Substack Post Likes API

Endpoint

GET /v1/substack/post/likes

Parameters

url

Post URL, e.g. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit (max 500 characters). Provide url, post_id, or publication and slug.

post_id

Numeric post ID, as returned in post_id. Provide url, post_id, or publication and slug.

publication

Publication subdomain, host or URL, used together with slug.

slug

Post URL slug, e.g. all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit, used together with publication.

Response fields

likes

People who liked the post (up to 100)

full_name

Display name

user_id

User ID (pass it as user_id to the user endpoints)

profile_pic_url

Profile picture URL

bestseller_tier

Bestseller badge tier, 0 when none

is_bestseller

Whether the person carries a bestseller badge

primary_publication

Their main publication (publication_id, name, subdomain, url, logo_url), or null

url

Link to the profile (by ID)

post_id

The post's ID

post_url

The post's URL

total

The post's total like count

count

Number of profiles returned

Example Request

curl "https://apidirect.io/v1/substack/post/likes?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lennysnewsletter.com%2Fp%2Fall-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit"   -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://apidirect.io/v1/substack/post/likes",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={"url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit"}
)
print(response.json())

Example Response

{
  "count": 100,
  "likes": [
    {
      "bestseller_tier": 0,
      "full_name": "Christopher L Ross",
      "is_bestseller": false,
      "primary_publication": {
        "logo_url": "",
        "name": "Christopher L Ross",
        "publication_id": "8445348",
        "subdomain": "christopherlross782652",
        "url": "https://christopherlross782652.substack.com"
      },
      "profile_pic_url": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/795aab44-1e19-40ff-a4f3-14d22be4346f_144x144.png",
      "url": "https://substack.com/profile/106335682",
      "user_id": "106335682"
    }
  ],
  "post_id": "215694124",
  "post_url": "https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/all-of-the-lenny-and-friends-summit",
  "total": 285
}

Frequently asked questions

Why at most 100?

Substack serves the first 100 likers of a post and no more. total carries the full like count.

Why is username empty?

Substack does not include handles in this list. Use user_id with the User Profile endpoint to get the full profile.

How does pricing work?

You only pay for successful requests. The Substack Post Likes API costs $0.003 per request. There are no monthly fees or commitments. You get 50 free requests per endpoint every month.

Do I need a credit card to start?

No. You can sign up and use the free tier (50 requests/endpoint/month) without adding a payment method. You only need to add a card when you want to exceed the free tier.

Are there rate limits?

Yes, there's a concurrency limit of 10 simultaneous requests per endpoint per user. If you need more, just get in touch.