YouTube Channel Finder ⚡

Fast, low-cost YouTube channel discovery. Find channels from keywords, video URLs, or channel URLs and export 29 complete channel fields — profile, metrics, source attribution, and free derived analytics. Powered by the official YouTube Data API v3 with a browserless discovery engine (no headless browser on the fast path).

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🚀 Key Features

• ⚡ Browserless & fast: keyword search, video URLs, and channel URLs are all resolved over plain HTTP — dozens of channels in seconds, no Chromium on the happy path.
• 🎯 Enhanced discovery: keyword search surfaces channels from both channel results and the creators behind video results (5–20+ per search).
• 🎬 Video → channel: drop in video URLs and get the channels behind them.
• 📊 29 channel fields: complete profile with subscriber/video/view counts, description, country, join date, keywords, verification, and type.
• 🧮 Free derived analytics: size tier, avg views/video, views/subscriber, and niche-fit score — computed from data already fetched, so they cost nothing extra.
• 🧭 Source attribution: every row records why it's in your results — which keyword or input found it, how, and its rank.
• 🔄 Smart deduplication: automatic by ChannelId within a run.
• 🎛️ Niche presets: one-click keyword sets for 10 common niches.
• 🌍 Localization: country and language targeting for discovery.
• 📦 Bulk processing: paste many URLs, upload a text file, or link a remote list.
• 📅 Date & size filtering: filter by join date and subscriber range, and sort to get a true top-N.
• 💪 Resilient: official API first, automatic fallbacks, browser only as a last resort.

Best for: influencer marketing, partnership discovery, competitive analysis, market research, and creator scouting. Need emails & social links? Pair this with our YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper.

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🎯 At a Glance

Feature	Value
Speed	Fast path: dozens of channels in seconds (browserless). Browser fallback: ~7–9s/channel
Discovery	5–20+ channels per search (vs 1–2 traditional)
Inputs	Keywords, niche presets, channel URLs, video URLs, bulk files
Fields	29 comprehensive channel fields
Method	Official YouTube Data API v3 + browserless HTTP discovery; browser fallback
Deduplication	Automatic by ChannelId
Proxy	Not required

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💡 Why This Scraper?

Most YouTube channel scrapers drive a headless browser for every channel — slow and expensive. YouTube Channel Finder is browserless-first:

Metric	YouTube Channel Finder	Traditional Scrapers
Discovery per search	5–20+ channels	1–2 channels
Fast-path speed	Dozens of channels in seconds	~30–40s per channel
Data source	Official YouTube Data API v3 + HTTP	Browser scraping only
Video URL → channel	✅ Browserless	✅ Browser (slow)
Field coverage	29 fields (incl. free derived analytics)	Varies
Deduplication	✅ Automatic by ChannelId	❌ Manual
Proxy required	❌ No	Often yes

How it works: keyword searches and video URLs are resolved to channel IDs over plain HTTP, then enriched in batches through the official YouTube Data API v3. If the API's daily free quota is exhausted, enrichment automatically falls back to a hosted API so runs keep working — the headless browser is only used as a final fallback for edge cases.

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📋 Input Parameters

Field	Key	Type	Default	Description
Search Keywords	searchQueries	Array	[]	Fuzzy keyword discovery — returns channels related to the terms (not one exact channel). Surfaces channels from both channel and video results.
Channels & videos (exact match)	channelOrVideoInputs	Array	[]	Exact-match lookup. Channel handle (@name), channel ID (UC…), or channel URL; or a video ID / watch?v= URL / youtu.be / Shorts URL (returns the video's channel). One entry per line.
Niche preset	nichePreset	string	""	Ready-made keyword set for a common niche (AI & automation, SaaS, tech reviews, gaming, fitness, cooking, personal finance, education, beauty, travel). Adds 4 keywords to Search Keywords; yours take priority.
Max channels per query	maxResultsPerQuery	integer	10	Max channels per search keyword (1–50).
Max total channels (whole run)	maxTotalResults	integer	0	Run-level cap across all keywords + inputs combined; spend control. 0 = no limit.
Min subscribers	minSubscribers	integer	0	Keep only channels with ≥ this many subscribers. 0 = no minimum.
Max subscribers	maxSubscribers	integer	0	Keep only channels with ≤ this many subscribers. 0 = no maximum.
Sort results by	sort	string	"relevance"	relevance (discovery order), subscribers (highest first), or date (newest joined first).
Country	regionCode	string	"US"	ISO country code — US, GB, CA, AU, IN, DE, FR, JP, BR, MX.
Language	language	string	"en"	Language code — en, es, de, fr, pt, ja, hi, zh.
From Date	dateFrom	string (YYYY-MM-DD)	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined After). Optional.
To Date	dateTo	string (YYYY-MM-DD)	""	Filter by channel join date (Joined Before). Optional.
Find channels similar to (paid extra)	similarToChannels	Array	[]	Opt-in. Seed channels (handle / ID / URL); returns channels YouTube associates with them via the related-video graph, ranked by recurrence. Up to maxResultsPerQuery per seed. Billed per similar channel (replaces the standard per-channel fee for those rows).
Add activity metrics (paid extra)	includeActivityScore	boolean	false	Opt-in. Adds upload cadence / consistency / activity fields (21–25 below). Billed per channel scored, on top of the result fee. Only channels actually returned are scored.

