Fast YouTube Comments Scraper API: Extract Comment Data, Replies & Sentiment at Scale 🏯

The most comprehensive YouTube comment data extractor for sentiment analysis, brand monitoring, and audience research.

Extract YouTube comments including comment text, author names, like counts, reply threads, and published dates from any video or Shorts URL. This YouTube comments scraper API works without login—no proxies, no authentication, no API keys required. Built for researchers, marketers, and analysts who need to scrape YouTube comments at scale.

💰 Transparent Event-Based Pricing

• Video Query: $0.001 per video (~20 comments FREE!)
• Additional Comments: $0.0005 each

⚡ Speed: Up to 250+ comments/second
📊 Coverage: Videos, Shorts, top comments, newest first, reply threads
🎯 Output: JSON/CSV with comment text, author data, like counts, reply counts, timestamps
🚀 Setup: Zero configuration—no authentication or proxy required

Perfect for sentiment analysis, brand monitoring, market research, and NLP training data at a fraction of traditional API costs.

📋 Table of Contents

• ⚡ Features & Capabilities
• 💰 Pricing: Transparent Event-Based Costs
• 🍚 Input Parameters
• 💡 YouTube Comments Scraper Strategy Guide
• 📦 Output Format
• 🧩 Custom Map Function
• 🌴 Related Scrapers & Data Extraction Tools
• 🆓 Demo Mode & Free Testing
• 🔧 Troubleshooting Common Issues
• 🎯 Use Cases & Industries
• 💡 Quick Start Guide
• ❓ Frequently Asked Questions
• 📞 Contact

🧭 What Does the YouTube Comments Scraper Do?

YouTube comments scraper is a tool that automates the process of collecting comment IDs, comment text, author names, author channel IDs, like counts, reply counts, and published dates from public YouTube videos. This YouTube comment data extractor enables sentiment analysis, brand monitoring, and large-scale audience research.

The Api Dojo YouTube Comments Scraper API retrieves comprehensive comment data—including reply threads, nested replies, pinned comments, creator hearts, and top-level vs reply comments—from any video or Shorts URL. This tool operates at speeds up to 250+ comments per second without requiring proxies, authentication, or official YouTube API quotas.

This YouTube comments scraper serves as a practical alternative to the YouTube Data API v3 (Comments resource) for bulk data collection. No quota limits, no API key management—just straightforward data access through Apify's infrastructure. Download YouTube comments for thousands of videos in minutes.

What You Get From Every Query

When you extract YouTube comments, you receive comprehensive engagement data:

💬 Comment Content

• Comment ID and comment text (full body)
• Published date and last updated date
• Like count on comment
• Reply count per comment
• Pinned comment indicator

👤 Author Information

• Author name and author channel ID
• Author profile URL and thumbnails
• Creator reply indicator
• Heart by creator status

🔗 Thread Structure

• Top-level vs reply comments
• Reply threads and nested replies
• Video ID the comment belongs to
• Comment sorting (Top comments vs Newest first)

What Data Can You Extract?

This YouTube comment data extractor captures all key comment information:

Entity	What You Extract	Use Case
💬 Comment Text	Full comment body, edited status	Sentiment analysis, NLP training
👤 Author Data	Name, channel ID, profile URL	Influencer identification, user research
👍 Engagement Metrics	Like count, reply count	Popularity ranking, engagement analysis
📅 Timestamps	Published date, last updated	Trend tracking, temporal analysis
🔗 Thread Structure	Replies, nested comments, pinned	Conversation mapping, discussion analysis

⚡ Features & Capabilities

Complete, structured access to YouTube's public comment data—including comment IDs, author information, engagement metrics, and reply threads. This YouTube comments scraper API is built for audience intelligence at scale.

2 Query Types for Complete Coverage

Query Type	What It Extracts	Example Input
🎬 Video URL	All comments from a video	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
📱 Shorts URL	Comments from YouTube Shorts	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/...

