YouTube Scraper + Subtitles & AI Summary

A fast, reliable, and cost-effective YouTube data extraction API for Apify. Scrape YouTube Videos, Shorts, Live Streams, Channels, Playlists, Comments, Replies, and Filtered Search with native Subtitle Downloads, AI Transcripts, and AI Video Summaries.

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⚡ Key Features

• ⚡ Fast & Lightweight: High-performance YouTube data collection optimized for speed and reliability.
• 💬 Native Subtitles & Captions: Download video subtitles/closed captions in multiple formats (text, json, srt, vtt) directly to Apify Key-Value Store. Supports auto-generated and manual caption tracks.
• 📝 AI Video Summary: Generate concise factual summaries and key topics for videos. Automatically uses native subtitles as the primary text source for faster and more cost-effective processing.
• 🎙️ Optional AI Transcript: Optional speech-to-text transcription. Uses native subtitles when present (with zero STT audio charges) or audio transcription fallback when explicitly enabled.
• 🔍 Full YouTube Search: Search by keywords with YouTube filters (sorting, date posted, video duration, HD, 4K, live streams, and captions).
• 📹 Rich Video Metadata: Extract detailed video records including views, likes, comments count, subscriber count, duration, hashtags, keywords, and live stream status.
• 📱 Shorts & Live Streams: First-class support for YouTube Shorts and Live Streams across channels and search queries.
• 📺 Channels & Playlists: Scrape entire channels and playlists with positional index tracking.
• 💬 Comments & Replies: Scrape top-level comments and nested reply threads sorted by Top or Newest.
• 🏷️ Hashtag Discovery: Discover and extract videos matching any #hashtag.

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💳 Simple & Transparent Pricing (Pay-Per-Event)

This Actor uses predictable Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing. Platform usage costs are included in the event pricing so you never get surprise compute bills.

Event Type	Event Code	Unit Price	Price / 1,000 Units	Description
Actor Start	apify-actor-start	$0.00005 / run	$0.05 / 1,000 runs	Base run initialization
Video Result	video-result	$0.0025 / item	$2.50 / 1,000 videos	Video, Short, or Stream item
Subtitle Download	subtitle-result	$0.001 / item	$1.00 / 1,000 subtitles	Downloaded subtitle file saved to KVS
Comment / Reply	comment-result	$0.0015 / item	$1.50 / 1,000 comments	Top-level comment or reply item
AI Summary	ai-summary	$0.005 / summary	$5.00 / 1,000 summaries	AI summary & key topics
AI Transcript	ai-transcript	$0.007 / started audio-min	$7.00 / 1,000 audio-mins	Charged only when audio STT is executed. 0 STT charge when native subtitles are used.

Pricing Examples

• 100 Video Results: $0.00005 (start) + 100 × $0.0025 = $0.25005
• 100 Videos with Subtitle Downloads: $0.00005 (start) + 100 × $0.0025 (video) + 100 × $0.001 (subtitle) = $0.35005
• 1 Video with AI Summary (using native subtitles): $0.00005 (start) + $0.0025 (video) + $0.005 (summary) = $0.00755 (No audio minute fees)
• 1 Video with AI Summary & Audio STT Fallback (3 min video): $0.00005 (start) + $0.0025 (video) + 3 × $0.007 (transcript) + $0.005 (summary) = $0.02855

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🛠️ Input Parameters

General & Search Settings

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	Array of Objects	[]	YouTube URLs to scrape (Video, Short, Channel, Playlist, Search, or Hashtag).
searchQueries	Array of Strings	[]	Search keywords or phrases to scrape.
maxResults	Integer	20	Maximum number of results to return per query, URL, or channel.
sortingOrder	String Enum	"relevance"	Sort search results: relevance, date, viewCount, rating.
dateFilter	String Enum	null	Filter search by upload date: hour, today, week, month, year.
videoType	String Enum	"video"	Filter search by type: video, channel, playlist, movie.
lengthFilter	String Enum	null	Filter search by duration: short (<4 min), medium (4–20 min), long (>20 min).
isHD	Boolean	false	Filter search results for high-definition (HD) videos.
is4K	Boolean	false	Filter search results for 4K resolution videos.
isLive	Boolean	false	Filter search results for active live streams.
hasSubtitles	Boolean	false	Search Filter: Restrict search results to videos that have subtitles/closed captions.

