# How to collect Douyin comments: API, crawler or no-code (2026)

> Collecting Douyin comments and replies via the official API, a third-party comment API, an open-source crawler or a no-code tool: fields, cost, login and risk compared, with okdata's prices.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/compare/douyin-comment-scraping/

okdata's Douyin comment endpoint needs no Douyin account: top-level comments cost $0.002 a page of about 20, about $0.10 per 1,000, each with likes, reply count, time and IP location; replies cost $0.002 a page, and failed calls are free. The other options fall into four kinds: the Douyin Open Platform has no endpoint for comments on other people's videos; third-party comment APIs bill per call or per page, with differing unit prices and billing rules; open-source crawlers are free but mostly log in with your account, need upkeep, and some licences forbid commercial use; and no-code scraping tools (point-and-click scrapers and ready-made scrapers on scraping platforms) need no code, charge by subscription or per item, and need reconfiguring when pages change.

Updated 2026-11-12 · Other options checked on 2026-11-12

Sentiment analysis, competitor reviews and feeding user feedback to a language model all start the same way: the comments under a set of Douyin videos, in one table. The tools differ on four points: whether you log in with a Douyin account, whether replies are included, what 1,000 comments cost, and whether it plugs into code or an AI agent. First how okdata's comment endpoints work and what they cost, then the four kinds of option side by side.

## okdata's comment endpoints: fields, price and limits

It takes three steps: get video IDs (from [video search](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/search/), a user's posts or share links), page through the comments, and fetch replies by comment ID when you need them.

- [Video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/comments/list/): about 20 comments a page for $0.002, in Douyin's default hottest-first order, each with `text`, `likes`, `replies`, `published_at`, `ip_location` and the commenter. 1,000 top-level comments cost about $0.10.
- [Comment replies](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/comments/replies/list/): the replies under a top-level comment, by its ID and the video's ID, about 20 a page for $0.002.
- [Video detail](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/get/): $0.002 a call, useful for reading the comment count first and estimating how many pages to fetch.

One call is one page and one charge; send `page.next_cursor` back as it is for the next page, and pages you do not ask for cost nothing (see [pagination](https://okdata.online/docs/pagination/)). Failed calls are free, and how an empty answer is billed is in [billing](https://okdata.online/docs/billing/). The `fields` parameter keeps only what you need, for example without the commenter. New accounts get $0.10 of trial credit; top-ups start at USD 10 by card, Alipay or WeChat Pay, and the same key works for AI agents through the [MCP server](https://okdata.online/mcp/).

## What to compare first

**Top-level comments and replies.** A video's comment count includes replies and also folded or deleted comments, so collected top-level comments are always fewer. Replies need a tool that fetches them by comment. Why the numbers fall short is in [why fewer comments come back](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-comments-incomplete/).

**Fields.** The usual ones are text, likes, reply count, time, IP location and commenter. IP location is what you need for [counts by province](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-comment-ip-location/).

**Login.** Collecting with your own Douyin account or cookie risks restrictions, and expired sessions mean scanning a QR code again.

**Cost and upkeep.** Open-source tools are free but need servers, proxies and someone to fix them; APIs charge per call or per page and the service maintains them.

## The comparison

The Douyin Open Platform row comes from its own documentation, read on 2026-11-12. The other rows describe what each kind of option has in common; for any one service, its own docs and pricing page are what count.

| Option | What it collects | Cost | Login or cookie | Risk and upkeep | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douyin Open Platform (official) | No comment-list endpoint in the OpenAPI list; video search returns no comments | n/a | App review and user authorisation | The rules forbid services that obtain user behaviour data such as likes, comments and shares | Not for other people's comments |
| Third-party comment APIs | Top-level comments; most also have a replies endpoint | Per call or per page; unit price, page size, whether failed or empty calls are charged and whether prices are public all differ | An API key | Nothing to maintain; depends on reliability and billing rules | Ongoing collection into code, sheets or an AI agent |
| okdata | Top-level comments and replies with likes, reply count, time and IP location | Comments $0.002 a page, replies $0.002 a page; $0.10 trial, top-ups from USD 10 | A key, no Douyin account | Hottest-first order only; failed calls free | Code, spreadsheets or AI agents |
| Open-source crawlers | Comments on searched or given videos, mostly with replies, some with word clouds | Free; your machine and proxies | Most log in by QR code, phone or cookie; guest-identity ones get no search results and need video links | You fix broken logins and signatures; some licences forbid commercial use and large-scale crawling, some repositories have no licence file | Learning, research, small jobs |
| No-code scraping tools | Point-and-click scrapers collect comments by rules you configure; scraping platforms host ready-made Douyin comment scrapers, some with replies | Scrapers by monthly or yearly subscription, some templates charged per row; platform scrapers per item, some with a fee per run | Point-and-click tools usually need a manual Douyin login and cookie setup; some platform scrapers say they need no account | Rules break when pages change; platform scrapers are maintained by third-party developers and vary in quality and usage | Occasional exports without code |

## The official platform

Douyin Open Platform endpoints are mostly built on user authorisation and read the authorising account's own data. The OpenAPI list we read on 2026-11-12 has no comment-list endpoint, and video search, the one endpoint that reads unauthorised content, returns only title, cover, author and likes, with no comments. The capability usage rules also forbid services that obtain user behaviour data such as likes, comments and shares. The official route cannot collect comments on other people's videos; more in [can the Douyin Open Platform read other people's videos and comments](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-open-platform-api/).

