# YouTube Scraper · Transcripts & Comments · $0.35/1k (`alfalfa/youtube-scraper`) Actor YouTube videos from searches, channels, playlists or URLs, with views, likes, descriptions and tags; optional transcripts, comments and channel details. No API key or login. Video/comment rows $0.35/1k on Business or $0.50/1k on Free. Optional extras priced separately; no start fee. - **URL**: https://apify.com/alfalfa/youtube-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Alfalfa](https://apify.com/alfalfa) (community) - **Categories:** Videos, Social media, AI - **Stats:** 27 total users, 18 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.35 / 1,000 rows This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md. ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run. For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below. Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`). # README ## YouTube Scraper: videos, transcripts and comments without an API key Get YouTube data as a table: the videos of a **search**, a **channel**, a **playlist** or a list of **video URLs**, each with title, views, likes, publish date, duration, description, tags and channel. Add **subscriber and comment counts**, a **transcript** (timed segments, plain text, SRT or WebVTT), or **comments** when you need them. No YouTube account or Data API key. Export to Excel, CSV or JSON, or read it through the API. **$0.50 per 1,000 rows** (videos or comments), transcripts $0.30 per 1,000 videos, no start fee, platform usage and proxies included. ### What you get One row per video: | Field | Example | |---|---| | `id`, `url`, `title` | `_uQrJ0TkZlc`, `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc`, `Python Full Course for Beginners` | | `channelName`, `channelId`, `channelUrl` | `Programming with Mosh`, `UCWv7vMbMWH4-V0ZXdmDpPBA`, … | | `subscriberCount` (optional) | `5160000` when counts or comments are requested, or from a channel source; otherwise often `null` | | `publishedAt`, `publishedText` | `2019-02-18T07:00:08-08:00`, `7 years ago` | | `category`, `isUnlisted` | `Education`; `isUnlisted` appears when YouTube marks a video unlisted | | `durationText`, `durationSeconds` | `6:14:07`, `22447` | | `viewCount`, `likeCount` | `49062038`, `1270677` | | `commentCount` (optional) | `63000` with counts or comments on; otherwise usually `null` | | `description`, `keywords` | full description, video tags | | `thumbnailUrl`, `isShort`, `isLive`, `isLiveContent`, `ageRestricted` | `isLive` = live right now, `isLiveContent` = a stream, current or past | | `transcript`, `transcriptText`, `transcriptLanguage` | 4,530 timed segments, the whole text, `en English` | | `transcriptSrt` or `transcriptVtt` | the same subtitles as an SRT or WebVTT file, with **Transcript format** set to SRT or WebVTT | | `searchQuery`, `inputUrl` | where the video came from | With **Max comments per video** above 0, comments come as extra rows with `type` = `comment`: `id`, `text`, `author`, `authorChannelId`, `authorUrl`, `authorAvatar`, `publishedText`, `likeCount`, `replyCount`, `isVerified`, `isCreator`, plus `videoId`, `videoUrl` and `videoTitle` of the video they belong to. Top comments or newest first. **Max replies per comment** adds the replies as rows too, right after their comment, with `parentId` and `replyLevel` = 1. With **Include channel records** on, every channel gets one row with `type` = `channel`: `id`, `handle`, `name`, `description`, `country`, `joinedAt`, `viewCount` (all-time), `videoCount`, `subscriberCount`, `links` (Twitter, Instagram, website … as `{title, url}`), `avatar`, `channelKeywords`. Channel URLs get their own channel; searches and playlists get every channel that appears, once per run. Likes, exact publish date and time, category, full description and tags need **Include video details** (on by default, one small request per video). In an ordinary keyword search, `subscriberCount` and `commentCount` are usually `null`. Turn on **Include subscriber and comment counts** for both (one larger request per video, no surcharge); collecting comments also fills them. Channel sources carry the subscriber count anyway. With details off you get the listing fields only (title, channel, views, relative date, duration), about twice as fast. ### Sources - **Search queries**: one per line. Filter by upload date (last hour to this year) and order by relevance, upload date, views or rating. - **Channel