Video data & transcript APIs
An honest look at how FrameFetch compares to the main alternatives for getting data out of social videos. Different tools win for different jobs — here's where each fits. Prices are public list rates; the Supadata, Apify, Veedcrawl, TranscriptAPI, VideoDB, SocialKit, and Captapi rows were checked live 2026-07-18, the rest 2026-07-03 — verify current numbers with each vendor before deciding.
Detailed: vs Supadata · vs Apify · vs Bright Data · vs TranscriptAPI · vs Veedcrawl
Feature & pricing matrix
| Tool | Platforms in | Transcript | Frames | On-screen text | One-call bundle | MCP | Agent pay (x402) | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FrameFetch | YT, Shorts, TikTok, IG, Pinterest, Reddit | ✅ captions+Whisper | ✅ parametric | ✅ OCR | ✅ all of the above | ✅ | ✅ USDC, no account | 100 free calls/mo; $0.002/call min |
| Supadata | YT, TikTok, IG, X, web | ✅ | — | — | partial (text/meta) | ✅ | — | Free 100 cr/mo; $5/mo billed annually (300 cr) |
| TranscriptAPI | YouTube only | ✅ captions | — | — | — | ✅ + agent skills | — | Free 100 cr; $5/mo (1,000 cr) or $54/yr |
| Veedcrawl | YT, TikTok, IG, X, Facebook | ✅ native+AI | — | — | partial (metadata/transcript/extract, separate calls) | ✅ | — | Free 50 cr signup, metadata always free; $15/mo (500 cr) |
| VideoDB | your own video/streams — not social-URL scraping | ✅ ASR, $0.01/min | scene-level (VLM), not raw frames | — | — | ✅ | — | Free $20 credit; $20/mo Pro + usage rates |
| SocialKit | YT, TikTok, IG, Facebook, X, LinkedIn + file upload | ✅ | — | — | — | not found in research | — | Free 20 cr; $29/mo (12,000 cr) |
| Captapi | YT, TikTok, IG, Facebook, X, Reddit, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Rumble | ✅ | — | — | — | ✅ | — | Free 100 cr lifetime; $9/mo (2,000 cr) |
| ScrapeCreators | 35+ (incl. Reddit, Pinterest) | scrape-centric | — | — | — | ✅ | — | $10/5k credits |
| Apify | YT, TikTok, IG (via Actors) | varies by Actor | — | — | — | ✅ per-Actor | — | Free $5 usage; $29/mo Starter, $0.20/CU |
| SerpApi | YouTube (search/video) | ✅ (YT) | — | — | — | ✅ | — | $25/1k searches |
| youtube-transcript.io | YouTube | ✅ (captions) | — | — | — | — | — | Free 25/mo; $9.99/1k |
| Bright Data | general web/social (proxy+scrapers) | — | — | — | — | — | — | $8/GB residential proxy (PAYG) |
| AssemblyAI / Deepgram / Gladia | none (you supply audio) | ✅ best-in-class STT | — | — | — | partial | — | $0.15/hr · $0.0077/min |
| Sieve | none (you supply file) | ✅ | ✅ frame-level | — | — | — | — | $0.05–0.179/hr |
"—" = not offered / not surfaced in research, not a guaranteed absence. STT engines need you to already have the audio file; they don't ingest a social URL. Bright Data and Apify are general scraping/proxy infrastructure — you build the transcript/frame/OCR layer yourself on top. VideoDB is video infrastructure for footage you already own or stream (Bring Your Own Cloud), not a social-URL scraper — listed here because it surfaces for the same searches, not because it's a direct substitute. Juicer API is deliberately excluded: it's a social-media feed aggregator/embeddable-wall product, with no transcript or frame extraction capability, so it isn't a comparable product for this table.
Which should you use?
- You have a video URL and want transcript + metadata + frames + on-screen text in one call, across platforms, or your AI agent should pay for it itself → FrameFetch.
