> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api-tools.memories.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Social Media Scraping Overview

> How channel routing works across social media scraping endpoints, including Apify, RapidAPI, and managed routing by Memories.ai.

This page explains how to choose scraping channels across social media endpoints.

## Channel Routing

| Channel       | Provider                          | Strengths                                      | Trade-offs                            |
| ------------- | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| `apify`       | [Apify](https://apify.com/)       | Broadest coverage and strong runtime stability | Usually higher and more variable cost |
| `rapid`       | [RapidAPI](https://rapidapi.com/) | Lower cost in many cases                       | Lower stability and narrower coverage |
| `memories.ai` | Managed routing by Memories.ai    | Best default for price/performance balance     | Provider is selected automatically    |

## Recommendation

1. Start with `memories.ai` for production workloads.
2. Use `apify` when coverage or stability is the top priority.
3. Use `rapid` for cost-sensitive, non-critical tasks where occasional instability is acceptable.

## Which Endpoints Support `channel`

`channel` is supported in the following endpoint families:

* Video metadata endpoints
* Video transcript endpoints

Endpoints that do not expose a `channel` field (for example some comment/detail/caption workflows) use managed routing behavior defined by the backend.

## Pricing Summary

| Endpoint Type                  | rapid        | memories.ai         | apify                        |
| ------------------------------ | ------------ | ------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| Video Metadata                 | \$0.01/video | \$0.01/video        | Apify actual cost (variable) |
| Video Transcript               | \$0.01/video | \$0.01/video        | Apify actual cost (variable) |
| Video Caption                  | —            | Composite pricing\* | —                            |
| Video Detail / Comment / Reply | \$0.01/call  | \$0.01/call         | \$0.01/call                  |

<Note>
  \*Video Caption pricing is composite. TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter/X use a $0.01 base fee + $0.45/1M input tokens + $3.75/1M output tokens + $0.0001/second of video duration. YouTube uses a variable base fee plus the same token and duration components. See individual endpoint pages for detailed calculation examples.
</Note>

## Quick Decision Guide

| Scenario                                           | Suggested channel |
| -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Need the most complete result set                  | `apify`           |
| Need lowest cost and can tolerate retries          | `rapid`           |
| Need stable default behavior without manual tuning | `memories.ai`     |