10 Best Social Media APIs for Developers (Compared)

What are the best social media APIs for developers? PostEverywhere, especially if you're building with AI agents: one REST API key, webhooks and a hosted MCP server cover all top platforms on every plan from $9/mo. Ayrshare lists the most networks, and Buffer's GraphQL API suits teams already on Buffer.

If you have ever tried to build a social media integration from scratch, you know the pain. Meta's Graph API has different endpoints for Facebook Pages and Instagram Business accounts. The X API requires OAuth 2.0 with PKCE. LinkedIn wants a Company Page URN formatted just so.

TikTok's content posting API has its own media upload flow. YouTube needs OAuth consent screens reviewed by Google.

That is seven authentication flows, seven sets of rate limits, seven documentation sites, and seven different error formats, just to publish a single post across platforms.

Unified social media APIs solve this by giving you one REST (or GraphQL) endpoint, one auth token, and one consistent response format. You send a POST request with your content and platform targets, and the API handles the rest. PostEverywhere's social media API is one of them, covering all top platforms with a single API key, and this list compares it with the alternatives.

We evaluated 10 options, from developer-first API services to no-code alternatives, so you can pick the right one for your stack without wasting a sprint on integration research.

How We Evaluated These Social Media APIs#

Every API on this list was assessed against six criteria:

• Platform support: How many social networks can you publish to through a single integration?
• Authentication: Bearer tokens, OAuth flows, API keys: how quickly can a developer go from signup to first API call?
• Rate limits: Requests per minute, per hour, and per day. Burst capacity matters for queue-based architectures.
• Pricing model: Per-post pricing, per-profile pricing, or flat monthly fee? Hidden costs for media uploads or analytics?
• Developer experience (DX): SDK availability, documentation quality, error messages, and time-to-first-post.
• Docs quality: Interactive examples, cURL snippets, OpenAPI specs, and changelog transparency.

The 10 Best Social Media APIs#

1. PostEverywhere: Best Social Media API for Developers and AI Agents#

PostEverywhereOur top pickMCP server: yes, hosted

Publishes to all top platforms

• Instagram
• Facebook
• X
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Threads
• Bluesky
• Telegram
• Discord
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• WordPress
• Google Business Profile

Why PostEverywhere wins

• It's simple. One composer for every platform: write the post once, tweak the caption per platform, check the live preview for each account and schedule it.
• One flat price, nothing locked away. From $9 a month. Every plan includes unlimited posts, the full API, the hosted MCP server and AI Studio, with no per-channel fees.
• Every top platform in one place. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads and Pinterest, plus Bluesky, Telegram, Discord, WordPress and Google Business Profile.
• Your AI agent can run it. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in about a minute and ask it to plan, write and schedule your posts.
• Create in the same tool. AI Studio makes captions, images and video, so you don't need a second app before you post.

Read what customers say on Trustpilot and G2

How PostEverywhere works

1. Connect your accounts. Link your social accounts once, across all top platforms.
2. Create the post. Write it in the composer, make images and video in AI Studio, or ask Claude or ChatGPT to draft and schedule it for you.
3. Schedule it everywhere. Tweak the caption for each platform, check every preview, and it goes out on time from one calendar.

Built for AI agents

• Agents do the whole job. A full hosted MCP server with up to 45 tools: publish, schedule, use your queue or the best time, bulk-schedule 50 posts at once, check results, retry failures and send links to connect new accounts. Some rival MCP servers only read data or create drafts.
• $29 a month for 10 accounts, flat. Full API and agent access included, with no per-channel, per-seat or per-call fees. The same 10 accounts cost $60 a month on Buffer and $99 per user (billed annually) on Hootsuite.
• Nothing gated. API, MCP and webhooks come with every plan, from Lite. Several rivals keep their API for higher tiers or a sales call.
• Connected in a minute. One click adds PostEverywhere to Claude, with one-click installs for Cursor and VS Code. ChatGPT adds it under Plugins.

Connect your AI agent

Plans: Lite $9 a month (2 accounts), Starter $19 (5), Growth $29 (10), Scale $39 (20). Every plan includes unlimited posts, the full API, the hosted MCP server and AI Studio.

“This tool has truly made my content posting so much easier, I can't work without it. I can schedule my posts days in advance while working on other projects. Set it and forget it.”

Also in PostEverywhere: a posting queue, bulk upload from CSV, approvals, analytics, an API and the iPhone app.

Start your 7-day free trial

PostEverywhere is the agentic social media scheduler built for developers and AI agents. Call one REST API from your own stack and get webhooks back when posts publish or fail, or skip the code and let Claude or ChatGPT post through the hosted MCP server.

