Indie Hackers Posts Scraper

Indie Hackers Posts Scraper

Scrape Indie Hackers posts by keyword, up to a million per run. Every post comes with its title, URL, and the full discussion thread. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Indie Hackers is where founders share revenue numbers, growth tactics, and product launches, but there is no official API to pull that data in bulk. This actor reads the public post feeds directly, filtered by URL slug keyword, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Indie Hackers for
Startup founders	Monitor competitor launches and revenue milestones as they are shared.
Market researchers	Identify trending business models and growth channels discussed by bootstrappers.
Content marketers	Find real founder stories and case studies to reference in articles.
Investors	Discover early-stage startups and solo founders gaining traction.

What it does

This Actor collects Indie Hackers posts by keyword filter and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Keyword filtering: Only return posts whose URL slug contains your search term, so you get exactly the niche you care about.
• 📊 Flat structured output: Every post is returned as a clean row with a consistent schema, ready for spreadsheets or databases.
• ⚡ High-volume runs: Set a maximum of up to one million posts per run to build a large historical dataset.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Indie Hackers data

📈 Track competitor launches and traction.

A startup founder filters posts by a competitor's brand name to catch every product update and revenue milestone the moment it is posted.

🧠 Research bootstrapper business models.

A market analyst scrapes posts mentioning 'SaaS' or 'marketplace' to catalog which monetization strategies indie founders are using this quarter.

✍️ Source founder stories for content.

A content marketer collects posts with 'growth' or 'launch' in the slug to find authentic case studies for a newsletter on indie startups.

💼 Discover investment-worthy projects.

An angel investor scrapes posts filtered by 'revenue' to spot bootstrapped companies hitting meaningful financial milestones.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key needed	Access public Indie Hackers post data without registering an application or managing rate limits.
Keyword-targeted scraping	Filter posts by slug keyword to collect only discussions about a specific topic, tool, or industry.
Scalable collection	Pull up to a million posts in a single run for large-scale trend analysis.
Fixed output schema	Every post lands in your dataset with the same predictable fields, no cleaning required.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Indie Hackers the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	Indie Hackers Posts Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Indie Hackers changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a keyword filter that matches post URL slugs, and set a maximum number of posts so only the volume you need reaches your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.011 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.10
1,000 results	$11.00
10,000 results	$110.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Indie Hackers Posts Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Indie Hackers through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/indiehackers-posts-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Your keyword filter may be too narrow or misspelled. Try removing the filter to confirm the actor can reach the site, then test broader terms. Also check that your maxItems setting is not set to zero.

The run is taking a long time. Is that normal?

Yes, especially with a high maxItems value. The actor respects the site by pacing its requests. You can lower the maximum posts count for faster test runs.

Some posts seem to be missing from my results.

The keyword filter only checks the URL slug, not the post body or title. A post about your topic may have a different slug. Try a shorter or different keyword.

I got an error during the run.

Check the run log for details. Transient network issues can cause occasional failures. Retry the run, and if the problem persists, contact Apify support with the run ID.

Can I filter by date or author?

The current input schema supports filtering by URL slug keyword only. Date and author filtering are not available in this version.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an Indie Hackers account or API key to use this scraper?	No. This actor reads publicly available post feeds and requires no login, account, or API key.
How does the keyword filter work?	The filter matches against the URL slug of each post. For example, a filter of 'saas' will return posts whose slugs contain that string, like indiehackers.com/post/my-saas-launch.
What data does each post row include?	Each row includes the post title, URL, and the full discussion content. The exact fields are shown in the sample output on the actor's page.
Can I scrape posts from a specific product or group?	You can target posts about a specific product by using its name as the keyword filter, since Indie Hackers post slugs often include the product or topic discussed.
How many posts can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum anywhere from 1 to 1,000,000 posts per run.
What export formats are supported?	Your dataset can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Does this scraper get comments on each post?	Yes, the full discussion thread associated with each post is included in the output.
Is this an official Indie Hackers API?	No, this is an unofficial scraper built on the Apify platform that reads publicly accessible pages.
Can I schedule this scraper to run automatically?	Yes, you can set up recurring runs on a schedule of your choice using Apify's built-in scheduler.
What happens if I set the keyword filter and get zero results?	The run will complete with an empty dataset. Try a broader keyword or check the spelling of your filter term.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Indie Hackers. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.