Best No-Code Social Media Scrapers (2026): Apify Alternatives Compared

The main no-code social media scrapers, and the usual Apify alternatives, are InsightSocial (a Chrome extension for TikTok, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit and Pinterest: scraping is free, 500 exported rows a month free, Pro $9.99 for 10,000, plus a pay-per-call API), Thunderbit (AI extension, Starter $15 a month for 500 rows), Instant Data Scraper (free, any site), Browse AI (from $19 a month billed yearly), Octoparse (free desktop plan, Standard $69 a month billed yearly), PhantomBuster (cloud automation, $69 a month or $56 billed yearly) and Outscraper (pay as you go); for code, Bright Data ($1.50 per 1,000 records) and ScrapeCreators ($47 for 25,000 credits). Apify itself starts free with $5 of usage a month, then $19, $199 and $999 plans, and it is still the right choice for scheduled cloud pipelines and millions of rows.

We make InsightSocial, so we are not neutral. Every other price on this page was read on that company's own pricing page or store listing on November 7, 2026, and each section links to it. We did not benchmark the other tools, so this list compares what they publish, not how fast they run.

Quick comparison

Why people look for Apify alternatives

Most complaints about Apify are about fit, not quality:

• The bill is hard to predict. A compute unit is 1 GB of RAM for one hour, priced at $0.20 on the free and Starter plans, $0.16 on Scale and $0.13 on Business. How many a run burns depends on memory, page speed and retries, so you learn the cost after it ends. Many Store Actors now charge per result instead.
• Proxies are a separate line. Apify lists residential proxies at $8 per GB on its free and Starter plans.
• Every platform is a different Actor. A TikTok scraper and a LinkedIn scraper often come from different authors, with different inputs and output columns.
• It is more tool than many jobs need. Getting one creator's comments into a spreadsheet means picking an Actor, filling in its input and reading a dataset.

We cover those points one by one in our InsightSocial vs Apify comparison. This post is the wider list.

How we put this list together

We started from the tools AI assistants and top-ranking roundups name for this question, then added the extensions and APIs our users mention. For each one we read its pricing page, store listing or help center on November 7, 2026. Where a page showed no number, we left it out.

When Apify is still the right choice

If any of these describe your job, stay on Apify:

• Runs must happen on a schedule with your laptop closed, with webhooks and retries built in.
• You need millions of rows or many targets at once. Pay-per-result Actors are cheaper per row at volume than any extension.
• Your targets go beyond social media: shops, search results, directories, maps.
• You want to write and host your own scraper in TypeScript or Python.

An example of per-result pricing: Clockworks' TikTok Scraper, used by about 34,900 people in the previous 30 days, charged $3.70 per 1,000 results on the free plan, falling to $1.70 on the Business plan (listing). On the free plan, the $5 monthly credit covers about 1,350 TikTok results.

1. InsightSocial: an extension for the tab you have open, an API for code

InsightSocial is our product, and it comes in two halves that share one credit balance.

The Chrome extension exports from the page you have open: TikTok videos, comments and followers, X/Twitter posts, replies and followers, LinkedIn posts, comments and reactions, YouTube comments and channels, Reddit subreddits and post comments, and Pinterest search results (compared with other Pinterest tools in best Pinterest scrapers). It also covers review sites such as Trustpilot, Google Maps, Amazon and Steam. It reads what your signed-in browser already loads: no proxies, no cookies handed to a cloud, nothing to configure. Open the page, click Scrape, export to CSV, Excel, JSON or Google Sheets.

You pick each run's size: up to 250 top-level comments on TikTok (replies on top), 500 comments on YouTube, 500 replies on X, 1,000 posts per sort on a subreddit. A subreddit run can also collect up to 100 posts and every comment under them in one file.

The API at /social-media-api is for code: one key covers TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, Bluesky, Telegram, Twitch, Snapchat and more. A single GET returns JSON in the same response, every endpoint has a published price (a TikTok profile is 10 credits), and calls that fail or find nothing are free. There is an MCP server for AI agents and an n8n node.

