LurkAPI
A social media data API and MCP server that returns public posts, profiles, ads, comments and transcripts from 16 platforms as JSON.
At a Glance
100 free credits on signup (no card), daily top-up to 25 credits, and 5 tries a day before signup.
Engagement
Available On
Alternatives
Listed Nov 2026
About LurkAPI
LurkAPI is a social media data API and MCP server that returns public posts, profiles, ads, comments and transcripts from 16 platforms as JSON. Developers call it with a key over simple GET requests, while AI apps such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code can connect to it as an MCP server.
What It Is
LurkAPI is a pay-per-call data service for public social and web data. Each endpoint is a GET request with query parameters, authenticated with an x-api-key header, and returns JSON containing success status, credits charged, credits remaining and the data. Covered platforms include Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Google, Bluesky, Snapchat, Truth Social, Telegram, X (Twitter), Threads, Instagram, LinkedIn, Link-in-bio, eBay and general web pages.
Examples of what it returns include Meta Ad Library ads, LinkedIn ads and jobs, TikTok videos and ads, Reddit search results, YouTube video details and transcripts, Google Maps places and reviews, Google News articles, and eBay listings.
Use From AI Apps via MCP
The MCP server at api.lurkapi.com/mcp exposes each endpoint as a tool, such as facebook_search_ads. Users add it once to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code or any MCP-capable app, and can sign in with OAuth or send a key in a header. Options include filtering by platform, a compact mode with two tools (find_endpoints and call_endpoint), trimmed results, spend caps via max_credits, and prompts for ad research, brand snapshots, creator vetting, subreddit research and channel transcripts. A Claude Code plugin and installable agent skills bundle multi-step research jobs.
Using the API
New accounts get free credits, and unauthenticated users get a few free tries a day in the playground. Endpoints cost between 1 and 31 credits per call. Requests are paginated with cursors, responses are cached for periods that vary by endpoint, and structured errors include a code to branch on. An OpenAPI spec and llms.txt are published. The vendor says its API uses the same paths and header as ScrapeCreators, so switching means changing the base URL and key, and it publishes its own speed and price comparisons against that service.
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Pricing
Free
100 free credits on signup (no card), daily top-up to 25 credits, and 5 tries a day before signup.
- 100 credits when you sign up, no card
- Each day, a balance under 25 goes back to 25
- 5 tries a day before you sign up
Starter
One-time credit pack, no subscription.
- 10,000 credits
- $0.90/1k
- Lasts 3 days
- Credits never expire
Growth
One-time credit pack, no subscription.
- 100,000 credits
- $0.59/1k
- Lasts 1 month
- Credits never expire
Scale
One-time credit pack, no subscription.
- 500,000 credits
- $0.45/1k
- Lasts 5 months
- Credits never expire
Capabilities
Key Features
- Public posts, profiles, comments and transcripts from 16 platforms
- Ad library search for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok
- Google Maps, Google News and autocomplete endpoints
- eBay listing search and details
- Web page scraping, fetching and rendering endpoints
- MCP server with one tool per endpoint or compact two-tool mode
- Claude Code plugin and agent skills for research jobs
- Cursor-based pagination and JSON responses
- Spend caps with max_credits
- OpenAPI spec and llms.txt