# YouTube Shorts Scraper (`cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts from channels, hashtags or keyword search. Get exact views, exact likes, comment count, publish date, description, hashtags, thumbnail and channel subscribers for every Short. No login, no API key, no quota.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crikit](https://apify.com/cirkit) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$2.00 / 1,000 shorts

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What is YouTube Shorts Scraper?

**YouTube Shorts Scraper** lets you extract [YouTube Shorts](https://www.youtube.com/shorts) data from any channel, any keyword or hashtag search, or a list of Short URLs. Use it to track competitors' short-form content, find viral Shorts in your niche, vet creators for influencer campaigns, or feed a Shorts analytics dashboard. Give it `@MrBeast` and it returns every Short on the channel as a clean record with **exact view count, exact like count, comment count, publish date**, description, hashtags, thumbnail and the channel's subscriber count.

- 📈 **Exact numbers, not rounded labels:** `60,333,535` views and `1,720,517` likes, not "60M" and "1.7M"
- 🏆 **Find what goes viral:** sort a channel's Shorts by views or likes per day to see which formats work
- 🤝 **Vet creators for sponsorships:** subscriber count, verified badge, engagement and posting frequency in one table
- 🔎 **Search Shorts by keyword or hashtag:** `cooking hacks`, `#asmr`, `#booktok`, sorted by relevance, upload date or rating
- 🔗 **Look up any Short by URL:** paste `/shorts/` links, watch URLs, youtu.be links or bare video IDs
- ⚡ **No login, no API key, no quota.** Fast HTTP requests, no headless browser, so runs are quick and cheap

The official YouTube Data API caps you at 10,000 quota units a day and does not list a channel's Shorts separately from its videos. YouTube Shorts Scraper reads the channel's own Shorts tab, so you get **every Short and only Shorts**, newest first.

### What data does YouTube Shorts Scraper extract?

- 🎬 Video ID, Short URL, title and full description (`id`, `url`, `title`, `description`)
- \#️⃣ Hashtags from the title and description (`hashtags`)
- 👀 Exact view count, plus YouTube's displayed label (`viewCount`, `viewCountText`)
- 👍 Exact like count (`likeCount`)
- 💬 Comment count (`commentCount`, `commentCountText`)
- 📅 Publish date (`publishedDate`, YYYY-MM-DD)
- 🖼 Vertical thumbnail URL (`thumbnailUrl`)
- 📺 Channel name, ID, handle, URL and avatar (`channelName`, `channelId`, `channelHandle`, `channelUrl`, `channelAvatarUrl`)
- 👥 Channel subscriber count and verified badge (`channelSubscribers`, `channelVerified`)
- 📍 Which input found it and its rank in that channel or search (`sourceType`, `sourceInput`, `position`)

### How to scrape YouTube Shorts

1. Click **Try for free** and open the Input tab.
2. Add **channels** (`@MrBeast`, a channel URL, or a `UC...` channel ID), **search queries** (`cooking hacks`, `#asmr`), or **Short URLs**. Mix all three if you like.
3. Set **Max Shorts per channel or search**, and optionally **Max Shorts in total** as a spend cap.
4. Click **Start**.
5. Download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the Apify API.

### Input

```json
{
    "channels": ["@MrBeast", "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd", "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"],
    "searchQueries": ["cooking hacks", "#asmr"],
    "shortUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CEJXqm2eiJ0"],
    "maxShortsPerSource": 100,
    "maxItems": 500,
    "includeDetails": true,
    "searchSortBy": "relevance"
}
```

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `channels` | Handles, channel URLs or channel IDs. Every Short on the channel's Shorts tab, newest first. |
| `searchQueries` | Keywords or hashtags, searched with YouTube's Shorts filter. |
| `shortUrls` | Individual Shorts as URLs or 11-character video IDs. |
| `maxShortsPerSource` | Limit per channel and per search (default 50). |
| `maxItems` | Hard cap on rows across everything, and so on cost. |
| `includeDetails` | On by default: exact views, likes, comments, date, description and subscribers. Off gives a fast listing with title, rounded views and thumbnail. |
| `searchSortBy` | `relevance`, `date` (newest first) or `rating`. Search queries only. |

### Output

```json
{
    "id": "LiH-P4rSkLI",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LiH-P4rSkLI",
    "title": "Can You Pass This Classroom Quiz?",
    "description": "#oldnavypartner",
    "hashtags": ["oldnavypartner"],
    "viewCount": 60333535,
    "viewCountText": "60,333,535 views",
    "likeCount": 1720517,
    "likeCountIsApproximate": false,
    "commentCount": 62000,
    "commentCountText": "62K",
    "publishedDate": "2026-08-11",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LiH-P4rSkLI/sardefault.jpg",
    "channelName": "MrBeast",
    "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "channelHandle": "@MrBeast",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "channelSubscribers": 519000000,
    "channelSubscribersText": "519M subscribers",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "channelAvatarUrl": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/nxYrc_1_2f77...",
    "sourceType": "channel",
    "sourceInput": "@MrBeast",
    "position": 4,
    "detailsStatus": "complete",
    "status": "ok",
    "message": null,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-02T13:30:03Z"
}
```

The dataset has two table views: **Overview** (thumbnail, title, views, likes, comments, date, channel) and **Channels** (avatar, handle, subscribers, verified badge).

