Both the Product Key API and the Data Feed (Publisher Exports) draw from the same underlying catalog of data. The real difference between the two is how you access the data, how much detail you need, and at what scale you're consuming it.
Product Key API is built for on-demand queries. You can query one or more specific products and get an immediate response, although not at the massive scale of a full data feed. The response is a light-weight API response.
Data Feed is built for bulk access. You download large files containing the full catalog for a merchant on a regular refresh cycle, with more detailed field-level information, and process them on your end.
Which one you should use depends on what you're building: the scale of products you need to cover, and the depth of detail required for each. The sections below break down the use cases for each, plus a quick decision guide.
Quick Comparison Table
| Product Key API | Data Feed (Publisher Exports) | |
| Access model | On-demand query | Bulk download |
| Best for | On-demand, dynamic lookups | Large-scale catalog builds |
| Data freshness | Queried in moment at request time. We generally state that data is refreshed every 24 hours (though be aware merchant update cadences vary). For API specifically, select data is scraped and updated roughly every 2 hours. |
Data pulls should be refreshed on a scheduled cycle set by you.
We generally state that data is refreshed every 24 hours (though be aware merchant update cadences vary). |
| Data format | JSON response | JSON or CSV files (gzip) |
| Field depth | Core offer details - see details here. | More detailed field-level info - see details here. |
| Typical integration | Lightweight API calls | File download and processing pipeline |
When to Use Product Key API
Use the Product Key API when you need to look up specific products or offers on demand, rather than working from a full downloaded catalog.
At minimum you can query by product ID (UPC or ASIN), by URL (the most common & recommended method), or by product keyword. Information can be queried individually or in a batch for multiple products at once — though not at feed-level scale.
Common use cases:
- Dynamic content pages — pulling live offer details (price, availability, images) into a page as it loads
- Finding alternate merchant links — given a product URL, returning links to the same product sold by other merchants, with pricing and availability for comparison
- "Shop this" or similar embedded widgets — querying a small number of specific products to power an in-line shopping experience
- Price or availability checks — confirming current details for products you already know about, without maintaining a local copy of the catalog
The API is a lightweight, low-footprint integration ideal for teams wanting to automate CMS workflows, dynamic price badges, or comparison widgets without having to manage large data pipelines or host millions of product records.
Best fit for an integration that needs to react to a specific product, URL, or small batch of products in the moment, rather than searching or filtering across the full catalog. If offer level information is needed, please check out the Merchant API.
When to Use Data Feed (Publisher Exports)
The Feed is designed for platforms that need to ingest data in bulk. It's a good fit when you want to build or maintain a full (or filtered) copy of the product catalog on your own system, refreshed periodically with the latest information — an efficient way to handle large-scale data synchronization rather than looking up items one at a time.
Data is pulled at the merchant and category levels, which means that the scale of data cannot be significantly narrowed with other search parameters.
Common use cases:
- Indexed, searchable/filterable shopping pages — building your own product search or browse experience across the full catalog
- Merchant-specific storefronts — creating showcases or landing pages for individual merchants; note this is a more complex commerce experience to build and maintain than a simple embedded widget
- Large-scale catalog builds — any integration where you need to process, filter, or index thousands of offers rather than query them individually
The Feed requires upfront data engineering and database infrastructure to ingest and index daily flat files, but it gives your tech team full autonomy over search indexing, machine learning recommendations, and offline catalog processing with zero external API latency.
Can I Use Both?
Yes — many publishers combine them. A common pattern is using the Data Feed to power a bulk catalog (search, browse, storefronts) while layering the Product Key API on top for real-time touches, like confirming current price and stock before checkout, or generating alternate merchant links inline.
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