# YouTube Transcript Scraper: Text & JSON, $1.90/1K Transcripts (`actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor Input: YouTube video, Shorts, playlist or channel URLs and preferred languages. Output: one JSON row per video with title, channel, language, caption type and the transcript as plain text and timed segments, from YouTube's own captions. $1.90 per 1,000 transcripts, no start fee. - **URL**: https://apify.com/actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Sluicebox](https://apify.com/actorforgehq) (community) - **Categories:** Videos, AI, Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $1.90 / 1,000 transcripts This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. 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 Transcript Scraper: Text & JSON, $1.90/1K Transcripts Get **transcripts of YouTube videos, Shorts, whole playlists and channels** as clean JSON: one row per video with the title, channel, duration, caption language and type, the full transcript as plain text and as timed segments with start time and duration. Pick your languages in order of preference, choose whether auto-generated captions count, and feed the text straight into an LLM, a search index or your own analysis. It reads the caption tracks that YouTube itself serves to its player, over plain HTTP with no page rendering, no YouTube account, no cookies and no API key. Videos without captions are listed with the reason and are not charged. ### What you get One row per video: ```json { "videoId": "iG9CE55wbtY", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY", "title": "Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED", "channelName": "TED", "channelId": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug", "durationSeconds": 1203, "language": "en", "isAutoGenerated": false, "availableLanguages": [ { "code": "en", "name": "English", "isAutoGenerated": false }, { "code": "en", "name": "English (auto-generated)", "isAutoGenerated": true }, { "code": "de", "name": "German", "isAutoGenerated": false }, { "code": "es", "name": "Spanish", "isAutoGenerated": false } ], "transcriptText": "Good morning. How are you? (Audience) Good. It's been great, hasn't it? I've been blown away by the whole thing. ...", "segments": [ { "start": 27.103, "duration": 2.575, "text": "Good morning. How are you?" }, { "start": 29.702, "duration": 1.403, "text": "(Audience) Good." }, { "start": 31.129, "duration": 1.668, "text": "It's been great, hasn't it?" } ], "transcriptAvailable": true, "reason": null, "scrapedAt": "2026-10-22T10:46:19.162Z" } ``` `availableLanguages` lists every caption track the video has, and the text and segments are cut short here: this talk has 65 caption tracks and 427 segments. `segments` is `null` when **Include timed segments** is off. A video with no captions in your languages still gets a row, with `transcriptAvailable: false`, empty transcript fields and the reason, for example: ```json { "videoId": "W3q8Od5qJio", "title": "Rammstein - Du Hast (Official 4K Video)", "transcriptAvailable": false, "reason": "The video has no captions and no auto-generated subtitles.", "transcriptText": null, "segments": null } ``` ### Input | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `urls` | string\[] | Video, Shorts, playlist or channel links, one per line. Bare video ids and `@handles` work too. A channel link reads its Videos tab, newest first. Add `/shorts` or `/streams` to a channel link for those tabs. A watch link that is part of a playlist is read as that one video. | | `languages` | string\[] | Caption languages in order of preference, as codes, e.g. `["en"]` (default), `["es", "en"]` or `["pt-BR"]`. A code also matches its variants: `en` finds `en-GB`, `pt-PT` finds `pt-BR`. | | `fallbackToAnyLanguage` | boolean | Default `true`. When a video has none of your languages, take the captions in its original language (or its default track). `false` returns a row without a transcript instead. | | `includeAutoGenerated` | boolean | Default `true`. Use YouTube's automatic captions when there are no manual ones in your language. `false` keeps only captions written or uploaded by people. | | `maxVideosPerSource` | integer | Videos taken from each playlist or channel link (default 50, max 500). Single video links are not limited. | | `includeSegments` | boolean | Default `true`. `false` drops the `segments` array and keeps only `transcriptText`, which makes rows smaller. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Defaults to Apify **residential proxies**, the supported configuration. You can use your own proxies. | Example: ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY", "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ", "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Y8IJi7iP5vk", "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi", "https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt" ], "languages": ["en"], "maxVideosPerSource": 20 } ``` ### How to use it 1. Click **Try for free** or **Start** on this page. 2. Paste your YouTube links, set your languages and **Max videos per playlist or channel**. 