👥 Scrape X (Twitter) Followers to CSV/JSON — Free, No API

Export any public account's full followers list on X (Twitter) to a CSV or JSON file — free, no API key, no paid tools. Get usernames, display names, bios, verified status, and more.

Works on: 🌐 Browser Console · 💻 CLI · 🤖 MCP (AI Agents)
Difficulty: 🟢 Beginner
Time: ⏱️ 2–20 minutes (depends on follower count)
Requirements: A web browser logged into x.com

📖 For the quick-reference version, see followers-scraping.md

🎯 Real-World Scenario

You run a SaaS startup and your competitor @rival_app has 12,000 followers. Your marketing team wants a spreadsheet of those followers — usernames, bios, and verified status — so they can identify influencers to reach out to, find common audience segments, and build targeted ad lookalike audiences. Twitter's API costs $100/month and has strict rate limits. Third-party scraping services charge per 1,000 followers.

XActions scrapes the followers page directly from the browser DOM, collecting everything visible in each UserCell — then exports it all as a clean CSV you can open in Google Sheets, Excel, or import into your CRM. Zero cost, zero API credentials.

Before XActions:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Your options for exporting followers               │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                     │
│  Option 1: Twitter API ($100/mo Basic)              │
│    → Apply for developer access                     │
│    → Wait 1-3 days for approval                     │
│    → Rate limit: 15 requests / 15 min               │
│    → Parse JSON responses yourself                  │
│                                                     │
│  Option 2: Paid scraping tools ($20-50/mo)          │
│    → Phantombuster, Apify, etc.                     │
│    → Limited credits per month                      │
│    → Share your auth tokens with third party        │
│                                                     │
│  Option 3: Manual copy-paste (😩)                    │
│    → Scroll, screenshot, type...                    │
│    → 12,000 followers = 3 weeks of your life        │
│                                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

After XActions:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ✅ Paste script → Wait → Download CSV              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                     │
│  📁 rival_app_followers_2026-02-24.csv              │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │ Handle    │ Name      │ Bio       │ Verified│    │
│  │ @alice    │ Alice C.  │ AI dev    │ true   │     │
│  │ @bob_k    │ Bob K     │ Web3     │ false  │     │
│  │ @carol_m  │ Carol M.  │ PM @Meta │ true   │     │
│  │ ... 4,997 more rows                        │    │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
│                                                     │
│  📊 Total: 5,000 followers exported                 │
│  ✓ Verified accounts: 347                           │
│  ✓ With bios: 3,812                                 │
│  ⏱️ Time: 8 minutes                                 │
│  💰 Cost: $0                                        │
│                                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

📋 What This Does (Step by Step)

1. 📜 Navigates to the followers page — reads x.com/username/followers
2. 🔄 Scrolls to load all user cells — X lazy-loads followers in batches; the script scrolls repeatedly
3. 🔍 Extracts data from each UserCell — username, display name, bio, verified status, avatar URL, "Follows you" badge
4. 🗂️ Deduplicates — uses a Map keyed by username to avoid counting the same person twice
5. 📊 Shows progress — logs the running total as it scrolls
6. 💾 Downloads JSON + CSV — auto-triggers a browser download for both formats
7. 📋 Copies to clipboard — paste directly into Google Sheets if you prefer

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                          │
│  [Navigate to x.com/target/followers]                    │
│          │                                               │
│          ▼                                               │
│  [Read all visible UserCell elements]                    │
│          │                                               │
│          ▼                                               │
│  [Extract: username, name, bio, verified, avatar]        │
│          │                                               │
│          ▼                                               │
│  [Add to Map (dedup by username)]                        │
│          │                                               │
│          ▼                                               │
│  [Scroll down to load more]                              │
│          │                                               │
│     ┌────┴────┐                                          │
│   New users?  No new users                               │
│     │          │                                         │
│     ▼          ▼                                         │
│  [Continue]  [Retry up to 5 times]                       │
│                │                                         │
│                ▼                                         │
│          [Done scrolling]                                │
│                │                                         │
│                ▼                                         │
│  [Download JSON + CSV + copy to clipboard]               │
│                                                          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🌐 Method 1: Browser Console (Copy-Paste)

Best for: Quick exports of up to ~5,000 followers. No setup needed.