Core Features

Feature	Description	Benefit
💰 Event-Based Pricing	Pay only for comments you extract	Cost control: Only pay for what you scrape
🎁 ~20 Free Comments	Free tier with every video query	Budget-friendly: Substantial free data
⚡ 250+ Comments/Second	High-speed extraction	Time savings: Extract thousands in minutes
🔑 No Authentication	Works without YouTube login	Simple: Start scraping immediately
🚀 No Proxy Required	Infrastructure handled on Apify	Cost savings: No proxy management
📊 Sorting Options	Top comments or Newest first	Precision: Get most relevant comments
🤖 MCP Compatible	Works with AI agents and LLM workflows	Future-ready: AI-native integration
📥 JSON/CSV Export	Clean structured output for analysis	Integration-ready: Direct pipeline import

Competitor Comparison

Feature	🏯 Api Dojo	Streamers Scraper	Deeper Scraper
Comments/Second (Videos)	251	11	4
Comments/Second (Shorts)	267	9	11
Pricing	$0.0005/comment	$2/1k results	$1.8/1k results
Sorting Functionality	✅	❌	❌
Shorts Support	✅	✅	✅
No Proxy Required	✅	✅	❌

💰 Pricing: Transparent Event-Based Costs

Pay only for what you scrape—no subscriptions, no hidden fees. Significantly more affordable than traditional YouTube data APIs for bulk comment extraction.

📊 Event Costs by Query Type

Event Type	Price	Free Comments Included	What Triggers It
Video Query	$0.001	~20 comments FREE	Scraping comments from a video
Dataset Item	$0.0005	N/A	Each comment beyond the first free page

� Cost Examples

Scenario	Charges	Calculation	Total Cost
1 video, 20 comments	1 query	$0.001 × 1	$0.001
1 video, 100 comments	1 query + 80 items	$0.001 + ($0.0005 × 80)	$0.041
1 video, 500 comments	1 query + 480 items	$0.001 + ($0.0005 × 480)	$0.241
1 video, 1,000 comments	1 query + 980 items	$0.001 + ($0.0005 × 980)	$0.491
5 videos, 500 comments	5 queries + 400 items	($0.001 × 5) + ($0.0005 × 400)	$0.205
10 videos, 1,000 comments	10 queries + 800 items	($0.001 × 10) + ($0.0005 × 800)	$0.410

🍚 Input Parameters

Flexible input options for targeting YouTube video comments with simple configuration.

Field	Type	Description	Default
startUrls	array	YouTube Video or Shorts URLs to scrape comments from	[]
sort	string	Sort comments: top (most relevant) or new (newest first)	top
maxItems	number	Maximum number of comments to retrieve	Infinity
customMapFunction	string	Transformation logic for the output JSON	null

Supported URL Types

URL Type	Format	Example
🎬 Video URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
� Shorts URL	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ID	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123

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💡 YouTube Comments Scraper Strategy Guide

Choose the right extraction approach based on your data needs and budget. Each strategy optimizes for different use cases when you need to scrape YouTube comments or extract YouTube comments at scale.

Strategy 1: Single Video Deep Dive (Sentiment Analysis)

Best for: Product feedback, brand monitoring, opinion mining

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Cost Breakdown	Calculation
1 video query	$0.001
480 additional comments	$0.0005 × 480 = $0.240
Total	$0.241

Use case: Analyze top 500 comments on a product review video for sentiment analysis and customer feedback patterns.

---

Strategy 2: Multi-Video Comparison (Competitor Research)

Best for: Competitive analysis, audience intelligence, market research

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMPETITOR_1",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMPETITOR_2",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMPETITOR_3"
  ],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 300
}

Cost Breakdown	Calculation
3 video queries	$0.001 × 3 = $0.003
Up to 240 additional comments	$0.0005 × 240 = $0.120
Total	$0.123

Use case: Compare audience reactions across competitor videos for competitive intelligence and content strategy insights.

---

Strategy 3: Newest Comments First (Trend Detection)

Best for: Social listening, trend detection, real-time monitoring

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRENDING_VIDEO"],
  "sort": "new",
  "maxItems": 200
}

Cost Breakdown	Calculation
1 video query	$0.001
180 additional comments	$0.0005 × 180 = $0.090
Total	$0.091

Use case: Monitor newest comments on trending videos for real-time sentiment and emerging discussion topics.

---

Strategy 4: Shorts Comments (Short-Form Content Analysis)

Best for: TikTok-style content research, viral content analysis

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SHORT_1",
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SHORT_2"
  ],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Cost Breakdown	Calculation
2 video queries	$0.001 × 2 = $0.002
60 additional comments	$0.0005 × 60 = $0.030
Total	$0.032

Use case: Analyze engagement patterns on YouTube Shorts for short-form content strategy.