3. Run it. Transcripts land in the dataset as one row per video. Export them as JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull them over the API. To collect new uploads of a channel on a schedule, use Apify **Schedules** with a small `maxVideosPerSource`. There is no per-run start fee, so a scheduled check costs exactly the transcripts it delivers. To call it from code, use the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) or an official client. AI agents can call it through the **Apify MCP server**: the description and the input fields above are written to be read by an agent. ### Pricing Pay-per-event, one event, nothing else: | Event | Rate | |---|---| | `transcript-scraped` | **$1.90 per 1,000** ($0.0019 each), one per row with a transcript | | Row without a transcript | **free** | | Run start | **free, there is no start event** | **What you get for $1:** 526 transcripts. Platform usage (compute, proxy) is charged to us, not to you, so the per-transcript price is the whole bill. A transcript costs the same for a 30 second Short and for a 4 hour lecture. A daily check of five channels that finds 10 new videos costs $0.019. Rates are as of the last README update. The Store page stays authoritative. ### Limits (honest) - **Only videos that have captions.** The Actor returns the captions YouTube has for a video, written by people or generated by YouTube's speech recognition. It does not transcribe audio itself, so a video without any captions gets a free row with the reason. - **No machine translation.** You get the languages the video actually has. If none of your languages is there, the Actor takes the original language (or returns a row without a transcript, if you turned that off). It does not ask YouTube to translate. - **Auto-generated captions are what YouTube made.** Their wording and punctuation can be rough, and they come as overlapping caption lines. `isAutoGenerated` tells you which kind you got. - **Sign-in-only videos are skipped with the reason.** Private, members-only and age-restricted videos need a signed-in account, and the Actor never signs in. Removed videos, live streams in progress and premieres that have not started also get a row with the reason, free of charge. - **Channels and playlists in YouTube's order.** A channel link reads the newest uploads of its Videos tab (or Shorts or Live tab), a playlist link reads the playlist from the top, up to `maxVideosPerSource` (max 500) each. 500 videos can take more than an hour: raise the run timeout for inputs that big. - **No search by keyword.** Give the Actor links. To find videos by keyword, search on YouTube and paste the links or the playlist. - If more than 5% of requests in a run fail, the run log says so loudly. A run in which every fetch failed is marked **failed**, not "succeeded with 0 items". ### Rate-limit etiquette (built in, with numbers) - **One request every half second.** A video takes two requests (player data, then the caption track): in our tests 5 to 11 seconds per video on residential proxies, so a 50 video channel takes 4 to 9 minutes and the default one hour timeout covers about 300 to 600 videos. For bigger inputs raise the run timeout. If time runs short anyway, the Actor stops about 90 seconds before the timeout, keeps every transcript it has saved and says so in the run status. - On an HTTP `429` or a "confirm you're not a bot" answer the Actor **waits 5 seconds** (then 10, 15, 20\), switches to a fresh proxy session and retries, at most 4 times. Other transient errors back off for 2, 4, 6 and 8 seconds and retry the same way. - If five requests in a row fail after all retries, the run stops instead of grinding through the rest of the input. ### FAQ **Do I need a YouTube account, cookies or an API key?** No. The Actor reads only captions that YouTube serves publicly to any visitor, never signs in and does not use anyone's credentials. **Why residential proxies?** YouTube shows a "confirm you're not a bot" check to datacenter addresses after a few requests. In our tests datacenter proxies stopped working on the second video, while residential ones delivered every transcript. **Which caption track do I get?** The first of your languages the video has, manual captions before auto-generated ones in the same language. Without any of your languages, the captions in the video's original language. `language` and `isAutoGenerated` in the row say exactly which track it is, and `availableLanguages` lists the others. **Can I get Shorts?** Yes. Paste a Shorts link like any video, or a channel link with `/shorts` at the end for its latest Shorts. **Does it use a browser?** No. Requests go over plain HTTP, and caption tracks are parsed straight from what YouTube serves. **Where is my data stored?** In your run's dataset on your Apify account, under your control. The Actor keeps no copy of scraped data outside your run and sends nothing to any third party. ### Legal This is an **unofficial** scraper. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to YouTube or Google in any way. It reads only captions that YouTube serves publicly to any visitor who is not signed in: no login, no credentials, no captcha solving, no video or audio download. Website terms of service are a contractual matter between a website and its visitors, not criminal law. You are responsible for making sure that your use of the collected data complies with the laws that apply to you and with YouTube's terms. **Copyright.