URLs**: `youtube.com/@handle`, `/channel/UC…`, `/c/name`, `/user/name`. Add `/videos`, `/shorts` or `/streams` to pick the tab, or set **Channel content**. Newest first as on the channel page, or set **Channel video order** to **Popular** (most viewed first) or **Oldest**. - **Playlist URLs**: `youtube.com/playlist?list=…`. A channel's uploads playlist (`UU` + channel ID) works too. - **Video URLs**: `youtube.com/watch?v=…`, `youtu.be/…`, `/shorts/…`, `/live/…`. - **Search result URLs** copied from the browser. **Max videos per source** caps each search, channel or playlist. A search page holds about 20 videos; channels and playlists page 30 at a time and can go into the thousands. ### Use cases - **Research and monitoring**: every new video on a topic this week, with views and likes, into a sheet; a competitor's channel, every Monday. - **Transcripts for AI**: full subtitles of a channel or a search as plain text for summaries, RAG, translation or content repurposing. One run, one JSON. As SRT or WebVTT they drop straight into a video editor, a player or a subtitle workflow. - **Channel audits**: a channel's all-time hits (most viewed first) or its earliest uploads, with views, dates and lengths, for competitor research and content strategy. - **Comment analysis**: the top or newest comments of a launch video, an ad or a podcast episode, with likes and authors, for sentiment and feedback mining. - **Lead generation and outreach**: channels talking about your niche, their size, and the authors of the most liked comments. - **Content planning**: the most viewed videos for a keyword in the last month, their length, tags and titles. ### Examples Fifty most viewed Python tutorials of this month with transcripts: ```json { "searchQueries": ["python tutorial"], "sortBy": "views", "uploadDate": "month", "maxVideos": 50, "transcript": true } ``` Latest 200 videos of a channel, listing fields only (fast): ```json { "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd/videos" }], "maxVideos": 200, "scrapeDetails": false } ``` The 20 most viewed videos of a channel with SRT subtitles: ```json { "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium" }], "channelSort": "popular", "maxVideos": 20, "transcript": true, "transcriptFormat": "srt" } ``` The newest 500 comments of one video, with up to 5 replies each: ```json { "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }], "maxComments": 500, "maxReplies": 5, "commentsSort": "newest" } ``` Channel record plus the latest 50 videos of three channels: ```json { "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd" }, { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA" }, { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium" }], "maxVideos": 50, "channelDetails": true } ``` Verified output row from the 19 September 2026 preview run (shortened; **Include subscriber and comment counts** and **Include transcript** enabled): ```json { "type": "video", "id": "_uQrJ0TkZlc", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc", "title": "Python Full Course for Beginners", "channelName": "Programming with Mosh", "channelId": "UCWv7vMbMWH4-V0ZXdmDpPBA", "subscriberCount": 5160000, "publishedAt": "2019-02-18T07:00:08-08:00", "category": "Education", "durationSeconds": 22447, "viewCount": 49062038, "likeCount": 1270677, "commentCount": 63000, "transcriptLanguage": "en English" } ``` This row also contained 4,530 timed `transcript` segments and 263,320 characters of `transcriptText`; they are omitted above for readability. Counts are a snapshot and can change. #### Separate video, comment and channel exports The default dataset always contains the same `type: video`, `type: comment` and optional `type: channel` rows in their original order. Turn on **Separate datasets by row type** to also copy those rows into the run's Videos, Comments and Channels datasets. In the run's **Storage** tab, choose a dataset from the dropdown and export JSON, CSV or Excel. The switch is off by default. Copies do not trigger another row charge, but they use additional dataset storage and download transfer; large transcripts can make the video copy substantial. ### Use it from code, n8n, Make, Zapier or an AI agent - **API**: `POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/alfalfa~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=…` with the JSON input above returns the rows directly (runs up to 5 minutes). Longer jobs: start the run, poll, read the dataset. Any Apify client library works. - **n8n, Make, Zapier**: add the Apify node, pick `alfalfa/youtube-scraper`, paste the same JSON input and read the run's dataset in the next step. See the [Apify integrations docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations). - **AI agents and MCP (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT)**: connect the Apify MCP server with this Actor as a tool, `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=alfalfa/youtube-scraper`, and the agent can pull videos, transcripts and comments by describing what it wants. See [Apify MCP docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp). ### Pricing | Event | Price | |---|---| | Video row | $0.50 per 1,000 ($0.45 / $0.40 / $0.35 on Starter / Scale / Business plans) | | Comment or reply row | same as a video row | | Transcript | $0.30 per 1,000 videos with a transcript, nothing for videos without captions | | Channel record | $0.50 per 1,000 channels on top of the row, i.e. $1 per 1,000 channels in total on the free plan | | Start fee, platform usage, proxies | none, included | Examples at Free tier: 1,000 videos without extras cost **$0.50**; 1,000 videos that all have captions with transcripts cost **$0.80**; 1 video plus 100 comment rows costs **$0.0505**; 1,000 videos plus 10 distinct channel records cost **$0.51**. A channel record counts as one row **and** has the channel surcharge. The transcript charge applies only when a transcript is saved. **Final Actor event price.** The per-row price includes the Actor's platform usage and proxy costs; there is no Actor start fee or per-run minimum. Apify's own plan or storage charges, if any, are separate. The optional separate datasets do not add row events. A run's **Maximum total charge** is honoured: the Actor stops before the budget, so the bill never exceeds it. ### Search to transcript: a checked example On 19 September 2026, a private preview run searched `python tutorial` with `maxVideos: 1`, counts, transcript, one comment and a channel record enabled. Its video row for [`_uQrJ0TkZlc`](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc) had a title, views and likes, `subscriberCount: 5160000`, `commentCount: 63000`, **4,530 timed transcript segments** and 263,320 characters of `transcriptText`. The run saved one video, one comment and one channel row. With separate datasets enabled, the three copies exactly matched the default rows. At the current Free-tier event prices, that public-run output would cost **$0.0023**: three rows, one transcript and one channel add-on. Counts change on YouTube; this is a snapshot, not a promise for every query. ### Limits and honesty - Public videos only. Private, deleted and members-only videos are reported as unavailable, not charged. Age-restricted videos return the listing fields and the details with `ageRestricted: true`; their comments and transcripts are not readable without a login. - YouTube shows rounded counts in some places (`21.2M subscribers`, `2.4M comments`); the rounded value is what you get. Views and likes are exact. - Transcripts exist only where the uploader or YouTube's auto-captioning provided them. Live streams have none while live. - Search returns what YouTube's search shows a visitor in the US with English settings: about 20 videos per page and rarely more than 500-600 results per query. Split by upload date for more. - Comment replies come with **Max replies per comment**; they count towards the per-video comment limit. ### FAQ **Do I need a YouTube API key?** No. The Data API's free quota is 10,000 units a day (a few hundred searches); this Actor has no quota and no key. **Does it work for Shorts?** Yes: Shorts URLs, a channel's Shorts tab, and Shorts in search results. `isShort` marks them. **Can I get subtitles in another language?** Set **Transcript language** to a language code. Manual captions in that language are preferred, then auto-generated ones in it, then a manual track in any language, then the first track available. `transcriptLanguage` records what was used. **Can I download the transcript as an SRT or VTT file?** Set **Transcript format** to SRT or WebVTT: every video row then carries the whole subtitle file in `transcriptSrt` or `transcriptVtt` (numbered cues, `00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,880`), next to the timed segments and the plain text. Save the field as `