YouTube Scraper - Videos, Shorts, Channels & Search

What is YouTube Scraper?

YouTube Scraper is a tool that lets you scrape videos, Shorts and live streams from YouTube search results, channels, playlists and video links: title, exact views, likes and comment count, publish date, length, full description, hashtags, tags, category, thumbnail, plus the channel's name, handle, subscribers, total videos and views, country and join date for every video. Type a keyword or paste any YouTube link, click Start, and download the videos as Excel, CSV or JSON.

• ⚡ Fast: 1,049 videos with full details in 87 seconds, the newest 500 videos and Shorts of a channel in under a minute (our tests)
• 🎬 Videos, Shorts and live streams in one tool, each with its own limit
• 🔢 Exact numbers: exact views, likes and comments for every video, not "1.2M"
• 🔓 No login: no YouTube account needed
• 💸 Free to try: the $5 of free usage every Apify account gets each month covers about 3,300 videos with full details

What can YouTube Scraper do?

• Scrape YouTube search results for any keyword, with YouTube's own filters: upload date, length, HD, 4K, subtitles, Creative Commons, live and more
• Scrape every video of a YouTube channel, newest, most popular or oldest first
• Scrape YouTube Shorts from a channel's Shorts tab or from a search
• Scrape a channel's live streams, past and upcoming, and find streams that are live right now
• Scrape YouTube playlists to the last video
• Get YouTube video details from links, including Shorts and youtu.be short links
• Track YouTube video views, likes and comments over time with exact counts
• Find YouTube creators through their videos, with subscriber counts and channel stats in the same row
• Export to Excel, CSV, JSON, HTML or XML, or send the data to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier and more

What data can you extract from YouTube?

🎬 Title and full description	👁️ Exact view count	👍 Exact like count
💬 Exact comment count	📅 Publish date and time	⏱️ Length
#️⃣ Hashtags	🏷️ Tags (keywords)	🗂️ Category
🖼️ Thumbnail, largest size	🔗 Links in the description	📱 Short, video or live stream
📺 Channel name, handle and link	👥 Channel subscribers	📊 Channel total videos and views
🌍 Channel country	🗓️ Channel join date	✅ Verified badge
🗣️ Subtitle languages (optional)	🔒 Comments turned off	👪 Family-safe and unlisted flags

How to scrape YouTube

1. Create a free Apify account.
2. Open YouTube Scraper.
3. Enter search terms, or paste YouTube video, Shorts, channel, playlist or search links, one per line.
4. Set how many videos, Shorts and live streams you want for each search term or channel.
5. Click Start, then download the videos as Excel, CSV, JSON or HTML.

How much does it cost to scrape YouTube videos?

You pay per video saved. A video with full details (the default) costs more than a video from a list alone (with Include video details turned off):

Apify plan	Videos with full details per 1,000	Videos from a list only per 1,000
Free	$1.50	$0.50
Starter (Bronze)	$1.35	$0.45
Scale (Silver)	$1.20	$0.40
Business (Gold) and higher	$1.05	$0.35

Platform usage is included in these prices, so you pay nothing else for the run.

Example: 1,000 videos with full details cost $1.50 on the Free plan and $1.05 on Business. The same 1,000 videos with details off cost $0.50 on the Free plan.

Every Apify account gets $5 of free usage each month, enough for about 3,300 videos with full details. See the Pricing tab for details.

⬇️ Input

Setting	What it does
Search terms	Words to search YouTube for, like lofi hip hop or street food tokyo
YouTube links	Any mix of videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ, https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ), Shorts (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CEJXqm2eiJ0), channels (https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast, /channel/UC..., /c/..., /user/...), channel tabs (/@MrBeast/videos, /@MrBeast/shorts, /@MrBeast/streams), playlists and search pages
Max videos / Shorts / live streams per search term or channel	How many of each to get. Set a type to 0 to skip it. A channel tab link reads that tab only
Include video details	Exact views, likes and comments, publish date, full description, tags, category and channel stats for every video (on by default). Turn it off for a cheaper, faster list
Subtitle languages	Adds the subtitle languages each video has
Only videos published after	A date (2026-09-01) or an age (7 days). With details off, Shorts lists show no date, so their Shorts are kept
Channel sort order	Newest, most popular or oldest first, like the buttons on a channel page
Search filters	Sort order, upload date, video type, length, HD, 4K, subtitles, Creative Commons, live, 360°, VR180 and more
Connection settings	The default works for most runs

