# How do I compare data API prices quoted per call, per result, per credit or per GB?

> Turn social data quotes priced per call, per result, per credit, per compute unit or per GB of proxy traffic into one number: cost per 1,000 usable items.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/compare-data-api-pricing-units/

**Short answer: **Convert every quote to the cost of 1,000 usable items. For per-call pricing that is the price times the calls needed: okdata Xiaohongshu search is $0.02 for about 20 notes, so $1.00 per 1,000. For per-result pricing it is the price times 1,000, plus any per-run fees. Credits, compute units and proxy gigabytes need one more step, so test a real run before trusting the estimate.

Vendor A says $0.02 a request, vendor B says $1 per 1,000 results, vendor C sells credits, and a scraping platform bills compute units plus proxy traffic. None of those numbers can be compared directly. The one number that can: what 1,000 items you can actually use will cost.

## The formulas

| Quoted as | Cost per 1,000 items | Ask the vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Per call (per page) | price × ⌈1,000 ÷ items per page⌉ | How many items does a page really hold? Are empty pages billed? |
| Per result | price × 1,000, plus per-run or start fees | What counts as a result: replies, duplicates, ads? |
| Credits | credits per call × price per credit × calls | Do credits expire? Does the credit price change by plan? |
| Compute units | compute per run × unit price, plus proxy and storage | How much does a typical run of my size use? |
| Proxy per GB | GB per 1,000 pages × price per GB, plus your servers and time | How heavy are the pages? How many requests fail and retry? |

Scraping platforms such as Apify bill [compute units, proxies and storage](https://apify.com/pricing) for some scrapers and a fixed price per result for others, so the same platform can land in two rows. Residential proxy networks sell traffic [by the gigabyte](https://brightdata.com/pricing/proxy-network/residential-proxies), and a page with video previews weighs far more than a text page.

## okdata in this table

Most endpoints are per call, so cost per 1,000 is printed next to each one: [Xiaohongshu note search](/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/search/) is $1.00, [TikTok video comments](/apis/tiktok/videos/comments/list/) $0.04. One endpoint is per item: [Official Account search](/apis/wechat_mp/accounts/search/) charges $0.058 per account returned, at least one and at most $0.58 per call. Every response states its own charge:

```bash
curl -s -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_mp/accounts/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=36氪' | jq '.meta.billing, (.data.items | length)'
```

## The traps that wreck comparisons

- **Usable items.** If a third of what a vendor returns are duplicates from overlapping pages, its real cost per 1,000 is 50% higher.
- **Failures.** Ask whether failed requests, timeouts and blocked pages are billed. With proxies you always pay for the traffic, success or not.
- **Fields.** A cheap result without like counts or full text may force a second, pricier lookup.
- **Your time.** Compute and proxy pricing leaves the fixing to you when a platform changes.

Run each shortlisted option on the same 1,000-item job and divide the real invoice by the usable items. The [pricing page](/pricing/) lists cost per 1,000 for every endpoint here.

## Endpoints used

- [Xiaohongshu note search](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/search/) `xiaohongshu.notes.search`: $0.02 per call · about 20 notes per page
- [Official Account search](https://okdata.online/apis/wechat_mp/accounts/search/) `wechat_mp.accounts.search`: $0.058 per account · at most $0.58 per call
- [TikTok video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/tiktok/videos/comments/list/) `tiktok.videos.comments.list`: $0.002 per call · about 50 comments per page

Updated 2026-11-12