Platform · TikTok
TikTok API for Profiles, Videos, Comments, and Trends
One API key for every public TikTok read operation: profiles, videos, comments, transcripts, followers, search, sounds, hashtags, and the trending feed. No academic affiliation. No 1,000-call daily cap.
TikTok's official Research API is gated to US and EU academic and non-profit researchers, capped at 1,000 calls per day, and rejects nearly every commercial use case on review. The Display API only reads accounts that have logged into your app via TikTok OAuth. CreatorCrawl reads any public TikTok profile, video, comment thread, search result, sound, hashtag, or trending feed under pay-as-you-go credits that never expire. Every endpoint is exposed as a native MCP tool so your Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or Zed agent can read TikTok in natural language.
Why pick CreatorCrawl over the TikTok Research API / Display API?
The official TikTok Research API / Display API is the first place most developers look. Here is why teams building real products switch off it.
TikTok Research API / Display API
- Research API limited to US and EU academic and non-profit institutions
- 1,000 calls per day hard cap
- No commercial use permitted
- Display API only reads accounts that OAuth into your app
- No comments export, no trending feed, no sound lookup, no transcript
- Application review can take weeks and is frequently rejected
CreatorCrawl
- No approval process, sign up in 60 seconds
- Pay-as-you-go credits, never expire, no subscription
- Native MCP server for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed
- Same API covers 5 other platforms under one key
- Real-time data on every request, 250 free credits on signup
TikTok endpoints
19 endpoints covering profiles, content, engagement, and search. Every endpoint is exposed as an MCP tool so your AI agent can call it in natural language.
/tiktok/profileProfile
Public TikTok profile by handle: bio, follower and following counts, video count, total likes, verification status, region, and avatar.
/tiktok/profile/videosProfile Videos
Paginated video timeline for any public TikTok handle. Captions, play counts, likes, comments, shares, music ID, and timestamps.
/tiktok/videoVideo
Single video detail by URL: full caption, play count, likes, comments, shares, video and cover URLs, author, and music metadata.
/tiktok/video/commentsVideo Comments
Paginated comments on any public video with author, like count, and replies. The official API does not expose this for third-party videos.
/tiktok/video/transcriptVideo Transcript
Plain-text transcript plus timestamped segments for any TikTok video. The official API has no equivalent.
/tiktok/user/followersFollowers
Paginated follower list for any public handle with profile snippets for each follower.
/tiktok/user/followingFollowing
Paginated following list for any public handle.
/tiktok/search/usersSearch Users
Keyword search across TikTok creators returning profile snippets ranked by relevance.
/tiktok/search/keywordSearch Keyword
Keyword search across all TikTok content with filters for time range and sort order.
/tiktok/search/hashtagSearch Hashtag
Videos tagged with a specific hashtag, ranked by recency or engagement.
/tiktok/search/topSearch Top
TikTok universal search returning top users, videos, and hashtags for a query.
/tiktok/get-trending-feedTrending Feed
The For You-style trending feed for content research and trend detection.
/tiktok/videos/popularPopular Videos
Currently popular videos by region. Useful for trend monitoring at country level.
/tiktok/creators/popularPopular Creators
Top creators on TikTok by engagement and follower velocity.
/tiktok/hashtags/popularPopular Hashtags
Currently trending hashtags with view counts and growth signals.
/tiktok/songs/popularPopular Songs
Trending sounds on TikTok with usage counts. Sound trends drive content trends.
/tiktok/songSong
Single song detail by ID: title, author, duration, and total uses across TikTok.
/tiktok/song/videosSong Videos
Videos using a specific sound, paginated. Map a sound to the creators riding it.
/tiktok/user/liveLive
Live stream metadata for any handle currently live on TikTok.
Connect TikTok to your AI agent in 60 seconds
The CreatorCrawl MCP server exposes all 19+ TikTok endpoints as native tools. Drop this config into Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Zed and your agent can read TikTok in natural language.
{
"mcpServers": {
"creatorcrawl": {
"url": "https://app.creatorcrawl.com/api/mcp",
"headers": {
"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"
}
}
}
}Save the config, restart your MCP client, and ask your agent something like "Pull the last 20 posts from a TikTok account and summarise the themes."
What teams build with TikTok data
Creator vetting for influencer marketing
Pull follower count, video timeline, and engagement signals on any TikTok handle before outreach. Calculate real engagement rates from the last 20 videos and spot inflated audiences in seconds.
Trend detection at sound and hashtag level
Watch the trending feed, popular hashtags, and popular songs endpoints on a schedule. Sound trends precede content trends by days. Catch a sound climbing and brief creators before it peaks.
Transcript pipelines for content research
Search the keyword, hashtag, or top endpoints, pull the transcript for the top results, and feed plain text into an LLM to extract repeatable hook and script patterns.
AI agents that reason about TikTok
Connect Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or Zed to the CreatorCrawl MCP server and your agent can search, fetch, and analyse TikTok in natural language without writing any HTTP client code.
Frequently asked questions about the TikTok API
How is this different from the TikTok Research API?
The TikTok Research API is restricted to US and EU academic and non-profit institutions, capped at 1,000 calls per day, and explicitly forbids commercial use. CreatorCrawl has no academic gate, no daily cap, and no commercial restriction. You sign up, grab an API key, and hit the endpoint. One call is one credit. Credits never expire.
Can I read comments on videos I do not own?
Yes. The Video Comments endpoint returns paginated comments on any public TikTok video with author, like count, and replies. The official Display API only exposes comments on your own owned content, which is one of the most common reasons teams switch to CreatorCrawl.
Can I extract TikTok video transcripts?
Yes. The Video Transcript endpoint returns timestamped segments and a plain-text field for any TikTok video URL. The official API has no transcript endpoint at all.
How fresh is the data?
Every request hits TikTok in real time. Follower counts, video metrics, and trending feeds are the numbers your users see when they open TikTok right now, not numbers from a cache.
Does it cover the For You trending feed?
Yes. The Trending Feed endpoint mirrors the For You-style trending view. The Popular Videos endpoint adds region-level cuts. Combined with Popular Hashtags and Popular Songs, you can map the entire trend surface across TikTok.
Can I use this with Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients?
Yes. The CreatorCrawl MCP server exposes every TikTok endpoint as a native tool. Drop one config block into Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Zed and your agent can call TikTok tools in natural language without any glue code.
Is it legal to read TikTok data this way?
CreatorCrawl only accesses publicly available TikTok data, the same data any logged-out browser can see. Reading public profiles is generally considered legal under precedents like hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn (2022), but specifics depend on jurisdiction and downstream use. Review TikTok's Terms of Service, GDPR, and CCPA against your use case before going live.
Is there a free tier?
250 credits free on signup, no credit card required. Every TikTok API call is 1 credit. Credits never expire. If you outgrow the free pack, credit bundles start at $29 for 5,000 credits with no subscription.