---

Strategy Comparison Table

Strategy	Best For	Cost per 500 Comments	Free Comments
🎬 Single Video	Sentiment analysis	$0.241	~20
📊 Multi-Video	Competitor research	$0.123	~60
📅 Newest First	Trend detection	$0.091	~20
📱 Shorts	Short-form analysis	$0.032	~40

Pro Tips for Cost Optimization

✅ Maximize Free Comments

• Each video query includes ~20 free comments—batch multiple videos to stack free quotas
• Start with top comments—most valuable insights often come from highly-liked comments
• Use maxItems wisely—set limits based on actual analysis needs

✅ Control Spending

• Set maxItems—limit total comments to control costs
• Sort by relevance—top sorting surfaces most engaging comments first
• Start small—test with 100-200 comments before scaling

📦 Output Format

Clean, structured JSON output with comprehensive YouTube comment data. Each comment object contains comment text, author information, engagement metrics, and timestamps—everything you need to extract YouTube comments at scale.

Minimal Example (Core Fields)

{
  "text": "This one hit you in the feels? Check out the full video of this, and other wholesome pranks ❤️\nhttps://youtu.be/Y9Um-8nPnVQ",
  "likeCount": "3.4K",
  "replyCount": "8",
  "publishedTime": "5 months ago",
  "author": {
    "id": "UCa90xqK2odw1KV5wHU9WRhg",
    "name": "@TheOffice",
    "thumbnails": [
      {
        "height": 48,
        "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/...",
        "width": 48
      }
    ]
  }
}

Field Availability Guarantees

Understanding which fields are always present vs. conditionally available helps you build reliable integrations when you scrape YouTube comments.

Field	Availability	Data Type	Notes
text	✅ Always	string	Full comment body/text
likeCount	✅ Always	string	Likes on the comment
replyCount	✅ Always	string	Number of replies
publishedTime	✅ Always	string	Relative timestamp
author.id	✅ Always	string	Author channel ID
author.name	✅ Always	string	Author display name
author.thumbnails	✅ Always	array	Author profile pictures
isPinned	⚠️ Sometimes	boolean	Pinned comment indicator
isHearted	⚠️ Sometimes	boolean	Heart by creator status

Export Options

• JSON: Complete datasets with nested objects—ideal for NLP processing and sentiment analysis
• CSV: Direct download from Apify Console—perfect for spreadsheets and databases
• API: RESTful endpoints for Python, Node.js, or any HTTP client

🧩 Custom Map Function

Transform output using the customMapFunction parameter. This JavaScript function receives each comment object and returns your desired format—flatten nested data, extract specific fields, or restructure for your pipeline.

Important: Custom map function is for data transformation—not for filtering. Filtering items may result in automatic restrictions.

Example: Simplified Output for Sentiment Analysis

(object) => ({
  commentText: object.text,
  authorName: object.author?.name || null,
  authorId: object.author?.id || null,
  likes: object.likeCount,
  replies: object.replyCount,
  timestamp: object.publishedTime
})

Common Transformations

Use Case	What to Add
Sentiment Analysis	text, likeCount, publishedTime
Author Research	author.id, author.name, author.thumbnails
Engagement Analysis	likeCount, replyCount, isPinned
NLP Training Data	text only, flattened for ML pipelines

🌴 Related Scrapers & Data Extraction Tools

Expand your YouTube data extraction capabilities with our complete suite of specialized scraper APIs. Each YouTube comment data extractor focuses on specific data types for comprehensive video intelligence.

📦 Complete Apidojo YouTube Scraper Ecosystem

Tool	What It Extracts	Best For
💬 YouTube Comments Scraper	Comment text, authors, likes, replies, timestamps	Sentiment analysis (You are here)
📺 YouTube Scraper	Videos, shorts, playlists, view counts	Content analysis, trend tracking
🏯 YouTube Channel Scraper	Channel profiles, subscribers, metadata	Creator discovery, influencer research

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🎯 Choose the Right Extractor for Your Use Case

💬 Need Comment & Engagement Data?

→ YouTube Comments Scraper (You are here)
Extract comment text, author names, like counts, reply threads, and timestamps for sentiment analysis

📺 Need Video & Content Data?

→ YouTube Scraper
Extract videos, shorts, playlists, view counts, and engagement metrics

🏯 Need Channel & Creator Data?

→ YouTube Channel Scraper
Extract channel IDs, subscriber counts, descriptions, handles, and profile metadata

🌐 Cross-Platform Social Media Scrapers

Platform	Tool	What It Extracts
📸 Instagram	Instagram Scraper	Posts, reels, profiles, hashtags
🎵 TikTok	TikTok Scraper	Videos, profiles, engagement metrics
🐦 Twitter	Twitter Scraper Lite	Tweets, profiles, followers

🆓 Demo Mode & Free Testing

If you run on Apify's Free plan, you can still use this YouTube comments scraper with limited results (up to 10 items). For unrestricted usage and to unlock the full power of this YouTube comments scraper API at scale, subscribe to a paid Apify plan at apify.com/pricing.