## Third-party comment APIs

Comment APIs all work the same way: a video ID in, a page of comments out, then replies by comment ID. Most services keep top-level comments and replies as two endpoints. They differ on:

- **Billing unit and page size**: per call, per page or per item, and how many comments a page holds. With per-page billing, the page size sets what 1,000 comments cost.
- **Failures and empty results**: whether timeouts and platform errors are charged, and whether a successful answer with no comments is.
- **Public prices**: some pricing pages list every endpoint; others show prices only after sign-up or through sales.
- **Fields**: whether IP location is included, whether the commenter can be left out, and whether replies have their own endpoint.

okdata's answers are in the first section: billed per page, every price public, failed calls free, IP location included, and `fields` drops the commenter.

## Open-source crawlers

Open-source crawlers are many people's first stop: set keywords or video IDs and they collect videos and comments. A few things they have in common:

- **Most log in.** They usually keep a logged-in session with browser automation such as Playwright, or ask you to copy a logged-in cookie; some say plainly that nothing comes back without a login. Running them on your own account risks restrictions.
- **Some need no cookie.** Some projects mint guest identities to read comments and replies, but Douyin gives guests no search results, so you need video links first.
- **Read the feature table.** In some projects comment collection is off by default and has to be switched on in the config; in others Douyin comments are still marked as planned.
- **Licences.** Some projects use a non-commercial learning licence that forbids commercial use and large-scale crawling; some repositories have no licence file, which deserves thought before a commercial project.
- **Upkeep.** When the signature algorithm or the page changes, you wait for the author or fix it yourself.

The Douyin Open Platform's developer agreement calls reading platform data with spiders or bots "illegal acquisition". The costs are compared in more detail in [scraping vs a data API](https://okdata.online/compare/scraping-vs-data-api/).

## No-code scraping tools

These need no code and come in two forms:

- **Point-and-click scrapers**: you build the collection rules visually and pay a monthly or yearly subscription, with an API on some higher tiers; some templates run only in the cloud and are charged per row. Collecting Douyin usually means logging in manually in the scraper's browser and setting the cookie, and the rules need reconfiguring when Douyin's pages change. Check first whether the tool's social media templates list Douyin at all.
- **Ready-made scrapers on scraping platforms**: Douyin comment scrapers packaged as cloud jobs charged per item, some stating that no account or cookie is needed. Prices vary widely, and some add a fee per run. They are maintained by third-party developers, so check recent success rates and user counts before relying on one.

They suit an occasional export without code. For ongoing collection into your own systems, an API is more predictable in both cost and upkeep.

## Compliance

The Douyin Open Platform rules forbid developers from offering services that obtain likes, comments and shares. Commenter names and IP locations are personal information. Article 27 of the Personal Information Protection Law allows processing information individuals have made public within a reasonable scope, unless they clearly refuse, and requires consent where the impact on them is significant. Keeping comment text and the counts you need, without commenter identities, lowers the risk considerably; see [is collecting public social data legal](https://okdata.online/answers/is-scraping-public-social-media-data-legal/). This is general information, not legal advice.

## How to choose

- **Ongoing collection into code, sheets or an AI agent**: a third-party comment API. Compare unit price and page size, then failed and empty-call billing and whether prices are public.
- **Replies**: an API with a separate replies endpoint (okdata has one), or an open-source crawler that handles second-level comments.
- **Learning or one-off research**: an open-source crawler, after checking that its licence allows your use.
- **You have video links and want no login**: a guest-identity open-source project, or any comment API.
- **No code, one export**: a no-code scraping tool.

## What okdata does not do

- Comments come hottest-first only, not by time.
- Deleted, folded and self-only comments are missing, so totals fall short of the displayed count.
- It cannot post, reply, like or delete comments.
- It reads public data only and has no comment management for your own account.

