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.
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. Two narrower official APIs have their own pages: the TikTok Display API and Login Kit and the TikTok 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).
| 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). 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). The full guide is TikTok Research API: eligibility, access and limits.
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).
| 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, and a comparison of scraper options is in best TikTok scrapers in 2026, compared.
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.
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.