How ChinaCarAPI compares
There are four realistic ways to get Chinese used-car data into your product: build your own scraper, run actors on Apify, buy from a data reseller, or use ChinaCarAPI. Each one is the right choice for somebody.
We compare categories, not named providers, because offers and prices change. Statements about ChinaCarAPI match our pricing and documentation. Statements about the alternatives describe what is typical for the category, so check the current terms of any provider you consider.
Side by side
On small screens the table scrolls sideways.
| Criterion | Own scraper | Apify actors | Data resellers | ChinaCarAPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captchas and blocking | NoYour problem. Che168 pages sit behind Tencent captchas and bot checks, and large searches get blocked. | VariesDepends on the actor. When a site changes its protection, runs fail until the author updates it. | YesHandled by the provider. | YesHandled by us. You call a plain REST API with one header. |
| English data | PartlyThe source is Chinese. Translating makes, models, trims and reports is your job. | VariesOften the raw Chinese fields of the website. | VariesUsually one normalized schema. How much is translated differs. | YesOfficial English make and model names, translated trims and findings, original Chinese kept beside them. |
| Duplicates across Dongchedi and Che168 | PartlyPossible, but you design and maintain the matching yourself. | NoTypically not. Results of separate actors are not matched against each other. | VariesAsk the provider. | YesA car listed on both appears once, with a link to the other listing. |
| Inspection reports | PartlyOnly if you also collect detail pages and reports, the hardest part to keep running. | VariesDepends on the actor. Many return listing data only. | VariesAsk which fields are included for China. | YesAccident, flood and fire checks with every inspected part wherever the marketplace publishes them, plus EV battery data on Che168. |
| Price history and change feed | PartlyOnly from the day you start collecting, and only if you store every run. | NoA run returns a snapshot. History and change detection are up to you. | VariesAsk the provider. | YesEvery price we have seen per car, with first and last seen dates. Change feed and CSV export on Business and Scale. |
| Maintenance effort | Ongoing. Website changes, captchas and proxies are yours to handle. | Depends on the author of the actor. If it breaks, you wait or switch. | None for the data collection. | None for the data collection. You maintain only your own integration. |
| Cost | PartlyNo license fee, but proxies, servers and developer time are hard to predict. | PartlyUsually priced per result or per run. The total depends on your volume. | NoPrices are usually on request. | YesPublished plans from €99 a month, a 5-day trial for €9.99 and a free dev plan. |
When your own scraper is the better choice
Build it yourself if you need fields or websites no provider covers, if the data pipeline is the core of your product, or if you already have engineers who run scrapers every day. The first version is the small part. Keeping it alive through captchas, blocks and layout changes is the large one.
When an Apify actor is the better choice
A pay-per-result actor fits a one-off job: a single dataset for a study or a market check before you commit. For a live platform it gets harder, because you combine several actors, remove duplicates between Dongchedi and Che168 and build the price history yourself.
When a data reseller is the better choice
If China is one of many countries you need and you want one contract for all of them, a reseller saves you several integrations. Expect a sales process instead of a price list, and ask in detail which Chinese marketplaces and which fields are covered.
When ChinaCarAPI is the better choice
ChinaCarAPI fits when China is your focus: an export business, a dealer website, a price or market tool. You get Dongchedi and Che168 through one API, with duplicates merged, English names, inspection reports where published, price history, export status and published prices.
What ChinaCarAPI does not do
ChinaCarAPI covers the Chinese used-car market on Dongchedi and Che168. It is not a worldwide vehicle database. Not every car has a published inspection report. The change feed, the catalog export and bulk lookups start with the Business plan. We do not buy, inspect or ship cars.
Questions about the comparison
- Why does this page not name any providers?
- Offers, prices and coverage of individual providers change often, and we do not want to publish claims about others that may be outdated. The categories stay the same, so we compare those. Check the current terms of every provider yourself.
- Can I test ChinaCarAPI before I pay for a plan?
- Yes, in two ways. The free dev plan gives you 25 requests a day for the Dongchedi catalog search, without photos, and the key arrives by email. The 5-day trial for €9.99 includes Che168, vehicle records, inspection reports and photos.
- Is there an Apify actor for ChinaCarAPI?
- Yes. Our own actor on Apify runs catalog searches with your ChinaCarAPI key, for teams that already work on Apify. The data is the same as through the API.
- I already run my own scraper. Can I switch step by step?
- Yes. Keep your own database and replace only the collection. On Business and Scale the CSV export gives you a full copy, and the change feed tells you what was added, changed or removed since your last sync.
- Is ChinaCarAPI affiliated with Dongchedi or Che168?
- No. ChinaCarAPI is an independent service that collects publicly listed data and provides it through a documented REST API. It is not affiliated with Dongchedi, Che168, ByteDance or Autohome.
Try it with your own use case
Start the 5-day trial with Dongchedi and Che168, or get a free dev key for the Dongchedi catalog.