# YouTube Shorts Scraper - Search, Hashtags, Channels ($1/1K) (`coiled_magistrate/youtube-shorts-fast`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts by keyword, #hashtag or channel: views, likes, comments, publish date, duration, hashtags, description and channel subscribers. $1 per 1,000 Shorts, pay only for results.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/coiled\_magistrate/youtube-shorts-fast.md
- **Developed by:** [TrendsData](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 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

## YouTube Shorts Scraper - Search, Hashtags & Channels

Scrape **YouTube Shorts** by **keyword, #hashtag or channel** and get views, likes, comments, publish date, duration, hashtags, description and channel subscribers for every Short.

**$1 per 1,000 Shorts.** No start fee, no subscription. Unavailable Shorts are **never charged**.

### Why this scraper

- **4x cheaper** than the typical Shorts scraper - $0.001 per Short with full details
- **Keyword search, hashtags and channels** in one run
- **Engagement included** - views and likes (exact), comment count and channel subscribers (YouTube's rounded numbers)
- **Hashtags extracted** from title and description for trend analysis
- **Date filter** - `publishedAfter` skips older Shorts (free)
- **Fast** - YouTube's own data API, no browser

### Use cases

- **Trend research** - what Shorts go viral for a keyword or hashtag right now
- **Influencer marketing** - find creators and measure their Shorts performance
- **Competitor monitoring** - track a brand's Shorts output and engagement (schedule it daily)
- **Content ideas** - top-performing hooks, titles and hashtags in your niche
- **Datasets for AI & analytics**

### Input example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["iphone hack"],
  "hashtags": ["cooking"],
  "channels": ["@MrBeast"],
  "maxShortsPerSource": 50,
  "publishedAfter": "2026-09-01"
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "videoId": "Ks-_Mh1QhMc",
  "shortUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ks-_Mh1QhMc",
  "title": "Only cat owners will understand this #cats #funny #relatable",
  "hashtags": ["cats", "funny", "relatable"],
  "channelName": "Cat Life",
  "channelId": "UC...",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-10T08:12:44-07:00",
  "durationSeconds": 21,
  "viewCount": 1986000,
  "likeCount": 151000,
  "commentCount": 1200,
  "subscriberCount": 450000,
  "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/.../frame0.jpg",
  "sourceType": "hashtag",
  "source": "#cats"
}
```

### Pricing

**$0.001 per Short** ($1 per 1,000) including comment and subscriber counts. Unavailable Shorts and Shorts skipped by `publishedAfter` are not charged.

### FAQ

**How many Shorts per channel?** YouTube shows up to about 200 newest Shorts per channel without login.

**Can I get regular videos or transcripts?** Use [YouTube Scraper](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/youtube-scraper-fast) for long videos and [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/youtube-transcript-fast) for subtitles - same author, same inputs.

### More tools from this author

- [YouTube Scraper - videos, channels, search results ($1/1K)](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/youtube-scraper-fast)
- [YouTube Transcript Scraper - subtitles for videos, channels, playlists](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/youtube-transcript-fast)
- [YouTube Channel Scraper - subscribers, stats, links, latest videos](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/youtube-channel-fast)
- [Google Ads Transparency Scraper - every ad your competitors run](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/google-ads-transparency-fast)
- [Google Trends Scraper - interest over time, by region, related queries](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/google-trends-reliable)
- [Google Trends Trending Now - real-time trending searches for any country](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/google-trending-now)
- [Keyword Suggestions - Google, YouTube, Amazon autocomplete](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/keyword-suggestions)
- [Tech Stack Detector - Wappalyzer & BuiltWith alternative](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/tech-stack-detector)
- [Company Jobs Scraper - Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby & more](https://apify.com/coiled_magistrate/company-jobs-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

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

Search YouTube Shorts by keyword.

## `hashtags` (type: `array`):

Shorts for a hashtag, with or without #, e.g. cooking, #fitness.

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

Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs - scrapes the channel's Shorts tab (newest first, up to ~200).

## `shorts` (type: `array`):

Individual Shorts URLs (youtube.com/shorts/...) or video IDs.

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

How many Shorts to scrape from each search query, hashtag or channel.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Skip Shorts published before this date. Skipped Shorts are not charged.

## `includeEngagement` (type: `boolean`):

Adds commentCount and channel subscriberCount (same price).

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

How many Shorts are processed in parallel.

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

Used automatically only when YouTube blocks a request. Starts with Apify datacenter proxy and escalates to residential proxy only if needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "funny cats"
  ],
  "hashtags": [],
  "channels": [],
  "shorts": [],
  "maxShortsPerSource": 30,
  "includeEngagement": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All scraped Shorts.

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Compact table view.

# 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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "funny cats"
    ],
    "hashtags": [],
    "channels": [],
    "shorts": [],
    "publishedAfter": "",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("coiled_magistrate/youtube-shorts-fast").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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["funny cats"],
    "hashtags": [],
    "channels": [],
    "shorts": [],
    "publishedAfter": "",
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("coiled_magistrate/youtube-shorts-fast").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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "funny cats"
  ],
  "hashtags": [],
  "channels": [],
  "shorts": [],
  "publishedAfter": "",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call coiled_magistrate/youtube-shorts-fast --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/WVM9ITo2XrXeqdQeQ/builds/D9u4RgIusDdsytXcu/openapi.json