Best for: developers and AI agents who want one REST API, webhooks and MCP, with AI generation built in

PostEverywhere provides a clean REST API at app.posteverywhere.ai/api/v1 that covers publishing, scheduling, media uploads, and AI content generation across all top platforms. See the unified social media API overview for the full feature set.

Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads

Pricing: API access is included on every plan from $9/mo. No per-post fees, no separate API tier.

Auth: Bearer token. Generate an API key from Settings > Developer and pass it in the Authorization header. No OAuth dance required for server-to-server use.

Rate limits: no posting cap from PostEverywhere; platforms enforce their own limits, and very fast bursts are briefly rate limited with a retry time.

Key endpoints:

# Create and schedule a post
curl -X POST https://app.posteverywhere.ai/api/v1/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "New feature just dropped!",
    "platforms": ["instagram", "linkedin", "x", "threads"],
    "scheduledAt": "2026-03-25T14:00:00Z"
  }'

The Posts endpoint handles creation, scheduling, and publishing. The AI endpoint lets you generate images and captions programmatically, useful if you are building a content pipeline with AI content generation baked in.

Media uploads use presigned URLs, so large video files go directly to storage without routing through your server.

SDKs: Official @posteverywhere/sdk Node.js SDK on npm (install with npm install @posteverywhere/sdk), @posteverywhere/mcp for Claude Code agents (run npx -y @posteverywhere/mcp), plus Python and cURL examples in the docs (no dedicated Python SDK yet).

Source code is open on GitHub for both the SDK and the MCP package.

Pros:

• API included at no extra cost on all plans
• AI image and caption generation via API
• All top platforms with a single integration
• Bearer token auth (no OAuth complexity for backend use)
• Webhooks for publish and failure events, with signed payloads you can verify

Cons:

• No Reddit or Google Business Profile support
• No social inbox or listening endpoints: it's built for publishing driven by your own code or an AI agent

Building a social media integration? PostEverywhere's social media posting API ships with a Node.js SDK (the @posteverywhere/sdk package on npm and @posteverywhere/mcp for Claude Code), AI generation endpoints, and support for all top platforms, all included from $9/mo. Start your 7-day trial.

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2. Ayrshare#

Ayrshare

Good for: developers who need maximum platform coverage

Ayrshare is a developer-first social media API supporting 13+ platforms. Their REST API is well-documented with Postman collections and clear endpoint references.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Threads, Bluesky, Snapchat, Google Business Profile

Pricing: No free plan. Premium is $149/mo for one profile, Launch $299/mo for up to 10 profiles (with a 28-day trial), and Business $599/mo for 30 profiles, per Ayrshare's pricing page in October 2026.

Auth: API key passed as a header. Straightforward for server-side use.

Example:

curl -X POST https://app.ayrshare.com/api/post \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "post": "Check out our latest update!",
    "platforms": ["facebook", "instagram", "linkedin", "twitter"]
  }'

Pros:

• 13+ platforms: widest coverage on this list
• Strong documentation with Postman collections
• Webhook support for post status updates

Cons:

• $149/mo minimum for a single profile, and webhooks start on the $299 Launch plan
• Its MCP server needs a client that can send a custom header, so it does not work as a claude.ai or Claude Desktop connector
• No built-in AI generation

If Ayrshare's price or agent support is the sticking point, our Ayrshare alternatives guide compares six other posting APIs on cost per account, MCP and webhooks.

---

3. Phyllo API#

Good for: products that need public and creator-authorized social data

Phyllo is public social data infrastructure for products that need to read and analyze social data, not only publish it. Its Public APIs search and fetch public profiles, posts, and conversations without asking each account owner to connect.

Its Authenticated APIs unlock first-party account data after the owner gives permission.

Both API families use one normalized schema across 25+ platforms. A product can begin with public discovery or monitoring, then add verified account analytics without building a second platform-by-platform integration.

Platforms: 25+ social and creator platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, and Twitch

Pricing: Custom pricing. A sandbox is available for schema and coverage testing.

Auth: No OAuth for Public APIs. OAuth through Phyllo Connect for creator-authorized data.

Key metrics: follower growth, engagement rate, reach, impressions, and audience demographics. Reach, impressions, and first-party demographics require creator authorization.

Pros:

• Public and creator-authorized data through one API
• Public discovery and monitoring without an account connection
• First-party performance and audience data after permission is granted
• One normalized schema across 25+ platforms

Cons:

• Private metrics are unavailable until the account owner connects
• Not the first choice for a publishing-only workflow

---

4. Buffer#

Buffer

Good for: teams already using Buffer who need programmatic access

Buffer's API was rebuilt as a GraphQL API. This is a departure from the older REST API and offers more flexible querying, but it also means a steeper learning curve if you are used to REST.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Pinterest, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, Google Business Profile

Pricing: Buffer's paid plans start at $5/mo per channel billed annually ($6 monthly), and even the free plan includes one API key.

