How to scrape TikTok data

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Scraping TikTok data is an efficient way to capitalize on the platform’s growing influence. Brands can track trends and measure campaign performance, marketers can identify high-impact influencers, and researchers can analyze user sentiment or engagement - all without relying on manual effort.

We'll show you how to extract and download the TikTok data you need step by step.

Why extract TikTok data?

Before we start, here are a few things you should know about TikTok and its users:

1. TikTok moves fast

TikTok now has over 1.04 billion monthly active users globally. It remains one of the most engaging platforms with substantial growth since its inception in 2016. The platform continues to rank as one of the most downloaded apps worldwide, boasting over 3.5 billion total downloads, making it a global social media giant​.

2. Its audience is young and active

The platform is especially popular among younger audiences, with about 63% of users aged 10–29 in the U.S. alone. Users spend an average of 52 minutes daily on the app, consuming and creating a massive number of short videos.

3. Visual search is competition for Google

Google has acknowledged TikTok's role in replacing traditional search methods for younger users. A significant portion of Gen Z uses TikTok and Instagram as their primary tools for local discovery, such as finding restaurants, instead of Google Maps or Search​.

4. Faster video content is competition for YouTube

TikTok is also the leading video app for children, with those aged 4–15 spending an average of 89 minutes daily on the platform. This trend cements TikTok as a primary competitor to YouTube in the video content space.

5. TikTok is setting trends and influencing other media

TikTok trends often influence content on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook Stories, as these platforms try to emulate its short-form, engaging video style​.

6. More and more brands are joining TikTok

By 2024, TikTok has moved beyond being experimental territory for brands. Many businesses actively create tailored content for TikTok, leveraging its vast and active user base to connect with younger audiences​.

Does TikTok have an API?

TikTok provides 4 APIs through its Developer Portal:

1. Login Kit: Provides secure TikTok login integration for apps or websites.
2. Share Kit: Allows users to create content in third-party apps and share it directly on TikTok.
3. Content Posting API: Lets users post videos or drafts directly to TikTok from other platforms.
4. Data Portability API: Available only to users in the European Economic Area (EEA). Allows data transfer from TikTok to third-party apps.

To access these APIs, you generally need a TikTok Developer account, a standard TikTok account, and registration approval for specific products. The Data Portability API, for example, is limited to specific use cases and regions.

Can I scrape TikTok without an API?

As an approval-free alternative, you can use scrapers and crawlers as a stand-in for a web scraping API, e.g. TikTok Data Extractor or TikTok Scraper.

These TikTok scrapers are among the Actors available on Apify Store. You can use them via API or scheduler. Consider them your own personal TikTok API. You can call them using an API Client in Python, JavaScript, and cURL. You can also use available API Endpoints to get the scraped TikTok data to where you need it.

How do I scrape TikTok?

To extract TikTok data, you'll need a tool that's easy enough to use but complex enough to scrape a website with a structure like TikTok's. It’s a tall order.

Cue our TikTok Scraper, which scrapes data from hashtags, user profiles, and separate videos in a structured format. You can download that TikTok data onto your computer and plug it into your existing workflow, projects, spreadsheets, and applications. Here's how you can do that.

Step-by-step guide to scraping TikTok

Step 1. Go to TikTok Data Extractor and click Try for free

TikTok Data Extractor is hosted on Apify Store - a library of pre-built web scraping tools designed to handle the challenges of scraping websites. Like every web scraper there, you can use TikTok Data Extractor with a free Apify plan (no credit card required).

If you have an account, clicking the Try for free button on TikTok Data Extractor will take you to your dashboard. If you don't have an Apify account yet, you'll be prompted to sign up first.

Step 2. Indicate TikTok video, profile, or hashtag to scrape

Now that you're in your workspace, it's time to decide what data you want to extract. Choose your starting point:

• section 1 – hashtags #️⃣
• section 2 – profiles 👨‍🍳
• section 3 – search 🔍
• section 4 – specific videos 📼

How to scrape data from TikTok hashtags?

