Xiaohongshu Competitor Account Growth Monitor

Monitor Xiaohongshu / RedNote competitor accounts over time. Save profile and recent-post snapshots, detect follower and profile changes, measure engagement efficiency and breakout contribution, and explain which observable content patterns are associated with growth.

This Actor is an independent, unofficial research tool and is not affiliated with Xiaohongshu or RedNote.

What one report answers

• Which competitor gained or lost followers?
• How did post count, following count, nickname, and bio change?
• Did recent-post engagement rate improve or weaken?
• Which new or existing posts gained the most engagement?
• How much sampled engagement came from breakout posts?
• Was observed growth associated with breakout content, higher publishing frequency, improved engagement efficiency, content themes, or profile positioning changes?
• Which changes deserve an alert?

Growth explanations are evidence-linked associations, not invented causal claims.

Output per account

• Current profile snapshot
• Followers, following, note count, nickname, and bio changes
• Average and median recent-post engagement
• Estimated engagement rate
• New posts and overlapping-post engagement growth
• Breakout-post threshold, list, and contribution share
• Top hashtags, formats, and optional custom themes
• Transparent growth explanation with confidence labels
• Follower spike, decline, bio, nickname, and breakout alerts

The report also includes a cross-account growth leaderboard.

Three data modes

No-Cookie demo

Run the default input to see two sample competitor accounts, follower growth, profile changes, new posts, breakout contribution, and content-driver explanations.

Uploaded snapshots

Choose uploadedSnapshots and provide currentAccounts. Each object can contain profile fields at the top level or inside profile, plus recent rows inside posts or notes. Common field names are normalized automatically.

Add previousAccounts for immediate comparison. This mode requires no Cookie and works with compatible exports from other Xiaohongshu Actors.

Live account monitoring

Choose liveAccounts, enter one to five profile URLs or user IDs, and provide your own session Cookie in the secret input. The Cookie is never written to output or logs.

Authenticated access can be affected by account state, session expiry, region, rate limits, and platform changes. Use only accounts and data you are authorized to access.

Example input

{
  "mode": "liveAccounts",
  "accountUrlsOrIds": [
    "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/competitor-a",
    "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/competitor-b"
  ],
  "monitorKey": "skincare-competitors-cn",
  "themeKeywords": ["敏感肌", "修护", "防晒", "成分"],
  "maxPostsPerAccount": 20,
  "maxTotalPosts": 100,
  "followerAlertPercent": 10,
  "rememberBaseline": true
}

Continuous monitoring

Save a configured run as an Apify Task and add a daily or weekly Schedule. Reuse the same monitorKey. After each successful paid report, the Actor stores a compact private baseline in the run owner's default key-value store. The next run compares each account and post against that snapshot.

Use resetBaseline when you intentionally change the account group or monitoring method.

Pricing

$4.99 per report for up to five accounts and 100 recent posts in total.

The report event is charged only when at least one usable account snapshot is produced. Larger account groups require another run. Platform usage is included in the customer price; Apify may also display its standard tiny Actor-start event.

Metric definitions

• Engagement = likes + comments + collects + shares.
• Estimated engagement rate = average sampled-post engagement / current followers.
• Breakout contribution = share of sampled engagement generated by posts at or above the configured multiple of sampled median engagement, with a minimum threshold of 100.
• “Why it grew” combines follower change with publishing activity, breakout concentration, engagement efficiency, formats, hashtags, custom themes, and profile changes.

Limitations

• Recent posts are a sample, not the account's complete history.
• Public counters and search results can change or be unavailable.
• A temporal association does not prove that a content item caused follower growth.
• Comparisons are most meaningful when schedules, account lists, post limits, and collection conditions stay consistent.
• Follow platform terms, privacy obligations, and applicable law.