---
title: "How to scrape Facebook comments"
description: "Facebook's Graph API only returns comments on Pages you own. Here is what works for public posts, and how to pull a thread in about 60 seconds."
canonical: https://tryadlicio.com/scrapers/guides/how-to-scrape-facebook-comments
---

# How to scrape Facebook comments

By Daniel, founder of Adlicio

Facebook's Graph API only returns comments on Pages you own. Here is what works for public posts, and how to pull a thread in about 60 seconds.

The thing to understand first: Facebook's Graph API only returns comments for **Pages you manage**. Point it at a competitor's post and it returns nothing, by design. So the API most people assume will hand them competitor comment data simply does not, and anyone reading a competitor's Facebook comments is reading the public post one way or another.

That leaves **two honest routes** for public research, plus a lot of friction. You can collect comments by hand, or you can paste a public post permalink into a tool that reads the thread for you. Here is how each holds up, and the fastest path from a post URL to usable customer language.

## Why the Graph API won't help you

The Graph API is built for managing your own presence: comments on Pages you own, posts you publish, ads you run. Reading the comments on a Page you do not control is outside what it grants, and Meta has closed that door deliberately. So if your question is 'what are people saying under this competitor's post', the API route is not gated behind an approval you can win, it is **simply not on offer**.

## The manual route and where it breaks

You can open a public post and copy the comments by hand. It works until the thread has any volume. Facebook hides most of a busy thread behind 'View more comments', collapses replies under their parent, and re-sorts between 'Most relevant' and 'All comments', so you are clicking to expand far more than you are reading. On a post with **a few thousand comments** the objections and desires you came for are spread across dozens of expansions, and you will stop long before you have the full picture.

## The paste-a-URL route

Adlicio captures the comments on a public Facebook post through your own browser session, the same content any logged-in reader sees, with no Graph API and no API key. Paste a public post permalink and it works through the 'View more comments' pagination for you and finishes in **about 60 seconds**.

Then the comments come back clustered into ranked angles: the **objections a 35+ buyer keeps raising**, the desires worth leading with, and the exact phrasing candid Facebook commenters use, each with the verbatim quote behind it. Aggregate several public posts into one report and the market-wide pattern surfaces. The raw comments stay exportable.

## How to do it with Adlicio

1. **Collect the public post permalinks that matter** - A competitor's best-performing ad or organic post, or a public post where your buyers argue in the comments. High comment counts mean more usable language.
2. **Paste each permalink into Adlicio** - Point it at a public post URL. The scrape expands the thread past 'View more comments' and finishes in about 60 seconds per post.
3. **Read the clusters, lift the phrasing** - Work from the ranked angles: the recurring 'will it last' objection becomes your hook, the verbatim comment becomes your proof line for an older, higher-spending audience.

## FAQ

### Can I get comments from a competitor's Facebook page?

Not through the Graph API, which only returns comments on Pages you manage. Adlicio reads the public post through your browser session instead, so you can research any public post, including a competitor's, the same way a reader could.

### Why does the Graph API return nothing for other people's posts?

Meta scopes comment access to Pages you own by design, so competitor threads are simply out of reach via the API. That is why any tool that gives you competitor comment data is reading the public post, not calling an API.

### Does it handle the 'View more comments' pagination?

Yes. Adlicio works through the expansions Facebook hides a busy thread behind, so you get the full comment body rather than the first handful the post shows on load.

### Can I export Facebook comments to a CSV?

Yes. Every scrape lands in your history with a CSV export, so you can filter the raw comments alongside the ranked angles.

## Links

- This guide: https://tryadlicio.com/scrapers/guides/how-to-scrape-facebook-comments
- Scraper: https://tryadlicio.com/scrapers/facebook-scraper
- Pricing: https://tryadlicio.com/pricing
- Start free: https://tryadlicio.com/signup