Prerequisites

• Logged into X/Twitter in your browser
• On desktop/laptop
• Know the username of the account you want to scrape

Step 1: Navigate to the Followers page

Go to x.com/TARGET_USERNAME/followers — this works on any public account, not just yours.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🔍 x.com/rival_app/followers                       │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                    │
│  👤 Alice Chen @alice_dev        ✓ Verified        │
│     AI researcher | Building cool things           │
│                                                    │
│  👤 Bob K @bob_web3                                │
│     Web3 developer | Ethereum                      │
│                                                    │
│  👤 Carol M @carol_pm            ✓ Verified        │
│     Product Manager @Meta                          │
│                                                    │
│  ... 11,997 more                                   │
│                                                    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Step 2: Open Developer Console

Step 3: Paste and Run

// ============================================
// XActions - Followers Scraper for X/Twitter
// by nichxbt — https://xactions.app
// Go to: x.com/TARGET_USERNAME/followers
// Open console (F12 → Console), paste, Enter
// ============================================

(async () => {
  const CONFIG = {
    MAX_FOLLOWERS: 5000,     // Max followers to scrape
    SCROLL_DELAY: 1500,      // Delay between scrolls (ms)
    FORMAT: 'both',          // 'json', 'csv', or 'both'
  };

  console.log('');
  console.log('👥 XActions - FOLLOWERS SCRAPER');
  console.log('════════════════════════════════════════');

  const sleep = (ms) => new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms));

  // Verify page
  if (!window.location.pathname.includes('/followers')) {
    console.error('❌ Navigate to a followers page first!');
    console.log('👉 Go to: x.com/USERNAME/followers');
    return;
  }

  const username = window.location.pathname.split('/')[1];
  console.log(`📍 Target: @${username}/followers`);
  console.log(`⚙️  Max: ${CONFIG.MAX_FOLLOWERS} | Format: ${CONFIG.FORMAT}`);
  console.log('');

  const download = (content, filename, type) => {
    const blob = new Blob([content], { type });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = filename;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  const extractUser = (cell) => {
    try {
      const link = cell.querySelector('a[href^="/"]');
      const href = link?.getAttribute('href') || '';
      const handle = href.replace('/', '').split('/')[0];
      if (!handle || handle.includes('?')) return null;

      const nameEl = cell.querySelector('[dir="ltr"] > span');
      const bioEl = cell.querySelector('[data-testid="UserDescription"]');
      const followsYou = !!cell.querySelector('[data-testid="userFollowIndicator"]');
      const verified = !!cell.querySelector('svg[aria-label*="Verified"]');
      const avatarEl = cell.querySelector('img[src*="profile_images"]');

      return {
        handle,
        displayName: nameEl?.textContent?.trim() || '',
        bio: bioEl?.textContent?.trim() || '',
        followsYou,
        verified,
        avatar: avatarEl?.src || '',
        profileUrl: `https://x.com/${handle}`,
      };
    } catch (e) { return null; }
  };

  // ── Scraping loop ──────────────────────────────────────
  console.log('📜 Scanning followers list...');

  const followers = new Map();
  let noNewCount = 0;
  let scrolls = 0;

  while (followers.size < CONFIG.MAX_FOLLOWERS && noNewCount < 5) {
    const cells = document.querySelectorAll('[data-testid="UserCell"]');
    const before = followers.size;

    cells.forEach(cell => {
      const user = extractUser(cell);
      if (user && user.handle && !followers.has(user.handle)) {
        followers.set(user.handle, user);
      }
    });

    const added = followers.size - before;
    if (added > 0) {
      console.log(`   👥 Collected: ${followers.size} followers`);
      noNewCount = 0;
    } else {
      noNewCount++;
    }

    window.scrollBy(0, 800);
    await sleep(CONFIG.SCROLL_DELAY);
    scrolls++;
    if (scrolls > 300) break;
  }

  const result = Array.from(followers.values());
  const ts = Date.now();

  // ── Summary ────────────────────────────────────────────
  console.log('');
  console.log('════════════════════════════════════════');
  console.log(`👥 SCRAPED ${result.length} FOLLOWERS`);
  console.log('════════════════════════════════════════');
  console.log(`   ✓ Verified:       ${result.filter(u => u.verified).length}`);
  console.log(`   ✓ With bio:       ${result.filter(u => u.bio).length}`);
  console.log(`   ✓ Follows you:    ${result.filter(u => u.followsYou).length}`);
  console.log('');

  // Preview
  console.log('📋 Preview (first 5):');
  result.slice(0, 5).forEach((f, i) => {
    console.log(`   ${i + 1}. @${f.handle} ${f.verified ? '✓' : ''} — ${f.displayName}`);
  });
  if (result.length > 5) console.log(`   ... and ${result.length - 5} more`);

  // ── Download JSON ──────────────────────────────────────
  if (CONFIG.FORMAT === 'json' || CONFIG.FORMAT === 'both') {
    const json = JSON.stringify(result, null, 2);
    download(json, `${username}_followers_${ts}.json`, 'application/json');
    console.log('');
    console.log(`💾 Downloaded: ${username}_followers_${ts}.json`);
  }

