USE CASE:
Researching newsletters and the writers behind them
Everything below is about researching newsletters and the writers behind them, and about which newsletter research method holds up on a list rather than one record. Mamba Labs writes Apify actors for this kind of work, and Substack Scraper is the one aimed at newsletter research.
Last updated November 2, 2026
Where this starts
Substack hosts many of the newsletters that shape opinion in a niche. Sponsors want subscriber counts and engagement. Writers want to study what performs. Partnerships want the authors. Each publication shows its own posts and some numbers, and nothing lets you compare a hundred of them in one table.
Traditional Search Tools
- Newsletter directories. Several list newsletters by topic with audience estimates. Most rely on what writers submit.
- Substack's own search. Good for discovery inside the app. Nothing exports, and engagement numbers stay on each post.
- Browse each publication. Open the archive, note the subscriber count and skim post engagement. Thirty publications is a full morning.
Mamba Labs Apify Actors
These are the actors we built for this job. If yours is not covered here, search from the bar at the top of the page or contact us here and tell us what you need.
- Substack ScraperRuns from its Apify Store page on your own list.