# YouTube Comments Scraper - Comments & Replies from Any Video (`clearfetch/youtube-comments-scraper`) Actor

Export YouTube comments and replies from any video link without login or API key: text, likes, reply counts, authors, pinned and creator-hearted flags, Top or Newest order. No cookies, no proxy.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/clearfetch/youtube-comments-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Nada Hanad](https://apify.com/clearfetch) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.35 / 1,000 comments

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## YouTube Comments Scraper - Comments & Replies from Any Video

Paste YouTube video links, get every comment and reply as clean rows: text, likes, reply counts, author, and whether
the creator pinned it, hearted it or wrote it. Top or newest first. **$0.50 per 1,000 comments.** No login, no API
key, no quota, no proxy.

### What data you get

One row per comment or reply:

- `text`, `likes`, `replyCount`, `publishedText` ("3 weeks ago") and an approximate `publishedAt`
- Threading: `isReply`, `parentCommentId`, `commentId`
- Author: `authorName` (@handle), `authorChannelId`, `authorChannelUrl`, `authorAvatarUrl`, `authorVerified`
- Creator signals: `isPinned`, `heartedByCreator`, `authorIsCreator`
- The video: `videoId`, `videoUrl`, `videoTitle`, `channelName`

### How to use

1. Paste video links (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, live) or video ids, one per line.
2. Choose how many comments per video, Top or Newest, and whether to include replies.
3. Run it, then download JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull the rows through the API.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `videoUrls` | array | — | Video links or ids. Also `urls`, `startUrls`. |
| `maxCommentsPerVideo` | integer | `100` | Top-level comments per video (0 = all, up to 10,000). |
| `sortBy` | string | `top` | `top` or `newest`. |
| `includeReplies` | boolean | `false` | Replies under each comment, linked by `parentCommentId`. |
| `maxRepliesPerComment` | integer | `10` | Replies per comment (0 = all). |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | `3` | Videos read in parallel. |
| `timeoutSecs` | integer | `30` | Per request. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | off | Not needed. |

### Output example

A real row from a run on the first YouTube video ever uploaded, 2026-09-29:

```json
{
  "ok": true,
  "commentId": "UgzuC3zzpRZkjc5Qzsd4AaABAg",
  "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "text": "We're so honored that the first ever YouTube video was filmed here!",
  "publishedText": "6 years ago",
  "publishedAt": "2020-09-29T05:02:01.237Z",
  "publishedAtApproximate": true,
  "likes": 4800000,
  "likesApproximate": true,
  "replyCount": 985,
  "isReply": false,
  "parentCommentId": null,
  "authorName": "@SanDiegoZoo",
  "authorChannelId": "UCC5NfQ6Mf0dq_eEwv4P_hWA",
  "authorChannelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC5NfQ6Mf0dq_eEwv4P_hWA",
  "authorAvatarUrl": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/i8RqA9tYqbbnOi4mlnYEY7IR3kXAoDqQbM_5Sfzw7OjTubiGsOaTdlrIZmj-I0q0Vup68eqs=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "authorVerified": true,
  "authorIsCreator": false,
  "isPinned": true,
  "heartedByCreator": true,
  "videoTitle": "Me at the zoo",
  "channelName": "jawed",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-29T17:02:01.240Z"
}
```

A video that cannot be read comes back as one row with `ok: false` and a plain reason, such as `comments are turned
off for this video` or `video not found, private, or removed`. Those rows are free.

### Pricing

**$0.50 per 1,000 comments** ($0.0005 each, replies included). Failed videos and repeated comments are free. A run of
1,000 comments on one video took about a minute.

Paid Apify plans pay less: 10% off on Bronze, 20% on Silver and 30% on Gold and higher tiers.

Apify also charges a run-start fee of $0.00005 per started GB of allocated memory (minimum one event), including runs that produce no chargeable results.

### Use cases

- **Audience research**: what viewers ask, praise and complain about under your videos and your competitors'.
- **Sentiment analysis** and training data, with threads kept intact.
- **Community management**: new comments first, to answer quickly.
- **Influencer vetting**: whether a creator's comments are real conversations.

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No, and there is no daily quota.

**Why are comment dates approximate?** YouTube shows comment dates only as relative text ("3 weeks ago"). The exact
text is kept in `publishedText`; `publishedAt` is computed from it.

**Why do likes look rounded?** YouTube shows large counts rounded (4.8M); `likesApproximate` marks them.

**Is it legal?** It reads public comments that anyone can see. You are responsible for how you use them, including
data protection rules for personal data such as usernames.

### Integrations

Run it from the Apify API or a client library, schedule it in Apify Console, or connect it to n8n, Make, Zapier or
any MCP client through Apify's integrations. Results are available as JSON, CSV, Excel and through the dataset API.

### More tools from clearfetch

- [YouTube Scraper](https://apify.com/clearfetch/youtube-scraper): search, channels and exact video stats
- [TikTok Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/clearfetch/tiktok-comments-scraper): every comment and reply under a TikTok video
- [Google Trends Scraper](https://apify.com/clearfetch/google-trends-scraper): interest over time, regions and related queries

### Changelog

- **1.0.0** (2026-09) — first release: comments and replies by video link, Top or Newest, pinned, hearted and
  creator flags.

# Actor input Schema

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube video links (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, live) or bare video ids, one per line. Also accepts "urls" and "startUrls".

## `maxCommentsPerVideo` (type: `integer`):

Top-level comments per video. 0 means all (up to 10,000).

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

YouTube's own comment order. Pinned comments come first either way.

## `includeReplies` (type: `boolean`):

Also get the replies under each comment, linked by parentCommentId.

## `maxRepliesPerComment` (type: `integer`):

Replies per comment when replies are on. 0 means all.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Videos read in parallel.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per request.

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

Not needed: YouTube serves comments to Apify's own servers.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50,
  "sortBy": "top",
  "includeReplies": false,
  "maxRepliesPerComment": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 3,
  "timeoutSecs": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Comment and reply rows with text, likes, reply counts, authors, pinned and hearted flags. Videos that could not be read appear with ok=false and a reason, and are not charged.

# 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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
    ],
    "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("clearfetch/youtube-comments-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 = {
    "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"],
    "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("clearfetch/youtube-comments-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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50
}' |
apify call clearfetch/youtube-comments-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,clearfetch/youtube-comments-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/iVm6FGVbcluJkgD10/builds/e4tfJgQAfnra5SdNO/openapi.json