Is the Facebook API free? Prices, limits and approval (2026)

November 8, 2026

Short answer

Meta lists no per-call fee for the Facebook Graph API, but reading Pages you don't manage needs the Page Public Content Access feature, which requires App Review and Business Verification. Even then a Page feed returns about 600 ranked posts a year, at most 100 per request. Researchers can apply for the Meta Content Library, which Meta says has no fees.

Short answer: free of charge, not free of gates. The Graph API is built for managing Pages you run. Public data from other Pages needs a feature Meta grants only after review, and profiles and groups are a research-only story.

The official Facebook options at a glance

Option	What it reads	Approval	Limits
Pages you manage	Your Page's feed, comments and insights	`pages_read_engagement` and `pages_read_user_content`, plus a Page task source	4,800 x engaged users per 24 hours source
Page Public Content Access	Posts, public comments and metadata of other Pages; Pages Search source	App Review and Business Verification; possibly extra contracts	100 posts per request, about 600 per year source
Page Public Metadata Access	Like and follower counts, public About info source	App Review and Business Verification	Superseded by PPCA
Ad Library API	Ads about social issues, elections or politics, and ads delivered in the EU source	Authorized users	Not published; error 613 when exceeded source
Meta Content Library	Public Pages, groups, events, and posts from verified or 100+ follower profiles source	Researchers at non-profit research organizations	Up to 100,000 results per query

Page Public Content Access, step by step

Create a Meta app and build against Pages whose admins also have a role on your app. That is the only public content you can see before review PPCA docs.
Complete Business Verification for your company.
Submit the feature for App Review, showing the allowed use: analyzing or displaying posts and engagement on Pages.
Sign any extra contracts Meta asks for.
Read feeds with a system user access token, which Meta recommends to avoid rate limiting source.

Meta warns that once your app goes live, it will not see any Page public content without this feature. It does not publish a review time on these pages.

Limits that shape your design

Feed depth: at most 100 posts with the limit field, and about 600 ranked, published posts per year per Page. Expired posts are gone, and video posts need the requester to be a Page admin feed docs.
Rate limits: app-level Platform limits are 200 calls an hour x the number of users. Page tokens get 4,800 calls per 24 hours x the number of people who engaged with the Page rate limits.
Personal profiles and groups: the Page features above don't cover them. Meta's research route is the Content Library.

Worked example

A brand tracking 40 competitor Pages, pulling the last 100 posts of each once a week, needs 40 feed calls a week plus comment calls. That fits the limits easily. The 600-posts-a-year ceiling is what bites: a Page that posts 5 times a day publishes about 1,800 posts a year, so you would see only a third of them.

Research and transparency tools

CrowdTangle has been gone since 14 August 2024 Meta. Its replacement for researchers is the Meta Content Library. Applicants need an affiliation with a not-for-profit organization whose core purpose is research. Meta says there are no fees for the web tool or the API in its secure research environment. Coverage includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp Channels, and the web tool adds Threads source.

For ads, the Ad Library API supports analysis of ads about social issues, elections or politics, and ads delivered in the EU source. Ads that never reached the EU come back only if they are about social issues, elections or politics source. Our Meta Ad Library API guide goes deeper.

Which one fits you

You manage your own Pages or clients' Pages: Graph API with Page permissions.
You analyze competitor Pages inside a verified business app: Page Public Content Access, with review.
You study political or EU ads: Ad Library API.
You do non-profit research across Pages, groups and profiles: Meta Content Library.
You need public group posts, Marketplace listings or a Page's full post history for a commercial product: none of the options above covers that.

The free open-source route

facebook-scraper on GitHub reads posts from Pages, groups and profiles, plus comments and profile info. Some features, such as reactions, need you to be logged in with your own cookies. Its README warns that Facebook might temporarily ban your IP if you scrape too much README. Check its open issues before you rely on it.

Meta's Automated Data Collection Terms say you may not collect data by automated means without Meta's express written permission, and that accepting the terms is not that permission Meta terms.

This is not legal advice. If your project depends on it, ask a lawyer who knows your use case and your country.

The pay-per-call option

ScrapeIO reads public Facebook data with no App Review: facebook profile posts API, facebook post API, facebook comments API, facebook group posts API and facebook adlibrary search ads API, 1 credit per call.

Worked example: the 40-Page weekly tracker with two pages of posts and comments on the top 5 posts per Page is about 280 calls a week, roughly 1,200 credits a month, or about $2.26 at the Starter rate of $1.88 per 1,000 credits.

More on specific jobs: Facebook post scrapers and Facebook groups API. Every endpoint is on the Facebook platform page, and the Facebook MCP server puts them in your AI agent. Start with 100 free credits.

Sources

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

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

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