Price: scraping in the extension is free. Exports cost one credit per row: 500 a month free, Pro $9.99 a month for 10,000, Studio $49 for 150,000. A row you already exported is free to export again. API calls draw on the same credits, and the first 10 calls are free.

Limits: Chrome must be open while the extension runs, and each run covers one page. Platforms set their own ceilings: TikTok shows about 30 followers of someone else's account per list, so that export stops there. For millions of rows, Apify's per-result Actors cost less per row than our API.

Best for: marketers, researchers and agencies who want social data in a spreadsheet without setup, and developers who want one key with prices they can read before calling.

2. Thunderbit

Thunderbit is an AI Chrome extension that reads almost any page and suggests the columns for you. Its pricing data on November 7, 2026: the free plan scrapes up to 6 pages (at most 30 credits a page), Starter is $15 a month for 500 credits or $108 a year for 5,000, and Pro plans start at $38 a month for 3,000 credits. One output row costs one credit, or two with subpage scraping (pricing).

It suits product grids and directories. On an endless social feed the meter runs on every row it reads, so scrolling a big feed spends credits before you decide what to keep.

Best for: people who scrape many kinds of websites and only sometimes need social data. See InsightSocial vs Thunderbit.

3. Instant Data Scraper

Instant Data Scraper is a free Chrome extension that detects the biggest repeating list on a page and saves it as CSV or Excel. Its Chrome Web Store listing showed 1,000,000 users and a 4.9 rating from 7.8K ratings on November 7, 2026, and says "This extension is completely FREE" and that scraped data does not leave your browser.

It sees only what is rendered on screen, so on social sites the columns are whatever its detection finds, and replies lose their nesting.

Best for: a free, rough one-off table. See InsightSocial vs Instant Data Scraper.

4. Browse AI

Browse AI trains "robots" by recording what you do in a browser, then runs them in its cloud and can watch a page for changes. On its pricing page on November 7, 2026: free gives 50 credits a month on 2 websites, Personal is $19 a month billed yearly (12,000 credits a year), Professional $69 a month billed yearly (60,000 credits a year), and Premium starts at $500 a month billed yearly. One credit extracts 10 rows from a page, and sites it marks as Premium cost 2 to 10 credits per run at minimum.

Best for: monitoring the same page on a schedule, with alerts or a Google Sheet that updates itself.

5. Octoparse

Octoparse is a point-and-click desktop app with cloud runs on paid plans and hundreds of preset templates. Its pricing page on November 7, 2026: free forever with 10 tasks, local runs only and up to 50,000 exported rows a month (10,000 per export); Standard is $69 a month billed yearly ($83 month to month) with 100 tasks, up to 3 cloud processes, scheduling and residential proxies; Professional is $249 a month billed yearly ($299 month to month).

Best for: people who want a visual workflow builder they control step by step, across many kinds of sites.

6. PhantomBuster

PhantomBuster runs automations ("Phantoms") in its cloud, and they keep running with your browser closed. Its LinkedIn Phantoms act through your own account: they need your session cookie, which its browser extension can fill in (help center). Plans are execution time: on its pricing page on November 7, 2026, Start was $56 a month billed yearly ($672 a year) with 20 hours, 5 slots and 500 email credits; Grow $128 and Scale $352 a month billed yearly. Its own July 2026 pricing guide lists Start at $69 month to month. The 14-day trial gives 2 hours and caps exports at 10 rows.

Best for: LinkedIn lead generation where scraping, email finding and messages run as one automated loop. See InsightSocial vs PhantomBuster and our PhantomBuster alternatives list.

7. Outscraper

Outscraper is a pay-as-you-go cloud service with an API, built mainly around Google Maps, search and review data. Its one social source is YouTube comments: the first 500 a month are free, then $3 per 1,000 up to 5,000 and $2 per 1,000 after that (YouTube comments pricing, checked November 7, 2026). There are no monthly fees.

Best for: Google Maps, review and lead data in bulk, with YouTube comments on the side. See InsightSocial vs Outscraper.