Auth: OAuth 2.0 with Bearer token. You will need to register an application and handle the OAuth flow for user-facing integrations.

Example:

mutation {
  createPost(input: {
    text: "Hello from the Buffer API!"
    channelIds: ["channel-id-here"]
    scheduledAt: "2026-03-25T14:00:00Z"
  }) {
    ... on CreatePostSuccess {
      post { id status }
    }
  }
}

Pros:

• GraphQL gives flexible querying (request only the fields you need)
• Support for all top platforms
• Low entry price per channel

Cons:

• GraphQL adds complexity vs REST for simple posting use cases
• OAuth required (no simple API key auth)
• API historically deprioritised: documentation gaps remain

---

5. Hootsuite#

Hootsuite

Good for: enterprise teams with existing Hootsuite deployments

Hootsuite's APIs include a Publishing API and User Management API. These are designed for enterprise integrations rather than indie developer projects.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads

Pricing: Enterprise pricing only. You will need to contact sales: there is no self-serve API access.

Auth: OAuth 2.0. Enterprise SSO integrations available.

Pros:

• Mature enterprise infrastructure
• Compliance and approval workflows built in
• Strong analytics API alongside publishing

Cons:

• No self-serve access: sales process required
• Enterprise pricing makes it impractical for startups
• Heavy OAuth setup for simple integrations

---

6. Sprout Social#

Sprout Social

Good for: agencies on the Advanced plan who need reporting automation

Sprout Social's API covers publishing and reporting, but it is locked behind their Advanced plan at $399/seat per month, billed annually.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads

Pricing: Advanced plan required ($249+/mo per seat). API is not available on lower tiers.

Auth: OAuth 2.0.

Pros:

• Comprehensive reporting and analytics API
• Strong publishing workflow with approval chains
• Well-documented endpoints

Cons:

• $249+/mo per seat makes this the most expensive option
• API access is gated behind the highest tier
• Overkill for teams that just need publishing

---

7. Sociality.io#

Sociality.io

Good for: teams who need analytics and listening alongside publishing

Sociality.io offers a unified social media API covering publishing, analytics, competitor analysis, and social listening. API access is available on Business and Enterprise plans.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest

Pricing: Plans start at $99/mo. API access on Business tier and above.

Auth: Bearer token via API key generated in Settings.

Pros:

• Combines publishing, analytics, and listening in one API
• Webhook support for real-time notifications
• Good cURL documentation

Cons:

• API not intended for building commercial SaaS products (internal tools only)
• $99/mo minimum for API access
• Smaller developer community

---

8. Publer#

Publer

Good for: small teams who need basic API access on a budget

Publer offers API access on their higher-tier plans. The API covers basic publishing and scheduling but is less comprehensive than developer-first options.

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Google Business Profile, Threads

Pricing: API access available on Business plan ($21/mo and up). Limited documentation compared to API-first services.

Auth: API key.

Pros:

• Affordable entry point
• Good platform coverage (9 platforms)
• Simple REST endpoints

Cons:

• API is a secondary feature, not the core product
• Documentation is sparse compared to Ayrshare or PostEverywhere
• Rate limits are not publicly documented

---

9. Native Platform APIs#

Good for: developers who only need one or two platforms and want full control

If you only post to Instagram and LinkedIn, you might not need a unified API at all. The native platform APIs give you full access to every feature, including platform-specific ones that aggregators may not surface.

The key native APIs:

Pros:

• Full platform feature access
• No middleman: you control the integration entirely
• Free (mostly)

Cons:

• Each platform has separate auth, rate limits, and response formats
• Maintenance burden: platform API changes break your code
• Building for all top platforms means a separate integration, and separate maintenance, for every network

This is the approach that makes developers switch to a unified API after the second or third platform integration. If you are already managing cross-posting across multiple networks, the engineering overhead of native APIs adds up fast.

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10. Zapier / Make (No-Code Alternative)#

Zapier

Good for: non-developers or teams prototyping before committing to a code-based integration

Zapier and Make are not APIs in the traditional sense, but they let you connect social media platforms to your existing tools without writing code. They work as a bridge until your team is ready to build a proper integration.

Pricing: Zapier from $29.99/mo (750 tasks). Make from $10.59/mo (10,000 operations).