💰 Enrichment (paid extras) — the last two fields above sit in their own Enrichment section in the Apify UI. Both are OFF by default: leave them alone and you pay only the standard per-channel result fee.

Notes:

• 🎯 No required fields — runs out of the box with sensible defaults.
• 🔎 Two ways to find channels — Search Keywords for fuzzy discovery; Channels & videos for exact lookups by handle, ID, or URL.
• 🎬 Videos welcome — paste a watch?v=… URL or a bare video ID and the actor returns the channel behind it.
• ✍️ Bare inputs accepted — @handle, UC… channel ID, or an 11-character video ID work without a full URL. (Write handles with the leading @; a bare 11-character token is treated as a video ID.)
• 🏆 True top-N — combine sort with maxTotalResults to get the best N, not the first N found. sort=subscribers + maxTotalResults=10 returns the 10 most-subscribed channels discovered, because sorting happens after filtering but before the cap.
• 🧮 Free derived metrics — size tier, avg views/video, views/subscriber and niche fit (fields 26–29) are computed from data already fetched, so they cost nothing extra and are always included.
• 📄 Run summary — every run writes a machine-readable RUN_SUMMARY record to the key-value store: counts by discovery method, filter/skip totals, API quota used, and billing. Kept out of the dataset so it never pollutes your results.
• ⚙️ Proxy, concurrency, and HTTP mode are tuned internally (no configuration needed).

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📤 Output Schema

Comprehensive channel data — 29 fields (flat, spreadsheet-ready)

16 channel fields + 4 source-attribution + 5 activity (opt-in) + 4 derived metrics (free, always on).

#	Field	Type	Description
1	ChannelId	String	Unique YouTube channel ID (e.g., UCiHVTkJtWSdc9N3h0nUGWLg)
2	ChannelName	String	Display name
3	ChannelHandle	String	The @handle (e.g., @n8n-io)
4	ChannelURL	String	Canonical channel link
5	ThumbnailURL	String	Profile image / avatar URL
6	BannerURL	String	Channel banner / cover image URL (empty if the channel has none)
7	Description	String	Channel description / "About" text
8	Country	String | null	Listed country, if available
9	JoinedDate	String | null	Channel creation date (YYYY-MM-DD)
10	SubscriberCount	Integer | null	Total subscribers
11	VideoCount	Integer | null	Total videos uploaded
12	TotalViews	Integer | null	Lifetime view count
13	Keywords	Array	Channel keywords / tags (if public)
14	IsVerified	Boolean | null	Verification badge. null means unknown, not unverified — the official Data API doesn’t expose the badge, so the fast path can’t determine it. true/false only when actually determined (fallback API or browser path).
15	ChannelType	String | null	e.g. "Creator", "Gaming", "Education" (if determinable)
16	ScrapedAt	String (ISO 8601)	Extraction timestamp
17	SourceQuery	String	The keyword that produced this channel (keyword search only; empty otherwise)
18	SourceUrl	String	The input token/URL that produced it — handle, channel ID/URL, or video (exact-match inputs; empty otherwise)
19	DiscoveryMethod	String	How it was found: keyword_search, video, channel, handle, or similar
20	SearchRank	Integer | null	1-based rank within its keyword query (keyword search only; null otherwise)

Activity metrics — fields 21–25 (opt-in, paid extra: includeActivityScore)

Empty/null unless you switch activity scoring on. Only channels actually returned are scored, so filtered-out rows never cost you anything.

