How to Export TikTok Comments to CSV — Every Route TikTok Allows, Tested (Free, 2026)

To export TikTok comments to CSV, paste the video link into a comment exporter and download the file: TikTok itself has no export button for a comment section. TikTok does offer a personal data download and two APIs that touch comments, but each one is limited to a specific group of people. This guide tests every route, says who it works for, and shows the free way to get every public comment on any TikTok video into a spreadsheet.

We operate a TikTok comment exporter, so the limits below come from the questions people bring us after the official routes did not give them what they expected.

What TikTok gives you out of the box

Inside the app you can read comments, like them, reply, pin a comment, filter keywords and delete. You cannot select a comment section and save it. There is no copy-all, no download and no share-as-file option, on mobile or on the web.

That leaves three routes that produce a file, plus copying by hand for a video with a few comments:

• TikTok's Download your data request.
• TikTok's developer APIs.
• A comment export tool working from the video link.

Your data download: comments you wrote, as TXT or JSON

Every TikTok user can request their data under Settings and privacy → Account → Download your data. TikTok's help page on requesting your data explains the process. You choose TXT or JSON, submit the request, and download the file once TikTok has prepared it, which can take a few days.

Two things to know before you wait for it:

1. The comments in it are comments you posted. It is your own comment history, not the comment sections under your videos. Comments other people left on your videos are not in it.
2. It is not a CSV. TXT and JSON both need converting before a spreadsheet will show them as rows and columns.

It is the right choice if you want to find something you commented, or keep a copy of your own activity. For a giveaway, a product launch or a creator's audience, it is the wrong file. If your own comment history is what you need, our guide to seeing your TikTok comment history covers the in-app route too.

TikTok's APIs: researchers and business accounts only

TikTok has two official ways for software to read comments, and neither is open to a typical user.

• The Research API. Its video comments endpoint returns comments on public videos with their text, like count, reply count and creation time. Access is limited to approved academic and not-for-profit researchers in eligible regions, through an application TikTok reviews. Brands, agencies and individual creators do not qualify.
• The API for Business. It lets a registered developer app, once authorised by a business account, list and manage comments on that account's own videos. It cannot read comments on anyone else's videos.

The consumer-facing Display API, which apps use to show a user's profile and videos, does not return comments at all.

If you are a university researcher with a funded project, the Research API is worth the application. For everyone else, the APIs are a dead end for this job.

Shortcuts that waste an afternoon

These are the routes people try before they ask us. Each one looks promising and none of them ends in a usable CSV.

• TikTok Studio's comments tab. On the web, TikTok Studio shows the comments on your own videos so you can reply and moderate. There is no export button, and it does not show other creators' videos.
• Copying from the web page. TikTok loads comments in small batches as you scroll and collapses replies. A select-all copy picks up only what is loaded, mixed in with usernames, timestamps and button labels on separate lines.
• Screen recording the comment panel. It works as a record of what was said, but a video cannot be sorted, filtered or counted.
• Browser extensions that need your login. An extension that reads TikTok while you are signed in can see your account, not just public comments. Reading public comments needs no login at all.
• Converting the data download. People sometimes convert TikTok's JSON data download to CSV, then realise the only comments inside are their own.

The rule of thumb: if a route needs your TikTok password or only works on your own account, it is not a route to someone else's comment section.

The route that works on any public video

A comment exporter reads the comments TikTok already shows to anyone watching a public video, and writes them into a CSV. With ours:

1. Copy the video link (Share → Copy link). Photo posts work as well as videos.
2. Paste it into the TikTok comment exporter. The comment count shows in about a second.
3. Tick replies if you want the threads under each comment. It is off by default.
4. Download CSV. Excel and JSON are there too.

Each row is one comment, with the columns author, username, text, likes, replies, created_at, language, is_pinned, id, reply_to_id and avatar_url, followed by TikTok-specific fields such as any sticker or photo attached to a comment.

The first 100 comments of any public video are free with no signup. A longer comment section is a one-time payment, never a subscription. Nothing asks for your TikTok password, and the creator is not notified.

Making the CSV behave in Excel and Google Sheets

CSV is a plain-text format with a few rules (fields separated by commas, text containing commas or line breaks wrapped in quotes), set out in RFC 4180. TikTok comments test those rules hard: emoji, line breaks, quotes and a dozen scripts in one file. A few tips:

• Excel: double-click the file. It is saved as UTF-8 with a byte order mark, so emoji and non-Latin text display correctly. If an old Excel version still shows garbled characters, use Data → From Text/CSV and choose UTF-8.
• Google Sheets: File → Import → Upload, then Replace spreadsheet. Sheets detects the separator on its own.
• Long comments: turn on text wrapping for the text column, or the sheet looks empty past the first line.
• Dates: created_at is in UTC. Add or subtract your offset before reporting what time people commented.

If you prefer working straight in a spreadsheet tool, our guides to TikTok comments in Excel and TikTok comments in Google Sheets go further.

Reading a TikTok comment file without fooling yourself

• The number on the video is not the row count. It includes replies (off by default in the export) and comments deleted, filtered by the creator's keyword list, or held for review. Those last three are not public, so no tool can download them.
• Sort by likes before reading. TikTok's in-app order is a personalised ranking, so the top of the app and the top of the file differ. The most-liked comments are usually the clearest signal of what viewers agreed with.
• Use the language column on viral videos. A video that travels gets comments in many languages, and summarising it as if it were all English misses half the audience.
• For giveaways, count people, not rows. One user can comment many times. Remove duplicates on username before drawing.
• Find the creator's own replies. Filter username to the creator's handle with replies turned on. What a creator chose to answer, and how fast, tells you which questions matter to the audience.
• Plot created_at by hour. Most of a video's comments arrive in its first day or two. A late second wave usually means the video was picked up again, by a duet, a stitch or a resurfacing in the For You feed.

A comment file is a snapshot. Comments added after you download are not in it, and comments deleted afterwards still are. If the numbers matter, for a contest deadline or a report, export again at the moment that counts and note the time on the file.

Where these TikTok numbers come from

These notes come from running the exporter every day. Between 8 September and 8 October 2026 we ran 1,461 TikTok exports. Counting a video's comments took a median of 0.75 seconds, the free 100-comment file was ready in a median of 1.8 seconds, and 78% of free exports finished in under 10 seconds.

The most common confusion we see is the difference between the count on the video and the rows in the file, almost always explained by replies being off or by filtered comments. The second most common is people who waited days for TikTok's data download and found only their own comments in it.

The column names, the free first 100 comments and the timings above are the live product values. For what TikTok permits, its Terms of Service are the authority.

Picking your route in thirty seconds

• Your own past comments: TikTok's Download your data.
• An approved academic study: the Research API.
• Your business account's own videos, inside your own software: the API for Business.
• Any public video, today, as a CSV: a comment exporter.

Export TikTok comments to CSV free →

Related reading: exporting TikTok comment replies, TikTok giveaway entries, analyzing TikTok comments.