YouTube Comments Scraper — Extract Comment Threads & Sentiment Data

Extract comment threads from any YouTube video at scale. Get structured JSON with comment text, author details, like counts, reply counts, timestamps, and full reply threads. Perfect for sentiment analysis, brand monitoring, and audience research. Priced per comment returned.

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What you get

• videoId — YouTube video identifier
• commentId — Unique comment ID
• text — Full comment text content
• author — Display name of the commenter
• authorChannelUrl — Link to the commenter's YouTube channel
• likeCount — Number of likes on the comment
• replyCount — Number of replies to a top-level comment
• publishedAt — ISO timestamp of when the comment was posted
• updatedAt — Timestamp of last edit (if edited)
• isReply — Boolean indicating if this is a reply to another comment
• parentCommentId — ID of the parent comment (for replies)

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Input parameters

Field	Type	Description	Required
videoUrl	string	Full YouTube video URL	Yes (or videoIds)
videoIds	array	List of YouTube video IDs to process	No
maxComments	integer	Maximum comments to extract per video	No (default 500)
includeReplies	boolean	Whether to include reply threads	No (default true)
sortBy	string	Sort order: top or new	No (default top)
minLikes	integer	Only return comments with at least this many likes	No

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Example input

{
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "maxComments": 500,
  "includeReplies": true,
  "sortBy": "top"
}

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Example output

[
  {
    "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "commentId": "UgxJ7k2mNpQ8rLxbvZ14AaABAg",
    "text": "This song has been living rent-free in my head for 15 years and I have zero complaints.",
    "author": "MusicLover1987",
    "authorChannelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCabc123def456",
    "likeCount": 48291,
    "replyCount": 342,
    "publishedAt": "2021-06-14T09:22:13Z",
    "updatedAt": null,
    "isReply": false,
    "parentCommentId": null
  },
  {
    "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "commentId": "UgxJ7k2mNpQ8rLxbvZ14AaABAg.9Kv2x",
    "text": "Same here! I clicked expecting to be rickrolled but stayed for the actual banger.",
    "author": "RetroVibes42",
    "authorChannelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxyz789",
    "likeCount": 1204,
    "replyCount": 0,
    "publishedAt": "2021-06-15T14:05:30Z",
    "updatedAt": null,
    "isReply": true,
    "parentCommentId": "UgxJ7k2mNpQ8rLxbvZ14AaABAg"
  }
]

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Use cases

Brand sentiment monitoring: Track what viewers say about your brand, product launch video, or sponsored content. Identify praise, complaints, and feature requests in bulk.

Content moderation research: Analyze comment toxicity, spam patterns, or policy violations across a channel. Feed data into classification models for automated moderation.

Audience research: Understand what resonates with your audience. Mine top-liked comments to discover which messages, jokes, or reactions your viewers amplify.

Competitive analysis: Scrape competitor video comments to understand their audience pain points and desires. Use insights to sharpen your own content and product positioning.

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Pricing

This actor uses Pay Per Result (PPE) pricing — you pay per comment record returned.

• Typical cost: approximately $0.005 per comment
• Example: 10,000 comments ≈ $50.00
• No monthly subscription required — pay as you go on Apify Free plan

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Get started

Run YouTube Comments Scraper on Apify