### How much does it cost to scrape YouTube Shorts?

YouTube Shorts Scraper uses flat pay-per-result pricing: **$2.00 per 1,000 Shorts**. No monthly fee, no start fee, and you only pay for rows you get.

| Shorts | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1,000 | $2.00 |
| 10,000 | $20.00 |
| 100,000 | $200.00 |

The most-used YouTube Shorts actor on the Store charges $4.00 per 1,000 on the free plan. Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which covers about 2,500 Shorts.

### Measured coverage

From QA runs on 2026-10-02 through Apify Proxy, across channels (MrBeast, MKBHD), searches and Short URLs (about 500 Short rows):

| Field | Coverage |
|---|---|
| `id`, `url`, `title`, `thumbnailUrl` | 100% |
| `viewCount`, `publishedDate` | 100% |
| `channelName`, `channelId`, `channelHandle`, `channelVerified` | 100% |
| `likeCount` | 98% (null when the creator hides likes) |
| `commentCount` | 96% (null when YouTube shows no count) |
| `channelSubscribers`, `channelAvatarUrl` | 98% (collaboration Shorts with several owners have none) |
| `description` | 15 to 50%, depending on the channel or search (many Shorts have none) |

`maxItems` is honoured exactly, every Short appears once per run even if two inputs find it, and a channel walk stops cleanly at the end of the Shorts tab (MrBeast: 201 of 201, MKBHD: 123 of 123).

### Limits

- **Search depth:** YouTube serves roughly 40 to 120 Shorts per search query. For more, run the same query with another sort order, or add related queries and hashtags. Channels have no such limit.
- **Comment counts above 1,000 are rounded by YouTube** (`21K`). View and like counts are exact.
- **Likes can be hidden** by the creator; `likeCount` is then null.
- **Publish date is a date, not a time.** YouTube does not show the upload time on Shorts.
- Upload-date filters and the view-count sort are not offered: combined with the Shorts filter, YouTube returns an empty page for them.
- Video files and comments are not downloaded. You get metadata and links.

### FAQ

#### Is it legal to scrape YouTube Shorts?

YouTube Shorts Scraper only reads public pages that anyone can see without logging in, and it does not collect personal data beyond what creators publish on their public channels. You are responsible for using the data in line with YouTube's terms, copyright law and privacy rules such as GDPR in your country.

#### How much does it cost to scrape 10,000 YouTube Shorts?

$20.00 at $2.00 per 1,000. Set **Max Shorts in total** to cap your spend, since you pay per row.

#### Can I scrape all Shorts from a YouTube channel?

Yes. Put the channel in `channels` and set `maxShortsPerSource` above the channel's Shorts count. The actor follows the Shorts tab to its last page.

#### Do I need a YouTube API key or a Google account?

No. There is no login, no cookies, no API key and no quota.

#### Why is `likeCount` null on some Shorts?

The creator has hidden the like count. Everything else on the row is still filled.

#### Can I get only the Shorts list without exact stats?

Yes. Turn off **Include exact stats** for a fast listing with ID, title, rounded views and thumbnail. It costs the same per row but finishes several times faster.

#### Can I use YouTube Shorts Scraper through the API or with Make, Zapier or n8n?

Yes. Every Apify actor has a REST API, client libraries for JavaScript and Python, and integrations with Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets and webhooks.

#### Something is missing or broken. What do I do?

Open an issue on the Issues tab with the input you used. Fixes for broken fields are a priority.

### Related scrapers

- [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-comments-scraper) for the comments under any video or Short
- [YouTube Search Scraper](https://apify.com/cirkit/youtube-search-scraper) for full YouTube search results

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

YouTube channels to pull Shorts from. Accepts a handle (@MrBeast), a channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast or /channel/UC...), or a bare channel ID. Every Short on the channel's Shorts tab is returned, newest first, up to the per-source limit.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords or hashtags to search YouTube for, filtered to Shorts only (for example "cooking hacks" or "#asmr"). YouTube serves roughly 40 to 120 Shorts per query; run the same query with a different sort order for more depth.

## `shortUrls` (type: `array`):

Individual Shorts to look up, as https://www.youtube.com/shorts/<id> links, watch URLs, youtu.be links, or bare 11-character video IDs.

## `maxShortsPerSource` (type: `integer`):

Upper limit of Shorts returned for each channel and each search query.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on the number of Shorts written to the dataset across all sources. You are charged per Short, so this is your spend limit. Leave empty for no total cap.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Open each Short to read exact view and like counts, comment count, publish date, description, and the channel's subscriber count. Turn off for a faster listing with title, rounded views and thumbnail only. Short URLs are always opened.

## `searchSortBy` (type: `string`):

How YouTube orders the search results. Applies to search queries only.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy is used by default. The default datacenter pool works for YouTube; you rarely need to change this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerSource": 20,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "searchSortBy": "relevance",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Every Short found, one row each, with views, likes, comments, publish date and channel.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same rows as a downloadable CSV file.

## `channels` (type: `string`):

Shorts with the channel name, handle, subscriber count and verified badge.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "@MrBeast"
    ],
    "maxShortsPerSource": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cirkit/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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channels": ["@MrBeast"],
    "maxShortsPerSource": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerSource": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cirkit/youtube-shorts-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/5ARGYwkthaLYSDSlV/builds/F8xj234Sd2NpTvkEA/openapi.json