Type in or copy-paste one or more TikTok hashtags that interest you. You will be able to scrape all videos posted with this hashtag and their details.

How to scrape data from TikTok profiles?

Alternatively, you can also scrape not just hashtags, but TikTok videos uploaded by a specific user. Think of a user profile page you want to scrape; in this case, we used our apifytech profile. Just add the username into the field.

How to scrape TikTok search results?

You can scrape TikTok search by simply typing in or pasting queries and choosing the search section (top, by video or by profile).

How to scrape data from specific TikTok videos?

You can scrape data from specific TikTok videos by simply adding their URLs.

Three final remarks before we start extracting data:

1. In each section, you can add as many fields as you want or paste a prepared list into Bulk edit field
2. You can fill several sections at once or keep it to one
3. You can set how many results you want in Max results field. It counts results per field, so if you set it to 20 and add 3 hashtags (for instance), you'll get 60 results in total.

Step 3. Click Start

Once you are all set, click the Start button. The status will change to Running, so wait for the scraper's run to finish. It will be just a few minutes before you see the status switch to Succeeded.

Step 4. View and collect your data

After the run has finished, you can preview the scraped data in the Output table or in a new tab. You can choose the format before downloading the dataset.

You can also preview the data by category: by posts, authors, videos, overview table, or all results. This categorization will help you see clearly through very large datasets and complex search queries.

To export the data, click on Export X results button or go to the Storage tab. Storage contains your scraped data in many formats, including HTML table, JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and RSS feed. There you can download it in a format that suits your needs. You can also export all the data you're seeing or only a part of it: by category or even specific fields.

And that's kind of it. But wait, there's more!

Start scraping TikTok

Get the data you need fast with TikTok Scraper

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FAQ

Is it legal to scrape TikTok?

Just like with any other Apify data extraction tools, web scraping publicly available data on any website, including TikTok, is legal. But it’s still important to take several regulations into account, such as the GDPR and CCPA, as these protect personal data. Here you can learn more about the legality of web scraping and scraping ethically.

Need more predictable pricing when scraping TikTok?

For the most predictable pricing, you might want to try TikTok Data Extractor which can scrape 1,000 results for $4.00.

Can I use AI to scrape TikTok?

AI is currently unable to scrape websites directly, but it can help generate code for scraping TikTok if you prompt it with the target elements you want to scrape. Note that the code may not be functional, and website structure and design changes may impact the targeted elements and attributes.

Can I export TikTok comments?

Yes. Use TikTok Comments Scraper 🔗 to that end. It extracts full comment text, username, timestamp, number of replies, number of likes, etc. You can explore other dedicated TikTok crawlers we have in Store.

Want to scrape TikTok comments or hashtags?

If you want to scrape specific TikTok data, you can use one of the dedicated scrapers below, each built particularly for the relevant TikTok data scraping case, whether it's hashtags, comments, sounds, or all data at once:

How can I use TikTok data?

TikTok is a perfect place to collect data for social studies, research, and fun:

• Use it as a base for online research, social listening experiments as well as a reliable and fast source of survey data
• Spread awareness about social issues and caritative causes
• Monitor, flag unverified content, and stop the spread of inaccurate information with high public value
• Follow trends and predict emerging opportunities and influences
• Scan the market for authentic product reviews
• Detect coordinated efforts in spreading disinformation, such as in this tool used by journalists to analyze the events of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

How to use data extracted from TikTok for marketing?

TikTok is the most dynamic environment to learn about the young generation. In general, TikTok is very responsive to promotional efforts, with 61% of TikTok users admitting they are likely to watch ads. However, TikTok marketing campaigns have to be especially intricate, involving the right causes and authentic engagement. With scraped TikTok data you can:

• do market research for planning and analyzing campaigns
• promote your own channel
• collaborate with an influencer

The best thing about TikTok is that it's a huge flexible social media platform with user-generated content, authentic engagement, and community-building at its core. All this points to piles of social data you can scrape, learn from and adjust your research and analysis strategies accordingly.