Should you build your own Social Fetch?
REST API for profiles, posts, transcripts, and engagement metrics across 20+ platforms
A personal TikTok or Instagram profile fetcher with Playwright and SQLite is a one-sitting build. Social Fetch is not that. It is kept-alive scrapers on 20+ platforms, proxy routing, anti-bot handling, a stable response schema, and credit metering. Your DIY script breaks when TikTok changes markup. The API bill is for that not being your problem.
ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.
Build a closest honest personal substitute for Social Fetch in an empty folder.
Stack (fixed): Node 22, TypeScript, Express, better-sqlite3, Playwright, Zod. No alternative stacks.
Scope: one platform only · TikTok public profiles + recent videos. Localhost only.
- GET /profile/:handle → display name, bio, follower/following counts, avatar URL
- GET /videos/:handle → last N public videos with id, caption, play/like counts, createdAt
- Cache responses in SQLite for 15 minutes; return cached JSON when fresh
- Normalize into a stable { data, meta } shape with requestId and cached: boolean
- Secrets (optional PROXY_URL) in .env; ship .env.example
- README must say bluntly: this will break when TikTok changes markup; no proxies, no Instagram/YouTube/X, no transcripts, no comments at scale, no production use
- Out of scope (say so in README): multi-platform adapters, residential proxies, captcha solving, rate-limit farms, billing, accounts, telemetry
- Include a smoke test that mocks HTML fixtures (do not hit TikTok in CI)
- One command to run locally; finish by listing exact commands usedThe prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running.
What would building your own look like?
Fetch public profile and recent posts for one platform (TikTok or Instagram), normalize into JSON, cache in SQLite, expose a tiny local HTTP API.
What you will need
- Node + Playwright (or similar)
- SQLite
- optional residential proxy for anything beyond light personal use
Writing a scraper is a weekend. Keeping scrapers working against platforms that fight scrapers is ongoing ops. Teams pay so their pipeline keeps returning `{ data, meta }` while someone else rotates proxies and patches adapters.
x20+ platforms on one schema and one API key
xproxy / anti-bot / captcha handling
xsomeone else patching when platforms break
xproduction metering, request IDs, and uptime
xmonitors, webhooks, and batch enrichment at volume
How much does Social Fetch cost?
- Monthly billing
- $29/mo$29/mo
- Per year
- $348/yr$348/yr
- On a Brazilian card, with 3.5% IOF
- R$152/moR$1,819/yr
Saved to My list. You will see a notice on this site when the price changes.
You complete the purchase on Social Fetch’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.
Is it cheaper to build or buy Social Fetch?
Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.
Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.
Starting hours estimated from the analysis (closest consolation build: one sitting). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).
Can I rebuild Social Fetch?
Not really. Social Fetch’s value is not the code: Same rubric as everything else: this is infra, not a vibecodable SaaS UI. See the honest breakdown above.
How much does Social Fetch cost?
Social Fetch costs about $29/mo (Starter, checked 10/20/2026), which is $348 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Social Fetch?
Honestly: 20+ platforms on one schema and one API key; proxy / anti-bot / captcha handling; someone else patching when platforms break; production metering, request IDs, and uptime; monitors, webhooks, and batch enrichment at volume. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Social Fetch?
Yes: yt-dlp (open-source media/metadata extraction for some platforms · not a multi-platform profile API). Using prior art is also vibecoding; the prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.