Pinterest API Options in 2026: Official v5 vs Data APIs

November 8, 2026

Pinterest is a search engine for ideas, and its data is useful for trend research, product discovery and creator work. The official API is solid but narrow: it is built around accounts that authorize your app. This guide explains what Pinterest's v5 API reads, its rate limits, and what to use for public pins and boards you do not own.

What the v5 API reads

Pinterest publishes its v5 OpenAPI spec on GitHub. The read endpoints work on the "operation user_account", which by default is the account behind your access token:

• Pins and boards: Get Pin and List Pins on board return pins owned by that account, or on group boards shared with it.
• Search: /search/pins and /search/boards search that account's own pins and boards.
• Partner search: /search/partner/pins returns the top 10 pins for a term, but the spec marks it as beta and not available to all apps.
• Analytics: account analytics with a start date no more than 90 days back, top pins and top video pins (top 50 each), and per-pin analytics.
• Trends: trending keywords by region, featured topics and growing shopping categories, aimed at advertisers.
• Followers: the account's followers and who it follows.

So the official API is a good fit for managing your own accounts and clients' accounts. It is not a way to read any public pin or board on Pinterest.

Rate limits

Pinterest's rate limit page sets two access tiers:

Pinterest notes the limits can change without notice. New apps start on trial access; the FAQ tells you to request standard access before going to production.

A first official call

curl "https://api.pinterest.com/v5/user_account/analytics?start_date=2026-10-01&end_date=2026-10-31" -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Metric types include impressions, saves, pin clicks, outbound clicks and engagement, for the token's account. Note the 90-day look-back: if you want a year of history, store the numbers yourself every month.

Options for public data

Bright Data's Pinterest scraper covers posts and profiles at $1.50 per 1,000 records, with 5,000 free records a month. It is built for batch datasets. gallery-dl is free and handles pins, boards, sections, search results and profiles, but it is a downloader first. Our Pinterest scraper comparison goes further.

Common mistakes with the official API

• Building on the beta. Partner pin search is marked beta and not available to all apps. Do not make it the core of a product until you have access in writing.
• Expecting long history. Account analytics start no more than 90 days back. Save monthly snapshots from day one.
• Shipping on trial access. 1,000 requests a day is for testing. Request standard access before launch.
• Ignoring category limits. The universal limit is high, but analytics and trends calls have their own, much lower per-minute caps. Throttle by category, not only overall.

A decision rule

1. If the account is yours or your client's, use v5. It is free and sanctioned.
2. If you need trend direction, use the trends endpoints or the Trends site.
3. If you need other people's public pins, saves or boards, use a data API.
4. Keep both: many teams pull their own analytics from v5 and competitor data from an API, then join on topic.

Doing it with ScrapeIO

For public data, ScrapeIO has a Pinterest pin API with image, outbound link, saves, board and author, a Pinterest board API, Pinterest search and user boards. No OAuth or app review is needed; one key works across all Pinterest endpoints and 32 other platforms.

Sources

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

• https://github.com/pinterest/api-description
• https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/reference/rate-limits/
• https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/faqs/faqs/
• https://brightdata.com/products/web-scraper/pinterest
• https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl/blob/master/docs/supportedsites.md