The 100 newest videos and 50 newest Shorts of a channel:

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@NYTCooking"],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "maxResultsShorts": 50
}

The 200 most-viewed videos for two keywords, uploaded this month:

{
  "searchQueries": ["street food", "home espresso"],
  "maxResults": 200,
  "sortingOrder": "views",
  "dateFilter": "month"
}

Details for a list of video links:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CEJXqm2eiJ0"
  ]
}

⬆️ Output

Every video is one row. A video from a search with details on:

{
  "id": "vrqoobB47FY",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrqoobB47FY",
  "title": "Wood Carving - Chevrolet Silverado uniqueness with ability to tow large container - Woodworking Art",
  "type": "video",
  "isShort": false,
  "isLive": false,
  "viewCount": 24414969,
  "likes": 121915,
  "commentsCount": 2081,
  "commentsTurnedOff": false,
  "date": "2021-11-04T11:19:18Z",
  "publishedText": "4 years ago",
  "duration": "00:08:39",
  "durationSeconds": 519,
  "text": "Today's car is Chevy Silverado with some creativity of my own ideas. I built an extra container in the back and tested its pulling power.\nI made it entirely out...",
  "descriptionLinks": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WoodworkingArtCrafts",
      "text": "https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WoodworkingArtCrafts"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.handicraft-art.net",
      "text": "https://www.handicraft-art.net"
    }
  ],
  "hashtags": [
    "#woodcarving",
    "#woodworking",
    "#chevroletsilverado"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "wood carving",
    "woodworking",
    "chevrolet",
    "chevy",
    "silverado"
  ],
  "category": "People & Blogs",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vrqoobB47FY/maxresdefault.jpg?v=6183b99b",
  "channelName": "Woodworking Art",
  "channelId": "UC6VWwc9YjQ32mcEE_VvWf1Q",
  "channelUsername": "WoodworkingArt",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@WoodworkingArt",
  "numberOfSubscribers": 3680000,
  "isChannelVerified": true,
  "channelTotalVideos": 198,
  "channelTotalViews": 1111172726,
  "channelDescription": "Welcome to my youtube channel\n- Woodworking art\n- Woodworking tools\n- Woodworking DIY\n- Woodwor...",
  "channelLocation": "United States",
  "channelJoinedDate": "2019-05-24",
  "channelAvatarUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/ytc/AIdro_nFxjC4aMPO_BcyMuh2wLewgiMPa8yTtnu-uTPFHQm12A=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "channelBannerUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/2R81RDAays0wX-fSbZE_n6b7prVh9xNORov9WrEows1D5HEpv7GmGVFdOTBhAlAXFfCwvcVo=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-nd-rj",
  "isFamilySafe": true,
  "isUnlisted": false,
  "subtitles": null,
  "hasDetails": true,
  "input": "woodworking",
  "fromYTUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=woodworking&hl=en&gl=US&sp=EgIQAQ%253D%253D",
  "order": 248,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-01T22:18:57Z"
}

type is video, shorts or stream. The Overview tab shows the main columns; download the dataset for every field.

Which fields come with which setting?

Field	Details on (default)	Details off
Title, link, thumbnail, type	✅	✅
Views	exact	as the list shows it (search: exact; channels, playlists, Shorts: rounded, like "85M")
Length	✅	✅ (not for Shorts)
Age ("3 weeks ago")	search, channel and playlist results	search, channel and playlist results
Likes, comments, publish date and time	✅	-
Description, links, hashtags, tags, category	✅	hashtags in the title only
Channel subscribers, videos, views, country, join date	✅	-
Channel name and link	✅	search and playlist results, channel links

Video links always come with details.