## Try it

Sign up for $0.10 of trial credit, no card needed:

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/douyin/videos/comments/list" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'id=7301234567890123456' \
  --data-urlencode 'fields=text,likes,replies,published_at,ip_location'
```

Send `page.next_cursor` back as it is for the next page. The full workflow from keyword search to an exported table, in Python, is in [export Douyin video comments](https://okdata.online/guides/douyin-video-comments/); sentiment analysis on the export is in [export Douyin comments for sentiment analysis](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-export-comments-sentiment/), and other Douyin data is compared in [Douyin data APIs](https://okdata.online/compare/douyin-data-apis/).

## Questions

### Can I collect Douyin comments with the official API?

Not comments on other people's videos. The OpenAPI list we read on 2026-11-12 has no comment-list endpoint, video search returns no comments, and the rules forbid services that obtain comments and other user behaviour data.

### Do I have to log in to collect Douyin comments?

No. Third-party comment APIs need only the service's key, and okdata needs no Douyin account; some open-source projects use guest identities, and some platform scrapers say they need no account. Most open-source crawlers and point-and-click scrapers log in.

### What do 10,000 Douyin comments cost?

On okdata, a page holds about 20 top-level comments, so 10,000 is about 500 pages: $1.00. Third-party comment APIs price per call, per page or per item, so compare the total for the same job. Open-source crawlers cost servers, proxies and accounts; no-code tools cost a subscription plus any per-row charges.

### Can I get second-level comments (replies)?

Yes. okdata and most third-party comment APIs have a separate replies endpoint that takes the top-level comment's ID, and many open-source crawlers handle second-level comments too.

### Why do I get fewer comments than the video shows?

The displayed count includes replies and also folded, deleted and self-only comments. Even top-level comments plus replies often fall short of it; that is a limit of the platform itself.

## Endpoints mentioned

- [Douyin video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/comments/list/) `douyin.videos.comments.list`: $0.002 per call · about 20 comments per page
- [Douyin comment replies](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/comments/replies/list/) `douyin.comments.replies.list`: $0.002 per call · about 20 comments per page
- [Douyin video search](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/search/) `douyin.videos.search`: $0.02 per call · about 20 videos per page
- [Douyin video detail](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/videos/get/) `douyin.videos.get`: $0.002 per call

## More about Douyin

- [Douyin API](https://okdata.online/apis/douyin/)
- [Douyin API in Python: videos, profiles and comments (2026)](https://okdata.online/guides/douyin-api-python/)
- [How to export Douyin video comments in bulk](https://okdata.online/guides/douyin-video-comments/)
- [How to find Douyin Xingtu creators and get their rate cards](https://okdata.online/guides/douyin-xingtu-creator-rates/)
- [What is Douyin's a_bogus parameter, and do I need to generate it to get Douyin data?](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-a-bogus-signature/)
- [How do I export Douyin video comments for sentiment analysis?](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-export-comments-sentiment/)
- [How do I monitor brand mentions on Douyin and get new videos every day?](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-keyword-monitoring/)
- [Why do some Douyin links say /note/ instead of /video/?](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-note-vs-video-links/)
- [My Douyin scraper stopped working after a signature change. Should I fix it or switch to an API?](https://okdata.online/answers/douyin-scraper-broke-signature/)
- [How do I write a Claude Code skill that pulls Douyin comments or Xiaohongshu notes?](https://okdata.online/answers/agent-skill-social-media-data/)
- [Douyin data APIs: official vs third-party vs open-source (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/douyin-data-apis/)
- [Official platform APIs vs third-party data APIs (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/official-apis-vs-data-apis/)
- [Scraping it yourself vs a per-call data API: cost, upkeep and risk](https://okdata.online/compare/scraping-vs-data-api/)
- [How to choose a social media data API (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/social-media-data-apis/)

## Sources

- [Douyin Open Platform: OpenAPI list](https://developer.open-douyin.com/docs/resource/zh-CN/dop/develop/openapi/list) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Douyin Open Platform: capability application and usage rules](https://developer.open-douyin.com/docs/resource/zh-CN/dop/operation-standard/platform-capabilities/usage-spec) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Douyin Open Platform: mobile/web app service agreement](https://developer.open-douyin.com/docs/resource/zh-CN/dop/operation-standard/service-protocol/mobile-web-app-protocal) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Personal Information Protection Law of the PRC](http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c2/c30834/202108/t20210820_313088.html) (read 2026-11-12)
- [okdata docs: Billing](https://okdata.online/docs/billing/) (read 2026-11-12)
- [okdata docs: Pagination](https://okdata.online/docs/pagination/) (read 2026-11-12)

## Other comparisons

- [Douyin data APIs: official vs third-party vs open-source (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/douyin-data-apis/)
- [Official platform APIs vs third-party data APIs (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/official-apis-vs-data-apis/)
- [Scraping it yourself vs a per-call data API: cost, upkeep and risk](https://okdata.online/compare/scraping-vs-data-api/)
- [How to choose a social media data API (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/social-media-data-apis/)
- [MCP servers for social media data: self-hosted vs hosted](https://okdata.online/compare/social-media-data-mcp-servers/)
- [WeChat article APIs: official vs third-party vs open-source (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/wechat-article-data-apis/)
- [Ways to get WeChat Official Account data: the official API, RSS bridges and data APIs](https://okdata.online/compare/wechat-official-account-data-apis/)
- [Xiaohongshu data APIs: official, third-party or open-source (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/xiaohongshu-data-apis/)
- [Xiaohongshu, Douyin and WeChat MCP servers: self-hosted vs hosted](https://okdata.online/compare/xiaohongshu-douyin-wechat-mcp-servers/)