alternatives

BuzzSumo ranks shared content. This times the topic.

Share counts say what already travelled. A 0-100 series says whether the topic is rising before the next piece is written. The planning question is the second one.

BuzzSumo tells a content team what already worked: the articles, the shares, the links. Trends API tells it what to write next. Send a topic and get weekly demand on a 0-100 scale, growth over named windows, and the live boards for today. The two tools look at the same internet from opposite ends of the publishing date. This page is for the planning half of the job. The workflow version sits on Content calendar API.

Backward records, forward scores

A share count is a verdict on a finished piece. Useful for outreach and for copying formats that travelled. It says nothing about next month's topic, because the audience may already be bored. A demand series answers the calendar question directly: the topic over google search, youtube, tiktok, and reddit, one POST per source, one scale for all four. Rising topics get slots. Flat ones get skipped before the brief costs a day.

The weekly planning pull

get_top_trends reads the boards (Google Trends, TikTok Trending Hashtags, YouTube Trending) for the spikes of the day. get_growth checks whether a spike has a quarter behind it or only a weekend. That two-call screen replaces the gut-feel agenda meeting, and the rows it returns can sit in the same sheet as the calendar. The creator-side version of this routine sits on Creator trends API.

Where BuzzSumo still wins

Backlink prospecting, author research, and audits of a competitor's archive need an index of published content with engagement records. No demand score substitutes for that. Keep the seat that owns the archive. Only successful 200 responses count against quota here; caps sit on pricing.

BuzzSumo alternative

What you get

Topic history on google search, youtube, tiktok, reddit

Growth windows for brief timing

Live boards for what is rising today

One POST per source, rows a calendar can store

FAQ

Common questions

What does BuzzSumo do that this API does not?

BuzzSumo indexes published content: share counts per article, backlinks, and author records. Trends API has no share counts and no link graph. It scores demand for a topic per platform, which is the input a brief needs before anything is published.

How does a content team use the score?

Screen a candidate topic with get_growth over 3M and 12M, check the shape with get_time_series, and read get_top_trends for what is breaking today. A rising topic earns the next slot on the calendar; a fading one gets a smaller format or none.

Can this replace a BuzzSumo seat entirely?

Only for teams whose seat was buying topic timing. Outreach lists, backlink checks, and competitor content audits still need an index of published pages. The honest split: BuzzSumo looks backward at content, this API looks at demand forming now.

Which sources matter most for content planning?

google search for durable demand, youtube for tutorial intent, tiktok for early spikes, and reddit for community heat. All four sit behind one key on the same 0-100 scale, so the comparison is one chart.

Keep exploring

Two TikTok boards, one YouTube board, no handles Creator picks start on TikTok Trending Hashtags, TikTok Trending Searches, and YouTube Trending. A handle is not a source. Rank change finds climbers, not current kings. Boards fill the week. Series fill the month. A calendar has two cadences. get_top_trends picks what to publish in 48 hours. get_time_series picks what to brief for next quarter. Do not swap them. Mentions are inbox work. This is a demand score. Brandwatch and Sprout count posts. Trends API scores a phrase on tiktok, reddit, and youtube. Keep the mention tool. Add the 0-100 series.

Start pulling trend data in 60 seconds.

100 requests a month free. No credit card, no sales call. One key works for every source.

Get a free API key