Search Substack Users

Search Substack authors and publication profiles by name or keyword. Returns handle, display name, bio, follower count, subscriber badge, bestseller tier and primary publication for each profile.

Endpoint

GET /v1/substack/users

Price: $0.003 per request Free tier: 50 requests/month

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`query`	Yes	Search keyword (max 500 characters)
`page`	No	Page number, 1-4 (default: 1). 20 profiles per page

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`users`	array	Array of matching profiles
`users[].username`	string	Substack handle
`users[].full_name`	string	Display name
`users[].user_id`	string	User ID (pass it as `user_id` to the user endpoints)
`users[].biography`	string	Profile bio
`users[].profile_pic_url`	string	Profile picture URL
`users[].follower_count`	integer	Number of followers
`users[].subscriber_count`	integer	Rounded subscriber count of the primary publication, 0 when not shown
`users[].subscriber_count_label`	string	The displayed subscriber badge, e.g. `1.2M+`
`users[].bestseller_tier`	integer	Bestseller badge tier: 0, 100, 1000 or 10000
`users[].is_bestseller`	boolean	Whether the author carries a bestseller badge
`users[].paid_subscriber_band`	string	Paid subscriber band of the primary publication, e.g. `Tens of thousands`, empty when not shown
`users[].paid_subscriber_floor`	integer	Lower bound of the paid band (100, 1000, 10000), 0 when none
`users[].leaderboard`	object/null	Leaderboard placement (`category`, `category_id`, `rank`, `board`), null when unranked
`users[].twitter_handle`	string	X handle, empty when none
`users[].primary_publication`	object/null	The author’s main publication (`publication_id`, `name`, `subdomain`, `url`, `logo_url`)
`users[].date_joined`	string	Profile creation date and time (UTC)
`users[].url`	string	Link to the profile
`query`	string	The search keyword
`page`	integer	Current page number
`has_next_page`	boolean	Whether another page exists
`count`	integer	Number of profiles returned

Example Request

cURL

curl "https://apidirect.io/v1/substack/users?query=lenny&page=1" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://apidirect.io/v1/substack/users",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={"query": "lenny", "page": 1}
)
print(response.json())

Example Response

{
  "count": 20,
  "has_next_page": true,
  "page": 1,
  "query": "lenny",
  "users": [
    {
      "bestseller_tier": 10000,
      "biography": "Writing • Angel investing • Advising",
      "date_joined": "2021-05-01 23:55:21",
      "follower_count": 1383966,
      "full_name": "Lenny Rachitsky",
      "is_bestseller": true,
      "leaderboard": {
        "board": "paid",
        "category": "Business",
        "category_id": 62,
        "rank": 1
      },
      "paid_subscriber_band": "Tens of thousands",
      "paid_subscriber_floor": 10000,
      "primary_publication": {
        "logo_url": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/441213db-4824-4e48-9d28-a3a18952cbfc_592x592.png",
        "name": "Lenny's Newsletter",
        "publication_id": "10845",
        "subdomain": "lenny",
        "url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com"
      },
      "profile_pic_url": "https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/afba5161-65bb-4d99-8d6b-cce660917fa1_1540x1540.png",
      "subscriber_count": 1200000,
      "subscriber_count_label": "1.2M+",
      "twitter_handle": "lennysan",
      "url": "https://substack.com/@lenny",
      "user_id": "1849774",
      "username": "lenny"
    }
  ]
}