#	Field	Type	Description
21	LastUploadDate	String (YYYY-MM-DD)	Date of the channel's most recent upload
22	DaysSinceLastUpload	Integer | null	Days elapsed since that upload — 0 means it posted today
23	UploadsPerMonth	Number | null	Average uploads per month across the recent sample
24	UploadConsistency	Integer | null	0–100 regularity score — high means a steady, predictable cadence
25	ActivityStatus	String	active, slowing, dormant, or inactive

Derived metrics — fields 26–29 (free, always on)

Computed from data already fetched — no extra API call, no extra charge.

#	Field	Type	Description
26	SizeTier	String	nano (<1K), micro (<100K), mid (<1M), macro (<10M), mega (10M+)
27	AvgViewsPerVideo	Integer | null	Lifetime views ÷ video count — a quick reach-per-upload read
28	ViewsPerSubscriber	Number | null	Lifetime views ÷ subscribers — indicates reach beyond the subscriber base
29	NicheFit	Integer | null	0–100: share of your search terms found in the channel's own text. null only when the run has no keywords at all. Use ≥67 as a reliable relevance filter — lower scores can come from a single common word matching.

ℹ️ Note on IsVerified: the official YouTube Data API does not expose the verification badge, so on the fast path this field is null (unknown) rather than false — reporting false would wrongly assert that well-known verified channels are unverified. A real true/false appears only when the value is genuinely determined (fallback API or browser path).

🧭 Source attribution: fields 17–20 tell you why each channel is in your results — which keyword or input produced it, how, and (for keyword search) its rank. A channel found via multiple inputs is attributed to the first one that discovered it.

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📊 Output Examples

Results tab — table view

Results tab — JSON view

One complete record, exactly as returned (fitness keyword search, activity scoring enabled):

{
  "ChannelId": "UCeJFgNahi--FKs0oJyeRDEw",
  "ChannelName": "Hybrid Calisthenics",
  "ChannelHandle": "@hybridcalisthenics",
  "ChannelURL": "https://www.youtube.com/@hybridcalisthenics",
  "ThumbnailURL": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AIdro_lHDTeNbNPLCIuChuhtXjCMZ6S6UQ6nPhDKewcrZj5i1Q=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "BannerURL": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/jb3D1zUmb8cUAaWd8xI7nb_SREoy0MH3WOyOhAOfOmYvGa7qRvczaGV-HLQlBuHAVf1otoNG3Vc",
  "Description": "Hey everyone! My name is Hampton and my brand is Hybrid Calisthenics...\n\nMy goal is to help people cultivate long-term fitness and health with calisthenics.\n",
  "Country": "US",
  "JoinedDate": "2020-01-03",
  "SubscriberCount": 4460000,
  "VideoCount": 781,
  "TotalViews": 775039734,
  "Keywords": [
    "calisthenics",
    "fitness",
    "health",
    "home workout",
    "strength",
    "flexibility",
    "mobility",
    "building muscle"
  ],
  "IsVerified": null,
  "ChannelType": "Lifestyle",
  "ScrapedAt": "2026-07-23T13:08:59.480Z",
  "SourceQuery": "strength training tips",
  "SourceUrl": "",
  "DiscoveryMethod": "keyword_search",
  "SearchRank": 17,
  "LastUploadDate": "2026-07-23",
  "DaysSinceLastUpload": 0,
  "UploadsPerMonth": 21.1,
  "UploadConsistency": 41,
  "ActivityStatus": "active",
  "SizeTier": "macro",
  "AvgViewsPerVideo": 992368,
  "ViewsPerSubscriber": 173.8,
  "NicheFit": 67
}

(Description and Keywords abbreviated for readability — the actual record returns them in full.)

Output benefits:

• 🎯 Flat & clean — numeric counts, ISO dates, typed fields; imports straight into Google Sheets / Excel / BI.
• 📐 Uniform rows — every record carries all 29 keys whether or not a value was found, so CSV and Excel exports never come out ragged.
• ⚡ Fast path — official API enrichment in batches, no per-channel browser load.
• 💼 Business-ready — everything needed for partnerships, competitive analysis, and market research.
• 🚀 Enhanced discovery — 5–20+ channels per search.

