Ways to get WeChat Official Account data: the official API, RSS bridges and data APIs
On okdata, one API key reads any public Official Account: an account's 10 newest articles cost $0.02, one article's full text $0.02 and account search by name $0.058 per account; failed calls are free and no WeChat login is needed. For an account you administer, use WeChat's own API: it lists your published articles with their content. For other people's accounts, an open-source RSS bridge works through a WeChat Reading login you keep alive, while a third-party data API needs only a key. The official facts were checked on 2026-11-12.
Updated · Other options checked on
Many Chinese companies, media outlets and analysts publish their long-form writing as WeChat Official Account articles, and those articles live inside WeChat. There are three practical ways to get the articles into your own tools: WeChat's official API, which works for accounts you run; an open-source RSS bridge that reads through a WeChat Reading (微信读书) account; and a per-call third-party data API, which is what okdata is. Which one fits depends on whose accounts you need and how much upkeep you will accept.
What to compare first
Whose accounts. Your own account, or any public account. This single question rules out half the options.
The login you keep alive. Some routes need a personal WeChat or WeChat Reading login that expires or gets temporarily blocked. Others need only server credentials or an API key.
Full text. Do you get the article body, or only a title and a link you still have to open?
Finding accounts. To follow an account you need its ID. Can you search by name or keyword, or must you start from an article link?
Limits and cost. How many articles per call, how often you can refresh, and what you pay per account per month.
Side by side
The official facts come from WeChat's developer docs, read on 2026-11-12. The RSS bridge and data API rows describe what that kind of option has in common; for any one project or provider, read its own documentation.
| Option | Whose accounts | Login to keep alive | Full text | Finding accounts | Limits and cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WeChat Official Account API | The account itself: an access token from its AppID and AppSecret, called from a whitelisted server IP, or a third-party platform the account authorised | None beyond the credentials; the token lasts 7,200 seconds | Yes: freepublish_batchget returns each published article's title, author, digest and HTML content |
Not applicable: it lists the calling account's own articles | 1 to 20 articles a call; price not stated on the pages read |
| Open-source RSS bridge via WeChat Reading | Any account you subscribe to with an article share link | A WeChat Reading account logged in by QR code; too many requests get it blocked for a while (commonly a day), and an expired login needs a new QR scan | Some projects offer a full-text mode, at the cost of slower responses and more memory | Usually from an article's share link | Free apart from a server; refreshing too often triggers blocks, so defaults refresh only a few times a day; relies on WeChat's non-public interfaces, and some projects are no longer maintained |
| Reading in WeChat and copying by hand | Any | Your own WeChat | Yes, by copy and paste | WeChat's search box | Your time |
| Other per-call third-party data APIs | Usually any public account | Usually an API key | Check the endpoint list | Check whether search by name is offered | Check the pricing page; coverage of lists, text, reads and comments, and whether failed or empty calls are charged, differ |
| okdata | Any public account | None: one API key | Yes: article detail returns the body as plain text with the account and publish time, $0.02 | Official Account search by name or keyword returns the gh_ original ID, $0.058 per account returned, at most $0.58 a call |
Article history: 10 newest per call, $0.02; failed calls are free |
Where okdata differs
- No WeChat or WeChat Reading account. Nothing to scan, nothing that gets blocked for a day, nothing to log in again when a session drops; see keeping a WeChat feed running when the login expires.
- Search by name. You can find an account from its name or a topic, then follow it by the
gh_ID; see find an Official Account's ID. - Text ready for a model. Article detail returns plain text, so you can feed it to a summariser or a RAG index without stripping HTML.
- Predictable cost. Thirty accounts checked once a day are 900 history calls a month, $18.00. Pull full text only for the articles you keep.
- Counts and comments of any article. Article stats returns an article's current reads, likes, shares, saves and comments by its link, and article comments its featured comments, at $0.02 and $0.02 a call.
- Same key, other platforms. The articles can sit next to Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Weibo data in one report.
When okdata is the wrong choice
- The account is yours. WeChat's own API lists your published articles with their content, and the same documentation covers daily reading and sharing statistics and your follower changes. Use it.
- You read a few feeds for yourself. A self-hosted RSS bridge costs nothing beyond a server, and these projects refresh only a few times a day with pauses between updates to keep the reading account from being blocked. Check that the repository is still updated before you rely on it; some have been archived and will not be fixed.
How to try it
Sign up for $0.10 of trial credit, no card needed. Look up the account once, then read its history:
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_mp/accounts/search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode 'query=新能源汽车'
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_mp/accounts/articles/list" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode 'id=gh_5a1c9e7b3d20'
Each item in the history has title, url and published_at; pass a url to article detail for the text. The quickstart covers keys and paging, and the MCP server gives the same three endpoints to an agent. To turn this into a feed reader, see WeChat Official Account RSS feed and an RSS bridge alternative without a WeChat Reading account.
Questions
Can the official API read another account's articles?
The published-articles call is made with the calling account's own access token, or through a third-party platform that the account has authorised, and it returns that account's own articles. For accounts that have not authorised you, use a third-party data API or an RSS bridge.
Why does a WeChat Reading RSS bridge stop updating?
Usually one of two account states: the reading account is blocked for a while after too many requests, which tends to clear the next day, or the login has expired and needs a new QR scan. Adding subscriptions too fast also invites a block. If the project itself is no longer maintained, a change on WeChat's side will not be fixed.
How is Official Account search charged?
Per account returned, $0.058 each and at most $0.58 a call. When your balance is below a full page, the first page shrinks to what the balance covers. You only search once per account; after that you call history by the gh_ ID.
Do I get images and formatting?
Article detail returns plain text, which is what most summarising and search jobs need. Open the article's url if you need the original layout.