A SocialCrawl alternative where an ad search is 1 credit, not 5
LurkAPI is a social media data API. SocialCrawl charges 5 credits for a Facebook ad search, Reddit comments or a LinkedIn profile. Here each is 1 credit, so 100,000 ad searches cost $59 instead of $1,391.
100,000 Facebook ad searches cost $1,391 on SocialCrawl and $59 here
SocialCrawl
$196$1,391$6,703$13,347
3 × £49 packs3 × £299 + 3 × £49 packs16 × £299 + 5 × £49 packs33 × £299 + 3 × £49 packs
LurkAPI
$9$59$225$450
Starter packGrowth packScale pack2 × Scale packs
$187 less for the same 10,000 Facebook ad searches$1,332 less for the same 100,000 Facebook ad searches$6,478 less for the same 500,000 Facebook ad searches$12,897 less for the same 1,000,000 Facebook ad searches
- A TikTok or Instagram transcript is 10 credits on SocialCrawl, so 100,000 cost $2,718. Here a transcript is 1 credit; 2 if speech-to-text runs.
SocialCrawl's 1-credit price only covers simple calls like profiles and posts, and its own pricing page assumes the average call costs 3.1 credits. LurkAPI starts at $9, and packs never expire on either.
A typical call answers in 0.63 s
SocialCrawl publishes no response times. Here's how fast LurkAPI answers the calls SocialCrawl charges 5 or 10 credits for.
Ours: the median of successful calls in production over the 7 days to October 26, 2026.
- Facebook ad search1.15 s
- A brand's ads0.76 s
- Reddit comments0.63 s
- TikTok transcript0.54 s
What comes with LurkAPI, next to SocialCrawl
MCP, free credits and billing as each one's own pages put them, and the 16 platforms one key reads.
| Feature | LurkAPI | SocialCrawl |
|---|---|---|
| Claude and ChatGPT sign in, with no key to paste | ||
| Free credits every day, no card | ||
| Response times on its own site | ||
| A remote MCP server | ||
| Credits that never expire | ||
| No monthly plan to buy |
88 endpoints on 16 platforms
- Facebook9
- Reddit5
- YouTube8
- TikTok17
- Google8
- Bluesky3
- Snapchat1
- Truth Social3
- Telegram3
- X (Twitter)3
- Threads3
- Instagram8
- LinkedIn7
- Link-in-bio1
- eBay2
- Web7
Every endpoint and its price
YouTube
TikTok
Bluesky
Snapchat
Truth Social
Telegram
X (Twitter)
Threads
Link-in-bio
eBay
Web
Try it on your own calls in a minute
100 free credits, no card. Run one call right here, or let your AI set LurkAPI up for you.
This is SocialCrawl's own example. Run it here.
Or let your AI set it up
Paste one prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code and it connects LurkAPI for you.
Other SocialCrawl alternatives, compared
What 100,000 of the same calls cost on each.
LurkAPI
$59Growth pack
Ad searches, comments and LinkedIn profiles cost what a profile does. Packs never expire.
Social Fetch
$169/moGrowth plan + 5 refills
Team seats and a spend cap on each key, across 26 platforms. Plan credits reset every month.
ScrapeCreators
$1884 × $47 packs
1 credit for most calls, the Ad Library included.
CreatorCrawl
$299Scale pack
The closest to SocialCrawl's idea: one format across 7 platforms. Its own blog says its data comes from ScrapeCreators.
SociaVault
$307Pro + Growth + Starter packs
Your money back within 14 days if you've used under a tenth of the pack.
Each price is the cheapest published buy of 100,000 profile lookups, as of October 31, 2026.
Questions before you switch
- How much does SocialCrawl cost?
- £15 for 2,500 credits, £49 for 20,000 or £299 for 150,000, and they never expire. A profile is 1 credit, a Facebook ad search 5 and a TikTok transcript 10.
- Is SocialCrawl free?
- It gives 100 credits once on signup, no card: enough for 100 profiles, 20 Facebook ad searches or 10 TikTok transcripts.
- Does SocialCrawl have an MCP server?
- Yes, hosted with your API key or run locally with npx. LurkAPI's MCP server signs in with OAuth, so Claude and ChatGPT connect without a key.
- What is the cheapest SocialCrawl alternative?
- LurkAPI: 100,000 Facebook ad searches cost $59 instead of $1,391, and Reddit comments and LinkedIn profiles are 1 credit each, not 5.
Run your SocialCrawl calls on LurkAPI, free
100 credits, no card. Run your own ad searches and compare.