Blog
Notes from building a social data API
We publish here when we ship an endpoint, change how billing or errors work, or learn something expensive in production. Expect short essays on response envelopes, founder post-mortems with real numbers, and curl-first writeups when a feature is easier to show than summarize.
Where to start
The four most recent posts — or browse everything below.
Best Hacker News APIs & scrapers in 2026
Compare Hacker News data APIs for search, feeds, stories, comments, users, and hiring — Social Fetch vs DIY, Apify, and scrapers.
Best Truth Social APIs & scrapers in 2026
Compare Truth Social data APIs for public profiles and posts — Social Fetch vs DIY scrapers, Apify actors, and the official app.
Reddit API pricing in 2026 (what you pay)
How Reddit API pricing works for free vs commercial access, and when a public-data API is cheaper for research and monitoring.
Twitter/X API pricing in 2026 (what you pay)
How X API pricing works for new developers, when official access is worth it, and when a public-data API is cheaper.
All posts
Every article in reverse chronological order. Subscribe via RSS if you would rather not bookmark this page.
Best Hacker News APIs & scrapers in 2026
Compare Hacker News data APIs for search, feeds, stories, comments, users, and hiring — Social Fetch vs DIY, Apify, and scrapers.
Luke AskewBest Truth Social APIs & scrapers in 2026
Compare Truth Social data APIs for public profiles and posts — Social Fetch vs DIY scrapers, Apify actors, and the official app.
Luke AskewReddit API pricing in 2026 (what you pay)
How Reddit API pricing works for free vs commercial access, and when a public-data API is cheaper for research and monitoring.
Luke AskewTwitter/X API pricing in 2026 (what you pay)
How X API pricing works for new developers, when official access is worth it, and when a public-data API is cheaper.
Luke AskewBest Twitter API alternatives in 2026
Compare Twitter / X APIs for profiles, tweets, and search — official X pricing vs scrapers and sync REST (Social Fetch, Apify, and more).
Luke AskewTwitter Search API — Keyword Filters on X
Search public X/Twitter posts by keyword with filters and cursor pagination. REST API for alerts and research — prepaid credits, charge on completed lookup.
Social FetchBest Reddit APIs in 2026: official vs REST
Compare Reddit APIs for subreddits, posts, comments, and search — official Reddit pricing vs Social Fetch, Apify, PRAW, and scrapers.
Luke AskewBest YouTube transcript & data APIs in 2026
Compare YouTube transcript and data APIs for channels, videos, comments, and captions — Google Data API v3 vs Social Fetch, Apify, and more.
Luke AskewBest Instagram scrapers & data APIs in 2026
Compare Instagram scrapers and data APIs for profiles, reels, comments, and transcripts — Social Fetch vs HikerAPI, Apify, Bright Data, and more.
Luke AskewBest TikTok scrapers & data APIs in 2026
Compare TikTok scrapers and data APIs for profiles, videos, Shop, search, and transcripts. Social Fetch vs EnsembleData, Apify, Bright Data, and more.
Luke AskewBest Facebook APIs 2026: Graph & Ad Library
Compare Facebook APIs for pages, posts, groups, Marketplace, and Ad Library — Meta Graph vs scrapers and sync REST.
Luke AskewThe Scrape Job That Never Timed Out
Early in Social Fetch, LinkedIn scrapers ran for hours without failing — and the invoice arrived before the error did. A post-mortem on silent failure.
Luke AskewBest LinkedIn APIs in 2026: partner vs public
Compare LinkedIn APIs for people, companies, and posts — official partner / MDP vs public enrichment (Social Fetch, Enrich Layer, Apify).
Luke AskewThe official TypeScript SDK for Social Fetch
Install @socialfetch/sdk for typed API calls, Result-based errors, unwrap helpers, and route-aligned methods across every public platform.
Luke AskewWeb scraping API: markdown & HTML for LLMs
Pass a public URL and get markdown, HTML, or a grounded answer back. One Social Fetch key — one credit per completed lookup.
Social FetchBest social media scraping APIs in 2026
Compare social scraping APIs side-by-side — schemas, pricing, and coverage. Social Fetch vs Apify, Bright Data, and more.
Luke AskewAsk social data questions in plain English
Type a question about TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram — we route it, run the lookup, and return live JSON. How Ask works for agents and apps.
Social FetchFree TikTok and YouTube transcript tools
Paste a TikTok or YouTube URL and copy caption text in the browser. Free transcript tools — no API key required for spot checks.
Social FetchWhy social media APIs should be boring
If your product relies on social data, stop building brittle scrapers. Predictable JSON APIs are how you scale social pipelines.
Luke AskewThe envelope is the product (API design)
Why stable response wrappers (request IDs, credits, typed errors) matter as much as the payload when you integrate social APIs.
Luke Askew
About the blog
This is not a content calendar. We do not publish on a schedule, and we are not trying to rank for "what is an API." Most posts start as something we had to explain twice in support or a week we wish had ended differently — like the LinkedIn scraper jobs that ran for hours without failing and billed before anyone noticed.
If you are evaluating Social Fetch, start with the reliability post-mortem. If you are integrating, read the envelope and TypeScript SDK posts. Shopping a single network? Use the platform listicles for pricing and coverage side-by-side. Tutorials with runnable code live on the guides index; vendor comparisons live under /compare.
Authors are named on each card. When you email support about something you read, mention the post title — we can usually connect it to the week we wrote it and the endpoint version it references.
Questions about a post? Email support with the requestId from your API response — we can usually trace the thread back to the week we wrote it.