CommentCrateWhy an export has fewer comments than the post shows
The number printed under a post counts more than any page will hand to a scan. Here is what differs and what you can do about it.
What the number includes
The count a site prints is its own bookkeeping. It usually includes replies, and it can include comments that were deleted, held back by a spam filter or hidden by the author, which no page shows to you. A scan can only read what the page shows to your account, so a gap of ten or twenty percent is normal.
What we saw on real posts
- Facebook: a public post that printed about 2,500 comments gave 2,260 rows in a logged-in session. Without logging in, Facebook handed over about 110 to 130 comments and then stopped.
- X: on a post X counted 177 replies for, we read 148. About 65 are drawn normally, more appear behind a “Show probable spam” button, and some never appear.
- Bluesky: on a post with several hundred replies a visitor can read about 190.
- YouTube: the number includes replies, so until replies are included (Pro) the top-level comments in your file are fewer than the number under the video.
- Instagram and TikTok: hidden, filtered and restricted-account comments can be left out as well.
What to check in the panel
When the scan ends, the panel says why it stopped. “Stopped: the site reports no more comments to load” means the page had nothing more to give. If it stopped because no new comments came or a time limit was reached, press Scan again: the comments already captured are kept. The panel also splits the count into top-level comments and replies.
How to get closer to the full list
- Log in on Facebook and X before you scan, and on Facebook choose “All comments” instead of “Most relevant”.
- Turn replies on (Pro): export comments with their replies. Without them the file holds top-level comments only, up to 200 on the free plan.
- Keep the tab open and in front until the scan is done; a hidden tab loads nothing.
- For a giveaway, scan right after the deadline and save the record, so the draw is on a list you can show: the giveaway record.