YouTube Transcript Scraper & Channel Monitor: Never Pay Twice

by SureSignal

Get the transcript of any YouTube video, or every new upload from the channels you follow, as clean text with timestamps. Paste video URLs or channel @handles. SureSignal returns the full transcript, timestamped segments, language and video metadata, ready for ChatGPT, RAG, summaries, SEO content or research.

Only pay for new data: each video is delivered and charged once per monitor. Re-runs skip videos you already have, for free. Unavailable videos and videos without captions are free too.

What can this YouTube transcript extractor do?

• 📝 Transcript text and timestamped segments (start, duration, text)
• 📺 Channel monitoring: add @handles and schedule daily to get transcripts of new uploads only
• ♻️ Never pay twice: already-delivered videos are skipped. New + changed mode re-delivers a video only when its captions changed, with a transcriptChanged flag
• 🌍 Any language: pick preferred languages, prefer human captions over auto-generated, or translate with YouTube's own translation
• 🎬 Metadata: title, channel, views, duration, publish date, description, tags and available caption languages
• 🤖 AI-ready: plain text plus word count, usable from the Apify API, MCP server, n8n, Make and Zapier
• 🛡️ Automatic retries and proxy rotation when YouTube rate-limits, which is the usual "YouTube transcript API IP blocked" problem

How to download a YouTube transcript (with or without timestamps)

1. Paste one or more video URLs (watch, youtu.be, Shorts or live) or channels.
2. Choose languages and whether you want timestamps.
3. Run it and export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or send it to Sheets or a webhook. For a free-of-duplicates feed, schedule it with the New videos only mode.

Output example

{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video)",
  "channelName": "Rick Astley",
  "language": "en",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "wordCount": 487,
  "transcriptText": "We're no strangers to love ...",
  "segments": [{ "start": 18.64, "duration": 3.24, "text": "We're no strangers to love" }],
  "isNew": true,
  "transcriptChanged": false
}

How much does it cost?

$8 per 1,000 transcripts delivered. Skipped, already-delivered, unavailable and no-caption videos cost $0. maxTranscripts caps every run.

Is there an official YouTube transcript API?

YouTube's official Data API only lets a video's owner download its captions. This Actor reads the publicly displayed captions of public videos, the same text anyone sees when they click Show transcript. Use transcripts in line with YouTube's Terms of Service and copyright law (summaries, research, accessibility), and don't republish creators' content wholesale.

FAQ

Can I get a transcript if the video has no captions? Only if YouTube has auto-generated captions. If there are none, you get a free error row.

Can I get transcripts for a whole channel? Each run checks a channel's latest 15 uploads from its public feed. Schedule it to build the archive going forward. For older videos, paste their URLs.

Does it work for Shorts and live streams? Yes, whenever captions exist.

Python or API? Call it through the Apify API or client libraries and get JSON back.

More SureSignal tools are on our Apify profile, including the AI Search Visibility Tracker and Company Profile API.

More from SureSignal

Other SureSignal data feeds that pair well with this one:

• Recently Funded Startups: SEC Form D Leads: find companies that just raised money.
• Careers Job Feed: see who is hiring, and for what.
• Google Ads Transparency Monitor: track competitors' new Google ads.
• AI Search Visibility Tracker: check if ChatGPT and Perplexity mention your brand.

Need a source or field we don't cover? Open an issue on the Issues tab and describe what you need.