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🎬 Quick Start

Example 1: Keyword search

{
  "searchQueries": ["n8n"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "regionCode": "US",
  "language": "en"
}

Example 2: Videos (returns the channels behind the videos)

{
  "channelOrVideoInputs": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sx0o-41r2k",
    "https://youtu.be/5oAnKSCP4do",
    "QJBP2uy8LcU"
  ]
}

Example 3: Exact channel lookup (handle, ID, or URL)

{
  "channelOrVideoInputs": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@n8n-io",
    "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHVTkJtWSdc9N3h0nUGWLg"
  ]
}

Example 4: Niche preset — a whole niche in one click

{
  "nichePreset": "fitness",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20,
  "regionCode": "US",
  "language": "en"
}

Example 5: True top-N — the 25 biggest channels in a niche

Sorting happens after filtering but before the cap, so this returns the 25 most-subscribed channels discovered — not the first 25 found.

{
  "nichePreset": "cooking",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "minSubscribers": 50000,
  "sort": "subscribers",
  "maxTotalResults": 25
}

Example 6: With the paid extras switched on

Both extras are off by default. This run adds activity metrics to every returned channel and expands the list with channels similar to two seeds.

{
  "searchQueries": ["home workout routine"],
  "similarToChannels": ["@hybridcalisthenics", "@madfit"],
  "includeActivityScore": true,
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 20
}

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💪 Performance & Reliability

Architecture (browserless-first)

• Discovery — keyword searches resolve to channel IDs over HTTP; video URLs resolve to their channel by fetching the watch page (no browser).
• Enrichment — channel IDs are enriched in batches through the official YouTube Data API v3 (14 of the 16 core fields; the rest are generated locally at no cost).
• Automatic fallback — if the API's daily free quota is exhausted, a hosted API enriches channels instead, so runs don't stall.
• Browser last resort — the headless browser is used only for edge cases the HTTP paths can't handle.
• Deduplication — automatic by ChannelId.

Throughput

The browserless fast path processes many channels in seconds (discovery + batched enrichment). When the browser fallback is used, expect ~7–9s per channel.

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📚 Use Cases

• Influencer marketing — find creators by niche with subscriber/verification data.
• Partnership discovery — build target lists with complete channel profiles.
• Competitive analysis — compare competitor channels by subscribers, output, and views.
• Market research — analyze 100–200+ channels by country, type, and niche.
• Creator scouting — surface emerging channels with growth indicators.
• Channel databases — assemble structured, spreadsheet-ready channel records.

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💲 Pricing

Pay only for results. No monthly rental, no per-run fee, and no charge at all on a run that returns nothing. You're billed per unique channel returned — that's it. Two optional extras bill only if you switch them on.

Event	Charged when
Channel result	Once per unique channel written to the dataset
Similar channel (opt-in)	Once per channel found via similarToChannels — replaces the standard channel fee for those rows, never charged on top of it
Activity score (opt-in)	Once per channel successfully scored when includeActivityScore is on

Run size	Events billed
0 channels (nothing found)	nothing — the run is free
10 channels	10 channel results
1,000 channels	1,000 channel results

• Default runs cost the standard rate. Leave both extras off — as they ship — and you pay only the per-channel fee.
• Not charged: empty runs, duplicate channels (deduped within a run), rows filtered out by your date/subscriber/cap settings, failed activity scores, and failed / not-found lookups.
• Free of charge: the four derived metrics (fields 26–29) are computed from data already fetched — no extra event, no extra cost.
• Live rates: see the Pricing tab on this actor's page for the current per-event prices. (This README deliberately doesn't quote figures — the Pricing tab is always current.)

💡 Use maxTotalResults to cap the number of channels — and therefore the cost — on large multi-keyword or bulk runs. Filtering and sorting are applied before the cap and before any paid scoring, so you never pay for rows you don't receive.

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❓ FAQ

Q: How many channels can I discover per search? A: 5–20+ per search — the actor extracts both explicit channel results and the creators behind video results.

Q: Does it scrape every video from a channel? A: No. This actor finds and profiles channels. It does not download a channel's full video list.

Q: How is this different from a "YouTube Channel Video" / video scraper? A: Many similarly-named actors scrape videos. This one returns channels — one clean profile row per channel (subscribers, views, country, join date, keywords, verification, type), not a list of videos. Use it to find and shortlist creators; if you then need each channel's videos or their emails/social links, pair it with the matching video or Contacts & Social Links scraper.

