Buy credits once and use them when you need them. There are no monthly tiers, and credits do not expire.
Hacker News by Y Combinator Hacker News API for startup and product research
Use SocialListeningAPI to find Hacker News stories and comments where people discuss problems, products, and new launches. Results come newest first with normalized content, author, engagement, publication time, and source URL data.
- Find startup problems and technical questions
- Catch launch, product, and competitor discussions
- Keep stories and comments in one normalized format
{
"success": true,
"platform": "hackernews",
"endpoint": "/api/v1/hackernews/search",
"data": {
"items": [
{
"id": "41234567",
"platform": "hackernews",
"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41234567",
"content": {
"title": "Show HN: A social listening API",
"text": "A practical guide to social listening for small teams.",
"media_urls": [],
"thumbnail_url": null
},
"author": {
"id": "alex",
"username": "alex",
"display_name": "alex",
"avatar_url": null,
"verified": null
},
"engagement": {
"views": 1200,
"likes": 48,
"comments": 7,
"shares": 3,
"saves": null
},
"published_at": "2026-08-05T01:30:00.000Z",
"ext": {
"story_id": "41234567"
}
}
]
},
"pagination": {
"next_cursor": null,
"has_more": false,
"page_size": 1
},
"raw": {
"hits": []
},
"request_id": "req_example123",
"credits_used": 1,
"credits_remaining": 99
}What does the Hacker News API do?
The Hacker News API searches Algolia's Hacker News index for a keyword or phrase and returns JSON sorted newest first. Results can include stories, comments, or other indexed items with a title, text, author, points, comment count, publication time, story ID, and source URL.
Send a GET request with your API key and a specific query. SocialListeningAPI maps Hacker News results into the same core structure used for LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Pagination data can show another page, but the public endpoint currently accepts only the search query.
Use SocialListeningAPI when Hacker News is one part of a multi-source workflow. Use the official Hacker News API for free near-real-time item access by ID. Use the Algolia Hacker News Search API directly when you only need free Hacker News keyword search and do not need a normalized multi-source response.
Try the Hacker News API
Choose cURL, Axios, or fetch. Add your API key, change the query, and send the request.
curl --get 'https://api.sociallisteningapi.com/api/v1/hackernews/search' \
--data-urlencode 'query=social listening' \
--data-urlencode 'raw=true' \
--header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'Why use SocialListeningAPI for Hacker News search?
Search Hacker News with the same API key, credit balance, and normalized response structure you use for LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google results.
Each API returns the same core response shape, so you do not need separate parsing code for every source.
Search public social posts, videos, profiles, Google results, and Discourse forums with one API key.
Failed requests do not use credits. A successful response uses the endpoint's listed credit cost.
Keep available post URLs beside results for review, citations, and follow-up work.
Use normalized fields in your app and inspect the raw provider response when you need more detail.
Playbooks
Use Hacker News search for startup research
Search Hacker News for product problems, launch discussions, and technical questions. These playbooks show how to find early adopters, research launch leads, and validate an idea.
Choose the right route
SocialListeningAPI vs the official Hacker News API
SocialListeningAPI is easier when you need keyword search in the same schema as other public sources. The official HN API and Algolia are free, strong choices when Hacker News is your only source and you can maintain the integration yourself.
SocialListeningAPI
Search Hacker News by keyword with one server-side API key.
- Search newest stories and indexed items by keyword
- Get normalized content, author, points, and comment fields
- Use the same schema as seven other search sources
- Pay 1 credit for a successful Hacker News search
Official HN API and Algolia
The official API gives you near-real-time Hacker News items by ID. Algolia adds free keyword search.
- Use the official API for items, users, and story lists
- Fetch and join item records yourself
- Use Algolia directly for free Hacker News keyword search
- Choose this route when Hacker News is your only source
MCP integration
Give social listening powers to your chat app
Connect SocialListeningAPI to Claude or ChatGPT. Ask a question in plain language, get actual, realtime results from social media platforms, forums and serps - with source links.
Use it to get brand mentions, scope out competitors, find leads and more - all from within your chat app.
See how the MCP worksClaude · SocialListeningAPI connected
MCP toolsearch_social_posts
reddit · "social listening API cost"Public posts returned with source URLs · 1 credit
Simple credit pricing
Buy a one-time credit pack and use it across every API. Credits do not expire.
Starter
$20one time
5,000 credits A simple pack for testing the API and smaller projects.
- $0.0040 per credit
- Use credits across every API endpoint
- Credits never expire
Growth Best value
$100one time
40,000 credits More credits at a lower cost for apps making regular calls.
- $0.0025 per credit
- Use credits across every API endpoint
- Credits never expire
Make your first Hacker News search request
Create an account, copy your API key, and use 100 free credits to test keyword search.