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

November 8, 2026

Short answer

Snap does not publish a price for its APIs, but there is no open, self-serve API for public Snapchat data. The Public Profile API, which returns public profile and content metrics, is allowlist only: you create an OAuth app in Ads Manager and send its client ID to a Snap contact. The Marketing API covers your own ad accounts at about 20 requests a second per app.

The short version: money is not the barrier on Snapchat, access is. Snap has three developer surfaces, and only one of them reads public creator data, behind an allowlist. Here is what each one does, how you get in, and what you can do while you wait. For what is public on Snapchat and how to vet creators, see Snapchat public profiles and Spotlight.

Snap's APIs compared

API	Who can use it	Price	Limits	Reads
Public Profile API	Allowlisted partners only	None listed in Snap's docs	None listed	Public profile metadata and stats, Stories, Saved Stories, Spotlight, Lenses
Marketing API	Anyone with a Snap business account and an OAuth app	None listed	About 20 requests a second per app, 10 per token	Your own ad accounts, campaigns and stats
Snap Kit (Login Kit, Creative Kit)	App developers	None listed	Not covered here	Sign-in and sharing to Snapchat, not public data

The Public Profile API

Snap's introduction describes two uses. Creator discovery gives public metrics for every public profile, and a broader set of metrics and audience insights when a creator opts in or connects through OAuth. Content management lets partners post for brands or creators, view content analytics and promote content. Profiles are either PUBLIC or PUBLIC OFFICIAL, and either a person or a business.

The get started page says it plainly: "The Public Profile API is currently allowlist only." The path is:

Create a Snapchat user and a business account in Ads Manager.
Create the OAuth app from Business Dashboard, Business Details. Snap warns that a client ID from the Developer Portal will not work with this API.
Email your Snap contact the client ID and your intended use. Never send the client secret.
Once allowlisted, run the OAuth flow with the snapchat-profile-api scope and exchange the code for tokens.
For creator data beyond public metrics, send each creator your authorization URL.

The catch is step 3. The docs assume you already have a Snap contact, which usually means an existing advertising or partner relationship. There is no public form on that page.

The Marketing API

If your data need is your own ads, the Marketing API is open to any business account. Snap's rate limit page gives an average of 20 requests a second per app and 10 a second per access token, with HTTP 429 when you go over. That is plenty for reporting: pulling daily stats for 500 campaigns is 500 calls, under a minute of budget.

Which one fits you

You are an agency or creator platform with a Snap relationship: ask your contact for the Public Profile API. It is the only official source of opted-in audience data.
You report on your own Snapchat ads: the Marketing API.
You want users to log in with Snapchat or share to it: Snap Kit.
You need public profile and Spotlight numbers for creators you have no relationship with: a data API, or careful manual checks.

Free tools

yt-dlp lists a SnapchatSpotlight extractor in its supported sites, so you can save a Spotlight video you have the right to keep. It downloads media; it does not give you subscriber counts or comment threads, and you are responsible for following Snapchat's terms.

A vetting budget

Vetting 100 creators with one profile call each plus Spotlight details for their top 5 videos is 600 calls. Re-check monthly and a year costs 7,200 calls, about $14 at $1.88 per 1,000.

Doing it with ScrapeIO

Without an allowlist, ScrapeIO returns public Snapchat data: the snapchat profile API for name, bio, subscribers and category, the snapchat spotlight API for a Spotlight video by link, and the snapchat spotlight comments API. Each is 1 credit, and not-found answers are free. Agents can use the Snapchat MCP server.

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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