Subtitle Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
downloadSubtitles	Boolean	false	Download native YouTube subtitle/caption files to the Key-Value Store for each scraped video.
subtitlesLanguage	String	"en"	Preferred subtitle language code (e.g. "en", "es", "id", "fr").
subtitlesFormat	String Enum	"text"	Subtitle output format: text (plain text), json (timestamped cues), srt (SubRip .srt), or vtt (WebVTT .vtt).

Comments & Enrichment

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
maxComments	Integer	0	Maximum top-level comments to scrape per video (0 = disabled).
maxRepliesPerComment	Integer	0	Maximum nested replies per top-level comment.
commentSort	String Enum	"TOP"	Sort comments by TOP or NEWEST.
enrichVideoMetadata	Boolean	false	Fetch additional engagement metadata (likes, comments count, views, subscriber count).

AI Features & Decision Logic

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
aiSummary	Boolean	false	Generate an AI summary and key topics. Uses available native subtitle text directly for fast, efficient processing.
aiTranscript	Boolean	false	Explicit opt-in: Generate transcript text. If native subtitles exist, uses native subtitles with 0 STT fees. If subtitles are unavailable, enables audio transcription fallback.
aiLanguage	String	null	Target language code for AI processing (e.g. "en", "es", "de").
maxAiVideos	Integer	10	Maximum number of videos to process with AI per run (max: 100).
maxAiDurationMinutes	Integer	60	Maximum duration (in minutes) of an individual video eligible for AI processing.
maxAiMinutesPerRun	Integer	60	Maximum combined duration limit across all AI-processed videos in a run.

AI Decision Logic & Optionality:

• Native Subtitles as Primary Text Source: When aiSummary: true is requested and native subtitles exist, the summary is generated directly from native subtitles without downloading audio or charging speech-to-text fees.
• STT Fallback Requires Explicit Opt-In: Audio transcription fallback is strictly disabled unless aiTranscript: true is explicitly configured. If native subtitles are unavailable and aiTranscript: false, AI Summary is skipped gracefully with zero audio extraction or unexpected fees.

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📋 Sample Input

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV4ab2l0Re4" }
  ],
  "downloadSubtitles": true,
  "subtitlesLanguage": "en",
  "subtitlesFormat": "srt",
  "aiSummary": true,
  "aiTranscript": false,
  "maxResults": 1
}

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📄 Sample Output (Public Dataset Item)

{
  "type": "VIDEO",
  "id": "BV4ab2l0Re4",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV4ab2l0Re4",
  "title": "How to Add Subtitles to YouTube Videos for FREE (+ Closed Captions)",
  "description": "Learn how to add subtitles and closed captions to your YouTube videos easily...",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BV4ab2l0Re4/hqdefault.jpg",
  "channelId": "UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "channelName": "Content Creator",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "subscriberCount": 150000,
  "viewCount": 163503,
  "likesCount": 4200,
  "publishedAt": "2024-03-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "duration": "08:42",
  "durationSeconds": 522,
  "isShort": false,
  "isLive": false,
  "liveStatus": "NONE",
  "commentsCount": 350,
  "subtitlesAvailable": true,
  "subtitleTracks": [
    {
      "languageCode": "en",
      "languageName": "English",
      "isAutoGenerated": false
    }
  ],
  "subtitle": {
    "languageCode": "en",
    "languageName": "English",
    "isAutoGenerated": false,
    "format": "srt",
    "storageKey": "SUBTITLE_BV4ab2l0Re4_en_srt"
  },
  "aiSummary": {
    "status": "SUCCESS",
    "source": "native-subtitle",
    "summary": "This tutorial explains the complete step-by-step process of adding subtitles and closed captions to YouTube videos using free tools.",
    "keyTopics": [
      "Subtitles & Captions",
      "YouTube Studio Upload",
      "SRT and VTT formatting"
    ],
    "storageKey": "AI_SUMMARY_BV4ab2l0Re4"
  },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-21T08:38:06.126Z"
}

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💾 Accessing Subtitles & AI Content from Key-Value Store

Downloaded subtitles, full AI transcripts, and AI summaries are saved in the Actor run's default Key-Value Store:

• Subtitles: Stored under SUBTITLE_{videoId}_{languageCode}_{format} (e.g. SUBTITLE_BV4ab2l0Re4_en_srt).
• AI Transcripts: Stored under AI_TRANSCRIPT_{videoId} containing full timestamped segments and metadata.
• AI Summaries: Stored under AI_SUMMARY_{videoId} containing executive summary text and key topic tags.

You can retrieve these records directly via the Apify Console Key-Value Store tab or via the Apify API client.