# TikTok API in 2026: Official Options vs Scraper APIs

TikTok's official APIs let apps act for a user who logs in, such as showing their videos or posting for them, and give approved non-profit academic researchers access to public data; none of them lets a company search and collect public TikTok data at scale.

[![apidojo](/blog/authors/apidojo.png)**Apidojo** *15+ years of experience in data retrieval.*](/blog/authors/apidojo/)

**12 October 2026** Published

**4 min** Read

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**TikTok’s official APIs let apps act for a user who logs in, such as showing their videos or posting for them, and give approved non-profit academic researchers access to public data; none of them lets a company search and collect public TikTok data at scale.** For that, teams use scraper APIs, such as apidojo’s TikTok actors on Apify, which read public TikTok data for $0.30 per 1,000 posts.

This guide maps every official TikTok API, who can use it and what it returns, then shows where scraper APIs fit. The full decision guide is [TikTok API vs TikTok scraper](/blog/tiktok-api/api-vs-scraper/). Two narrower official APIs have their own pages: the [TikTok Display API and Login Kit](/blog/tiktok-api/display-api/) and the [TikTok Commercial Content API](/blog/tiktok-api/commercial-content-api/).

## What Official TikTok APIs Are There?

**TikTok for Developers offers 6 main API products, each built for a different job.** The table shows who can use each one and for what, based on TikTok’s developer documentation and changelog ([TikTok for Developers](https://developers.tiktok.com/doc/changelog)).

| API | What it does | Who can use it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Login Kit | Lets users sign in to your app with TikTok | Registered apps |
| Display API | Shows a logged-in user’s own profile and videos in your app | Registered apps, with the user’s permission |
| Content Posting API | Posts videos and photos to a user’s account from your app | Approved apps, with the user’s permission |
| Data Portability API | Exports a user’s own data to your app on their request | Approved apps, with the user’s permission |
| Research API | Public account, video and comment data for research | Approved non-profit academic researchers |
| Commercial Content API | Ads and commercial content shown in the EU | Approved researchers and professionals |

The common thread: outside the Research API, official APIs only touch data that a logged-in user grants you.

## Who Can Use the TikTok Research API?

**The Research API is for researchers employed by non-profit academic institutions in the US and Europe, with a defined research proposal and a non-commercial commitment.** TikTok typically replies to applications within 3 to 4 weeks ([TikTok for Developers](https://developers.TikTok.com/products/research-api/)). The default quota is 1,000 requests a day, up to 100,000 records, with a separate allowance of up to 2 million records a day for follower and following lists ([TikTok for Developers](https://developers.tiktok.com/doc/research-api-faq/)). The full guide is [TikTok Research API: eligibility, access and limits](/blog/tiktok-api/research-api/).

## What Can’t Official TikTok APIs Do?

**Official TikTok APIs can’t search all public videos, collect comments or follower lists at scale, or track competitors for a business.** Those uses are either limited to approved academic research or not offered at all. That’s the gap scraper APIs fill.

| Business task | Official API | Scraper API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search public videos by keyword or hashtag | Research API only | Yes |
| Collect comments on any public video | Research API only | Yes |
| Pull a competitor’s videos and stats | No | Yes |
| Show a user’s own videos in your app | Display API | Not needed |
| Post to a user’s account | Content Posting API | No |

## How Do Scraper APIs Work for TikTok?

**A scraper API reads the same public pages anyone can open on tiktok.com and returns them as structured data, with no TikTok login or developer approval.** apidojo runs a set of TikTok actors on Apify, each for one kind of public data, called through the Apify API from any language ([Apify](https://apify.com/apidojo/tiktok-scraper)).

| apidojo actor | Collects | Price |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TikTok Scraper | Videos by keyword, hashtag, profile, sound or location | $0.30 per 1,000 posts |
| TikTok Comments Scraper | Comments and replies on videos | $0.30 per 1,000 comments |
| TikTok User Scraper | Profiles, follower lists and following lists | $0.005 per query (about 10 users included), then $0.0005 per user |
| TikTok Scraper API | Small or frequent queries, and single videos | $0.006 per profile, hashtag, search or location query with 20 posts included, $0.003 per sound query with 10 included or per single video, then $0.0003 per post |

The full overview is [how to scrape TikTok data in 2026](/blog/tiktok-scraping/how-to-scrape-tiktok/), and a comparison of scraper options is in [best TikTok scrapers in 2026, compared](/blog/tiktok-api/best-tiktok-scrapers/).

## Is Using a TikTok Scraper API Legal?

**Collecting public TikTok data is a legal question that depends on your country, the data and how you use it, so check TikTok’s Terms of Service and the data protection law that applies to you.** Personal data in public profiles and comments still falls under laws such as the GDPR. Collect only what your project needs, and never collect private accounts’ content.

## Which TikTok API Should You Use?

**Use the official APIs when your app works on behalf of a logged-in user or you’re an eligible academic researcher; use a scraper API for business research on public data.** Listed below are the 4 most common cases.

-   **Show creators their own stats in your app**: Login Kit and the Display API.
-   **Schedule and publish posts for users**: the Content Posting API.
-   **Academic study of public content**: the Research API, if you qualify.
-   **Competitor, trend, influencer or comment research**: a scraper API.

## The scrapers behind this

-   [TikTok Scraper Profiles, videos, hashtags, music and locations; 460 posts/sec measured $0.30 / 1K posts](/scrapers/tiktok-scraper/)
-   [TikTok Comments Scraper Comments, likes and replies from video URLs; 100–200 comments/sec $0.30 / 1K comments](/scrapers/tiktok-comments-scraper/)
-   [TikTok User Scraper Users, followers and following lists by username or URL $0.005 / query + $0.50 / 1K users](/scrapers/tiktok-user-scraper/)

## Questions people ask

### Is the TikTok API free?

TikTok doesn't charge for its developer APIs, but each requires approval and comes with usage limits.

### Can businesses use the TikTok Research API?

No, it's limited to non-commercial academic research.

### Does TikTok have an API for comments?

Only through the Research API for approved researchers; scraper APIs collect public comments for other uses.

### How do you get a TikTok API key?

Register on TikTok for Developers, create an app, and apply for the products you need; each is reviewed.

## More on the TikTok API

-   [TikTok Research API: Eligibility, Access and Limits Who qualifies for TikTok's Research API, how to apply, what data it returns, its daily quotas and data delays, and what to use if you don't qualify.](/blog/tiktok-api/research-api/)
-   [TikTok Display API and Login Kit Explained What the TikTok Display API returns, the scopes and approvals it needs, its 3 endpoints, and what it can't do for your app.](/blog/tiktok-api/display-api/)
-   [TikTok Commercial Content API and Ad Library What TikTok's Commercial Content Library and API contain, who can apply, how queries work, and what the ad library doesn't cover.](/blog/tiktok-api/commercial-content-api/)
-   [TikTok API vs TikTok Scraper: Which to Use Compare TikTok's official APIs with a scraper on access, data, cost, limits and risk, with a decision table for 7 common jobs.](/blog/tiktok-api/api-vs-scraper/)
-   [Best TikTok Scrapers in 2026, Compared Compare TikTok scrapers and data APIs by pricing model, cost per 100,000 posts, coverage and limits, and pick the right one.](/blog/tiktok-api/best-tiktok-scrapers/)

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