CrowdPull FB Comment Scraper

Extract comments and replies from Facebook posts, reels, pages, and groups. Logged-out extraction works where Facebook exposes comment data; optional cookies are required for signed-in-only surfaces.

Works with group posts, page posts, permalinks, and share links. No browser automation — just fast, lightweight HTTP requests.

Why this scraper

• No browser — pure HTTP, no Playwright overhead. Faster and cheaper to run than browser-based alternatives.
• Reaction breakdown — per-type counts (like, love, haha, wow, sorry, anger, support) for sentiment analysis without NLP. Most scrapers only give you a total count.
• Spam & moderation signals — Facebook's own spam classification, disabled/hidden status, and reply-locked threads. Filter junk before it hits your pipeline.
• Group context — group ID, anonymous posting flags, and member profile status for cross-group audience analysis.
• Smart Scrape dedup — skip posts already scraped in previous runs. No other comment scraper offers incremental extraction.
• @handle extraction — mentions and URLs parsed from comment text, ready for lead gen or network mapping.
• Structured dataset output — typed schema with table preview in the Apify Console. Browse results without downloading.

Features

• Anonymous + authenticated modes — starts logged out and reports when Facebook requires fbCookies
• Reply expansion — automatically fetches nested reply threads
• Pagination — loads additional comment pages when Facebook exposes them
• Multi-post support — process multiple posts in a single run with concurrent workers
• Comment scraper chaining — trigger automatically from the feed scraper via webhook

What you get per comment

Field	Description
commentId	Unique Facebook comment ID
authorName	Commenter's display name
authorId	Facebook user ID
authorProfileUrl	Link to commenter's profile
authorProfilePicture	Profile picture URL
authorGender	MALE, FEMALE, or empty
authorType	User or Page
text	Full comment text
timestamp	ISO 8601 timestamp
isReply	Whether this is a reply to another comment
depth	Nesting depth (0 = top-level, 1 = reply, 2+ = nested)
parentCommentId	ID of the parent comment (for threading)
replyCount	Number of replies to this comment
reactionCount	Total reaction count
reactionBreakdown	Per-type counts: like, love, haha, wow, sorry, anger, support
spamDisplayMode	Facebook's spam classification
isDisabled	Whether the comment has been hidden/removed
groupCommentInfo	Group ID, anonymous posting, nickname usage, member status
commentUrl	Direct permalink to the comment
extractedUrls	URLs found in comment text
extractedHandles	@handles and mentions found in comment text
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp of when extraction occurred

Automatic chaining via webhook

The easiest way to run the comment scraper is to trigger it automatically when the CrowdPull FB Group Posts Scraper finishes. Set up an Apify webhook on the posts scraper:

1. Go to the posts scraper actor/task Integrations tab
2. Add integration: Apify (Connect Actor or Task) → select this comment scraper task
3. Event: Run succeeded
4. Input mapping: {"datasetId": "{{resource.defaultDatasetId}}", "minComments": 0}

The comment scraper loads the posts dataset, filters by minComments, and extracts comments from all matching posts. No API tokens or manual URL copying needed.

How it works

1. Fetches the post page anonymously using lightweight HTTP requests
2. Extracts all available comments from the page response
3. Paginates to load additional comments beyond the initial batch
4. Expands nested reply threads automatically
5. Deduplicates comment records across the available response sources

Anonymous vs authenticated mode

Capability	Anonymous (default)	With cookies
Top-level comments	Only when exposed to logged-out visitors	Available to the supplied Facebook session
Reply threads	Varies by post and surface	Usually higher, but still privacy-dependent
Failure behavior	Explicit failed/partial summary	Explicit failed/partial summary

Facebook can return an empty public response for comments that are visible to a signed-in browser. In that case the Actor does not claim a true zero: it records the coverage failure in OUTPUT, and signed-in-only reel queries fail with an actionable request for fbCookies.

Smart Scrape (incremental dedup)

Enable Smart Scrape to skip posts already scraped in previous runs. Ideal for recurring monitoring jobs — you only pay for new posts.

