# Explore Data API. Pay per record.

> Raw rows as JSON from other public sites the named platforms do not cover. Pick a source, run it, pay per row at the source's own rate.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/explore/data-api · Updated 2026-10-21

Get data from other public sites, beyond the platforms with their own endpoints. Find a source with the free sources call, read its inputs with the free schema call, then run it for up to a hundred rows, billed per row it returns.

- Price: Quoted per call
- Billed: Per record
- Free to start: $0.10
- Endpoint: POST /v1/explore

## What people build with the Explore Data API

- **The long tail.** When a question needs data from a site the named platforms do not cover, an agent can search the sources and fetch from the one that fits.
- **Know the cost first.** The schema call gives a source's live inputs, a sample input and a money estimate before anything is spent.
- **One key for everything.** Explore runs on the same key, wallet and response envelope as every other endpoint.

## Quote it, then run it

1. free quote: the exact price, nothing charged:

```bash
curl -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/v1/explore \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFA_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"op":"run","source":"<source name from sources>","input":{},"limit":10,"estimateOnly":true}'
```

2. the same call, run:

```bash
curl -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/v1/explore \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFA_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"op":"run","source":"<source name from sources>","input":{},"limit":10}'
```

## Inputs

Everything you can send in one run call. Required inputs first.

| Input | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| source * | string | The source's name exactly as sources listed it. ≤120 chars |
| input | string | The source's own input, shaped by schema. |
| limit | integer | Rows wanted. Every row costs real money, so name the count the question needs; the hard ceiling is 100. 1-100 |

## Pricing

Pay as you go, in US dollars, per record. No subscription, nothing expires, $5 first top-up, and every new agent starts with $0.10 free.

| Request | Records | At the list price |
|---|---|---|
| Any request |  | quoted free before the call |

These are per-record list prices. Some calls also carry a minimum, such as a page of search results, so a small request can cost more than the table shows. The quote ("estimateOnly": true) is free, gives the most your exact request can cost, and the charge then settles to what came back. Records that do not come back are refunded.

## Try it without writing code

- [Open the Explore Data API in the playground](https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run?platform=explore&op=run): The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type.

## Why this one, and not a scraper you run yourself

- No login, no Explore account, no cookies, no proxies, no browser to babysit.
- When the site changes its pages, your request stays the same: keeping the reads working is our job, not yours.
- A fetch that fails costs nothing: it is named in the answer with a reason, and the quote says the most a call can cost before it runs.

## Questions

### What does an explore run return?

The source's own rows, raw and unmapped: not fitted to a schema and not kept as measured data. Treat them as evidence to read and cite. For a named platform, its own endpoint answers with checked fields.

### What do I pass in?

source, the source's name exactly as the sources call listed it; input, the source's own fields shaped as the schema call described them; and limit, the rows you want, up to a hundred.

### How do I find a source?

Call sources with a plain-words query that names the site or the data you need, for example "quick commerce categories". It returns the best matches, what each returns and its price per row. Both sources and schema are free.

### How much does it cost?

Each source has its own rate per row, printed by the sources call. A run is billed per row the source actually returns, and a run that finds nothing is free. Quote first with "estimateOnly": true, which is free and is the most the call can cost.

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run?platform=explore&op=run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md