How can I use YouTube data?

• Market and trend research: see which topics, formats and lengths get the most views and comments for a keyword
• Competitor tracking: follow a competitor's channel, its upload rhythm and each video's views, likes and comments
• Influencer marketing: find creators in a niche through their videos, with subscribers, country and channel stats
• Content planning: study the titles, tags, hashtags and descriptions of the top videos and Shorts in your niche
• Brand monitoring: find videos that mention your brand or product and measure their reach
• Research datasets: collect video metadata at scale for analysis or model training

How many videos can I get?

Channels, channel tabs and playlists are read to the end: every public video, Short and live stream. A YouTube search shows a few hundred results per term: in our tests 200 to 450 videos, about 150 Shorts and about 100 live streams. Set a higher limit and leave the sort order empty to get the most videos a search term can give; add related search terms to get more still. A video that two inputs find is saved once.

Scrape more YouTube and social media data

Actor	What it gets
YouTube Channel Scraper - Search Channels by Keyword	YouTube channels by keyword: subscribers, video and view counts, country, links
YouTube Search Scraper - Videos, Channels & Playlists	Ranked YouTube search results: videos, channels and playlists
TikTok Profile Scraper	TikTok profiles and their latest videos with views, likes and comments
TikTok Hashtag Scraper	TikTok videos from any hashtag with views, likes and creators
Instagram Posts & Reels Scraper	Posts and reels from public Instagram profiles with likes and comment counts

❓FAQ

How much does it cost to scrape YouTube?

From $1.50 per 1,000 videos with full details and $0.50 per 1,000 videos from a list alone on the Free plan, with lower prices on paid plans. See the How much does it cost to scrape YouTube videos? section above. The limits per search term and channel keep the cost of a run under control, and you can also set a maximum cost per run.

How many YouTube videos can I scrape?

Every public video, Short and live stream of a channel or playlist. A YouTube search gives a few hundred results per term (200 to 450 videos in our tests), so add related search terms for more. See the How many videos can I get? section above.

Can I scrape YouTube Shorts?

Yes. Set Max Shorts for search terms and channels, or paste a channel's Shorts tab (https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast/shorts) or single Shorts links. Shorts rows have type: "shorts" and a /shorts/ link.

Does it get exact view and like counts?

Yes, with Include video details on (the default): views, likes and comments are the exact numbers YouTube counts, and the publish date comes with the time. Channel subscriber counts are rounded by YouTube itself above 1,000.

Can I get subtitles?

Turn on Subtitle languages to get the list of subtitle tracks each video has (language, name, and whether they are auto-generated). The subtitle text itself is not included.

What about age-restricted, members-only or private videos?

They cannot be viewed without signing in, so they are not saved and not charged. The run report in the Storage tab lists each one and why. Deleted videos and wrong links are listed there too.

Do I need a YouTube account?

No. The scraper reads the same public videos and channels anyone can see without signing in. You don't need a YouTube account, cookies or an API key.

Can I call it as an API?

Yes. Run it through the Apify API from any language, or use its real-time API (/videos?url=... or /videos?search=...), which answers with the videos directly without starting a run.

Can I connect YouTube Scraper to other tools or AI agents?

Yes. Start runs and download results with the Apify API or the Python and JavaScript clients, send results to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets or Slack with Apify integrations and webhooks, or let AI assistants and agents run it through the Apify MCP server at mcp.apify.com.

Is it legal to scrape YouTube?

This scraper only collects public data that anyone can see on YouTube without signing in. Channel names and video descriptions can still contain personal data, which may be protected by laws such as GDPR, so only scrape it for a legitimate reason, respect copyright when you reuse content, and ask a lawyer if you are unsure. You can read more in Is web scraping legal?

YouTube Scraper is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube or Google.

Something isn't working?

Open the Issues tab with your input and what you expected, or ask for a field you need. We read every one and usually reply within a day.

⭐ Your feedback

Have an idea or found a problem? Tell us in the Issues tab. If YouTube Scraper saved you time, a short review on the Reviews tab helps other people find it.