Influencer Discovery Tools: Marketplaces, Databases and APIs

November 8, 2026

Finding creators is easy. Finding the right fifty, with real audiences in your niche, is the hard part. Influencer discovery tools fall into three groups: the platforms' own marketplaces, creator databases, and data APIs you query yourself. Here is what each does well, with the prices vendors publish.

Platform marketplaces

TikTok One

TikTok One is TikTok's creator marketing platform. Brands search creators by username or keyword, filter by creator details, audience details and performance, sort by follower count or engagement rate, and save shortlists. For a creator to appear, TikTok's help page lists three conditions: at least 18 years old, TikTok One launched in their country or region, and in line with the Community Guidelines and Branded Content Policy. Its strength is first-party audience data. Its limit is that you only see creators who joined.

Meta's creator marketplace

Meta's marketplace for Instagram lets brands search creators, filter on creator and audience attributes, see creators who expressed interest, and message them directly. Meta started testing it in the US in 2022 and in February 2024 announced expansion to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, India and Brazil. Like TikTok One, it covers only opted-in creators.

Creator databases

Databases are fast: type a niche, set filters, get a list. Two things to know. First, the monthly caps on profiles and emails decide how many creators you can really evaluate. Second, databases refresh on their own schedule, so follower counts can lag. For API access to these vendors, see our comparisons for Modash and HypeAuditor.

Data APIs

An API does not hand you a list. You build one from searches, similar-account suggestions and hashtags, then score it with live numbers. It takes more setup, but it works for any niche and any platform, and the numbers are current when you pull them.

A discovery method that works with any tool

1. Start from 5 seed accounts you would love to work with.
2. Expand with similar-account suggestions and the hashtags those seeds use.
3. Search keywords your buyers use, not your category name. "Desk setup" finds more creators than "office furniture".
4. Filter on size, for example 10,000 to 200,000 followers for micro creators.
5. Score each one on its last 12 posts, not on follower count.
6. Read 20 comments on their two best posts. Real audiences ask questions; bought ones post emoji.

The engagement numbers to compute

view rate        = median(plays of last 12 posts) / followers
engagement rate  = median((likes + comments + shares) / plays) over last 12 posts
consistency      = median plays / mean plays   (near 1 = steady, near 0.2 = one viral hit)

Use medians because one viral video can make an average meaningless. On TikTok a view rate above 0.2 is healthy for most niches. A creator with 500,000 followers and a median of 8,000 plays is weaker than one with 60,000 followers and a median of 30,000.

Which to choose

• You run campaigns inside one platform and want its audience data: use TikTok One or Meta's marketplace.
• A marketing team needs search, lists and outreach in one screen: a database like Modash or Heepsy.
• You need a niche the databases cover badly, current numbers, or automation through an AI agent: a data API.

Doing it with ScrapeIO

ScrapeIO covers each discovery step: the Instagram similar accounts API for expanding seeds, the TikTok user search and Instagram profile search for keywords, and the TikTok profile videos API and YouTube channel videos API for scoring the last 12 posts. Our guide to finding micro-influencers with AI runs the whole method through an agent.

Sources

Checked on 8 November 2026 from each vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change; follow the links before you decide.

• https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/about-tiktok-one-for-creators?lang=en
• https://ads.tiktok.com/resources/help/article/how-to-find-creators-who-work-with-tiktok-one?redirected=2
• https://about.fb.com/news/2024/02/creator-marketplace-for-brands-and-creators-to-collaborate-on-instagram/
• https://www.modash.io/pricing
• https://www.heepsy.com/pricing
• https://hypeauditor.com/pricing/