Export Reddit Posts and Comments to CSV: Browser or Archive?
Choose a local export for the Reddit page you are reviewing or a dated archive export for historical research, with the right expectations for each.
You have found a subreddit full of useful product questions. Now you need the posts in a spreadsheet, with enough context to understand the replies.
Before choosing a Reddit exporter, decide whether you need the page you are looking at now or a historical dataset. Those are different collection jobs. A tool that exports archived discussions should not be presented as a live search feed.
I maintain a local Reddit export extension and a separate archive-based Apify actor. Here is when each fits.
Choose by the question you need to answer
| Your starting point | Better fit | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| A visible subreddit feed | Chrome extension | Which posts loaded |
| Reddit post-search results you are reviewing | Chrome extension | Search view and captured sample |
| A known subreddit and a past date window | Archive actor | Archive availability and bounds |
| Public user history in a date window | Archive actor | Supported records and missing fields |
| A complete live thread with every reply | Neither guarantees this | Source access and actual comment coverage |
The old whoareyouanas/reddit-scraper actor is deprecated. Its replacement has a different input and output contract; swapping only the actor name in an old integration is insufficient.
Export the page you are reviewing
Install Reddit Post Scraper, open a supported community feed or post-search view, and start with a small capture. Inspect the results, then export CSV or JSON.
The extension runs locally and currently requires no license key or subscription. Optional comments can be included. CSV keeps captured replies in a readable comments column per post; JSON is more useful when your analysis needs nested structure. The extension privacy policy describes its data handling.
For analysis, distinguish a post's reported comment count from the bodies actually retrieved. Inspect commentFetchStatus: a partial or unavailable capture should stay visible in your research notes.
Do not interpret a page export as all posts in a subreddit. Record the feed sort, query, collection time, and observed scope alongside your file.
Export a dated historical sample
The Reddit archive actor accepts subreddit or user targets and explicit date bounds. This example requests a small historical sample:
{
"targets": ["r/Python"],
"datasets": ["posts", "comments"],
"startDate": "2024-01-01",
"endDate": "2024-01-07",
"maxItemsPerKind": 25,
"limit": "100",
"resumeFromState": false
}
Check the actor's current availability before starting. Its archive coverage can lag live Reddit. Global keyword searches, direct thread URLs, and live rankings are outside this workflow. Post and comment exports are independent selections, so selecting both does not automatically fetch every reply tree for each selected post.
The per-kind cap applies separately to each target and dataset. Keep the first run small, check the rows and dates, then expand intentionally.
Build a clean analysis table
Keep the original export. Create a second table with your own research fields:
| Analysis column | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Source URL | Return to the discussion |
| Research question | Explain why you included the record |
| Theme | Group similar problems |
| Evidence note | Describe the relevant passage |
| Capture method | Distinguish browser observations from archive rows |
| Coverage note | Preserve missing comments or uncertain context |
For archive rows, inspect kind, redditId, createdAt, description, and available source fields in rawData. Do not assume legacy field names remain present.
Keep null text distinct from an extraction error. A link post may have a title and URL without a text body, and an unavailable author should not be replaced with an invented identity.
Turn the export into a useful decision
Read a small sample before automating labels. Tag repeated problems, the alternatives people mention, and the exact question each discussion helps answer. Count distinct conversations so one long thread does not dominate your findings.
If you use AI to summarize, require source references and review the result against the original text. Keep identifiable details out of the final memo when aggregate themes are sufficient.
For the next step, use the Reddit market research guide. Start with the browser extension for a page in front of you, or the archive actor for a clearly dated historical question.