** Captions and transcripts are part of the videos and belong to their authors. The Actor hands you the text that YouTube publishes. How you use it (quoting, analysis, research, AI training or republishing) is your decision and your responsibility under the copyright rules that apply to you. ### Personal data Channel names and what people say in videos can be personal data. The Actor collects only the public video page fields listed above and the published captions. It does not collect contact details, does not open profiles and performs no enrichment. Scraped data lives only in your own Apify dataset and is not retained by us outside your run. If the data you collect contains personal data under the laws of your jurisdiction (for example the GDPR), you act as its controller: it is your responsibility to have a legal basis for processing and to honor data-subject requests, including deletion. ### Rate this Actor If this Actor saved you time, a short rating or review on its Store page helps other people find it. Missing a field, or did something break? Open the **Issues** tab on this page and tell us. ### Need a custom scraper? We can build a custom version of this Actor, for example with extra fields, other filters or another output format, or a new Actor for a site we do not cover yet. It runs on Apify like this one. Email actorforge.hq+orders@gmail.com with the site, the data you need and how often you need it. ### Other Actors by ActorForge - [LinkedIn Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/linkedin-jobs-scraper): public LinkedIn job listings by keyword and location with full descriptions, no login. - [Reddit Data Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/reddit-data-scraper): subreddit feeds, posts with their first comments, keyword search and user history in one Actor. - [Reddit Subreddit Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/reddit-subreddit-scraper): the hot, new, top and rising posts of any subreddit, with date bounds and only-new mode. - [Reddit Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/reddit-comments-scraper): the whole comment thread of a post, with "more replies" branches and deep reply chains. - [Reddit Search Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/reddit-search-scraper): posts and comments matching keywords, across Reddit or inside one subreddit, with only-new mode. - [Reddit User Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/reddit-user-scraper): a user's public posts and comments, newest first, with the profile card. - [Lazada Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/lazada-reviews-scraper): product reviews, ratings and buyer media from all six Lazada marketplaces. - [Wildberries Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/wildberries-scraper): products, prices and reviews from Wildberries as clean, schema-validated JSON. - [Avito Real Estate Scraper](https://apify.com/actorforgehq/avito-real-estate-scraper): full property inventory from Avito with freshness stamps. ### Changelog - **0.1** (October 2026): first release. Videos, Shorts, playlists and channels (Videos, Shorts and Live tabs), languages in order of preference with the original language as a fallback, manual and auto-generated captions, plain text and timed segments, free rows with the reason for videos without a transcript, $1.90 per 1,000 transcripts, no start fee. # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): Links to videos, Shorts, playlists or channels, one per line. A channel link (for example https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt) reads its Videos tab, newest first; add /shorts or /streams to the link for those tabs. A watch link that is part of a playlist is read as that one video. Bare video ids and @handles work too. ## `languages` (type: `array`): Caption languages in order of preference, as language codes, for example en, es or pt-BR. The first language the video has wins. Manual captions come before auto-generated ones in the same language. ## `fallbackToAnyLanguage` (type: `boolean`): When the video has none of your languages, take the captions in the video's original language (or its default track) instead of returning a row without a transcript. ## `includeAutoGenerated` (type: `boolean`): Use YouTube's automatic speech recognition captions when there are no manual captions in your language. Turn off to get only captions written or uploaded by people. ## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`): How many videos to take from each playlist or channel link, newest first for channels. Single video links are not limited. ## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`): Add the segments array with start time and duration in seconds for every caption line. Turn off to get only the plain text, which makes the rows smaller. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Residential proxy is the default: YouTube shows a bot check to datacenter addresses after a few requests. You can use your own proxies here. ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY", "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi" ], "languages": [ "en" ], "fallbackToAnyLanguage": true, "includeAutoGenerated": true, "maxVideosPerSource": 50, "includeSegments": true, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `transcripts` (type: `string`): One row per video: title, channel, duration, caption language and type, the transcript as plain text and timed segments, or the reason when there is none. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY" ], "languages": [ "en" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY"], "languages": ["en"], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}") for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY" ], "languages": [ "en" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } }' | apify call actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,actorforgehq/youtube-transcript-scraper" } } } ``` The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer ` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations). ## OpenAPI specification Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0bZNQwlzPMPcZb3G6/builds/7JjUd6SSbXMGzmSqB/openapi.json