Pros:

• Zero code required
• Fast to prototype workflows
• Huge library of pre-built integrations

Cons:

• Per-task/operation pricing gets expensive at scale
• Limited control over error handling and retry logic
• Latency: triggers are polled, not real-time
• Not suitable for production SaaS integrations

Need a real API, not a workaround? PostEverywhere's REST API gives you programmatic control over all top platforms, plus a Node.js SDK and a public OpenAPI spec for other languages. See the quickstart guide.

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Comparison Table#

Why Choose PostEverywhere?#

For developers and AI agents, PostEverywhere is the best social media API: the full API, webhooks and a hosted MCP server come on every plan from $9/mo, with no sales call and no enterprise tier.

• Self-serve and affordable. PostEverywhere's REST API is included from $9/mo (Lite, 2 accounts) to $39/mo (Scale, 20 accounts). Ayrshare starts at $149/mo for a single profile, Hootsuite's API needs an enterprise sales process, and Sprout Social only opens its API on the Advanced plan, its highest tier.
• Webhooks on every plan. Signed webhooks for publish and failure events are included from Lite. Ayrshare's webhooks start on its $299/mo Launch plan.
• A hosted MCP server your AI agent can actually use. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in about a minute and the agent can schedule and publish posts, upload media and read analytics and best times. Ayrshare's MCP server needs a client that sends a custom header, so it does not work as a claude.ai or Claude Desktop connector.
• Simple auth, clear limits. A Bearer API key with no OAuth dance for server-side use, and published limits of 60 requests per minute and 1,000 per hour per key. Buffer requires OAuth and a GraphQL API, and several rivals here don't publish rate limits at all.
• Built for volume and code. Bulk create up to 50 posts per call, presigned media uploads, an open-source (MIT) MCP server, a Node SDK and a CLI on GitHub.
• AI generation built in. Generate captions and images through the API with AI Studio. None of the other APIs in this table include AI generation.

Read the social media API overview or compare plans, then start a 7-day free trial and make your first API call in minutes.

What Is a Social Media API Aggregator?#

A social media API aggregator is one API that publishes to many social networks for you. Instead of building and maintaining a separate integration for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, X (Twitter) and the rest, you connect each account once through the aggregator, then send one request that names the accounts to post to.

The aggregator handles each network's login (OAuth), token refresh, media rules and publishing quirks, and tells you what happened.

How a social media API aggregator works:

1. Connect accounts once. Each social account is authorised through the aggregator's OAuth flow, so your app never stores platform tokens.
2. Send one post object. A single request carries the caption, media and schedule time, plus optional per-platform settings (a YouTube title, a Pinterest board, an Instagram post type).
3. The aggregator adapts it per network. It checks character limits, media formats and required fields before publishing, so a post that would fail on one network is caught early.
4. Get results back. Per-platform results (published, failed, needs reconnecting) come back through the API or a webhook, so you are not polling every network.

Aggregator vs native platform APIs: an aggregator saves you weeks per network and the ongoing work of keeping up with API changes and app reviews. Native APIs give you every platform-specific feature and no per-account fee.

Most teams posting to three or more networks are better off with an aggregator; the section below covers when native wins.

What to check before you choose one:

• Price per connected account. Aggregator pricing is usually per account or per profile, and the gap between vendors is large (see the Ayrshare alternatives cost comparison, or how Zernio's per-account pricing compares with a flat plan).
• Platform coverage. Make sure every network you need is supported, including the formats you post (Reels, Shorts, carousels, threads).
• Rate limits and bulk endpoints. Check requests per minute and whether you can create posts in bulk.
• Webhooks. Signed webhooks for publish results save you from polling.
• An MCP server for AI agents. If Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor will do the posting, a hosted MCP server lets the agent call the same API without custom code.

PostEverywhere is a social media API aggregator built for developers and AI agents: one REST API and a hosted MCP server on every plan, signed webhooks, and an open-source Node SDK, from $9/mo.

When to Use a Unified API vs Native Platform APIs#

Choose a unified API when:

• You are posting to 3+ platforms and do not want to maintain separate integrations
• Your team wants to ship a social media scheduling feature in days, not months
• You need consistent error handling and response formats across platforms
• You want to offload platform API changes (token refreshes, endpoint deprecations) to someone else
• You are building social media automation or AI agents into a product and need reliability (agent-only setups can skip the code and use the PostEverywhere MCP server)

Choose native APIs when:

• You only target 1-2 platforms
• You need platform-specific features (e.g., Instagram Stories stickers, YouTube end screens)
• You have a dedicated team to maintain the integrations long-term
• You want zero dependencies on third-party services
• Budget is a constraint and you can absorb the engineering time

For most teams building a social media management integration, a unified API pays for itself in engineering hours saved within the first month. The average developer spends 2-3 weeks integrating a single native platform API, handling auth, media uploads, rate limiting, and error handling. A unified API cuts that to a day.

