# Social media data MCP servers: reading data, not posting

Scraping social platforms yourself means maintaining logins, anti-bot handling and parsers; a data MCP server lets an AI client call endpoints that already work. The 9 options here are not ranked: tell reading from posting first, then compare account sign-in, auth, billing, Chinese platforms and clients. DataXAPI's endpoints here are from $0.0020 a call, and a failed call is not charged; what others charge and do was checked on 2026-10-29, each with its source below.

## Reading and posting are two kinds

Social media MCP servers come in two kinds. Posting servers publish and schedule on your own accounts, such as Postiz, Buffer, Typefully and Ayrshare, and need write access to them. Data servers read public posts, accounts and comments, such as Bright Data and Apify. The two articles that draw this line are vendors' blogs, with a stake in it.

Write and read access are often separate. Sociona's MCP server lists `posts:read`, `posts:write`, `schedule:read` and `schedule:write` as different scopes. To read data you need not grant write access at all.

Data servers split again: those that read signed in with your own platform account, as many open-source projects do, and those where the service fetches and you hold only its key. The first costs nothing, and the risk falls on your account.

## Nine options side by side

The table ranks no one: open source first, then general services, then services for Chinese platforms. A cell saying not listed means the pages do not say, not that it is missing.

| Option | Signs in with your account | Auth | Billing | Chinese platforms | Clients its pages name |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| xiaohongshu-mcp (open source) | Yes: signs in to Xiaohongshu and keeps the cookies | Local signed-in session | Free, self-hosted | Xiaohongshu; it can also post notes, videos and comments | Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, VSCode, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw, Cherry Studio and more |
| yzfly/douyin-mcp-server (open source, archived) | No | Transcripts need a SiliconFlow or Alibaba Bailian key | Free | Douyin: video info from a share link, a link without watermark, transcripts | Not checked for this page |
| Bright Data MCP | No | The hosted address takes the token in the URL, or local `npx`; OAuth not listed on its pages (2026-10-29) | 5,000 requests free a month, then $1.50 per 1,000 results for search, scraping and extraction | Not listed on its pages (2026-10-29) | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and more |
| Apify MCP | No (you sign in to Apify) | The hosted server takes OAuth, or `Authorization: Bearer` with an Apify token; it also runs locally | Connecting is free; each Actor charges its own price; the free plan has $5 of usage a month | Whatever Actors the Apify Store has | Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Claude and more |
| SocialCrawl MCP | No | Local only, `npx socialcrawl-mcp`, with the key in an environment variable; OAuth not listed on its pages (2026-10-29) | 100 credits on sign-up, packs from £15, priced in pounds only on its pages | Douyin, Xiaohongshu | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, OpenClaw |
| AIsa | No | Remote, with browser OAuth by default or `Authorization: Bearer` with a key; also x402 pay-per-call | $1 free a month; card top-ups from $10, charged per result | Douyin, Bilibili, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, Kuaishou, WeChat; prices per platform not listed on its pages (2026-10-29) | Claude (custom connector) |
| RedFox MCP | No | One remote server per platform, with the `REDFOX_API_KEY` header; also a local npm package; OAuth not listed on its pages (2026-10-29) | ¥100 at least, endpoints from ¥0.04; data largely marked T+1 | Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Official Accounts, Channels, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Toutiao | Codex, Workbuddy, Claude |
| Qovia | No | One remote server, `Authorization: Bearer` with a key, or `x-api-key`; OAuth not listed on its pages (2026-10-29), and Claude Desktop is bridged with `mcp-remote` | 50 trial calls for a new account; charged per successful call, with failures and empty results free; Douyin endpoints from $0.0005 a call, Xiaohongshu note search $0.005 a call | Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Weibo, Zhihu, Tieba, Toutiao, Xingtu, PGY; on WeChat, account search, article lists, reads and Channels account search | Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop (through `mcp-remote`) |
| DataXAPI | No | One remote server, `Authorization: Bearer` with a key, or OAuth | A prepaid US-dollar balance, $0.10 on sign-up, $10 at least; a page of Xiaohongshu note search is $0.0200 | Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Official Accounts, Channels, WeChat Search, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Weibo, Zhihu | Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, Claude, Cherry Studio, n8n |

## Where the others are better

**xiaohongshu-mcp**: free, it posts notes and comments, and it has more than 16,000 GitHub stars (2026-10-29), a large community. **douyin-mcp-server**: free, and it transcribes Douyin videos, which DataXAPI has no endpoint for; but the repository is archived and no longer updated.

