Facebook Reels Scraper

Extract public Facebook Reels from page/profile Reels tabs, usernames, and direct reel URLs. The Actor returns structured rows with reel URLs, IDs, visible play counts, owner/page metadata, and diagnostics for inputs that Facebook does not expose publicly.

Use it for social media research, creator monitoring, competitor content tracking, and repeatable exports to CSV, JSON, Excel, API, or automation workflows.

At a glance

• Primary job: Collect public Facebook Reels URLs and visible metrics from one or more public pages/profiles.
• Input: Public Facebook page URLs, /reels/ URLs, direct /reel/<id> URLs, or usernames.
• Output: One dataset row per reel, plus explicit diagnostic rows for invalid, blocked, private, or empty inputs.
• Best for: Brand monitoring, competitor short-form research, influencer discovery, content planning, and reporting.

Common workflows

• Monitor a brand page: Schedule a run for a public Facebook page Reels tab and export newly seen reel URLs and play counts.
• Analyze competitors: Add several public page/profile Reels URLs, cap results per profile, and compare visible play counts in a spreadsheet.
• Check direct reels: Submit direct facebook.com/reel/<id> URLs to normalize IDs and keep a consistent dataset shape.
• Automate reporting: Trigger runs through the Apify API, webhooks, or MCP and send dataset rows to BI tools or a database.

What data can you extract?

Example input

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/" },
    { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/27749977914588421/" }
  ],
  "usernames": ["Cristiano"],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "maxReelsPerProfile": 10,
  "includePageProfileMetadata": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Example output

{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/",
  "normalizedUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/",
  "sourceType": "profile_reels",
  "status": "ok",
  "reelId": "27749977914588421",
  "reelUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/27749977914588421/",
  "postUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/27749977914588421/",
  "text": null,
  "timestamp": null,
  "ownerName": "9GAG Cute",
  "ownerUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/",
  "playCount": 58000,
  "likeCount": null,
  "commentCount": null,
  "shareCount": null,
  "durationSeconds": null,
  "thumbnailUrl": null,
  "videoUrl": null,
  "pageName": "9GAG Cute",
  "pageUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/",
  "pageId": null,
  "followerCount": 3700000,
  "likesCount": null,
  "category": null,
  "missingFields": [],
  "error": null
}

Tips for best results

• Use public pages only: This Actor does not accept cookies or scrape private/logged-in data.
• Start small: Test with maxItems: 3 to confirm a page exposes public Reels in your run environment.
• Prefer Reels tabs: URLs ending in /reels/ are the most direct input for profile/page scraping.
• Expect optional fields: Facebook does not expose every metric on every surface; unavailable fields stay null and appear in missingFields when relevant.
• Use proxies in cloud: Facebook can vary responses by IP. Residential Apify Proxy is recommended for production runs.

API usage

Node.js:

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor("fetch_cat/facebook-reels-scraper").call({
  startUrls: [{ url: "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/" }],
  maxItems: 3,
  maxReelsPerProfile: 3
});
console.log(run.defaultDatasetId);

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("fetch_cat/facebook-reels-scraper").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/" }],
    "maxItems": 3,
    "maxReelsPerProfile": 3,
})
print(run["defaultDatasetId"])

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fetch_cat~facebook-reels-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://www.facebook.com/9GAGCute/reels/"}],"maxItems":3,"maxReelsPerProfile":3}'

MCP and AI agents

Use this Actor from MCP-compatible tools through the official Apify MCP Server.

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=fetch_cat/facebook-reels-scraper"

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=fetch_cat/facebook-reels-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompt: "Run Facebook Reels Scraper for this public Facebook page URL with maxItems 5 and summarize the reel URLs and visible play counts."

Limits and caveats

• Public data only: No account login, cookies, private profiles, private groups, or access-token scraping.
• Facebook changes often: Public visibility can change, so a URL that works today may expose fewer fields later.
• Metrics are best effort: Play counts are usually visible on Reels tabs; likes, comments, shares, video URLs, and timestamps may be absent.
• No video archiving guarantee: videoUrl is populated only if Facebook exposes a stable public URL in the same page context.
• Diagnostics are explicit: Invalid or blocked inputs produce status rows instead of silently returning an empty dataset.
• Responsible use: Process only public data you are allowed to access, and do not use the Actor to bypass access controls or collect private personal data.

Support

Open an issue from the Actor page if a run fails or output looks wrong. Include the run ID or run URL, input JSON, expected output, actual output, and a reproducible public URL.