  // ── Download CSV ───────────────────────────────────────
  if (CONFIG.FORMAT === 'csv' || CONFIG.FORMAT === 'both') {
    const csv = [
      'Handle,DisplayName,Bio,Verified,FollowsYou,ProfileURL',
      ...result.map(f =>
        `"@${f.handle}","${f.displayName.replace(/"/g, '""')}","${f.bio.replace(/"/g, '""').replace(/\n/g, ' ')}",${f.verified},${f.followsYou},"${f.profileUrl}"`
      )
    ].join('\n');
    download(csv, `${username}_followers_${ts}.csv`, 'text/csv');
    console.log(`💾 Downloaded: ${username}_followers_${ts}.csv`);
  }

  // ── Clipboard ──────────────────────────────────────────
  try {
    await navigator.clipboard.writeText(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
    console.log('📋 JSON copied to clipboard!');
  } catch {}

  // Store globally
  window.scrapedFollowers = result;
  console.log('');
  console.log('════════════════════════════════════════');
  console.log('💾 Access data: window.scrapedFollowers');
  console.log('════════════════════════════════════════');
})();

✅ Expected Console Output

👥 XActions - FOLLOWERS SCRAPER
════════════════════════════════════════
📍 Target: @rival_app/followers
⚙️  Max: 5000 | Format: both

📜 Scanning followers list...
   👥 Collected: 48 followers
   👥 Collected: 124 followers
   👥 Collected: 287 followers
   👥 Collected: 512 followers
   👥 Collected: 1,024 followers
   👥 Collected: 2,198 followers
   👥 Collected: 3,456 followers
   👥 Collected: 4,891 followers
   👥 Collected: 5,000 followers

════════════════════════════════════════
👥 SCRAPED 5,000 FOLLOWERS
════════════════════════════════════════
   ✓ Verified:       347
   ✓ With bio:       3,812
   ✓ Follows you:    89

📋 Preview (first 5):
   1. @alice_dev ✓ — Alice Chen
   2. @bob_web3 — Bob K
   3. @carol_pm ✓ — Carol Martinez
   4. @dave_startup — Dave Wilson
   5. @eve_design — Eve Thompson
   ... and 4,995 more

💾 Downloaded: rival_app_followers_1740412800000.json
💾 Downloaded: rival_app_followers_1740412800000.csv
📋 JSON copied to clipboard!

════════════════════════════════════════
💾 Access data: window.scrapedFollowers
════════════════════════════════════════

Two files land in your downloads folder, ready for Google Sheets or Excel.

💻 Method 2: CLI (Command Line)

Best for: Scraping large accounts (5,000+), batch jobs, automation pipelines.

# Install XActions globally
npm install -g xactions

# Scrape followers (basic)
npx xactions scrape followers rival_app

# Scrape with options
npx xactions scrape followers rival_app \
  --limit 10000 \
  --format csv \
  --output ./data/rival-followers.csv

Example with all options:

npx xactions scrape followers rival_app \
  --limit 10000 \
  --format both \
  --output ./exports/ \
  --scroll-delay 2000 \
  --headless \
  --auth-token "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN"

✅ CLI Output Preview

⚡ XActions v2.4.0

👥 FOLLOWERS SCRAPER
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📍 Target: @rival_app
📊 Limit: 10,000

📜 Scraping...
   ████████████████████████████ 100% | 10,000/10,000

📊 Summary:
   Total: 10,000
   Verified: 892
   With bio: 7,634

💾 Saved → ./exports/rival_app-followers-2026-02-24.json
💾 Saved → ./exports/rival_app-followers-2026-02-24.csv

📋 Sample:
   @alice_dev ✓ — Alice Chen
   @bob_web3 — Bob K
   @carol_pm ✓ — Carol Martinez

CLI Configuration Table

🤖 Method 3: MCP Server (AI Agents)

Use with Claude Desktop, GPT, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI agent.

Setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xactions": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "xactions", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

MCP Tool Call

{
  "tool": "x_scrape_followers",
  "arguments": {
    "username": "rival_app",
    "limit": 5000,
    "format": "json"
  }
}

Claude Desktop example prompt:

"Scrape the first 5,000 followers of @rival_app on X and export them to a CSV with usernames, bios, and verified status."

