# YouTube Shorts Scraper – Views, Likes & Channels (`anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel or keyword search: title, views, publish date, thumbnail and channel, plus optional exact likes, comment count, description and hashtags. No API key, no quota. Pay per Short.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Oğulcan Katmer](https://apify.com/anatolia-data) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 shorts

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 Shorts Scraper – Views, Likes & Channels

Scrape **YouTube Shorts** from any channel or keyword search. Each row has the Short's title, URL, views, thumbnail and channel. Turn on **full details** to also get exact view counts, likes, comment counts, publish date, description and hashtags.

No YouTube API key, no quota, no login. Pay only per Short.

### Use cases

- **Trend research:** see which Shorts get the most views for a keyword
- **Competitor tracking:** export every Short a creator or brand has posted
- **Influencer discovery:** find creators who rank for your niche in Shorts
- **Content planning:** collect titles, hashtags and view counts to spot formats that work

### Input

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Channels | `@mkbhd`, `https://www.youtube.com/@NASA`, `UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ` |
| Search queries | `iphone 17`, `easy recipes` (only Shorts are returned) |
| Max Shorts per channel or search | `50` |
| Full video details | exact views, likes, comment count, publish date, description, hashtags |
| Minimum views / Max age | filter out small or old Shorts |

### Output

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `title`, `url`, `videoId` | The Short (`type` is always `short`) |
| `views`, `viewsText` | View count shown on YouTube |
| `thumbnailUrl` | Vertical thumbnail |
| `channelName`, `channelId`, `channelUrl` | Who posted it |
| `source`, `sourceType`, `position` | Which channel or search found it, and its rank |
| `likes`, `commentCount`, `publishDateText`, `description`, `hashtags`, `channelSubscribers` | With full details on |

Channel info rows (subscribers, video count, emails in the channel description) are added free for each channel.

#### Example

```json
{
  "type": "short",
  "videoId": "rqi7fbv6TNc",
  "title": "iPhone 17 Pro Max - Major Regrets",
  "views": 3641559,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rqi7fbv6TNc",
  "channelName": "ShoAndTech",
  "likes": 28768,
  "commentCount": 3400,
  "publishDateText": "Sep 29, 2025"
}
```

### Pricing

- **$0.50 per 1,000 Shorts**
- **+$1.00 per 1,000** when full details are on

### Need regular videos or comments too?

- [YouTube Scraper – Channel Videos, Shorts & Search](https://apify.com/anatolia-data/youtube-channel-search-scraper)
- [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/anatolia-data/youtube-comments-scraper)

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No.

**Is it legal?** It reads only public pages that anyone can open without logging in. You are responsible for how you use the data.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs. Every Short on the channel is scraped, newest first.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search on YouTube. Only Shorts from the results are returned.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Channel or video links loaded from a file or another Actor.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many videos for each channel tab and each search.

## `searchSort` (type: `string`):

YouTube's own sort options for search.

## `maxAgeDays` (type: `integer`):

Skip older videos. On channels the run stops paging as soon as it reaches older uploads.

## `minViews` (type: `integer`):

Skip videos with fewer views.

## `includeVideoDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Open each video's page for exact view count, likes, comment count, full description and hashtags. Slower, and charged as an extra event per video.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code, e.g. en, de, tr.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code. Affects search results.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy is recommended.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many requests run at once.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "searchQueries": [
    "iphone 17"
  ],
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "searchSort": "relevance",
  "minViews": 0,
  "includeVideoDetails": false,
  "language": "en",
  "country": "US",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All rows.

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Open the dataset in a table view.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd"
    ],
    "searchQueries": [
        "iphone 17"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channels": ["@mkbhd"],
    "searchQueries": ["iphone 17"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "searchQueries": [
    "iphone 17"
  ]
}' |
apify call anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,anatolia-data/youtube-shorts-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 <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` 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/szCutdwYrOVrZhFmx/builds/6eQ4Wt63aWiXE1qkB/openapi.json