Scrape data from Patreon

What I mean by scraping Patreon

Scraping Patreon means a bot reads the public information off a creator's page and writes it into a sheet. The creator's name and description, their public posts, their patron or follower counts, the tiers and prices they offer. Point it at one creator or a list of them, and it gathers the same details across all of them, so a page of research becomes a row in a spreadsheet.

Most of Patreon is behind the paywall

Patreon is built on a paywall, and that shapes what a scraper can do. The locked posts, the patron-only content, the files behind a tier, those are not on the public page, and they are not yours to take. A bot sees the public shell, which is plenty, the creator details, the public posts, the patron counts, the tier prices, but it stops at the paywall, and it should.

So this is honest scraping of public data. Pulling what a creator chose to show the world, for research, a market scan, or a list of creators in a niche. It is not a way around paying for someone's work, and it is not a tool for republishing what they put behind a tier. Public surface, gathered into a sheet, and nothing past the line.

Who this is for

This is for the person doing research on Patreon, not raiding it. A marketer scanning creators in a niche, a writer studying how tiers are priced, someone tracking patron counts over time. You want the public numbers gathered, not the paid content. No-coders and coders both, since you can build it without code and drop into code when you want.

How I'd approach it

Make a list of the creator pages you care about in a sheet. Point the bot at the first one, select the public details you want, the description, the post titles, the patron count, the tiers, and have it write them to a sheet. Then loop the list. Stay on the public pages, take only what is shown, and keep the pace reasonable.

A list of creators, public fields only, into a sheet. I would lay out the first draft with Build with description.

Scrape Patreon from a description

Describe the public fields you want in plain words in the Chrome extension and it builds the steps for you. Give it a few short lines, check what it made, and run it. Explore no-code.

Scrape Patreon in code

Build with code. You do not have to write the script by hand. Describe the scrape to our Claude skill and it generates a ready-to-run Node script you own, then debugs it with you, fixing a selector that stopped matching or a step that stalls, until the run is clean. Prefer to write it yourself? Explore the code tool. Either way, the script looks like this.

1import { AxiomApi } from "axiom-api";2 3const axiom = new AxiomApi(process.env.AXIOM_API_KEY);4 5await axiom.browserOpen();6try {7  // Public creator page, public post titles only8  await axiom.goto("https://www.patreon.com/somecreator");9  const posts = await axiom.scrape("[data-tag='post-title']");10  console.log(posts); // write these to your sheet11} finally {12  await axiom.browserClose();13}14 

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Build with a Claude skill

Build no-code or code bots with a skill.

Add the Claude skill and describe the public Patreon data you want. It builds the bot for you, no-code or code, reading creator pages into a sheet.

Install the skillLearn more

What can you scrape?

The public surface, into a sheet. A couple of lines to stay on the right side of.

What I'd watch out for

Patreon mixes public and paid on the same page, so a few things matter here. Here is what I would watch for.

Stop at the paywall

The public details are fair game for research. The locked posts and paid files are not, and scraping or republishing them is both against the terms and unfair to the creator. Take the public surface, leave the rest.

Wait for the counts

Patron and follower counts often load a moment after the page. Wait for the number to appear before you read it, or you will scrape a blank.

Creator pages differ

Creators set up their pages differently, so the same field is not always in the same place. Pick what you scrape with the selector tool, and check it holds across a few pages before you run the whole list.

Keep the pace reasonable

You are reading public pages, so there is no need to rush. Space out the requests, take a list at a steady pace, and you will avoid looking like a flood.