Official social media API prices and limits (18 platforms)
What the official API of each of 18 platforms allows, who can use it and what it costs, as each platform's own pages said when they were read (latest 2026-11-05), beside what reading the same platform with SocialToAI costs per call. Every row names its source.
Each platform's own API
“—” means the page read states no such thing; the platform's own page is the authority, and rules change.
| Platform | Official API | Who can use it | Cost | Limits | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | Research API | Approved academic and not-for-profit researchers in eligible regions, for non-commercial research. | TikTok's page states no price; access is by application. | Reads public content at scale, but not for business use. | developers.tiktok.com | 2026-10-17 |
| TikTok | Display API | Apps whose users log in and authorise them. | TikTok's page states no price. | Reads only the profile and public videos of the users who authorise the app. | developers.tiktok.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Instagram Platform API | Apps working through Business or Creator accounts. | The overview states no price. | Reads the account's own data, basic metadata and media of other professional accounts; serving accounts you don't manage needs App Review and Business Verification. | developers.facebook.com | 2026-10-17 | |
| Hashtag search | Apps approved in App Review for Instagram Public Content Access. | The page states no price. | At most 30 unique hashtags per account in a rolling 7 days; returns top or recent media for a hashtag. | developers.facebook.com | 2026-10-29 | |
| X (Twitter) | X API, pay per use | Any developer: sign up in the X developer console and buy prepaid credits. | $0.005 per post read, $0.010 per user read, charged per resource returned. | Up to 3 million post reads per billing cycle; more needs an Enterprise plan. X says prices may change. | docs.x.com | 2026-10-29 |
| Reddit Data API | Developers under Reddit's Data API Terms; commercial use, research beyond the rate limits and earning from it need Reddit's agreement. | Commercial terms are agreed with Reddit; its terms page states no public price. | Reddit posted on 2026-09-30: new requests closed on 2026-10-31; API access starts to close on 2027-01-12 for apps and users that have not registered; public access closes in March 2027; RSS feeds stop on 2026-11-13. | www.reddit.com | 2026-11-05 | |
| YouTube | YouTube Data API v3 | Any developer with a Google Cloud project and an API key. | Free within the quota: by default 100 search.list calls and 10,000 units a day for the other endpoints. | A read of a list usually costs 1 unit; more quota is requested through Google's quota extension form. | developers.google.com | 2026-10-29 |
| YouTube | Captions download | A signed-in user with permission to edit the video. | 200 quota units a call. | Downloads caption tracks only of videos the user can edit, so not of any public video. | developers.google.com | 2026-10-29 |
| Official API | Only with approval: reading public Page posts and comments needs the Page Public Content Access feature, App Review and business verification. | — | — | developers.facebook.com | 2026-10-17 | |
| Self-serve permissions | Any developer app. | LinkedIn's page states no price. | Sign in (the member's own name, headline, photo and email) and posting on a member's behalf. None reads other members' posts. | learn.microsoft.com | 2026-10-30 | |
| Partner program APIs | Apps approved through LinkedIn's partner programs. | LinkedIn's page states no price. | Every API beyond the self-serve permissions needs that approval. | learn.microsoft.com | 2026-10-30 | |
| Threads | Official API | Yes, mainly for the users who authorise your app; searching public posts by keyword needs approval. | — | — | developers.facebook.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Telegram | Bot API | Anyone: each bot gets its own token when it is created. | Messaging users is free by default; paid broadcasts above 30 messages a second cost 0.1 Stars a message. | An HTTP interface for bots. A bot receives messages only from chats and channels it is a member of; sending too fast returns 429 errors. | core.telegram.org | 2026-10-30 |
| Telegram | Telegram API (api_id and api_hash) | Anyone with a Telegram account: sign in at my.telegram.org, open API development tools and fill in the form. One api_id per phone number. | Telegram's page states no price. | A full client API that signs in as a user account. Clients must follow the API Terms of Service; accounts that log in through unofficial clients are put under observation, and flooding or faking counters gets an account banned. | core.telegram.org | 2026-10-30 |
| Official API | Yes, for creators, advertisers and merchants after review; its docs describe no search of public content. | — | — | developers.pinterest.com | 2026-10-17 | |
