# Should I use a platform's official API or a third-party social data API?

> Official APIs from YouTube, X, TikTok and Douyin against a third-party data API: what each official route allows and costs, and a simple rule for choosing per platform.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/official-api-vs-third-party-social-data/

**Short answer: **Use the official API when you need to post, need private metrics of accounts you control, or need a direct agreement with the platform. Use a third-party API for public data about accounts you do not control, or when the official one does not offer it: YouTube's API cannot download captions for videos you cannot edit, while okdata returns any public video's transcript for $0.004. X's official reads are priced per post; okdata X search is $0.006 a page of about 20.

Official APIs are built for apps that act on behalf of a signed-in account: post, reply, read your own analytics. Most marketing and research questions are about other people's public posts. That mismatch decides most cases.

## Platform by platform

| Platform | What the official route gives you | Pick it when | Pick a data API when |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Data API with a [default daily allocation of 100 search calls and 10,000 units for most other methods](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/getting-started); [caption download needs permission to edit the video](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/captions/download) | Moderate search and comment reads, free within quota | You need transcripts of others' videos, or more searches than the quota |
| X | Pay-per-use credits; post reads listed at $0.005 each and user reads at $0.010 (November 2026, [pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing)) | You post, need full-archive search or want a contract with X | You only read public posts and profiles |
| TikTok | [Research API](https://developers.tiktok.com/products/research-api) for approved academic projects; developer APIs built around accounts that authorise your app | You qualify for research access | You are a company and need public videos and comments |
| Douyin | Open platform with [OAuth scopes granted by the account owner](https://developer.open-douyin.com/docs/resource/zh-CN/dop/develop/openapi/account-permission/get-access-code) | The accounts will authorise your app, such as your own brand accounts | You need public data about accounts that will not |

## What the third-party side costs

| Need | Endpoint | Price |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube search beyond quota | [YouTube video search](/apis/youtube/videos/search/) | $0.004 per page of about 20 |
| Any public video's transcript | [YouTube video transcript](/apis/youtube/videos/transcript/get/) | $0.004 |
| X search | [X post search](/apis/x/posts/search/) | $0.006 per page of about 20 |
| Douyin search | [Douyin video search](/apis/douyin/videos/search/) | $0.02 per page of about 20 |

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/youtube/videos/transcript/get" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'id=dQw4w9WgXcQ' --data-urlencode 'lang=en'
```

## A rule that holds up

1. If the job writes anything (posts, replies, DMs), use the official API.
2. If the job needs private numbers (reach, audience, revenue) for accounts you control, use the official API or the platform's dashboard.
3. If the job reads public posts, comments or profiles of accounts you do not control, compare the official read price, if one exists, with a data API, and take the cheaper one that returns the fields you need.

Many teams end up with both: official for their own accounts, a data API for the market around them. A third-party API returns public data only, and you remain responsible for how you use it. For a transcript-heavy workflow, see the [transcripts guide](/solutions/transcripts/).

## Endpoints used

- [YouTube video search](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/search/) `youtube.videos.search`: $0.004 per call · about 20 videos per page
- [YouTube video transcript](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/transcript/get/) `youtube.videos.transcript.get`: $0.004 per call
- [X post search](https://okdata.online/apis/x/posts/search/) `x.posts.search`: $0.006 per call · about 20 posts per page
- [Douyin video search](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/search/) `douyin.videos.search`: $0.02 per call · about 20 videos per page

Updated 2026-11-12