Douyin Scraper: hot search, videos, transcripts and creators (抖音, no login)

Get Douyin (抖音, China's TikTok) data without an account: the live hot search list (热榜) with each term's heat and video count; any video or photo post by link with likes, comments, shares and saves, the author, music, hashtags, cover and video file; what is said in it (transcript); and creator profiles with followers, likes received and post count.

Built for China social listening, trend tracking, brand monitoring and KOL (influencer) research. Chinese text is kept as written; transcripts are in the language spoken.

What you get

Field	What it holds
Hot search rows	rank, term, heat, videoCount, list (hot or rising), since, cover, url
Video rows	awemeId, type (video or photos), text, createdAt, durationSeconds, likes, comments, shares, saves, hashtags, author (name, Douyin ID, bio, posts, link), music, series, cover, videoUrl, images, url, and, when asked, transcript, hook (opening line), segments and srt (timestamps), translation
Creator rows	name, douyinId, bio, followers, following, likesReceived, posts, verified, series, avatar, url

What people use it for

• Trend tracking: save Douyin's hot list every hour and see what rises, how hot it gets and for how long
• Video benchmarks: likes, comments, shares and saves of any video, for content and campaign reports
• KOL research: creator profiles with followers and likes received
• Transcripts: what is said in Douyin videos up to 10 minutes, with timestamps, SRT and an optional English translation
• Media monitoring: the hot topics of the day with their heat and video counts
• China market research: what Chinese viewers watch and talk about, as it happens

How to use it

1. Keep Hot search list on (or off).
2. Add video links (douyin.com/video/..., or v.douyin.com share links), and turn on transcripts if you want them.
3. Add creator links for profiles, then click Start. Schedule it hourly to track the hot list.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
Hot search list (热榜)	on	The 50 terms on the list now, plus rising ones
Videos	https://www.douyin.com/video/<id>	Links, share links or ids
Transcripts	off	Videos up to 10 minutes, $0.006 per started minute
Timestamps / Translate to	on / English	Segments and SRT; optional translation; no extra charge
Creators	https://www.douyin.com/user/<id>	Links or sec_uids

Output

Each result is one row in the run's dataset (download it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the API). An example row (values shortened):

{
  "kind": "video",
  "awemeId": "7692394891321576714",
  "type": "video",
  "text": "《鬼才谈恋爱·归处》 没积分了弹尽粮绝了朋友们，这集只做一个承上启下的剧情，祝大家假期快乐！",
  "createdAt": "2026-10-03T11:01:02Z",
  "durationSeconds": 193,
  "likes": 6594,
  "comments": 224,
  "shares": 319,
  "saves": 1526,
  "hashtags": [
    "LibTV",
    "LibTV创作者成长计划",
    "AI短片"
  ],
  "author": {
    "name": "示例创作者",
    "douyinId": "…",
    "posts": 6
  },
  "music": {
    "title": "原声",
    "author": "示例创作者"
  },
  "series": "鬼才谈恋爱",
  "url": "https://www.douyin.com/video/7692394891321576714",
  "transcript": "阿离。吓到了吧？你没事吧？怎么到这的？不知道，眼睛一闭一睁，就听到你叫我了。走，…",
  "hook": "阿离。",
  "translation": "A-Li. Were you scared? Are you okay? How did you get here? I…"
}

A record named SUMMARY in the run's key-value store says what each input returned, with any notes (for example a deleted video), what was charged and how much traffic the run used. The example row is from a run on 17 October 2026 (creator name removed; transcript and translation shortened).

Pricing

• $0.005 per hot search term (the full list of about 55 is $0.28)
• $0.003 per video
• $0.005 per creator profile
• $0.006 per started minute of transcript, with timestamps, SRT, the opening line and the translation (silent and failed ones are free)
• Videos and creators that don't exist or that Douyin withholds are free
• The AI model that writes the speech down (Google's Gemini Flash) is billed by Apify at its exact cost: about $0.004 a minute with timestamps and translation on paid Apify plans (measured 17 October 2026); Apify charges free-plan accounts 10 times that

What typical jobs cost at the list price:

Job	Cost
The hot search list, once	$0.28
The hot list every hour for a day	$6.60
50 videos	$0.15
10 one-minute videos with transcripts	$0.09
50 creator profiles	$0.25

On Apify's Scale and Business plans the per-event prices are lower (Store discounts). Set Maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached: you never pay more than that.

Tips

• Schedule hourly runs with only the hot list on: a time series of China's top topics.
• Paste v.douyin.com share links as they are: they are followed to the video.
• If Douyin withholds some videos in a run, run them again later: they are not charged.

Use it through the API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("zaiq/douyin-scraper").call(run_input={"hotSearch": true})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('zaiq/douyin-scraper').call({"hotSearch": true});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

HTTP (one call, results back)

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zaiq~douyin-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"hotSearch": true}'

Integrations and schedules

• Schedules: run it every hour, day or week from the Apify Console (Schedules) and keep a history of results.
• Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable: connect it through Apify's integrations, or send each finished run to a webhook.
• Datasets: results stay in the run's dataset; export them or read them by API whenever you need them.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Add Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. The agent can find this Actor and run it for you: ask it for "what is trending on Douyin right now, with each topic's heat". AI agents can also pay for runs directly through Apify's agentic payments.

Limits

• Douyin's keyword search and a creator's video list need a Douyin login, so they are not offered: use the hot list, video links and profiles.
• Comments and related videos are not offered: Douyin does not show them reliably to signed-out visitors from servers.
• Douyin limits how often one address can read it; videos it withholds are listed in the run's SUMMARY and not charged.
• Transcripts: videos up to 10 minutes, written down in full (in 2-minute pieces) by Google's newest Gemini Flash model from the video's own sound track; Mandarin in Simplified characters.

FAQ

Do I need a Douyin account?

No. Everything is what Douyin shows a signed-out visitor.

Can I search Douyin by keyword?

No: Douyin asks for a login to search. Start from the hot list or video links.

Is the text translated?

Captions are kept as written. Transcripts are in the language spoken, and you can add a translation into English or 18 other languages.

How fresh is the hot list?

Live at run time.

Why are some videos missing?

Deleted, private and region-locked videos are not shown to visitors, and Douyin sometimes withholds videos from busy addresses; they are listed in SUMMARY and not charged.

Related Actors from Zaiq

• douyin-transcripts-scraper: Douyin video to text for many links, with SRT and English
• weibo-scraper: Weibo hot search, trending posts, comments and profiles
• bilibili-scraper: Bilibili videos, comments and danmaku
• tiktok-transcript-scraper: what TikTok videos say

Support

Questions, a site that changed, or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab: we answer there, usually within a day.

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Also found as: douyin scraper, douyin api, 抖音, douyin hot search, 抖音热榜, douyin comments scraper, douyin video scraper, douyin transcript, china social media scraper.