| Xiaohongshu (RedNote) | Xiaohongshu open platform login | Apps that pass Xiaohongshu's review. | The page states no price. | Reads the basic profile (nickname, avatar) of users who authorise the app; no API for public notes or comments is documented. | openaccount.xiaohongshu.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Douyin | Official API | Not for public content: Douyin's open platform serves the users who authorise your app, and documents no endpoint for any public video or profile. | — | — | open.douyin.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Official API | Not for public posts: Weibo's API returns only the authorised user's own posts. | — | — | open.weibo.com | 2026-10-17 | |
| WeChat Articles | Official API | Not for other accounts' articles: WeChat's Official Account APIs manage your own account only. | — | — | developers.weixin.qq.com | 2026-11-05 |
| Bilibili | Official API | Not for public content: Bilibili's open platform returns only the videos and stats of users who authorise your app. | — | — | openhome.bilibili.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Zhihu | Official API | Yes: Zhihu's data open platform offers search, the hot list and answers, with a daily free quota and paid calls beyond it. | — | — | developer.zhihu.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Kuaishou | Official API | Not for public content: Kuaishou's video endpoints return only the videos of users who authorise your app. | — | — | open.kuaishou.com | 2026-10-17 |
| WeChat Channels | Official API | No: WeChat's developer documentation describes no API for reading public Channels posts. | — | — | developers.weixin.qq.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Meta Ad Library | Official API | Yes: the Ad Library API searches ads about social issues, elections or politics anywhere, and every ad delivered in the UK and EU. | — | — | www.facebook.com | 2026-10-17 |
| Google Ads Transparency | Official API | Partly: Ads Transparency Center data is a free public dataset for ads served in the EEA and Turkey, with API access for EEA ads. | — | — | console.cloud.google.com | 2026-10-17 |
X: X charges per resource returned, from prepaid credits: $0.005 for each post read and $0.010 for each user read. Pay-per-use plans are capped at 3 million post reads per billing cycle; more needs an Enterprise plan. X says its prices are subject to change. Source: X API pricing (docs.x.com), read 2026-10-29.
Reddit: On 2026-09-30 Reddit posted the dates for moving public API apps and bots to its Developer Platform: new requests for public API access close on 2026-10-31, API access starts to close on 2027-01-12 for apps and users that have not registered or responded to its outreach, and public access closes for all remaining apps and users in March 2027. Source: Reddit's r/redditdev post of 2026-09-30, “Moving Data API Apps to the Developer Platform”, read 2026-11-05.
Reddit: Reddit stops supporting RSS feeds on 2026-11-13, calling RSS a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse. It recommends Devvit apps such as Discord Relay for common moderator alerts; for RSS feeds outside a community you moderate, it says there is no replacement. Source: Reddit's r/modnews post of 2026-09-30, “Continuing our infrastructure updates”, read 2026-11-05.
Reddit: TechCrunch reports that tools such as AI assistants will need commercial agreements with Reddit for its data. Source: TechCrunch's report of Reddit's announcement, 2026-09-30, read 2026-10-29.
Reading them with SocialToAI
One key, one response format and no account of yours on any platform. Prices are per call, the same for everyone; failed calls are free. 100 free credits on sign-up, no card.
| Platform | From, per call | At the first pack | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 2 credits | $0.0067 | TikTok API |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | Instagram API | |
| X (Twitter) | 1 credit | $0.0033 | X (Twitter) API |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | Reddit API | |
| YouTube | 2 credits | $0.0067 | YouTube API |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | Facebook API | |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | LinkedIn API | |
| Threads | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Threads API |
| Telegram | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Telegram API |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | Pinterest API | |
| Xiaohongshu (RedNote) | 12 credits | $0.04 | Xiaohongshu (RedNote) API |
| Douyin | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Douyin API |
| 2 credits | $0.0067 | Weibo API | |
| WeChat Articles | 12 credits | $0.04 | WeChat Articles API |
| Bilibili | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Bilibili API |
| Zhihu | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Zhihu API |
| Kuaishou | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Kuaishou API |
| WeChat Channels | 12 credits | $0.04 | WeChat Channels API |
| Meta Ad Library | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Meta Ad Library API |
| Google Ads Transparency | 2 credits | $0.0067 | Google Ads Transparency API |
Last updated: