# Influencer discovery. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

> Find creators on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube by keyword, hashtag or lookalike, then read followers, recent posts and engagement. Priced per record.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/use-cases/influencer-discovery · Updated 2026-10-21

Start from a keyword, a hashtag or one creator you like, and collect candidate accounts on each platform. Then read their profiles and recent posts to judge reach and engagement before you reach out.

- Instagram: from $0.00045 per record
- TikTok: from $0.00045 per record
- YouTube: from $0.00045 per record
- Free to start: $0.10

## The workflow

1. On Instagram, run search for accounts by keyword, hashtag for posts tagged with your topic, and similar for accounts related to one you already like.
2. On TikTok, run search for accounts by keyword (every hit is a full profile card), or searchPosts by keyword or hashtag to see who posts on the topic.
3. On YouTube, take channel handles from your research and run channels with include.videos to get each channel's recent videos with views, likes and comments in one call.
4. On Instagram, run profiles with include.posts for each account's recent posts in the same call. Add fields ["contact"] for the business email and phone fields the account lists.
5. Rank by engagement on recent posts, not follower count alone, and read the free history operation for follower growth from past captures.

## Who uses it

- **Brands.** Build a shortlist of creators who already post about your category, with their recent numbers, before any outreach.
- **[Agencies](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/similar-accounts-api).** Start from one creator a client likes and expand with Instagram's similar accounts.
- **Creator platforms.** Fill and refresh creator profiles across three platforms from one API, with every value dated.

## Operations used

List prices per record. A call can carry a minimum, so quote first: the quote is free, and a record that does not come back is not charged.

| Step | Operation | What comes back | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instagram search | Accounts by name or keyword | $0.00045 per record |
| 2 | Instagram similar | Accounts related to one account | $0.00045 per record |
| 3 | Instagram profiles | Profile cards, with recent posts when asked | $0.0018 per record |
| 4 | TikTok search | Accounts by keyword, each a full profile card | $0.00045 per record |
| 5 | TikTok posts | Views, likes, comments, shares, saves per post | $0.0018 per record |
| 6 | YouTube channels | Channel cards, with recent videos when asked | $0.00045 per record |

> **Use handles you saw** Take every handle from a search result or a pasted URL, never from a guess at a name. A guessed handle is still charged and can be a different account.

## The operations in this workflow

- [Instagram search](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/account-search-api): Accounts by name or keyword
- [Instagram similar](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/similar-accounts-api): Accounts related to one account
- [Instagram profiles](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/profile-api): Profile cards, with recent posts when asked
- [TikTok search](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/tiktok/account-search-api): Accounts by keyword, each a full profile card
- [TikTok posts](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/tiktok/posts-api): Views, likes, comments, shares, saves per post
- [YouTube channels](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/channel-api): Channel cards, with recent videos when asked

## Questions

### Can I get a creator's email?

On Instagram, ask for fields ["contact"] on profiles and the business email and phone fields come back where the account lists them publicly.

### How do I find YouTube channels?

The YouTube operations read channels you name by @handle, channel id or URL. Find candidates in your research, or with Google search and site set to youtube.com, then read them.

### How do I measure engagement?

Read recent posts: Instagram posts carry likes and comments, TikTok posts carry views, likes, comments, shares and saves, and YouTube videos carry views, likes and comments.

## 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 (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