Answers
Should I use a platform's official API or a third-party social data API?
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; caption download needs permission to edit the video | 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) | You post, need full-archive search or want a contract with X | You only read public posts and profiles |
| TikTok | 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 | 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 | $0.004 per page of about 20 |
| Any public video's transcript | YouTube video transcript | $0.004 |
| X search | X post search | $0.006 per page of about 20 |
| Douyin search | Douyin video search | $0.02 per page of about 20 |
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
- If the job writes anything (posts, replies, DMs), use the official API.
- If the job needs private numbers (reach, audience, revenue) for accounts you control, use the official API or the platform's dashboard.
- 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.
Updated