Best Hacker News API in 2026: pricing compared
Algolia is first for Hacker News searches and Hacker News comments in the Datacircle benchmark. Our #1 Hacker News APIs are free. We score 9 Hacker News API providers. 3 of them offer both Hacker News search and comment APIs: Algolia, AnyAPI and Scrappa. Below, each kind of Hacker News data has a line. Each line names the provider we score highest and what that provider's plan costs.
Hacker News API comparison and alternatives: the best provider for each kind of data
| Hacker News data | Our #1 provider | Price of our #1 provider | Overall score | Tested on | Our #2 and #3 providers | Cheapest plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hacker News search API | Algolia | free, $0 per 1,000 searches | 90.9 | 3 November 2026 | Scrappa (70.4), Social Fetch (68.5) | Scrappa's $10 pack is the cheapest paid plan per 1,000 searches in our ranking: $0.30. |
| Hacker News comment API | Algolia | free, $0 per 1,000 comments | 90.7 | 3 November 2026 | Hacker News (87.3), ProLevelMax (85.5) | ScrapeMole's pay-as-you-go plan costs the least: $0.07 a month for 10,000 comments. |
Top Hacker News API providers compared: their rank on each of our 2 rankings
Each provider below is in the top 3 of at least one of our 2 Hacker News API rankings.
Algolia: ranked on 2 of our 2 Hacker News API rankings
- Hacker News search API: #1 of 6 providers, Overall score 90.9, $0.00 per 1,000 searches.
- Hacker News comment API: #1 of 6 providers, Overall score 90.7, $0.00 per 1,000 comments.
Scrappa: ranked on 2 of our 2 Hacker News API rankings
- Hacker News search API: #2 of 6 providers, Overall score 70.4, $0.30 per 1,000 searches.
- Hacker News comment API: #6 of 6 providers, Overall score 56.4.
Hacker News: ranked on 1 of our 2 Hacker News API rankings
- Hacker News comment API: #2 of 6 providers, Overall score 87.3, $0.00 per 1,000 comments.
ProLevelMax: ranked on 1 of our 2 Hacker News API rankings
- Hacker News comment API: #3 of 6 providers, Overall score 85.5, $0.0006 per 1,000 comments.
Social Fetch: ranked on 1 of our 2 Hacker News API rankings
- Hacker News search API: #3 of 6 providers, Overall score 68.5, $1.61 per 1,000 searches.
Top Hacker News search API providers by score
| Rank | Provider and plan | Overall score | Accuracy score | Median answer time | $ per 1,000 searches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algolia, free (alternatives) · hn.algolia.com | 90.9 | 100 | 0.13 s | $0.00 |
| 2 | Scrappa, $10 pack (alternatives) · scrappa.co | 70.4 | 100 | 0.83 s | $0.30 |
| 3 | Social Fetch, $29 monthly (alternatives) · socialfetch.dev | 68.5 | 99 | 0.34 s | $1.61 |
| 4 | AnyAPI, top-up from $10 (alternatives) · getanyapi.com | 66.2 | 89 | 0.43 s | $1.50 |
| 5 | Buska, $50 pack (alternatives) · buska.io | 0.0 | 0 | Not timed | $50.00 |
| 6 | Octolens, $199 monthly (alternatives) · octolens.com | 0.0 | 0 | 4.1 s | Unknown |
We give an Overall score of 0 to any provider with an Accuracy score of 0.
Unknown: the provider's pages give the plan's price. They don't say how many searches come with the plan.
Top Hacker News comment API providers by score
| Rank | Provider and plan | Overall score | Accuracy score | Median answer time | $ per 1,000 comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algolia, free (alternatives) · hn.algolia.com | 90.7 | 100 | 0.46 s | $0.00 |
| 2 | Hacker News, free (alternatives) · github.com | 87.3 | 100 | 0.76 s | $0.00 |
| 3 | ProLevelMax, top-up (alternatives) · prolevelmax.com | 85.5 | 93 | 1.1 s | $0.0006 |
| 4 | AnyAPI, top-up from $10 (alternatives) · getanyapi.com | 59.3 | 100 | 0.75 s | Unknown |
| 5 | ScrapingIsNotACrime, $5 pack (alternatives) · scrapingisnotacrime.com | 56.9 | 100 | 1.2 s | Unknown |
| 6 | Scrappa, $10 pack (alternatives) · scrappa.co | 56.4 | 100 | 1.6 s | Unknown |
Unknown: the provider's pages give the plan's price. They don't say how many comments come with the plan.
How we tested
We test each kind of Hacker News API separately. We rank each provider only against providers of the same kind.
| API | Providers tested | Inputs sent to each |
|---|---|---|
| Hacker News search API | 6 | up to 20 searches |
| Hacker News comment API | 6 | up to 20 stories |
Price and Accuracy weigh most in each plan's Overall score.
You may reuse this ranking under CC BY 4.0. Credit Datacircle with a link to this page.
Questions about Hacker News APIs
What is a Hacker News API?
We rank APIs for 2 kinds of Hacker News data. A Hacker News search API takes a query and returns the stories Hacker News finds for the query. A Hacker News comment API takes a story's ID and returns the story's comments.
Our price sheets list 299 Hacker News API plans.
What is the best Hacker News API?
Algolia is our #1 API for Hacker News searches and comments.
We rank APIs for 2 kinds of Hacker News data.
How much does the Hacker News API cost?
Algolia is our top-scored Hacker News search API. Algolia is free. Algolia is our top-scored Hacker News comment API. Algolia is free.
We list 299 Hacker News API plans on our 2 price sheets. We rank 124 of the 299 plans by price.
Is the Hacker News API free?
Yes: you can get Hacker News searches and comments on a free plan. For Hacker News searches, Algolia has the best free plan in our benchmark, at 90.9 out of 100.
For Hacker News comments, Algolia has the best free plan too, at 90.7 out of 100.
How do I use the Hacker News API?
Algolia is our #1 Hacker News search API. You call GET https:.
Every input is optional: query, tags, numericFilters, page, hitsPerPage, restrictSearchableAttributes. You need no API key. Algolia's API docs explain each input. Algolia is our #1 Hacker News comment API. You send id to GET https:. You need no API key. Algolia's API docs explain each input.
Can I use Hacker News API data?
Each provider's terms say what you can do with the data.
We rank 9 Hacker News API providers. 7 of the 9 publish API terms. 7 of the 9 set no time limit on keeping the data. 7 of the 9 set conditions on how you use the data. Each plan's page shows what the provider's terms say about keeping and using the data.
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