Glossary · Platform APIs
Does TikTok have an API?
Short answer
Yes, TikTok has several official APIs, but none of them gives commercial developers general access to public TikTok data. They cover logging in, posting to your own account, showing a user’s own videos, ads transparency and non-commercial academic research.
Your own users
Sign-in, their own videos, posting and data exports.
Login KitDisplay APIContent Posting APIData Portability APIAcademic research
Public data, non-commercial use only.
Research APIAds
Public data on ads and advertisers.
Commercial Content API
Public data for commercial use
No official API. Teams use a data API that reads public pages.
01
TikTok’s official APIs
Login Kit
- What it does
- Lets people sign in to your app with TikTok.
- Who can use it
- Any registered app.
Display API
- What it does
- Reads the profile and videos of the user who authorised your app.
- Who can use it
- Any app, but only for users who log in and consent.
Content Posting API
- What it does
- Posts videos and photos to the authorising creator’s account.
- Who can use it
- Apps that pass an audit. Unaudited apps can only post privately.
Research API
- What it does
- Public videos, comments, profiles and follower lists.
- Who can use it
- Academic and not-for-profit researchers in certain regions. No commercial use.
Commercial Content API
- What it does
- Public data on ads and advertisers.
- Who can use it
- Open to apply. Covers ads shown in the EU.
Data Portability API
- What it does
- Exports a user’s own data with their consent.
- Who can use it
- EEA and UK users only.
02
What the official APIs don’t cover
If you are building a commercial product that needs data about accounts other than your own users, such as a creator’s follower count, the comments on a viral video or search results for a hashtag, no official TikTok API gives it to you.
- 01
The Display API only returns data for the person who logged in to your app.
- 02
The Research API covers public data but is limited to non-commercial research, with a daily request quota.
- 03
The Commercial Content API is about ads, not organic videos.
- 04
oEmbed
Returns a title, author and thumbnail for one known video URL, with no view or like counts.
03
How developers get public TikTok data
Teams that need public profiles, videos, comments, hashtags or sounds for commercial work usually use a data API that reads TikTok’s public pages and returns structured JSON. The trade-off is that you depend on that provider’s coverage and reliability instead of an official contract with TikTok.
Before you pick one, check which data points you need, how fresh they must be, how the provider handles errors and empty results, and how personal data is treated.
In Monocrawl
Public TikTok data in Monocrawl
Public TikTok data on one key.
Monocrawl reads public TikTok data through the same key and envelope as every other platform. Common calls include:
- 01
tiktok/profileA public profile with bio and counts.
- 02
tiktok/profile-videosRecent videos, newest first.
- 03
tiktok/post-commentsComments on a video, paged by cursor.
- 04
tiktok/post-transcriptThe spoken words of a video as text.
- 05
tiktok/searchtiktok/search-hashtagVideos by keyword or hashtag.
- 06
tiktok/song-videosVideos that use a sound.
No TikTok login or app review is needed, and failed or empty calls are not charged.
Questions
Common questions
Is the TikTok API free?
The official APIs are free to use once your app is approved, but each only covers its own narrow scope.
Can I use the TikTok Research API for my startup?
No. It is for academic and not-for-profit research, and TikTok requires applicants to be independent of commercial interests.
Can I get view counts for any TikTok video?
Not through an official API unless the video belongs to a user who authorised your app. Public data APIs return the counts shown on the video’s public page.
Sources
Try it on real data
One key for public data.
Social, search and web.
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