Expected MCP response:

{
  "status": "complete",
  "target": "rival_app",
  "followers_scraped": 5000,
  "verified_count": 347,
  "with_bio_count": 3812,
  "export_file": "rival_app-followers-2026-02-24.json",
  "sample": [
    { "username": "alice_dev", "name": "Alice Chen", "verified": true },
    { "username": "bob_web3", "name": "Bob K", "verified": false }
  ]
}

📊 Method Comparison

⚙️ Configuration Reference

📊 Sample Output / Results

JSON Export:

[
  {
    "handle": "alice_dev",
    "displayName": "Alice Chen",
    "bio": "AI researcher | Building cool things | @Stanford",
    "verified": true,
    "followsYou": false,
    "avatar": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/.../photo.jpg",
    "profileUrl": "https://x.com/alice_dev"
  },
  {
    "handle": "bob_web3",
    "displayName": "Bob K",
    "bio": "Web3 developer. Ethereum maxi. Building the future.",
    "verified": false,
    "followsYou": true,
    "avatar": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/.../photo.jpg",
    "profileUrl": "https://x.com/bob_web3"
  }
]

CSV Export (opens directly in Excel/Google Sheets):

Handle,DisplayName,Bio,Verified,FollowsYou,ProfileURL
"@alice_dev","Alice Chen","AI researcher | Building cool things | @Stanford",true,false,"https://x.com/alice_dev"
"@bob_web3","Bob K","Web3 developer. Ethereum maxi. Building the future.",false,true,"https://x.com/bob_web3"
"@carol_pm","Carol Martinez","Product Manager @Meta | Ex-Google | Building for 1B users",true,false,"https://x.com/carol_pm"

What you can do with this data:

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Import CSV into...                                   │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                       │
│  📊 Google Sheets → Filter, sort, analyze             │
│  📧 CRM (HubSpot, etc.) → Import as leads            │
│  📣 Ad platforms → Build lookalike audiences           │
│  🤖 Python/Pandas → Data analysis                     │
│  📋 Notion database → Track outreach                  │
│  📈 Spreadsheet → Pivot table by verified/bio         │
│                                                       │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

💡 Pro Tips

1. Scrape your own followers too — Compare your followers list with a competitor's to find overlap. Shared followers = your warmest prospects for engagement.

2. Filter the CSV in Google Sheets for high-value accounts — Sort by Verified = true to find influencers, or filter bios containing keywords like "founder," "CEO," "investor" for targeted outreach.

3. Increase MAX_FOLLOWERS for bigger accounts — The default 5,000 limit keeps things fast. For massive accounts, bump it to 10,000–50,000 and use the CLI version for better performance and progress tracking.

4. Run weekly for growth tracking — Export followers periodically, then use the "Compare Followers Over Time" pattern to track audience growth and churn trends.

5. Combine with followsYou data — The script captures whether each follower also follows you. Filter followsYou: true to find your mutual connections within someone else's audience.

⚠️ Important Notes

• Public accounts only (browser method) — The browser script reads what's visible on your screen. For private accounts, you need to follow them first. The CLI method supports auth tokens for authenticated scraping.
• X limits scroll loading — Twitter's infinite scroll eventually stops loading new users. For accounts with 100K+ followers, the practical limit is around 10,000–50,000 per session.
• Respect privacy and terms — Scraping public data is common practice, but don't use the data for spam, harassment, or unauthorized commercial purposes.
• Rate of scraping — The script only scrolls the page (no API calls), so there's minimal rate-limit risk. However, don't scrape the same account repeatedly in a short window.
• Data freshness — The export reflects the followers list at the moment you scrape. Follower counts change constantly.

Performance estimates:

🔗 Related Features

❓ FAQ

Q: How do I scrape Twitter followers without the API?

A: Go to x.com/USERNAME/followers in your browser, open the console (F12 → Console), and paste the XActions followers scraper script. It scrolls through the followers list, extracts data from each user card, and downloads a CSV + JSON file — all without any API credentials, app registration, or paid tools.

Q: Can I export someone else's followers, not just my own?

A: Yes — navigate to any public account's followers page (x.com/THEIR_USERNAME/followers) and run the script. It works on any public profile. For private/protected accounts, you need to be an approved follower.

Q: What data fields are included in the export?

A: Each follower entry includes: username (handle), display name, bio/description, verified status (blue check), "Follows you" status, avatar URL, and profile URL. The CSV opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets with proper column headers.

Q: How many followers can I scrape at once?

A: The browser script works well up to about 5,000 followers. For larger accounts, use the CLI version which handles up to 50,000 with better memory management and progress tracking. X's infinite scroll eventually caps, so extremely large accounts (1M+) can only be partially scraped.

Q: Is scraping Twitter followers legal?

A: Scraping publicly available data is generally legal in most jurisdictions (see the US Ninth Circuit ruling in hiQ v. LinkedIn). However, respect X's Terms of Service — avoid excessive scraping, don't use data for spam, and be mindful of privacy regulations like GDPR if handling EU user data.