# YouTube Shorts Scraper — Channel, Hashtag, Search & URL (`celebrated-quadraphonic/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor Scrape YouTube Shorts by channel, hashtag, search, or direct URL. 30+ fields including subtitles, comments, hashtags. $0.50/1K — 87% cheaper than competitors. - **URL**: https://apify.com/celebrated-quadraphonic/youtube-shorts-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [XiaoZhi DataTools](https://apify.com/celebrated-quadraphonic) (community) - **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Marketing - **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 4.3% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## YouTube Shorts Scraper — Fast & Detailed Extract YouTube Shorts data by channel, hashtag, search, playlist, trending, or direct URL. ### Why Choose This Scraper? | Feature | This Scraper | streamers ($2.40/1K) | apidojo ($0.50/1K) | |---------|:---:|:---:|:---:| | Channel | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | **Hashtag search** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | **Keyword search** | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | **Playlist** | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | **Trending** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | **Direct URL** | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | Views | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Comments count | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | **Comment content** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | **Subtitles/Transcript** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | **Engagement rate** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | **Viral score** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Channel subscribers | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Channel avatar | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Date filtering | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | View/Like filtering | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | Resolution/FPS | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Keywords | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | **Price** | **$1.00/1K** | $2.40/1K | $0.50/1K | ### Input Parameters #### Mode - **channel** — All Shorts from one or more channels - **hashtag** — Shorts by hashtag (direct page scraping + search fallback) - **search** — Keyword search for Shorts - **url** — Specific YouTube Shorts URLs - **playlist** — All videos from a YouTube playlist - **trending** — Trending/popular Shorts #### Filters - **maxResults** — Maximum videos to return (1-5000) - **since / until** — Date range filtering (YYYY-MM-DD) - **minViews / minLikes** — Engagement thresholds - **sortBy** — NEWEST, POPULAR, OLDEST #### Options - **includeSubtitles** — Extract subtitle text with timestamps - **includeComments** — Extract top comments from each video - **includeChannelInfo** — Add channel metadata - **maxComments** — Max comments per video (1-100) ### Output Fields | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | id | YouTube video ID | | title | Video title | | description | Video description (truncated to 2000 chars) | | url | Full YouTube Shorts URL | | thumbnail | Thumbnail URL | | duration | Duration in seconds | | duration_formatted | Formatted duration (e.g. "0:35") | | view_count | Total views | | like_count | Total likes (when available) | | comment_count | Total comments | | engagement_rate | (likes + comments) / views × 100 | | viral_score | views / channel_subscribers | | channel_subscribers | Channel subscriber count | | channel_name | Channel name | | channel_url | Channel URL | | channel_id | Channel ID | | channel_avatar_url | Channel avatar image URL | | publish_date | Publication date | | keywords | Video keywords/tags | | has_captions | Whether subtitles are available | | caption_languages | Available subtitle languages | | width / height / fps | Video resolution and framerate | | resolution | Formatted resolution (e.g. "1080x1920") | | location | Video location (if set) | | comments | Extracted comments (when includeComments=true) | | subtitles | Extracted subtitles (when includeSubtitles=true) | ### Technical Notes - Uses YouTube innertube API for metadata (views, subscribers, comments) - Uses scrapetube library for channel/hashtag/search discovery - Residential proxy required for full metadata (views, likes, duration) - Comment content extraction uses page scraping (adds ~3s per video) - Subtitle extraction uses youtube-transcript-api (adds ~2s per video) ### Pricing - **$1.00 per 1,000 results** (Actor Start $0.001, Result $0.001) - 58% cheaper than streamers ($2.40/1K) - 95% cheaper than scraper-engine ($19.99/month) - Comparable to apidojo ($0.50/1K) but with more features # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): Channel = all Shorts from a channel, Hashtag = Shorts by hashtag, Search = keyword search, URL = specific Shorts URLs. ## `extraMode` (type: `string`): Type 'playlist' or 'trending' here to use advanced modes. Leave empty to use the Mode dropdown above. ## `channels` (type: `string`): Channel handles (without @) or full channel URLs. Example: MrBeast or https://youtube.com/@MrBeast ## `hashtags` (type: `string`): Without #. Example: cooking or funny. Directly scrapes youtube.com/hashtag/{tag} for video IDs, falls back to search. ## `searchQueries` (type: `string`): Keywords to search for Shorts. ## `urls` (type: `string`): Direct YouTube Shorts URLs. Example: https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID ## `playlists` (type: `string`): YouTube playlist URLs. Extracts all video IDs from the playlist. Example: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxx ## `trendingCountry` (type: `string`): Country code for trending feed (used in trending mode). Default: US. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum Shorts to return. Default 50 ≈ $0.025/run. ## `sortBy` (type: `string`): NEWEST = latest first, POPULAR = most viewed, OLDEST = oldest first. ## `since` (type: `string`): Only Shorts uploaded after this date. ## `until` (type: `string`): Only Shorts uploaded before this date. ## `minViews` (type: `integer`): Only Shorts with at least this many views. ## `minLikes` (type: `integer`): Only Shorts with at least this many likes. ## `includeSubtitles` (type: `boolean`): Extract subtitle text with timestamps. Adds ~2s per video. ## `includeChannelInfo` (type: `boolean`): Add channel description, subscribers, join date. ## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`): Extract top comments from each video. Adds ~3s per video. Uses page scraping to extract comment text. ## `maxComments` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of top comments to extract per video (when includeComments is enabled). ## `proxyUrl` (type: `string`): http://user:pass@host:port — needed for full metadata (views, likes, duration). Without proxy, only title and channel name are available. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "channel", "extraMode": "", "channels": "", "hashtags": "", "searchQueries": "", "urls": "", "playlists": "", "trendingCountry": "US", "maxResults": 50, "sortBy": "NEWEST", "since": "", "until": "", "minViews": 0, "minLikes": 0, "includeSubtitles": false, "includeChannelInfo": true, "includeComments": false, "maxComments": 20, "proxyUrl": "" } ```` # 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 = { "mode": "channel", "extraMode": "", "channels": "", "hashtags": "", "searchQueries": "", "urls": "", "playlists": "", "trendingCountry": "US", "maxResults": 50, "sortBy": "NEWEST", "since": "", "until": "", "minViews": 0, "minLikes": 0, "includeSubtitles": false, "includeChannelInfo": true, "includeComments": false, "maxComments": 20, "proxyUrl": "" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("celebrated-quadraphonic/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "channel", "extraMode": "", "channels": "", "hashtags": "", "searchQueries": "", "urls": "", "playlists": "", "trendingCountry": "US", "maxResults": 50, "sortBy": "NEWEST", "since": "", "until": "", "minViews": 0, "minLikes": 0, "includeSubtitles": False, "includeChannelInfo": True, "includeComments": False, "maxComments": 20, "proxyUrl": "", } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("celebrated-quadraphonic/youtube-shorts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "channel", "extraMode": "", "channels": "", "hashtags": "", "searchQueries": "", "urls": "", "playlists": "", "trendingCountry": "US", "maxResults": 50, "sortBy": "NEWEST", "since": "", "until": "", "minViews": 0, "minLikes": 0, "includeSubtitles": false, "includeChannelInfo": true, "includeComments": false, "maxComments": 20, "proxyUrl": "" }' | apify call celebrated-quadraphonic/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=celebrated-quadraphonic/youtube-shorts-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Shorts Scraper — Channel, Hashtag, Search & URL", "description": "Scrape YouTube Shorts by channel, hashtag, search, or direct URL. 30+ fields including subtitles, comments, hashtags. $0.50/1K — 87% cheaper than competitors.", "version": "2.1", "x-build-id": "fpnejDXrbRG45v5e7" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/celebrated-quadraphonic~youtube-shorts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-celebrated-quadraphonic-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/celebrated-quadraphonic~youtube-shorts-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-celebrated-quadraphonic-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/celebrated-quadraphonic~youtube-shorts-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-celebrated-quadraphonic-youtube-shorts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "channel", "hashtag", "search", "url" ], "type": "string", "description": "Channel = all Shorts from a channel, Hashtag = Shorts by hashtag, Search = keyword search, URL = specific Shorts URLs.", "default": "channel" }, "extraMode": { "title": "Advanced Mode (overrides Mode)", "type": "string", "description": "Type 'playlist' or 'trending' here to use advanced modes. Leave empty to use the Mode dropdown above.", "default": "" }, "channels": { "title": "Channels (one per line)", "type": "string", "description": "Channel handles (without @) or full channel URLs. Example: MrBeast or https://youtube.com/@MrBeast", "default": "" }, "hashtags": { "title": "Hashtags (one per line)", "type": "string", "description": "Without #. Example: cooking or funny. Directly scrapes youtube.com/hashtag/{tag} for video IDs, falls back to search.", "default": "" }, "searchQueries": { "title": "Search Queries (one per line)", "type": "string", "description": "Keywords to search for Shorts.", "default": "" }, "urls": { "title": "Shorts URLs (one per line)", "type": "string", "description": "Direct YouTube Shorts URLs. Example: https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID", "default": "" }, "playlists": { "title": "Playlist URLs (one per line)", "type": "string", "description": "YouTube playlist URLs. Extracts all video IDs from the playlist. Example: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxx", "default": "" }, "trendingCountry": { "title": "Trending Country", "type": "string", "description": "Country code for trending feed (used in trending mode). Default: US.", "default": "US" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 5000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum Shorts to return. Default 50 ≈ $0.025/run.", "default": 50 }, "sortBy": { "title": "Sort By", "enum": [ "NEWEST", "POPULAR", "OLDEST" ], "type": "string", "description": "NEWEST = latest first, POPULAR = most viewed, OLDEST = oldest first.", "default": "NEWEST" }, "since": { "title": "Since (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "Only Shorts uploaded after this date.", "default": "" }, "until": { "title": "Until (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "Only Shorts uploaded before this date.", "default": "" }, "minViews": { "title": "Min Views", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only Shorts with at least this many views.", "default": 0 }, "minLikes": { "title": "Min Likes", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only Shorts with at least this many likes.", "default": 0 }, "includeSubtitles": { "title": "Include Subtitles/Transcript", "type": "boolean", "description": "Extract subtitle text with timestamps. Adds ~2s per video.", "default": false }, "includeChannelInfo": { "title": "Include Channel Info", "type": "boolean", "description": "Add channel description, subscribers, join date.", "default": true }, "includeComments": { "title": "Include Comments", "type": "boolean", "description": "Extract top comments from each video. Adds ~3s per video. Uses page scraping to extract comment text.", "default": false }, "maxComments": { "title": "Max Comments per Video", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of top comments to extract per video (when includeComments is enabled).", "default": 20 }, "proxyUrl": { "title": "Custom Proxy (optional)", "type": "string", "description": "http://user:pass@host:port — needed for full metadata (views, likes, duration). Without proxy, only title and channel name are available.", "default": "" } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```