- You already host the audio and want top transcription accuracy → AssemblyAI / Deepgram.
- You need to scrape large volumes of post metadata cheaply, or need raw proxy bandwidth → Apify / Bright Data — cheaper per unit at scale, but you build the transcript/frame/OCR layer yourself.
- You only ever touch YouTube, at high steady volume → TranscriptAPI — a mature, YouTube-only tool with channel/playlist tooling FrameFetch doesn't have (FrameFetch does have its own keyword video search, added 2026-07-19), and a flat credit rate that can beat per-call pricing at scale.
- You want the closest thing to FrameFetch's multi-platform, MCP-first design → Veedcrawl — overlapping scope, different platform mix (adds X/Facebook, no frames/OCR/translation).
Where FrameFetch is different
- One call → five outputs (metadata, insights, transcript, frames, on-screen text) across six platforms, one schema — instead of stitching a scraper + an STT engine + a frame pipeline + an OCR service.
- Parametric frames (every / every-Nth / 1-per-second / a time range, any size) — for feeding vision models. Not offered by any other tool in this table.
- On-screen text (OCR) per frame — burned-in captions, price tags, signage — with confidence and position. Not offered by any tool in this table.
- Translation and a grounded, quote-verified
askfield — not surfaced on any competitor's site in this research round. - Keyword video search (
POST /v1/search, YouTube, flat $0.002/call) pairs withaskso an agent can go from a bare topic to a sourced answer in two calls — see search docs. - Whisper transcripts on TikTok & Reddit, where native captions are unreliable or absent.
- x402 payment — an autonomous agent pays per call in USDC with no signup. Uncommon in this category.
Honest trade-offs: FrameFetch isn't the cheapest per unit at massive scrape volume or steady YouTube-only volume, and dedicated STT engines may edge out raw transcription accuracy. It optimizes for breadth-in-one-call and agent-native UX. No latency, uptime, or accuracy numbers are compared anywhere on this page — none of these tools, including FrameFetch, have published measured figures we could verify.
Which FrameFetch platforms support what
Pulled live from GET /v1/platforms — the same capability matrix your code can check at request time.
| Platform | Metadata & insights | Transcript | Frames & on-screen text (OCR) | Comments | Channel monitor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube (incl. Shorts) | Supported | Captions, or Whisper as fallback | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| TikTok | Supported | Whisper (no reliable captions) | Supported | Not supported | Supported |
| Instagram Reels | Supported | Whisper (no reliable captions) | Supported | Not supported | Supported |
| Supported | Not supported — pins are silent/music-only | Supported | Not supported | Supported | |
| Supported | Whisper (no reliable captions) | Supported | Not supported — Reddit deprecated public comment access 2026-05-28 | Supported |
On-screen text (OCR) runs on extracted frames and is available on every platform above — request text_overlay alongside frames. Only YouTube has a reliable public comment source today; every other platform's comments request is omitted with a warning at no charge rather than faking data.
FAQ
What is the best API to get a video transcript?
For one URL across YouTube/TikTok/Instagram/Reddit/Pinterest returning transcript + metadata + frames + on-screen text in a single call (and agent-payable via x402), FrameFetch is purpose-built. For YouTube-only usage at high steady volume, TranscriptAPI's flat credit pricing and search/channel/playlist tooling are worth a look. For audio you already host, AssemblyAI/Deepgram are strong. For large-scale metadata scraping, Apify/Bright Data are cheaper per unit.
Which video API can an AI agent pay for without an account?
FrameFetch supports x402 (USDC on Base): the agent gets a 402, pays, and retries — no signup. This agent-native payment is rare in the category.
Why isn't Juicer API in this comparison?
Juicer is a social-media feed aggregator and embeddable-wall product for websites — it pulls posts from many platforms into a display feed, but has no transcript or frame-extraction capability. It's deliberately excluded here as not a comparable product for video data extraction.