Free Plan Benefits:

• ✅ Test this API with up to 10 comment extractions
• ✅ Each video query includes ~20 FREE comments
• ✅ Perfect for testing workflows before scaling
• ✅ Validate output format and data quality risk-free

Upgrade for Full Access:

• 🚀 Unlimited comment extraction from YouTube
• 🚀 250+ comments per second processing speed
• 🚀 API access for automated workflows and integrations
• 🚀 Enterprise-scale data extraction capabilities

For unrestricted usage, subscribe to a paid Apify plan.

🔧 Troubleshooting Common Issues

Having trouble with your extraction? Here are solutions to common issues when you scrape YouTube comments, manage costs, and optimize performance with this YouTube comment data extractor.

---

❓ Getting Fewer Comments Than Expected?

Problem: Extraction returns fewer comments than anticipated

Solutions:

✅ Check maxItems setting—increase the limit if you need more comments
✅ Verify video has comments—some videos have comments disabled
✅ Check sorting option—top vs new may surface different comment counts
✅ Remember free tiers—Free users are capped at 10 items

---

💰 Unexpected Costs?

Problem: Your run cost more than anticipated

Key pricing differences to remember:

Scenario	Cost Calculation	What You Pay
1 video, 20 comments	1 video query	$0.001 (all free)
1 video, 100 comments	1 query + 80 items	$0.041
5 videos, 100 comments each	5 queries + 400 items	$0.205

Cost control tips:

✅ Each video creates a separate query—10 videos = 10 separate charges
✅ Use maxItems to cap spending—set hard limits on total extraction
✅ Video queries are cost-effective—~20 free comments per video

---

❓ No Results Returned?

Problem: Extraction completes but returns empty dataset

Solutions:

✅ Verify URL format—must be valid YouTube video or Shorts URLs
✅ Check video availability—video may be private or deleted
✅ Don't use customMapFunction for filtering—this can cause automatic blocks
✅ Confirm comments are enabled—some videos have comments disabled

---

❓ Missing Data Fields?

Problem: Some expected fields are missing from output

Solutions:

✅ Open Storage tab—full datasets available in Apify Console
✅ Check comment type—some fields only appear on certain comments
✅ Verify field availability—isPinned and isHearted are conditional

🎯 Use Cases & Industries

This YouTube comments scraper serves professionals who need fast, structured audience insights—from sentiment analysis to brand monitoring and competitive intelligence. Use it to download YouTube comments for any business intelligence need.

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📊 Sentiment Analysis & Opinion Mining

Analyze audience sentiment and extract customer opinions at scale.

• Extract thousands of comments for NLP processing
• Build sentiment analysis pipelines with structured data
• Identify positive, negative, and neutral sentiment patterns
• Train machine learning models on real audience feedback

Example: Scrape 1,000 comments from product review videos for voice of customer (VoC) analysis.

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🏢 Brand Monitoring & Reputation Management

Track brand mentions and monitor public perception across YouTube.

• Monitor comments on brand-related videos
• Track reputation management metrics over time
• Identify emerging PR issues before they escalate
• Analyze competitor brand sentiment

Example: Monitor comments on 50 videos mentioning your brand for social listening insights.

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📈 Market Research & Consumer Behavior

Understand audience preferences and market trends through comment analysis.

• Research consumer behavior patterns in specific niches
• Identify audience pain points and feature requests
• Analyze competitor audience engagement
• Discover content ideas from audience discussions

Example: Extract comments from top 10 competitor videos for audience intelligence research.

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🤖 NLP Training Data & Machine Learning

Build datasets for natural language processing and AI applications.

• Collect NLP training data for sentiment classifiers
• Build machine learning datasets with real-world text
• Create toxic comment detection training sets
• Generate conversation datasets for chatbot training

Example: Scrape 10,000 comments across 100 videos for toxic comment detection model training.

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🎬 Influencer Vetting & Engagement Quality

Evaluate influencer authenticity and audience engagement quality.

• Analyze comment quality and authenticity
• Check for bot activity and fake engagement
• Evaluate engagement quality before partnerships
• Research audience demographics through comment analysis

Example: Scrape comments from 5 influencer videos to verify engagement quality before sponsorship.

