TikTok's official APIs
| API | What it's for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Research API | Public videos, comments and accounts for research | Only approved academic and non-profit researchers in eligible regions. No commercial use. Applications are reviewed by TikTok. |
| Display API | Showing a user's own profile and videos in your app | Only data of users who log in to your app and give consent. |
| Content Posting API | Publishing videos to TikTok | Writing, not reading. |
| Commercial Content API | Ads and commercial content shown in Europe | Covers ads, not ordinary videos or comments. |
Source: TikTok for Developers documentation and Research Tools pages. Eligibility rules change; check TikTok's current criteria before you apply.
Why most projects don't qualify
Brand monitoring, influencer research, trend tracking, competitor analysis and AI agents all need public data about accounts that aren't your users, often for commercial purposes. The Research API is the only official API that returns that kind of data, and it's closed to companies. The Display API only works for people who sign in to your app.
Reading public TikTok data with Vanefeed
Vanefeed's TikTok API reads TikTok's public web pages, the same videos and counts any visitor sees, and returns them as clean JSON. There's no TikTok developer account, app review or consent screen on your side.
| Endpoint | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
tiktok/profile | Followers, following, likes, video count, bio, verification | 1 credit |
tiktok/posts | An account's videos with views, likes, comments, shares, saves | 2 credits per 20 |
tiktok/comments | Comments under a video, with like and reply counts | 2 credits per 20 |
tiktok/replies | Replies under one comment | 2 credits per 20 |
tiktok/search | Video search | 3 credits per 20 |
tiktok/hashtag | Videos for a hashtag | 3 credits per 20 |
tiktok/transcript | What's said in a video, as text | from 1 credit |
More endpoints, including followers, sounds, live status and trending, are listed on the TikTok API page. 1,000 videos or comments cost 100 credits, about $0.10–$0.15 on our packs. Failed calls cost nothing.
Try it
# an account's latest 40 videos (4 credits)
curl "https://api.vanefeed.com/v1/tiktok/posts?handle=khaby.lame&limit=40" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VANEFEED_KEY"import os, requests
r = requests.get("https://api.vanefeed.com/v1/tiktok/posts",
params={"handle": "khaby.lame", "limit": 40},
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['VANEFEED_KEY']}"})
for video in r.json()["data"]:
print(video["published_at"], video["metrics"], video["text"][:60])Good to know
- Only public content. Private accounts and direct messages are never collected.
- If you're an eligible academic researcher, apply for TikTok's Research API too. Our research data guide covers both routes.
- When TikTok changes its site, calls fail fast and free while we fix the parser.
100 free credits
Enough for about 1,000 TikTok videos or comments. No card needed.