Q: Can I cap the total number of results (and the cost)? A: Yes — set maxTotalResults to cap the number of channels returned across all keywords and inputs combined (0 = no limit). The cap is applied before enrichment, so it also controls spend on large multi-keyword or bulk runs. maxResultsPerQuery still caps each individual keyword.

Q: Why is a given channel in my results — which input found it? A: Every record includes source attribution — SourceQuery (the keyword), SourceUrl (the input token/URL), DiscoveryMethod (keyword_search/video/channel/handle), and SearchRank (rank within its keyword). A channel found via multiple inputs is attributed to the first one that discovered it.

Q: How does it stay fast and cheap? A: It's browserless-first — keyword searches and video URLs resolve over plain HTTP, then channels are enriched in batches via the official YouTube Data API v3. A headless browser is only a last-resort fallback, which keeps runs fast and low-cost.

Q: Can I pass video URLs? A: Yes — paste watch?v=… links (or a mix of channel and video URLs) and the actor returns the channels behind them.

Q: Can I filter by channel join date? A: Yes — use dateFrom / dateTo (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty to include all channels.

Q: Can I target a country / language? A: Yes — set regionCode and language. Each channel's own country is also extracted when available.

Q: I need creator emails and social links. A: Use our companion actor, YouTube Channel Contacts & Social Links Scraper, which adds email and categorized social links.

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🛠️ Technologies

• Discovery: browserless HTTP resolution of keyword searches and video URLs (YouTube ytInitialData).
• Enrichment: official YouTube Data API v3 (channels.list, batched) with an automatic hosted-API fallback.
• Fallback engine: Puppeteer (headless Chrome) + Crawlee — used only when HTTP paths can't complete.
• Runtime: Node.js 18+.
• Deduplication: ChannelId tracking across all sources.

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📋 Best Practices

1. Start small — test with maxResultsPerQuery: 10 to see 5–20+ channels per search.
2. Use broad keywords — they discover more channels via dual extraction.
3. Mix inputs — combine keywords, channel URLs, and video URLs in one run.
4. Filter by date — use dateFrom / dateTo to target newer or older channels.
5. Export — JSON / CSV / Excel to Sheets, S3, or your CRM.

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📜 Changelog

v2.5 — Discovery & analytics update (July 2026)

• 🧮 Free derived metrics — size tier, avg views/video, views/subscriber, and a niche-fit score on every row at no extra cost.
• 🧭 Source attribution — every channel records which keyword or input found it, how, and its rank.
• 🎛️ Niche presets — ready-made keyword sets for 10 common niches.
• 🔗 Similar-channel discovery (opt-in) — expand a seed channel into its related-channel neighbourhood.
• 📈 Activity metrics (opt-in) — upload cadence, consistency, and an active/slowing/dormant/inactive status.
• 🎚️ Subscriber filters + true top-N sorting — sort is applied before the run cap, so you get the best N, not the first N.
• 📄 Run summary — a machine-readable RUN_SUMMARY record in the key-value store, kept out of your dataset.

v2.5 — Browserless update (July 2026)

• ⚡ Browserless-first architecture — keyword search, video URLs, and channel URLs resolved over HTTP; headless browser only as a last-resort fallback.
• 🎬 Video URLs resolved browserlessly (previously required a browser).
• 🔁 Automatic enrichment fallback when the YouTube Data API daily quota is exhausted — runs keep working.
• 🏎️ Major speed & cost improvement on the fast path.
• 🧹 Reliability fixes (About-page navigation, join-date accuracy).

v2.5 — YouTube Data API v3 (Feb 2026)

• Replaced the previous hybrid method with the official YouTube Data API v3 (13/15 fields from the API).
• Removed the legacy third-party extraction API.

Earlier (2025)

• Enhanced discovery (channels from channel + video results, YouTube channel filter), 15-field schema, hybrid HTTP/Puppeteer mode.

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🤝 Compliance

• Collects only public YouTube channel data.
• Uses the official YouTube Data API v3 within its terms.
• Intended for legitimate channel discovery, influencer research, and business intelligence.
• Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

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💬 Support

• Issues / feature requests: via GitHub or Apify support.
• Documentation: see the /docs folder for the PRD and guides.

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Built with ❤️ for fast, low-cost channel discovery.