YouTube Comments Scraper

Scrape every YouTube comment and full reply thread from any video URL. This YouTube comments scraper returns comment text, author handle and channel ID, exact like count, reply count, and the hearted, pinned, verified, and edited flags — with threading preserved through parentCommentId and replyLevel.

No YouTube API key, no login, and no headless browser. Results land in a structured dataset you can export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML, or pull straight from the Apify API.

What is YouTube Comments Scraper?

YouTube Comments Scraper is an Apify Actor that extracts comments and full reply threads from YouTube and returns them as clean, structured records. Exact like counts are the detail that matters: YouTube's own interface abbreviates them to '1.2K', while this Actor returns the precise integer, which is what ranking and engagement analysis actually needs.

What data can this YouTube comments scraper extract?

Every run writes one row per comment. Full field list:

Field	Type	Description
videoId	string	11-character YouTube video ID the comment belongs to.
videoUrl	string	Canonical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... URL for the source video.
commentId	string	Stable YouTube comment id. Use as primary key.
parentCommentId	string	For replies, the id of the top-level comment they reply to. Null for top-level comments.
replyLevel	integer	0 for top-level comments, 1 for replies.
text	string	Plain text rendered from the comment's runs (newlines preserved).
publishedTimeRelative	string	Free-text relative timestamp as YouTube shows it, for example '1 day ago' or '3 weeks ago (edited)'.
isEdited	boolean	True if the comment was edited after posting.
likeCount	integer	Exact integer like count parsed from the accessibility label.
replyCount	integer	Exact integer reply count. Always 0 on reply rows.
authorChannelId	string	Canonical channel ID (UC...) of the comment author.
authorHandle	string	Author @handle (without the @) parsed from the accessibility label, when present.
authorDisplayName	string	Author's display name as shown on the comment.
authorThumbnailUrl	string	Avatar image URL of the author.
authorIsVerified	boolean	True if the author's channel has the verified check.
authorIsCreator	boolean	True if the comment was posted by the video's channel.
authorIsArtist	boolean	True if the author is a YouTube Music verified artist.
isHearted	boolean	True if the video creator gave this comment the heart icon.
isPinned	boolean	True if the comment is pinned to the top of the comments section. Top-level only.
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 UTC timestamp when this comment was scraped.

How to scrape YouTube video comments

1. Open YouTube Comments Scraper and click Try for free.
2. Paste video URLs into videoUrls.
3. Choose sortBy for top comments or newest first.
4. Turn on includeReplies and set maxRepliesPerComment for full threads.
5. Set maxCommentsPerVideo to bound each video.
6. Click Start and watch rows appear live in the Output tab.
7. Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML — or fetch it from the Apify API once the run finishes.

YouTube Comments Scraper input options

Input	Type	What it does	Default
videoUrls	array	Each entry can be a YouTube watch URL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...), a Shorts URL, a youtu.be short link, or...	yes
sortBy	string	TOP returns YouTube's ranked order (default). NEWEST returns strict reverse-chronological.	"TOP"
maxCommentsPerVideo	integer	Hard cap on top-level comments per video. Leave empty for unlimited (the whole comment section).	50
includeReplies	boolean	If on, fetch the full reply thread under every top-level comment. Adds ~30% to runtime on average.	true
maxRepliesPerComment	integer	Hard cap on replies fetched per top-level comment. Leave empty for unlimited.	10

Proxy is configured through the standard proxyConfiguration object; the defaults shipped with this Actor are already tuned for the target site.

Example output

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw",
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "sortBy": "TOP",
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 500,
  "includeReplies": true,
  "maxRepliesPerComment": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

How much does it cost to scrape YouTube?

This Actor runs on pay per result pricing: $0.0015 per comment ($1.5 per 1,000). A one-time start fee of $0.00005 applies per run.

Results	Approximate cost
1,000	$1.50
10,000	$15.00
100,000	$150.00

You pay for rows you actually receive, so a search that returns nothing costs nothing beyond the start fee. Every Apify account includes free monthly usage credit, so you can trial YouTube Comments Scraper at no cost.

What can you build with YouTube data?

Run audience sentiment analysis

Full comment text with like counts lets you weight sentiment by how much the audience actually endorsed each opinion rather than treating every comment equally.

Mine product feedback from review videos

Comments on product reviews are an unusually candid source of real user complaints and questions.

Find content ideas from audience questions

Comments phrased as questions map directly onto content your audience is telling you they want.

Monitor brand sentiment on third-party videos

Track comments on videos that mention your brand, including ones you did not publish.

Identify engaged community members

Author channel IDs plus like counts surface the people whose comments consistently resonate — natural candidates for community or advocacy programmes.

YouTube scraping tips and limits

• includeReplies can multiply row count several times over on a heavily discussed video. Set maxRepliesPerComment unless you genuinely need every reply.
• Sorting by newest is the right choice for incremental monitoring; sorting by top is better for one-off sentiment snapshots.
• Comment authors are identifiable people. Strip handles and channel IDs if your analysis does not require them.
• Comments can be disabled per video. An empty result usually means comments are off rather than that the run failed.

Integrations and automation

Run YouTube Comments Scraper on a schedule to keep a YouTube dataset fresh, or trigger it from your own stack through the Apify API and the official JavaScript and Python clients. Native integrations push results into Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable, Zapier, Make, GitHub, or any webhook endpoint. The Actor also works as an MCP tool, so an AI agent can call it directly.

Related scrapers

Actor	What it does
YouTube Search Scraper	Find the videos worth analysing.
YouTube Channel Scraper	Channel profile and full video list.
Reddit Comment Scraper - Posts, Threads & Replies API	The same discussion analysis on Reddit.
Twitch Search & Streams Scraper	Live-streaming audience data.

Frequently asked questions

Does it include replies, not just top-level comments?

Yes. With includeReplies on, replies come back as their own rows linked by parentCommentId, and replyLevel records the depth.

Are like counts exact?

Yes. YouTube's interface abbreviates large numbers, but this Actor returns the exact integer like count.

Do I need a YouTube API key?

No. YouTube Comments Scraper reads publicly available YouTube pages and endpoints directly, so there is no key to obtain, no OAuth app to register, and no account to connect.

Can I export YouTube data to CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets?

Yes. Every run stores results in an Apify dataset that exports to JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML with one click, and the Google Sheets integration writes rows straight into a spreadsheet.

Can I run YouTube Comments Scraper on a schedule?

Yes. Apify schedules run the Actor hourly, daily, weekly, or on any cron expression, and webhooks can notify your systems the moment a run finishes.

Is it legal to scrape YouTube?

Scraping publicly available data is broadly lawful in the US and EU, but the answer depends on what you collect and how you use it. This Actor is built to gather public comment content YouTube displays publicly — comments are written by identifiable people, so treat author fields as personal data. Personal data carries extra obligations under GDPR and CCPA. Read Apify's guide on whether web scraping is legal and take your own legal advice for your use case.

Support and feedback

Found a bug, a missing field, or a YouTube page shape this Actor does not handle yet? Open an issue from the Issues tab on the Actor page. Feature requests and custom-scraper enquiries are welcome there too.