked
Lead List
Research Report
Trend Analysis
Market Report
Events Tracked
Substack data collected
Patterns identified
Benchmarks established
Replaces SparkToro
$50/mo $2/mo
$576/yr saved
Scrape Substack Substack newsletter posts, subscriber counts, and author data
1
Configure Targets Substack URLs, keywords, or filters defined
2
Apify Actor Runs Scraper extracts data — $0.30/1,000 posts
3
Data Processed Records cleaned, scored, and categorized
4
Stored in CRM Intelligence pushed to Neon database with attribution
Sales
  • → Identify prospects from scraped data
  • → Track competitor activity
  • → Source outreach targets
  • → Build lead lists
Marketing
  • → Content research and ideation
  • → Competitor strategy analysis
  • → Trend monitoring
  • → Audience insights
Growth
  • → Market sizing and analysis
  • → Engagement benchmarking
  • → Growth opportunity identification
  • → Platform trend tracking
CRM
  • → Data records stored
  • → Engagement metrics indexed
  • → Source attribution tagged
  • → Historical data tracked
Content Outputs
Research Report from marketing
Lead List from sales
Trend Analysis from marketing
Market Report from growth
Everything Tracked
Substack data collected
Patterns identified
Benchmarks established
Replaces SparkToro
$50/mo → $2/mo
$576/yr saved
REPLACES

Cancel your SparkToro subscription

CANCEL THIS

SparkToro

$50/mo
  • × Subscription fees
  • × Data locked in their dashboard
  • × Per-seat pricing
  • × Export limits
vs
BUILD THIS

SoloStack + Claude Code

$2/mo
  • ✓ Pay-per-use, no subscription
  • ✓ Your data in your repo
  • ✓ Zero vendor lock-in
  • ✓ Unlimited exports
Save $576/year
WHAT YOU GET

What this skill file teaches Claude

Drop one markdown file into your repo. Claude Code learns how to run this entire workflow.

1

Data Extraction

Pull key data points from Substack including profiles, content, and metadata.

2

Search & Filter

Search by keywords, categories, or specific URLs to target exactly what you need.

3

Engagement Metrics

Capture engagement signals — views, likes, shares, and comments for every item.

4

Bulk Processing

Process hundreds or thousands of records in a single run with automatic pagination.

5

Export & Integration

Output clean JSON ready for CRM import, analysis, or integration with other tools.

Apify Actor: epctex/substack-scraper · ~$0.30 per 1,000 posts
IN ACTION

Build it with plain English

Tell Claude Code what to do. It handles the rest.

claude — solostack/
you: | 
Processing Substack data...

✓ Data extracted successfully
✓ 234 records collected
✓ Cleaned and deduplicated
✓ Ready for CRM import

Data saved to scrape-substack-results.json
you: | 
Processing Substack data...

✓ Data extracted successfully
✓ 567 records collected
✓ Cleaned and deduplicated
✓ Ready for CRM import

Data saved to scrape-substack-results.json
you: | 
Processing Substack data...

✓ Data extracted successfully
✓ 89 records collected
✓ Cleaned and deduplicated
✓ Ready for CRM import

Data saved to scrape-substack-results.json
USE CASES

What you can build with this

Newsletter landscape mapping

Discover all Substacks in your niche. Rank by subscriber count and posting frequency to understand the competitive landscape.

Content research

Find the most-liked Substack posts in your topic area for content inspiration and gap identification.

Influencer discovery

Identify Substack authors with engaged audiences for partnership, sponsorship, or cross-promotion opportunities.

Audience research

Analyze Substack comment sections to understand what resonates with your target audience.

IMPORTANT

Things to know

!

Many Substack posts are behind a paid paywall. The scraper captures free/preview content.

!

Subscriber counts are estimates for most publications. Only the author sees exact numbers.

!

Substack growth data is limited. Rank by likes and comments as engagement proxies.

COMPLETE SKILL FILE

Get the full skill file

Everything above is 80% of the skill file. Download the complete version with full implementation details, agent prompts, and ready-to-run scripts.

FAQ

Common questions

Scraping publicly available data from Substack is a gray area. Most courts have upheld that public data can be accessed for research purposes. Always respect the platform's ToS, use data for internal research only, and comply with GDPR/CCPA when handling personal information.
For trend monitoring, weekly scrapes capture meaningful changes. For competitive analysis, bi-weekly to monthly is sufficient. The optimal frequency depends on how quickly data changes on the platform.
The Apify actor uses residential proxies and request throttling to minimize blocks. If you experience issues, reduce request volume, increase delays between requests, and consider running scrapes during off-peak hours.
Yes. The output is clean JSON that can be directly imported into Neon (Postgres), Airtable, or any CRM with an API. Use the TypeScript integration code in the skill file to automate the pipeline.
Apify charges ~$0.30 per 1,000 posts. A typical research run costs $1-5 depending on volume. Compare that to SaaS alternatives at $50/mo — you save $576/yr saved.
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