8. Bright Data

Bright Data sells scraping infrastructure. Its Web Scraper API pricing on November 7, 2026: 5,000 records a month free, $1.50 per 1,000 records pay as you go, and Scale at $499 a month for 384,000 records, then $1.30 per 1,000. Proxies, unblocking and parsing are included, and a promo code on the page took 60% off for three months.

Best for: enterprise volume, with a developer to own the integration. See InsightSocial vs Bright Data.

9. ScrapeCreators

ScrapeCreators is a social data API: one key, one GET per request, prepaid credits that never expire. On its site on November 7, 2026: 100 free credits (and up to 1,200 bonus credits to claim), Freelance $47 for 25,000 credits ($1.88 per 1,000 requests) and Business $497 for 500,000 ($0.99 per 1,000). Most endpoints cost 1 credit, and cached results cost nothing. It lists 38+ APIs, including TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Reddit and Pinterest.

Best for: developers who want a low price per request and do not need a no-code front end. Our social media API roundup compares it with the other APIs.

Price for the same job

Prices differ in their units, so here is one job: about 1,000 TikTok comments a month into a spreadsheet.

• Apify: Clockworks' TikTok Comments Scraper charges $1.25 per 1,000 comments on the free plan ($0.50 on Business), so about $1.25, inside the $5 free usage.
• InsightSocial: 1,000 exported rows, replies included, which is more than the free 500 and well inside Pro's 10,000 for $9.99. Collecting and reading them first costs nothing.
• Thunderbit: about 1,000 credits at one per row, more than Starter's 500 a month, so the $38 Pro plan.
• ExportComments: one export per video, capped at 100 comments on its free tier; see our ExportComments alternatives.

At this size Apify's free plan is the cheapest. What you trade is setup: an Actor to choose, an input to fill in and a dataset to download, against a button on the page you already have open.

Which one should you use?

• Social data in a spreadsheet, no setup, from the page you have open: InsightSocial's extension.
• Social data from code, one key, prices you can read first: InsightSocial's API or ScrapeCreators.
• Scheduled pipelines, millions of rows, non-social sites: stay on Apify.
• Any website, AI picks the columns: Thunderbit.
• Free and one-off: Instant Data Scraper.
• Watching a page for changes: Browse AI.
• Visual workflows you build step by step: Octoparse.
• LinkedIn outreach on autopilot: PhantomBuster.
• Google Maps and reviews in bulk: Outscraper.
• Enterprise volume: Bright Data.

FAQ

What is the best Apify alternative for social media without code? For TikTok, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit and Pinterest, a dedicated extension such as InsightSocial needs no setup: open the page, click Scrape and export. Scraping is free and the free plan exports 500 rows a month. For any kind of site, Thunderbit and Browse AI are no-code too, but they charge per row or per credit as they scrape.

Is there a free Apify alternative? Yes. Instant Data Scraper is completely free, Octoparse has a free local plan with 50,000 exported rows a month, and InsightSocial's free plan scrapes without limit and exports 500 rows a month. Apify's own free plan gives $5 of usage a month, which covers about 1,350 results from its most used TikTok Actor.

Which Apify alternative has an API for social media? InsightSocial's API covers TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, Bluesky, Telegram and more with one key, a published price per endpoint and free failed calls. ScrapeCreators sells prepaid credits from $47 for 25,000, and Bright Data charges $1.50 per 1,000 records.

Is Apify cheaper than InsightSocial? At high volume, yes. Apify's per-result Actors cost less per row for millions of rows, and its free plan covers small jobs. InsightSocial is cheaper to start and easier to predict: scraping is free, Pro is $9.99 for 10,000 exported rows a month, and there are no compute units or proxy charges.

Can I scrape social media without code and without giving my password away? With a browser extension, yes: InsightSocial, Thunderbit and Instant Data Scraper read what your own browser already shows, so you never type your social media password into another service. Cloud tools such as PhantomBuster work through a session cookie from your account instead.

When should I stay on Apify? When jobs must run on a schedule with your computer off, when you need millions of rows or high concurrency, or when your targets go beyond social media. Those are Apify's strengths, and the tools on this list do not replace them.

Related guides: InsightSocial vs Apify, best social media scraping APIs, PhantomBuster alternatives, ExportComments alternatives, social media API.