💡 Quick Start Guide

Simple setup—whether extracting comments from a single video or building a database of thousands. This YouTube comments scraper API makes it easy to extract YouTube comments in minutes.

Copy-Paste Examples by Persona

For Analysts (Video → CSV):

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 500
}

→ Run, then export to CSV from Storage tab.

For Developers (API → JSON):

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("apidojo/youtube-comments-scraper").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"],
    "maxItems": 100
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

For AI Agents (MCP pattern):

# Fetch YouTube comment data, then pass to LLM for sentiment analysis
comment_data = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
context = json.dumps(comment_data[:50])  # First 50 comments as context
# Pass context to your AI agent for sentiment analysis

3 Steps to Get Started

1. Add video URLs: Paste YouTube video or Shorts URLs
2. Configure: Set sorting preference and maxItems
3. Run & Export: Click Start, then download JSON/CSV from Storage tab

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📋 Method 1: Scrape by Video URL

Best for: Single video deep dive, sentiment analysis

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 500
}

---

📋 Method 2: Scrape Multiple Videos

Best for: Competitor research, multi-video analysis

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_1",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_2",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_3"
  ],
  "sort": "top",
  "maxItems": 300
}

---

🔧 Best Practices for YouTube Comment Scraping

✅ DO:

• Start with test runs—use 100-200 comments to validate output format
• Use top sorting—most valuable insights come from highly-liked comments
• Batch multiple videos—stack free quotas across multiple queries
• Set maxItems—control costs by limiting total extraction

❌ DON'T:

• Use customMapFunction for filtering—this causes automatic blocking
• Scrape videos with few comments—minimum 10 comments per video
• Ignore sorting options—top vs new surfaces different insights

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is a YouTube Comments Scraper API?

A YouTube comments scraper API is a tool that programmatically extracts comment data—comment text, author names, like counts, reply threads, and timestamps. This YouTube comment data extractor serves as an alternative to the YouTube Data API v3 without quota limits or API key requirements.

How much does it cost to scrape 1,000 YouTube comments?

$0.49 total ($0.001 video query + $0.0005 × 980 comments)—significantly cheaper than most alternatives. Each video query includes ~20 free comments.

Can I scrape YouTube comments without login?

Yes! This YouTube comments scraper requires no authentication or login. Start extracting comment data immediately without any YouTube account or API key.

What YouTube comment data can I extract?

Extract comment text, author names, author channel IDs, like counts, reply counts, published dates, pinned comment status, creator hearts, and author thumbnails—all in structured JSON or CSV format.

Can I export scraped YouTube comments to CSV?

Yes. Download YouTube comments directly from Apify Console in JSON, CSV, or Excel format. Perfect for spreadsheet analysis and NLP processing.

Can I use Python to scrape YouTube comments?

Yes! Full Python support via the Apify Client library. See the copy-paste examples above for YouTube comments scraper Python integration.

Is this faster than the YouTube Data API?

Yes. 250+ comments/second without quota limits. The official YouTube Data API v3 has strict rate limits and requires complex OAuth setup.

Can I scrape comments from YouTube Shorts?

Yes. This tool supports both regular video URLs and Shorts URLs—extract comments from any public YouTube content.

Can I bulk scrape comments from multiple videos?

Yes. Add multiple URLs to startUrls for bulk YouTube comment extraction. Each video is processed efficiently with ~20 free comments per query.

Can I sort comments by newest first?

Yes. Use sort: "new" to get newest comments first, or sort: "top" for most relevant/liked comments.

Can I scrape reply threads and nested comments?

Yes. This YouTube comments scraper extracts reply threads, nested replies, and top-level vs reply comment indicators.

Can I use this for sentiment analysis?

Yes. Perfect for sentiment analysis, opinion mining, and NLP training data. Export structured comment text for machine learning pipelines.

Can I scrape pinned comments?

Yes. Pinned comments are included in the output with an isPinned indicator when available.

Can I detect creator replies and hearts?

Yes. Creator replies and heart indicators are included in the output when available.

Is this a real-time YouTube scraping API?

Yes. Extract current YouTube comment data in real-time with 250+ comments/second processing speed. Data reflects the latest publicly available information.

📞 Contact

If you need any sort of support, please send an email to apidojo10@gmail.com. You name it, we get it.

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Ready to start extracting YouTube comment data? With transparent event-based pricing, lightning-fast performance (250+ comments/sec), and support for videos and Shorts, this YouTube Comments Scraper API is the perfect YouTube comment data extractor for sentiment analysis, brand monitoring, and audience research. Start scraping today! 🏯