What is the Facebook Comments Scraper?
The InsightSocial Facebook Comments Scraper is a free Chrome extension that exports every comment and nested reply from any single Facebook post — with author profile, reactions, reply count, timestamps, and a parent_comment_id for thread reconstruction. Straight to CSV, Excel, or JSON.
The extension auto-scrolls and expands "View more replies" on its own, so you don't manually click your way through hundreds of comments. Brand teams use it for review-style sentiment work, researchers use it to study discussion threads, and support teams use it to bulk-triage feedback on viral posts.
Who is it for?
- Brand managers monitoring sentiment under campaign posts and announcements
- Social media analysts measuring audience reaction over time
- Researchers studying online discussion patterns
- Community managers identifying the most-engaged voices in a thread
- Customer support teams triaging issue-related comments at scale
- PR teams tracking public response to news and statements
Key Benefits
- Complete thread capture — every comment + every nested reply, linked back via
parent_comment_id - Commenter data — author name, profile URL, and avatar on each row
- Engagement metrics — reaction count and reply count per comment
- Auto-scroll + auto-expand — no manual scrolling or clicking "View more replies"
- Sentiment-analysis ready — one row per comment, clean structured text
- CSV / Excel / JSON export — drop straight into NLP tools, Sheets, or scripts
- No API, no account risk — runs in your own logged-in Facebook session
How to Use Facebook Comments Scraper
Step 1: Install InsightSocial
Add the InsightSocial extension from the Chrome Web Store. The icon appears in your toolbar after install.
Step 2: Open a Single Facebook Post
Navigate to the specific post whose comments you want. Supported URL formats:
facebook.com/username/posts/...facebook.com/groups/GROUP_ID/posts/...facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=...facebook.com/groups/GROUP_ID/permalink/...facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...(photo-viewer modal)
For posts on a page that contain a video, open the post URL (not Facebook's /watch/... URL) so the extension recognizes it as a single post.
Step 3: Open the InsightSocial Sidebar
Click the InsightSocial icon. The sidebar opens on the right and auto-detects you're on a single post — the source card switches to Single Post and the scrape type becomes Post + Comments.
Step 4: Pick a Comment Count
Choose how many comments to extract:
- 50 comments — quick read
- 100 comments — typical sentiment sample
- 250 comments — deeper thread audit
- 500 comments — full deep dive on a viral post
Step 5: Start Scraping
Click "Start Scraping". The extension auto-scrolls the post and auto-expands every "View more replies" thread as it goes. Comments arrive in the live preview with author, reactions, and reply count.
Step 6: Export
Click "Export" and choose CSV, Excel (.xlsx), or JSON. Each row is one comment; replies have a parent_comment_id pointing to the comment they're replying to, so you can pivot or group in your spreadsheet.
The same session also lives in the InsightSocial portal under your account history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it capture replies to comments?
Yes — every nested reply, with a parent_comment_id linking it back to its parent. Top-level comments leave that field blank. This lets you fully reconstruct conversation threads or pivot replies under their parents.
Which posts can I scrape comments from?
Any single Facebook post you can open in your browser:
- Posts on public pages
- Posts in groups you're a member of (public or private)
- Profile posts (public, or friends-only that you can see)
- Your own posts
Open the post URL directly — the extension switches into single-post mode based on the URL pattern.
How many comments can I extract per session?
Up to 500 comments per session (presets: 50 / 100 / 250 / 500). Each session = one post. Scraping is unlimited on every plan — credits are spent only on the rows you export, one credit per row:
- Free plan: 500 export credits per month
- Pro Monthly: 10,000 export credits per month for $9.99/mo
- Pro Yearly: 10,000 export credits per month for $95.88/year ($7.99/mo)
For mega-threads with thousands of comments, run multiple sessions on the same post to walk further down the thread.
What data is captured for each comment?
- Comment text
- Author name, author profile URL, author profile picture
- Reaction count
- Reply count
- Comment URL + timestamp
parent_comment_id(blank for top-level comments)- Parent post URL
How can I use this for sentiment analysis?
Export as CSV or JSON, then drop the comment_text column into any sentiment pipeline:
- Google Cloud Natural Language
- Amazon Comprehend
- OpenAI / Anthropic APIs
- Python scripts with NLTK, TextBlob, or transformers
- Notebooks in Hex, Hugging Face, Databricks, etc.
Because every comment is its own row with full text, no preprocessing is required on the import side.
Are deleted, hidden, or filtered comments captured?
No. InsightSocial only sees what Facebook actually serves to your session. Deleted comments, hidden replies, spam-filtered content, and page-blocked users aren't visible to you, so they aren't visible to the scraper.
Can I extract comments from Facebook Live or Watch videos?
Open the post URL (facebook.com/username/posts/...) rather than the /watch/... or /video/... URL — the scraper detects single posts, not Facebook's video player surface. For live streams, scrape after the broadcast ends; live comments stream continuously and any snapshot during the event will be incomplete.
Where is my scraped data stored?
Comments you scrape sync to your private InsightSocial account so you can re-open, search, and re-export them anytime from the portal. Only you can see what you've collected — we don't sell or share user data.
The scrape itself runs inside your own logged-in Facebook session in your browser. We never see your Facebook password and never call Facebook's API on your behalf.
Comparing comment-export tools? See the best ExportComments alternatives for bulk comment export without per-link pricing.