Skip the boilerplate. PostEverywhere's API handles auth, media uploads, rate limiting, and platform quirks for all top platforms. Check the API docs or start a 7-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best social media API for developers?#

It depends on your needs. If you want one REST API, webhooks and a hosted MCP server your AI agent can post through, with AI generation built in, PostEverywhere is the best fit, on every plan from $9/mo.

If you need 13+ platforms, Ayrshare has the widest coverage. For teams already using Buffer, their GraphQL API extends your existing setup.

What does a social media API aggregator do?#

A social media API aggregator is a single API that publishes to many social networks. You connect each account once, send one post request, and the aggregator handles each network's OAuth, media rules and publishing, then reports the results back by API or webhook. PostEverywhere, Ayrshare and Zernio are examples.

Are social media APIs free?#

Native platform APIs (Meta Graph API, YouTube Data API) are generally free with rate limits. Unified APIs like PostEverywhere start at $9/mo. Ayrshare has no free plan and starts at $149/mo, though its Launch plan has a 28-day trial.

Can I post to multiple social media platforms with one API call?#

Yes. Unified APIs like PostEverywhere and Ayrshare let you specify an array of target platforms in a single POST request. The API handles platform-specific formatting, media requirements, and publishing rules behind the scenes.

What are the rate limits for social media APIs?#

Rate limits vary by provider. PostEverywhere sets no posting cap of its own. Native platform APIs each have their own limits, and they are not remotely comparable: we put them side by side in social media API rate limits.

Token lifetimes differ just as much, which our OAuth guide sets out. Approval difficulty varies just as widely, which we map in how to get social media API access.

Telegram sits at the other end of the range: its Bot API is free with no per-message fee, as is posting to Discord via webhook. X is the notable outlier on cost rather than volume, billing $0.015 per post and $0.200 per post containing a link under its pay-per-usage pricing. Always check the provider's documentation for current limits.

Do I need OAuth to use a social media API?#

Not always. API-first services like PostEverywhere and Ayrshare use simple API key authentication (Bearer token), which is much easier for server-to-server integrations. Native platform APIs and Buffer require full OAuth 2.0 flows, which adds complexity especially for user-facing applications.

How do I choose between a REST API and a GraphQL API for social media?#

REST APIs (PostEverywhere, Ayrshare) are simpler and easier to integrate for straightforward posting and scheduling use cases. GraphQL (Buffer) offers more flexibility for complex queries where you want to request specific fields.

For most social media publishing integrations, REST is the pragmatic choice, it has a lower learning curve and wider tooling support.

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Which Social Media API Should Developers Choose?#

The best social media API depends on what you are building. For most developers integrating social media publishing into a product or internal tool, a unified REST API saves weeks of engineering time compared to wiring up native platform APIs individually.

If you want the simplest path, API key auth, all top platforms, AI generation, and a Node.js SDK, PostEverywhere's API is included on every plan starting at $9/mo.

Need the widest platform coverage? Ayrshare's 13+ platforms make it the right choice if you need Pinterest, Reddit, or Telegram support, and if you're building on Telegram specifically, our Telegram for Business guide covers the channel-first strategy that works in 2026.

Already invested in a specific tool? Buffer and Hootsuite APIs let you extend existing workflows, though with more friction and higher costs.

Whatever you choose, stop copy-pasting content into 7 different dashboards. There is an API for that.

Publishing to each platform's API#

The comparison above covers which API to build on. These cover the actual endpoints, auth flows and gotchas per platform.

Post to a platform directly

• Post to TikTok API and post to YouTube API
• Post to Facebook API and post to Threads API

Schedule via API

• Schedule Instagram posts and schedule LinkedIn posts
• Schedule X (Twitter) posts and schedule Pinterest pins

Going further

• PostEverywhere social media API, the overview if you are starting from scratch
• Build a social media agent on the API
• Migrating from the Buffer API
• What shipped in API v1.4

Beyond REST: MCP and the command line#

The API is one integration surface among three. If you work in an AI coding environment, using PostEverywhere with Claude Code over MCP covers the Model Context Protocol route, the best social media MCP server covers what an agent can do, and for shell-first workflows the PostEverywhere CLI publishes from your terminal.

Choosing between calling an API from code and letting an AI agent drive through MCP? The PostEverywhere API page covers both routes, REST and the hosted MCP server, and our AI social media agents comparison covers the buy-rather-than-build option, ranked on setup effort and capability.