**Bright Data**: 5,000 requests free a month, plus general web scraping, search engines and browser automation. **Apify**: OAuth and a listing in Claude's connector directory, a broad store, $5 free a month. **AIsa**: one-click OAuth into Claude, $1 free a month, a tool that quotes before calling, and invoices on its enterprise plan.

**SocialCrawl**: many platforms outside China, and a price estimate tool that needs no key. **RedFox**: video transcripts for Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Channels, AI search answers, Toutiao, low unit prices, all in Chinese.

**Qovia**: low unit prices, $0.0005 a call for Douyin search and comments and $0.005 for Xiaohongshu note search and Official Account article lists, all below DataXAPI's; neither failures nor empty results are charged; by default its MCP server gives the AI 4 tools, finding an endpoint before calling it; Xingtu and PGY creator data and e-commerce reviews; pages in Chinese and English.

## How DataXAPI differs

It only reads, never posts, and uses no platform account or cookie of yours. One remote server, `https://api.dataxapi.com/mcp`, covers every platform; clients that take a header send `Authorization: Bearer <key>`, and ChatGPT and Claude connectors sign in with OAuth, with no key typed.

Calls by ID, keyword or account are fetched at call time, and every response carries `meta.fetched_at`. A call through MCP is charged from the balance at the endpoint's price, the same as a direct API call. Failed calls, timeouts and objects that do not exist are not charged; many list endpoints charge an empty result, as each endpoint's price says.

## Who should pick which

To post or schedule: a posting server, outside this page. Xiaohongshu only, no money, and a spare account to carry the risk: xiaohongshu-mcp. Platforms outside China, or general web pages: Bright Data, Apify, SocialCrawl. OAuth in ChatGPT or Claude across many platforms and categories: AIsa, Apify. Video transcripts, Toutiao, low prices in yuan, with data a day old: RedFox. Unit price first, empty results free, a key in a coding tool, Xingtu, PGY or e-commerce reviews: Qovia.

No account of your own at stake, data as of the call, Official Accounts, Channels and WeChat Search among the Chinese platforms, and ChatGPT, Claude and coding tools on one address: DataXAPI.

## How to connect DataXAPI

For Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, `dataxapi setup` writes the entry; in Cherry Studio and n8n, type the address and the `Authorization` header into the client; in ChatGPT and Claude, add a connector with the address alone and sign in with OAuth when asked.

Coming from xiaohongshu-mcp, its reading tools map to these endpoints: note search to xiaohongshu.notes.search (`query`, `sort`), note details to xiaohongshu.notes.get (`id` or `url`), comments to xiaohongshu.notes.comments.list, a creator's profile to xiaohongshu.users.get. DataXAPI cannot post; keep the old tool for posting.

## Questions

**Will a server signed in with my Xiaohongshu account get it banned?** There are no public figures. xiaohongshu-mcp's README says one account cannot be signed in on several web clients, or the server gets signed out. Whether your own account is used decides whose risk it is.

**Which work in ChatGPT?** AIsa, Apify and DataXAPI state OAuth; Apify and DataXAPI name ChatGPT. The others' pages do not list OAuth (2026-10-29).

**Can an MCP server get Douyin comments?** Only if the service has the endpoint. DataXAPI's douyin.videos.comments.list is $0.0020 a page; the archived douyin-mcp-server parses links and transcribes, and its pages list no comments tool (2026-10-29).

## Endpoints

- [Xiaohongshu note search](https://dataxapi.com/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/search/) ($0.0200 / a call): Search Xiaohongshu notes by terms: title, text, author, engagement counts, images, and a link that opens.
- [Xiaohongshu note detail](https://dataxapi.com/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/get/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get one Xiaohongshu note by ID or link: title, text, author, engagement counts, images.
- [Xiaohongshu note comments](https://dataxapi.com/apis/xiaohongshu/notes/comments/list/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get a page of top-level comments on a Xiaohongshu note by ID or link, newest first: text, commenter, likes, reply count, time posted.
- [Xiaohongshu user profile](https://dataxapi.com/apis/xiaohongshu/users/get/) ($0.0200 / a call): Get a Xiaohongshu account by user ID or profile link: name, handle, bio, follower, following and note counts, verification.
- [Douyin video comments](https://dataxapi.com/apis/douyin/videos/comments/list/) ($0.0020 / a call): Get a page of comments on a Douyin video: text, commenter, likes, reply count, time posted.

## How-to guides

- [How to search and export Xiaohongshu (RedNote) notes by keyword](https://dataxapi.com/guides/xiaohongshu-search-export-notes/)
- [How to get Xiaohongshu (RedNote) note comments in bulk](https://dataxapi.com/guides/xiaohongshu-note-comments/)

## Sources

What this page says of other services is from their own pages and documents, read on 2026-10-29. Prices and features change: check the source before you decide.

- [eden.so blog: social media MCP servers](https://eden.so/blog/best-social-media-mcp-servers/)
- [mysocial.io blog: social media MCP servers](https://mysocial.io/blog/best-social-media-mcp-servers/)
- [Sociona MCP README (scopes)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/@fav-devs/sociona-mcp-server/blob/f56f9648037be335f479e29a0c2ffebd8941d9da/README.md)
- [xiaohongshu-mcp on GitHub](https://github.com/xpzouying/xiaohongshu-mcp)
- [yzfly/douyin-mcp-server on GitHub](https://github.com/yzfly/douyin-mcp-server)
- [Bright Data MCP on GitHub](https://github.com/brightdata/brightdata-mcp)
- [Apify MCP on GitHub](https://github.com/apify/apify-mcp-server)
- [Apify pricing](https://apify.com/pricing)
- [SocialCrawl MCP server](https://www.socialcrawl.dev/mcp-server)
- [SocialCrawl pricing](https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing)
- [SocialCrawl llms.txt](https://www.socialcrawl.dev/llms.txt)
- [AIsa llms.txt](https://aisa.one/llms.txt)
- [AIsa pricing](https://aisa.one/pricing.md)
- [AIsa social data](https://aisa.one/products/social)
- [RedFox MCP](https://redfox.hk/mcp)
- [RedFox pricing](https://redfox.hk/pricing)
- [RedFox platforms](https://redfox.hk/story/web/api/doc/platforms)
- [Qovia MCP docs](https://qovia.ai/docs/mcp/)
- [Qovia llms.txt (endpoints and prices)](https://qovia.ai/llms.txt)
- [Qovia pricing](https://qovia.ai/pricing)

## More about Xiaohongshu (RedNote)

- [Xiaohongshu (RedNote) API](https://dataxapi.com/apis/xiaohongshu/)
- [Douyin API](https://dataxapi.com/apis/douyin/)
- [How do I export Xiaohongshu (RedNote) data?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/export-xiaohongshu-data/)
- [Can ChatGPT read Xiaohongshu (RedNote)?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/can-chatgpt-read-xiaohongshu/)
- [What is xsec_token on Xiaohongshu?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/xiaohongshu-xsec-token/)
- [What is a Xiaohongshu note ID, and what is an xhslink link?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/xiaohongshu-note-id-and-xhslink/)
- [What is CPE on Xiaohongshu PGY and on Douyin Xingtu?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/xiaohongshu-pgy-cpe-vs-xingtu-cpe/)
- [What is Xiaohongshu PGY?](https://dataxapi.com/answers/what-is-xiaohongshu-pgy/)
- [How to look up Xiaohongshu (RedNote) PGY creator rates and audience](https://dataxapi.com/guides/xiaohongshu-pgy-creator-rates/)
- [How to get a keyword's search index and related keywords on Xiaohongshu PGY](https://dataxapi.com/guides/xiaohongshu-pgy-keywords/)

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Catalog revision 5c3194deef3264cc. [HTML version](https://dataxapi.com/compare/social-media-data-mcp-servers/)