YouTube Video Scraper — Search, Views & Metadata

YouTube Video Scraper — Search, Views & Metadata — a fast, reliable youtube scraper that needs no API key. Scrape YouTube videos by search or URL — title, channel, views, duration, published date, description. You pay only for the results you get: failed or empty runs are always free.

This youtube scraper runs on the Apify platform, so you can call it from the API, run it on a schedule, or export results to JSON, CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets.

What this scraper does

• Extracts structured youtube data with no browser or API key required
• Returns clean JSON, one record per result — ready for sheets, databases, or apps
• Pay-per-result pricing: you are never charged for a run that returns nothing
• Runs on demand or on a schedule, and integrates with 5,000+ apps via the Apify API and webhooks

What data you get

Each result record includes fields such as:

• Video Id (videoId) — e.g. "n61ULEU7CO0"
• Url (url) — e.g. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n61ULEU7CO0"
• Title (title) — e.g. "Best of lofi hip hop 2021 \u2728 [beats to relax/study to]"
• Channel (channel) — e.g. "Lofi Girl"
• Channel Id (channelId) — e.g. "UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow"
• Channel Url (channelUrl) — e.g. "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow"
• View Count Text (viewCountText) — e.g. "55,840,034 views"
• View Count (viewCount) — e.g. 55840034
• Length Text (lengthText) — e.g. "6:10:58"
• Duration Seconds (durationSeconds) — e.g. 22258
• Published Text (publishedText) — e.g. "4 years ago"
• Description Snippet (descriptionSnippet) — e.g. "Listen on Spotify, Apple music and more \u2192 https://f...
• Thumbnail Url (thumbnailUrl) — e.g. "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n61ULEU7CO0/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwE...
• Is Live (isLive) — e.g. false

Input

Field	Type	Description
searchTerms	array	Keywords to search YouTube for videos.
videoUrls	array	YouTube video URLs or IDs for detailed data (watch?v=..., youtu.be/..., or 11-char ID).
maxResults	integer	Maximum videos to scrape per search term (paginates automatically).
minViews	integer	Skip videos below this view count. Leave empty for no filter.

Example output

{
  "type": "video",
  "videoId": "n61ULEU7CO0",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n61ULEU7CO0",
  "title": "Best of lofi hip hop 2021 \u2728 [beats to relax/study to]",
  "channel": "Lofi Girl",
  "channelId": "UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow",
  "viewCountText": "55,840,034 views",
  "viewCount": 55840034,
  "lengthText": "6:10:58",
  "durationSeconds": 22258,
  "publishedText": "4 years ago",
  "descriptionSnippet": "Listen on Spotify, Apple music and more \u2192 https://fanlink.tv/BestofLofi2021 The new Lofi Girl compilation \u201cBest of 2021\u201d is out now\u00a0...",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n61ULEU7CO0/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEcCNAFEJQDSFXyq4qpAw4IARUAAIhCGAFwAcABBg==&rs=AOn4CLAi4TCpAtbxLFIBULRlcZHudl1uFw",
  "isLive": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-10T15:47:31Z",
  "sourceSurface": "search"
}

Use cases

• Research video content and channels
• Track views and performance over time
• Spot trends and topics
• Feed content-strategy dashboards

Run it as a monitor (alerts on new youtube)

Schedule this youtube scraper to run automatically — hourly, daily, or on any cron schedule — with the built-in Apify Scheduler, and have results pushed to you by webhook, email, Slack, or your own app the moment they're ready. It's the easiest way to monitor youtube for changes over time and get alerted the instant something new appears — no manual runs. Because pricing is per result, a scheduled monitor only ever charges you for the data each run actually returns.

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-result pricing at $0.001 per record. There is no monthly fee and no start fee — and empty or failed runs cost $0, so you only ever pay for data you actually receive.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an API key or account for the source? No. This youtube scraper works out of the box with no API key required.

What happens if a run returns no results? You are not charged. Billing is per result, so empty or failed runs are free.

Can I run the youtube scraper on a schedule? Yes. Use the Apify Scheduler to run it hourly, daily, or on any cron schedule, and get results by webhook or API.

What export formats are supported? Results can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or pushed to Google Sheets, a database, or your own app via the Apify API.

Is the data structured? Yes. Every youtube result is a clean, flat JSON record you can use immediately.