How to Scrape Product Hunt Launches

Product Hunt is the go-to source for tracking new product launches, startup trends, and technology adoption. Here is how to extract its data.

Method 1: Product Hunt GraphQL API

Product Hunt offers a GraphQL API. Get an API token at https://api.producthunt.com/v2/docs.

import requests

API_TOKEN = "YOUR_PRODUCTHUNT_TOKEN"
ENDPOINT = "https://api.producthunt.com/v2/api/graphql"

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_TOKEN}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

def get_daily_posts(date="2026-04-20", limit=20):
    query = """
    query {
        posts(order: VOTES, postedAfter: "%s", first: %d) {
            edges {
                node {
                    name
                    tagline
                    votesCount
                    commentsCount
                    url
                    website
                    topics {
                        edges {
                            node {
                                name
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    """ % (f"{date}T00:00:00Z", limit)

    response = requests.post(ENDPOINT, json={"query": query}, headers=headers)
    data = response.json()

    posts = []
    for edge in data["data"]["posts"]["edges"]:
        node = edge["node"]
        posts.append({
            "name": node["name"],
            "tagline": node["tagline"],
            "votes": node["votesCount"],
            "comments": node["commentsCount"],
            "url": node["url"],
            "website": node["website"],
            "topics": [t["node"]["name"] for t in node["topics"]["edges"]]
        })
    return posts

posts = get_daily_posts()
for p in posts[:10]:
    print(f"{p['name']} ({p['votes']} votes): {p['tagline']}")

Method 2: Web Scraping with ScraperAPI

For data not available through the API, scrape the website directly.

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import json

API_KEY = "YOUR_SCRAPERAPI_KEY"

response = requests.get(
    "http://api.scraperapi.com",
    params={
        "api_key": API_KEY,
        "url": "https://www.producthunt.com",
        "render": "true"
    }
)

soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "html.parser")

# Product Hunt uses Next.js - check for embedded data
next_data = soup.find("script", id="__NEXT_DATA__")
if next_data:
    data = json.loads(next_data.string)
    print(json.dumps(data, indent=2)[:1000])

Tracking Trending Topics

def get_trending_topics():
    query = """
    query {
        topics(order: NEWEST, first: 20) {
            edges {
                node {
                    name
                    description
                    postsCount
                    followersCount
                }
            }
        }
    }
    """
    response = requests.post(ENDPOINT, json={"query": query}, headers=headers)
    data = response.json()

    topics = []
    for edge in data["data"]["topics"]["edges"]:
        node = edge["node"]
        topics.append({
            "name": node["name"],
            "posts": node["postsCount"],
            "followers": node["followersCount"]
        })
    return topics

Building a Launch Tracker

import time
import json

def track_launches(interval_hours=24):
    """Check for new launches periodically."""
    all_launches = []

    posts = get_daily_posts(limit=50)
    all_launches.extend(posts)

    # Save to file
    with open("product_hunt_launches.json", "w") as f:
        json.dump(all_launches, f, indent=2)

    print(f"Tracked {len(all_launches)} launches")

    # Analyze trends
    topic_counts = {}
    for post in all_launches:
        for topic in post.get("topics", []):
            topic_counts[topic] = topic_counts.get(topic, 0) + 1

    print("\nTop topics:")
    for topic, count in sorted(topic_counts.items(), key=lambda x: -x[1])[:10]:
        print(f"  {topic}: {count} launches")

Key Notes

• The API has rate limits of 450 requests per 15 minutes
• Historical data beyond 2 years may require web scraping
• Product Hunt data is excellent for identifying emerging SaaS trends and startup opportunities