# Telegram Data API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/telegram)

> Telegram API: 3 endpoints for public channel profiles, paginated post history, and single posts by URL. Subscriber counts come back exact, media arrives as playable CDN URLs, and every call costs 1 credit. No bot token, no phone number, no MTProto session.

TL;DR: SocialCrawl's Telegram API exposes 3 endpoints, 1 credit per call, all returning one unified JSON schema with AI-enriched fields. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## Endpoints

| Endpoint | Method | Path | Credits | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Profile | GET | `/v1/telegram/profile` | 1 | Get Telegram channel profile |
| Profile Posts | GET | `/v1/telegram/profile/posts` | 1 | List Telegram channel posts |
| Post | GET | `/v1/telegram/post` | 1 | Get Telegram post |

## Code example

```bash
curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/telegram/profile?handle=telegram" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

Every response shares one JSON envelope: `{ success, platform, endpoint, data, credits_used, credits_remaining }`.

## SocialCrawl vs Official Telegram API

| Feature | SocialCrawl | Official Telegram API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Read any public channel | Yes, by handle or t.me URL | Bot API reads only channels your bot administers |
| Credentials needed | One x-api-key | Bot token, or an account on a real phone number for MTProto |
| Post history | Cursor pagination through the whole public archive | Bot API cannot read history it did not receive live |
| Media | Playable CDN URLs on every photo and video | File ids that need a second authenticated download call |
| Response shape | Same canonical JSON as every other platform | Raw MTProto objects with protocol flags and int64 ids |
| Rate limits | Standard account limits, no per-channel throttle | Per-bot and per-chat flood limits enforced by Telegram |

## FAQ

### How do I scrape Telegram channel data with an API?

SocialCrawl exposes 3 Telegram endpoints: channel profile, channel post history, and a single post by URL. Send a GET request with your x-api-key and a channel handle or t.me URL, and you get normalized JSON back. There is no bot token to create, no phone number to register, and no MTProto session to keep alive.

### Do I need a Telegram bot token or a phone number?

No. The official Bot API only reads channels your bot administers, and MTProto requires an account registered to a real phone number. SocialCrawl reads the public channel surface directly, so you can pull any public channel you have the handle for without holding credentials of your own.

### Which Telegram channels can I read?

Public channels and groups that expose a public preview page. Private channels, invite-only groups, and channels whose owner has disabled the public preview are not readable and return a clear not-found response rather than an empty result you would have to guess about.

### Are Telegram view and reaction counts exact?

Subscriber counts on the channel profile are exact. View and reaction counts on individual posts are rounded to three significant figures by Telegram's own public surface, so a post showing 931,193 views reads as 931,000. Use them for ranking and comparison rather than for hour-by-hour delta tracking.

### How do I page through a channel's whole history?

Pass the cursor from each response back on the next call until it comes back absent. Page size varies because photo albums count as one post and service messages are skipped, so a short page is not the end of the channel. A full walk of a 546-message channel returned 426 posts across 24 pages with no duplicate rows.

### What does the Telegram API cost?

All 3 Telegram endpoints cost 1 credit per call. Cached responses and not-found lookups are free, and new accounts start with 100 credits, so you can test the whole surface before paying anything.

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- What is the SocialCrawl Telegram API?
- How do I scrape public Telegram channel posts without a bot token?
- Compare SocialCrawl vs the official Telegram Bot API for reading public channels