1. On first run, all posts are scraped normally and cached in a persistent store
2. On subsequent runs, cached posts are skipped (charged at a reduced cache-check rate)
3. Optionally set a refresh window to re-scrape recent posts that may have gained new comments

Cost comparison (50 posts/week, ~10 comments/post average)

Scenario	Without Smart Scrape	With Smart Scrape
Week 1 (all new)	500 comments extracted	500 comments extracted
Week 2 (10 new posts)	500 comments extracted	100 comments + 40 cache checks
Week 4 (10 new/week)	2,000 comments total	800 comments + 120 cache checks
Monthly cost	Full price	~55% cheaper

Built-in incremental extraction — only pay for new comments on recurring runs.

Use cases

• Market research — analyze customer sentiment and questions in niche groups
• Lead generation — extract URLs, @handles, and active community members
• Content analysis — use reaction breakdowns to measure sentiment without NLP
• Competitive intelligence — monitor competitor post discussions
• Community health — track spam rates, disabled comments, and moderation patterns

Input example

{
  "postUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakeryforbeginners/posts/903456049205823/"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 50,
  "includeReplies": true,
  "extractUrls": true
}

Output example

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakeryforbeginners/posts/903615849189843/",
  "commentId": "903620162522745",
  "authorName": "Sandy D Crusan",
  "authorId": "pfbid0zfQhxbUdLXKEU...",
  "authorGender": "FEMALE",
  "authorType": "User",
  "text": "I wish NJ allowed alcohol infused products with a Cottage License.",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-25T23:20:03.000Z",
  "isReply": false,
  "depth": 0,
  "replyCount": 0,
  "reactionCount": 1,
  "reactionBreakdown": { "like": 1, "love": 0, "haha": 0, "wow": 0, "sorry": 0, "anger": 0, "support": 0 },
  "spamDisplayMode": "none",
  "isDisabled": false,
  "groupCommentInfo": {
    "group": { "id": "683303171221113" },
    "is_author_anonymous": false,
    "is_author_nickname": false,
    "is_author_with_member_profile": true
  },
  "extractedUrls": [],
  "extractedHandles": [],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-02-26T00:33:54.010Z"
}

Other CrowdPull Facebook scrapers

• Facebook Group Posts Scraper — extract posts from any public Facebook group with Smart Scrape dedup and automatic comment scraper chaining
• Facebook Marketplace Scraper — extract listings from Facebook Marketplace by location with price filtering and keyword search

Cost estimate

This Actor uses no browser — just lightweight HTTP requests.

PPE Event	Description	Cost
apify-actor-start	One-time per run	$0.005
apify-default-dataset-item	Per comment pushed to dataset	$0.002/comment on Free; $0.0015/$0.001/$0.00075/$0.0006/$0.0005 on Bronze through Diamond
cache-check	Per post skipped by Smart Scrape	$0.001

At the currently applied Free-tier rate, 50 comments cost about $0.105 including the run-start event. Higher Apify tiers cost less; verify the Store pricing panel for current rates.

Limitations

• Facebook may require authentication even for comments shown on otherwise public posts or reels
• Private groups and posts require a Facebook session that is authorized to view them
• Very new posts (minutes old) may not have comments indexed yet
• Facebook may change internal APIs; report issues if extraction stops working
• reactionBreakdown only populates when comments have reactions (zeros otherwise)
• authorGender depends on the user's Facebook privacy settings
• Anonymous feed API returns commentCount: 0 for all posts — when using webhook chaining, set minComments: 0 to process all posts

Is it legal to scrape Facebook comments?

This Actor extracts publicly visible data from Facebook posts. Here are the key legal considerations:

• Access boundary: Anonymous mode only receives data Facebook exposes to logged-out visitors. Cookie mode is limited to content the supplied account may view.
• Authentication is optional, not invisible: The Actor starts anonymously and reports signed-in-only query failures instead of silently returning an empty dataset.
• Terms of Service: Web scraping of public data has been upheld in multiple court rulings (hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn, 2022). However, Facebook's Terms of Service restrict automated data collection. Use this tool responsibly and in compliance with applicable laws.
• GDPR/CCPA: Extracted data may contain personal information (names, profile pictures, comment text). If you process this data in the EU/EEA or for California residents, ensure you have a lawful basis under GDPR/CCPA. Consider anonymizing or pseudonymizing personal data before storage.
• Rate limiting: The scraper includes built-in delays and respects Facebook's rate limits to minimize server impact.

You are responsible for ensuring your use of this data complies with all applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction.