# Xiaohongshu data APIs: official, third-party or open-source (2026)

> Choosing a source of Xiaohongshu notes, comments and creator data: the official open platforms, third-party data services, open-source crawlers and MCPs, and subscription dashboards compared.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/compare/xiaohongshu-data-apis/

To read other people's Xiaohongshu notes, comments and creator data, okdata charges $0.02 for a search page of about 20 notes and $0.02 for a page of about 10 comments, needs no Xiaohongshu account, and does not charge failed calls. The official routes do not cover this: Xiaohongshu's open platform is for e-commerce, and the Juguang and Pugongying APIs show advertisers only their own campaigns and sponsored notes. The other choices are third-party data services, open-source crawlers and MCP servers that log in with your account, and subscription dashboards; the official facts were checked on 2026-11-12.

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

Competitor tracking, topic research and creator shortlists on Xiaohongshu need three things: notes found by keyword, the comments under them, and creator profiles with their posts. Teams often look for an official API first and find that Xiaohongshu's open platforms are about running a shop and buying ads. Public notes come from third-party data services, open-source tools and dashboards. This page starts with what okdata returns, then compares four kinds of option: the official open platforms, third-party data services, open-source crawlers and MCP servers, and subscription dashboards.

## What okdata returns and what it costs

okdata is a per-call data API. You need one key and no Xiaohongshu account:

- [Note search](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/search/): public notes by keyword, about 20 a page, $0.02 a page.
- [Note detail](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/get/): full text, all images and like, save and comment counts, $0.02 a call; for video notes, [video note detail](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/videos/get/) adds the video URL and subtitles for $0.02.
- [Note comments](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/comments/list/): top-level comments and replies with IP location, $0.02 for a page of about 10, about $2.00 per 1,000.
- [Creator profiles](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/users/get/) at $0.02 and [creator notes](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/users/notes/list/) at $0.02 a page.
- Account search, trending topics, Pugongying creator profiles and rates, and shop products and reviews have their own endpoints, each priced on its page.

Failed calls are free, and a missing note is not charged on note detail. Sign-up includes $0.10 of trial credit; top-ups start at USD 10 by card, Alipay or WeChat Pay. The same key works for AI agents through [MCP](https://okdata.online/mcp/).

## The comparison

The official platforms are described from Xiaohongshu's own docs, read on 2026-11-12. Third-party and open-source options differ from one to the next, so their rows describe what is typical of the kind.

| Option | Data | Cost | Login or cookie | Risk and upkeep | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaohongshu open platform (official) | A shop's products, orders, after-sales, inventory, logistics and finance; no note search or comments | Not stated | Company credentials and shop authorisation; not for individual shops | Compliant; e-commerce only | Merchants and e-commerce vendors |
| Juguang and Pugongying APIs (official) | An advertiser's own ad reports; comments on its own ad creatives (allow-list); post-campaign data for its sponsored notes, with comment counts but not comment text | Not public | Juguang advertising credentials; Pugongying apps need CNY 5 million spend in the past year | Only your own ads and sponsored notes | Brands and agencies measuring campaigns |
| okdata | Note search and detail, video URL and subtitles, comments and replies with IP location, creator profiles and notes, account search, trending topics, Pugongying creator profiles and rates, shop products and reviews | Search $0.02 a page, comments $0.02 a page; $0.10 trial | A key, no Xiaohongshu account | Read-only; failed calls free; no view counts | Public data in code or an AI agent |
| Other third-party data services | Note search, detail, comments, creator info, often with other platforms | Per call or per page; some publish prices, some show them after sign-up | The service's key | Rules differ on charging failed calls, empty results and missing notes | Developers wiring data into code at volume |
| No-code scraping tools | Search, note detail, comments, exported as JSON or CSV | Per result or per run | Some need no login, some need a cookie | Scrapers are often maintained by third-party developers and can break when the site changes | Occasional exports without code |
| Open-source crawlers | Keyword search, notes, second-level comments, creator pages | Free; your machine and proxies | QR, SMS code or cookie login | Some licences allow learning and research only, no commercial use; you fix breakages | Learning, research, small one-off jobs |
| Open-source MCP servers (self-hosted) | Search, note detail and comments, profiles; some can also post and comment | Free | QR login with your own account | Every action is your account's | Letting AI run your own account |
| Subscription dashboards | Notes, creators, brand campaigns, comment search, dashboards with exports | Monthly or yearly memberships, export quotas by tier | A dashboard account | Usually no public API | Marketers who do not code |

## The official platforms do not read public notes

The Xiaohongshu open platform at open.xiaohongshu.com is an e-commerce platform: its API catalogue covers common, orders, after-sales, products, inventory, materials, logistics, finance, instant retail, membership and suppliers. Joining needs company credentials, and a merchant building its own app cannot be an individual shop. The developer agreement also forbids using user data for anything outside the app.

The marketing open platform bundles Juguang, Pugongying, private-message tools and Qianfan, and needs Juguang advertising credentials; a Pugongying app needs CNY 5 million of Pugongying spend in the past year. Its data endpoints are about your own campaigns: ad-creative comments are allow-list only and cover your own ad creatives, and Pugongying post-campaign data covers registered sponsored notes within a 30-day span and returns a comment count, not the comments. Other people's notes, comments and creator data are not available officially; see [does Xiaohongshu have an official API](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-official-api/).

## Third-party data services

These services turn public data into HTTP endpoints you call with their key, with no Xiaohongshu account. okdata is one of them, with the endpoints and prices above. When you compare services of this kind, check three things:

- **Unit price and unit**: per call, per page or per item, and how many items a page holds. Some publish prices on their site; others show them only after sign-up.
- **What gets charged**: bad parameters, errors and timeouts; empty search results, deleted notes and IDs that do not exist. Some services bill a missing note ID or an empty result at full price, which adds up at volume.
- **Fields and coverage**: whether comments include second-level replies and IP location, and whether video notes come with the video URL and subtitles.

No-code scraping tools can also export Xiaohongshu notes and comments: you pick a scraper someone else wrote, enter keywords and download JSON or CSV, paying per result. That suits an occasional export; for a long-running integration you wait for the maintainer whenever the scraper breaks.

## Open-source crawlers and MCP servers

Open-source Xiaohongshu crawlers on GitHub search notes and read comments, and some fetch second-level comments and creator pages. Most of them log in by QR code, SMS code or an imported cookie. Several well-starred projects say in their licence or README that they are for learning and research only and forbid commercial use, so read the licence first.

Open-source Xiaohongshu MCP servers are built for AI: they run a local MCP server so Claude or Cursor can search notes, read comments and view creators, and some can also post and comment. They log in with your own account by QR code, and some require that the same account is not logged in on another web client at the same time.

Whatever such a tool does is done by your account. Xiaohongshu's user agreement forbids taking its videos, posts and user information by "illegal scraping" or "simulated downloads"; see [account ban risk](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-scraping-account-ban-risk/). For the costs of running a crawler against paying per call, see [scraping it yourself vs a per-call data API](https://okdata.online/compare/scraping-vs-data-api/); for MCP options in AI clients, see [MCP servers for Xiaohongshu, Douyin and WeChat](https://okdata.online/compare/xiaohongshu-douyin-wechat-mcp-servers/).

## Subscription dashboards

Dashboards focused on Xiaohongshu sell monthly or yearly memberships for browsing notes, creators and brand campaigns, some with comment search, and limit exports by tier. They suit marketing teams who do not code. To feed data into your own system or an AI agent, these dashboards usually have no public API, so you need a data API.

## How to choose

- **Merchant integrating orders and products**: the Xiaohongshu open platform.
- **Brand measuring its own ads and sponsored notes**: the Juguang and Pugongying APIs, or their back offices.
- **Other people's notes, comments and creators, in code or an agent**: a third-party data service such as okdata; compare unit price and what empty or deleted results cost.
- **AI that posts and replies as you**: an open-source Xiaohongshu MCP server.
- **Learning or one-off research, accepting account risk**: an open-source crawler.
- **Marketers browsing data without code**: a subscription dashboard.

## What okdata does not do

- It cannot post, comment, like, save or message.
- View counts are not public on Xiaohongshu, so they come back null with the reason in `meta.unavailable`.
- It cannot see logged-in-only content such as the home feed or private notes.
- It has no private Pugongying back-office data such as your orders and sponsored-note reports; creator profiles and rates have their own [Pugongying creator endpoint](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/pgy/creators/get/) at $0.04.

## Try it

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

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/xiaohongshu/notes/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=coffee machine'
```

Pass a note `id` from the results to the comments endpoint to page through its comments. The full flow is in [export Xiaohongshu note comments](https://okdata.online/guides/xiaohongshu-note-comments/), and AI clients connect through the [MCP page](https://okdata.online/mcp/).

## Questions

### Does Xiaohongshu have an official data API?

It has two open platforms and neither reads public notes. One is for e-commerce; the Juguang and Pugongying APIs read an advertiser's own campaigns and sponsored notes, with comment text only for allow-listed ad creatives.

### What does a Xiaohongshu comment API cost?

On okdata, $0.02 for a page of about 10 comments, about $2.00 per 1,000, with failed calls free. Other third-party services charge per call, per page or per item, and some show prices only after sign-up; when you compare, count what empty results and missing notes cost.

### Can I get notes and comments without logging in?

Yes, through third-party data services and some no-code scraping tools, which do not use your Xiaohongshu account. Open-source crawlers and MCP servers usually log in.

### Can I get a note's view count?

Not from any public route: Xiaohongshu does not publish note views. Likes, saves, comments and shares are available.

### Is collecting Xiaohongshu comments legal?

China's Personal Information Protection Law allows handling information people made public themselves within a reasonable scope, with conditions and exceptions. Keeping comment text and dropping commenter identities lowers the risk a lot; see [is collecting Xiaohongshu comments legal under PIPL](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-comments-collection-legal-china/), and ask a lawyer about a specific project.

## Endpoints mentioned

- [Xiaohongshu note search](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/search/) `xiaohongshu.notes.search`: $0.02 per call · about 20 notes per page
- [Xiaohongshu note detail](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/get/) `xiaohongshu.notes.get`: $0.02 per call
- [Xiaohongshu note comments](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/comments/list/) `xiaohongshu.notes.comments.list`: $0.02 per call · about 10 comments per page
- [Xiaohongshu account profile](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/users/get/) `xiaohongshu.users.get`: $0.02 per call
- [Xiaohongshu account notes](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/users/notes/list/) `xiaohongshu.users.notes.list`: $0.02 per call · about 20 notes per page
- [Xiaohongshu video note with its video](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/videos/get/) `xiaohongshu.videos.get`: $0.02 per call

## More about Xiaohongshu (RedNote)

- [Xiaohongshu (RedNote) API](https://okdata.online/apis/xiaohongshu/)
- [Xiaohongshu API in Python: notes, profiles and comments (2026)](https://okdata.online/guides/xiaohongshu-api-python/)
- [How to export Xiaohongshu comments for a keyword](https://okdata.online/guides/xiaohongshu-note-comments/)
- [How to shortlist Xiaohongshu PGY creators by rate and reads](https://okdata.online/guides/xiaohongshu-pgy-creator-rates/)
- [How to search Xiaohongshu notes and export them to CSV](https://okdata.online/guides/xiaohongshu-search-export-notes/)
- [Is there a Xiaohongshu MCP server that doesn't need a QR code login?](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-mcp-qr-login-expires/)
- [How do I add Xiaohongshu data to Cursor or Cline through MCP?](https://okdata.online/answers/cursor-cline-xiaohongshu-mcp/)
- [Xiaohongshu returns error 300011 (account abnormal). How do I keep collecting notes?](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-300011-account-abnormal/)
- [How do I find complaints about a brand on Xiaohongshu?](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-brand-complaints/)
- [How do I export every note from a Xiaohongshu creator's profile?](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-export-creator-notes/)
- [How do I find Xiaohongshu KOLs in a niche and get their follower counts?](https://okdata.online/answers/xiaohongshu-find-kol-creators/)
- [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/)

## Sources

- [Xiaohongshu e-commerce open platform: API docs](https://open.xiaohongshu.com/document/api) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Xiaohongshu e-commerce open platform: developer roles](https://open.xiaohongshu.com/document/developer/file/103) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Xiaohongshu marketing open platform: access (Juguang, Pugongying)](https://ad-market.xiaohongshu.com/docs-center?bizType=943&articleId=4437) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Xiaohongshu marketing open platform: ad creative comments](https://ad-market.xiaohongshu.com/docs-center?bizType=943&articleId=4692) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Xiaohongshu marketing open platform: Pugongying post-campaign data](https://ad-market.xiaohongshu.com/docs-center?bizType=944&articleId=3199) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Xiaohongshu user service agreement](https://agree.xiaohongshu.com/h5/terms/ZXXY20220331001/-1) (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)

## Other comparisons

- [How to collect Douyin comments: API, crawler or no-code (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/douyin-comment-scraping/)
- [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/)
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- [Xiaohongshu, Douyin and WeChat MCP servers: self-hosted vs hosted](https://okdata.online/compare/xiaohongshu-douyin-wechat-mcp-servers/)