The short answer: if you rely on a creator database, follower demographics and campaign analytics, no cheap tool replaces that; compare Qiangua, Xinhong and Huitun against each other instead. If you mostly open Qiangua to read competitor posts, comments and accounts, Xiaohongshu's free official tools plus a browser extension (such as MediaClaw, Personal plan ¥59/month) usually cover it. If you also need Douyin livestream and e-commerce data on a budget of a few hundred yuan a month, look at the entry plans of Huitun, Chanmama and Feigua. This page is written by the MediaClaw team. MediaClaw is our product and sits in the browser-extension tier; every competitor price below links to its source with the date we checked.
Prices checked on 2026-10-25 from each vendor's pricing page or the in-app purchase list on Apple's China App Store. Vendors change prices and run promotions often, so confirm on their site before buying. All prices are in CNY.
| Tool | What it is | Starting price | Best for | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Third-party data platforms Pre-indexed, platform-wide data; strongest at creator databases, history and campaign analytics | ||||
| Qiangua (千瓜数据) | Xiaohongshu-focused marketing data platform: creator profiles, post and brand campaign analysis, industry dashboards | Advanced ¥1,599/month, Professional ¥2,599/month, custom plan on request (pricing page, 2026-10-25) | Brands, agencies and MCNs running Xiaohongshu campaigns | Priced for companies; each plan caps monthly creator and post searches |
| Huitun (灰豚数据) | Multi-platform data, rooted in Douyin livestream and short-video commerce, with a separate Xiaohongshu edition | App Personal monthly subscription ¥168; Professional (personal) 12 months ¥1,698 (App Store in-app purchases, 2026-10-25); Xiaohongshu edition price requires login, check their site | Sellers and teams doing both Douyin commerce and Xiaohongshu seeding | The App Store list does not say which platform each plan covers; no public price found for the Xiaohongshu edition alone |
| Xinhong (新红, by Newrank) | Newrank's Xiaohongshu data platform: creator rankings, trending posts, brand campaigns | No verifiable public price found; check their site | Teams already using other Newrank products who need Xiaohongshu rankings and campaign data | Prices are behind login or sales, which makes comparing up front harder |
| Chanmama (蝉妈妈) | Started with Douyin e-commerce data; runs a separate Xiaohongshu product | App Personal monthly subscription ¥198, yearly ¥1,398 (App Store in-app purchases, 2026-10-25); Xiaohongshu product price: check their site | Sellers focused on Douyin livestream commerce and product selection | Prices above are for the main product; confirm whether Xiaohongshu features are included |
| Feigua (飞瓜数据) | Douyin e-commerce and livestream data, plus brand, Kuaishou and Bilibili product lines | Douyin Operator plan ¥399/month, ¥2,868/year (pricing page, 2026-10-25); Xiaohongshu pricing: check their site | Douyin commerce and livestream teams | The pricing page lists no Xiaohongshu-specific plan |
Free tools No cost, but each covers only part of the job | ||||
| Xiaohongshu official tools | Creator Center shows your own account data; Pugongying (蒲公英) is the official brand–creator collaboration platform | Free to use; Pugongying needs a verified business account, and collaborations are charged under platform rules | Creators reviewing their own performance; brands booking creators through the official channel | Only your own data or what the platform exposes to you; no free look at competitors |
| Open-source scrapers (e.g. MediaCrawler) | Python scripts you deploy yourself to collect public data from several platforms | Free and open source; the repo states learning and research use only | People who code and want full control of the crawl | You maintain the environment and login state; read the usage terms before any commercial use |
Browser extensions Collect the pages you can already see, inside your own logged-in browser | ||||
| MediaClaw (our product) | A Xiaohongshu and Douyin browser extension for content research and lead finding: beyond collection, AI picks topic directions, finds benchmark accounts, breaks down viral posts, drafts in your voice, and filters high-intent customers from comments | Free ¥0; Personal ¥59/month, ¥99/quarter, ¥299/year; Team ¥149/month (MediaClaw pricing) | Creators and content marketers studying competitor accounts, topics and comment sections | No creator database, no follower demographics, no campaign spend estimates; only pages you can open, with the browser running |
Third-party data platforms
Pre-indexed, platform-wide data; strongest at creator databases, history and campaign analytics
Qiangua (千瓜数据)
Huitun (灰豚数据)
Xinhong (新红, by Newrank)
Chanmama (蝉妈妈)
Feigua (飞瓜数据)
Free tools
No cost, but each covers only part of the job
Xiaohongshu official tools
Open-source scrapers (e.g. MediaCrawler)
Browser extensions
Collect the pages you can already see, inside your own logged-in browser
MediaClaw (our product)
Written by the MediaClaw team; the table includes our own product. For competitors we only list prices we could verify on their site or the App Store, otherwise we say to check their site. If a price has changed, let us know via the contact link at the bottom of the page.
A ¥0 tool and a ¥2,599/month tool are both called Xiaohongshu data tools, but they sell different things. Find your tier first.
For your own account, use Xiaohongshu's Creator Center; to book creators as a brand, use the official Pugongying. To read other people's posts and comments, MediaClaw Free collects single posts, single-post comments and the basic list on search and profile pages, with Excel export.
