Silkline DataHow to Get Xiaohongshu (RedNote) Data from Outside China
The practical ways to collect Xiaohongshu notes, comments, creators and product reviews without a Chinese phone number, with real run times, fields and prices.
Published 2026-11-10 by Silkline Data
Short answer: Xiaohongshu has no public data API for people outside China. The practical route is a tool that collects the publicly visible notes, comments and profiles and returns them as JSON or CSV. With our Xiaohongshu tool, a keyword search for 穿搭 (outfits) returned 10 notes with 25 fields each in 6 seconds on 9 November 2026, for about $0.05.
Does Xiaohongshu have an official API?
Not one you can use for research or marketing data. Xiaohongshu's open platform is built for merchants and partners operating inside China, it needs a Chinese business entity, and it does not expose search, comments or other creators' notes. Anything you see in the app without logging in is public, and that is what a data tool can collect.
What data can you get?
Our Xiaohongshu tool has 18 kinds of request. The ones buyers use most:
| Request | What you send | What comes back (real run, 9 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Search notes | a keyword, e.g. 穿搭 | 10 notes, 25 fields each: title, text, likes, saves, comments, shares, hashtags, publish time |
| Note comments | a note link or ID | 10 comments, 13 fields each: text, likes, reply count, time, commenter IP location |
| Creator profile | a profile link or ID | 10 profiles, 16 fields: followers, following, likes and saves received, note count, bio |
| Hot notes board | a category such as 美食 (food) | 10 ranked notes, 27 fields, including read rate |
| Products and reviews | a keyword or product link | 14 product fields, 17 review fields |
Every run returns rows with English field names. Counts are numbers and times are ISO 8601, so the data goes straight into a spreadsheet or a database.
How do you run it?
- Open the tool on Apify and sign in (a free Apify account works for two trial runs).
- Pick a mode, for example Search notes by keyword.
- Type the keyword. Chinese keywords return far better results than English ones, because Xiaohongshu users write in Chinese.
- Set how many results you want and start the run. Results stream in within seconds.
- Download JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
The same run from Python:
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("clover_folktale/xiaohongshu-scraper").call(
run_input={"mode": "search", "keyword": "穿搭", "maxResults": 10})
for note in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(note["title"], note["likes"], note["collects"])
What does it cost?
You pay per result. On the Bronze Apify tier a note, comment or creator from a list is $0.0046, a full note detail is $0.0184, and each run has a $0.00005 start fee. 100 search results cost about $0.46. Higher Apify tiers pay less per result. There is no subscription.
What are the limits?
- Chinese keywords work best. Searching skincare finds far less than searching 护肤.
- Private data stays private. Creators with a private saved-notes collection return nothing for that request, and nothing behind a login is collected.
- Hot notes boards hold about 100 notes, so a run returns at most about 100.
- IP location is the province or country Xiaohongshu shows under a post or comment, not a precise place.
Is it allowed?
The tool only reads what anyone can see on Xiaohongshu without an account. You are responsible for how you use the data, in line with the laws that apply to you and Xiaohongshu's terms. If you publish anything, leave out the personal details of ordinary users. We mask them in every sample on this site.