MediaClaw Personal is ¥59/month, or ¥299/year (about ¥25/month). It batch-collects search and profile pages and fills in full text and engagement, filters breakout posts from small accounts, collects comments for leads, extracts video transcripts and syncs to Lark Base.
Huitun App Personal ¥168/month, Chanmama Personal ¥198/month, Feigua Douyin Operator ¥399/month. This tier is strongest on Douyin livestream and e-commerce data.
Qiangua Advanced ¥1,599/month and Professional ¥2,599/month; Feigua Operator ¥2,868/year; Huitun Professional (personal) ¥1,698 for 12 months. Here you pay for platform-wide creator databases, demographics, brand campaign tracking and industry dashboards.
Go through what you actually do in Qiangua or Huitun. If most rows land on 'can replace', switching saves money. If most land on 'can't', keep comparing data platforms.
| What you use Qiangua or Huitun for | Can an extension replace it? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seeing what a competitor posted and which posts did well | Yes | Collect the post list on their profile with MediaClaw, fill in full text and engagement, then compare in Excel or Lark Base |
| Finding trending posts and breakout posts from small accounts by keyword | Yes | Collect the Xiaohongshu search results, then batch-enrich and filter for breakout posts from small accounts; batch enrichment and that filter need Personal |
| Reading comment sections for user needs and leads | Yes | Collect comments and replies on a post page and filter leads by keyword or IP location |
| Tracking competitor accounts for new posts | Yes | Add the account to MediaClaw account monitoring for scheduled scans and a daily tracking report (uses credits) |
| Getting the spoken script of a video or the text in images | Extension adds this | MediaClaw extracts timestamped video transcripts and image text for breakdowns and rewrites |
| Screening creators by followers, category and rate; follower demographics | No | MediaClaw has no pre-indexed creator database and no demographics; this is where Qiangua, Xinhong and Huitun are strong |
| Brand campaign reviews, competitor spend estimates, sponsored-post detection | No | MediaClaw does not estimate campaign spend; stay on a data platform, or use Pugongying for your own collaborations |
| Industry dashboards, historical trends, keyword rankings | No | An extension collects the page you have open now; it has no long-term historical database |
| Douyin livestream commerce and product sales | No | This is the core of Huitun, Chanmama and Feigua; on Douyin MediaClaw collects videos, comments, accounts and search results, not livestream or sales data |
Seeing what a competitor posted and which posts did well
Finding trending posts and breakout posts from small accounts by keyword
Reading comment sections for user needs and leads
Tracking competitor accounts for new posts
Getting the spoken script of a video or the text in images
Screening creators by followers, category and rate; follower demographics
Brand campaign reviews, competitor spend estimates, sponsored-post detection
Industry dashboards, historical trends, keyword rankings
Douyin livestream commerce and product sales
Cheaper tools call for more care in how you use them. These are the rules we follow building our product, and we suggest you follow them too.
MediaClaw reads only what is already on the page after you log in. It does not crack APIs or bypass login. The same applies to any tool: stay away from data that needs special access.
Large bursts of requests trigger platform risk controls. MediaClaw proposes a batch plan before large collections, and you can slow it down further.
Collected data suits topic, competitor and audience research. Don't publish or sell other people's personal information, keep direct messages restrained, and follow platform rules.
Each data platform documents its own sources and estimation methods. Estimates such as campaign spend or sales are good for trends; check the methodology before quoting them.
It depends on what you use them for. For creator databases, follower demographics and campaign data, cheap tools can't replace them; compare the plans of Qiangua, Xinhong and Huitun instead. If you mainly read competitor posts, comments and trending content, Xiaohongshu's official tools plus a browser extension cost far less. MediaClaw Free collects single posts and comments, and Personal (¥59/month) adds batch collection and Lark sync.
Qiangua's pricing page (checked 2026-10-25) lists Advanced at ¥1,599/month and Professional at ¥2,599/month, with a custom plan on request. The Qiangua app's in-app purchases on the China App Store list a Deluxe month at ¥3,599 and a Premium month at ¥5,599. Prices change, so confirm on their site.
Qiangua's pricing page lists only paid plans and no permanent free tier; check its site for any trial. To view post and comment data for free, use Xiaohongshu's Creator Center for your own account and MediaClaw Free to collect other people's single posts and comments.
For Xiaohongshu seeding campaigns, Qiangua is more focused on Xiaohongshu and deeper on creators and brand campaigns. If you run Douyin livestream commerce as well as Xiaohongshu, Huitun covers more platforms and starts cheaper (app Personal plan ¥168/month). Try both, and check that the plan you want includes Xiaohongshu data and enough queries.
Not with the same features, because creator databases and historical data cost money to keep indexed. Free options are Xiaohongshu's Creator Center and Pugongying, open-source scrapers if you code, and the free tiers of extensions such as MediaClaw. They cover part of what Huitun does, without creator demographics or sales estimates.
Install the extension, run one collection on the competitor accounts and searches you check most, and decide whether to pay after that.
Updated
