# TikTok Transcript Scraper - Video Captions to Text (`cycha/tiktok-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Get the transcript of TikTok videos as plain text, timestamped segments or SRT, in the spoken language or one of TikTok's translations, with author, description and views. Videos without captions are free. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cycha/tiktok-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ken Digital](https://apify.com/cycha) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.40 / 1,000 transcripts

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

## TikTok Transcript Scraper

Get the transcript of **TikTok videos** as clean data: plain text ready for ChatGPT, Claude or your content pipeline, timestamped segments, and SRT subtitles on request. Choose the spoken language or one of the translations TikTok provides. Each row also carries the author, description, date, duration and views. **Videos without captions are free.** No login, no cookies.

- **Accurate text from TikTok itself:** the captions TikTok generates from the video's audio, plus the creator's own captions when there are any.
- **Translations included:** many videos come with TikTok's translations (often English); ask for `en`, `es`, `fr`... and get the spoken language when that one is missing.
- **AI-ready:** one `text` field per video, `wordCount`, `segments` with start times, `srt` for subtitles.
- **Fast:** a few seconds per batch of videos.
- **$3 per 1,000 transcripts.** You only pay for transcripts delivered.

### Sample output

Real rows from one run, transcripts requested in English:

| Author | Video | Transcript language | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| @theeconomist | Is university worth the time and money? | English (creator captions) | 262 |
| @scientificamerican | 2016? Nah. 2026 is the new 1926 | English | 626 |
| @bettoauge | Roteiro para vídeo curto de receitas! | English, translated from Portuguese | 261 |
| @nikitadumptruck | economics is shopping and boys | English | 256 |
| @scout2015 | Scramble up ur name & I'll try to guess it | no speech: free error row | — |

### Quick start

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377",
    "https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMxxxxxxx/"
  ],
  "language": "en"
}
```

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `urls` | array | required | TikTok video URLs, `vm.tiktok.com` short links or video IDs. |
| `language` | string | empty | Transcript language code (`en`, `es`, `fr`, `pt`...). Empty = the spoken language. |
| `languageFallback` | boolean | true | No captions in your language: return the spoken-language transcript instead of an error. |
| `includeTimestamps` | boolean | true | Add `segments`: `{start, duration, text}` in seconds. |
| `includeSrt` | boolean | false | Add the transcript as SRT subtitles. |

### Output

One row per video:

```json
{
  "videoId": "7191572989635267846",
  "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@bettoauge/video/7191572989635267846",
  "authorUsername": "bettoauge",
  "authorName": "Betto Auge",
  "description": "Roteiro para vídeo curto de receitas!  #aprendanotiktok  #EuTeEnsino  #tutorial  #videodereceita ",
  "createdAt": "2023-01-22T20:16:12+00:00",
  "durationSeconds": 80,
  "viewCount": 239700,
  "likeCount": 15800,
  "commentCount": 316,
  "shareCount": 1939,
  "language": "en",
  "isTranslation": true,
  "isAutoGenerated": true,
  "requestedLanguage": "en",
  "usedFallbackLanguage": false,
  "spokenLanguage": "pt",
  "availableLanguages": [
    "en",
    "pt"
  ],
  "text": "Now I'm going to teach you a basic ham to use in your food videos the first secret of a basic ham you need to start your video with an appetizing impa...",
  "wordCount": 261,
  "segments": [
    {
      "start": 0.0,
      "duration": 4.459,
      "text": "Now I'm going to teach you a basic ham to use in your food videos the first"
    },
    {
      "start": 4.459,
      "duration": 4.694,
      "text": "secret of a basic ham you need to start your video with an appetizing impactful"
    }
  ],
  "srt": null,
  "source": "https://www.tiktok.com/@bettoauge/video/7191572989635267846",
  "error": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-23T00:35:00+00:00"
}
```

`spokenLanguage` is the language of the audio; `isTranslation` is true when the transcript is TikTok's translation of it; `isAutoGenerated` is false for captions the creator wrote. Videos without captions (no speech, music only, or captions turned off by the creator), removed or private videos get a row with `error` and are **not charged**.

### Pricing

**$3 per 1,000 transcripts** (one `transcript` event per video with a transcript), plus a tiny actor-start fee. Rows with an error are free. Store discounts apply on higher Apify plans.

### Use cases

- **Content research:** hooks, scripts and talking points of trending videos, searchable as text
- **AI pipelines:** summarize, classify or translate TikTok content with an LLM
- **Brand and trend monitoring:** what creators actually say about a product
- **Repurposing and accessibility:** subtitles and text versions of videos

### Integrations

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("cycha/tiktok-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={
    "urls": ["https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377"],
    "language": "en",
})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row["authorUsername"], row["wordCount"], row["text"])
```

Works with Make, Zapier, n8n, LangChain, schedules and webhooks, and as an MCP tool for AI agents.

### FAQ

**Can I give a profile or a hashtag?** Not in this actor: TikTok does not show logged-out visitors a profile's list of videos. Collect video URLs first (for example with your own export), then paste them here.

**Why does a video have no transcript?** TikTok only has captions for videos with speech it could recognize, and creators can turn captions off. Those rows are free.

**Instagram Reels?** Not offered: Instagram no longer shows video data to logged-out visitors, and we don't use logged-in accounts.

**Is it legal?** The actor reads publicly available captions. You are responsible for how you use them and for respecting copyright and TikTok's terms.

### Feedback

Missing a field or a feature? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab. If this saved you time, a short review on the Store page helps other people find it.

### Related actors by the same developer

| Actor | What it does |
|---|---|
| [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/cycha/youtube-transcript-scraper) | Transcripts of YouTube videos, playlists and whole channels |
| [TikTok Video, Profile & Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/cycha/tiktok-scraper) | Video stats, profile stats and comments |

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Video URLs (tiktok.com/@user/video/..., vm.tiktok.com short links) or video IDs. One per line.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code of the transcript you want (en, es, fr, pt...). TikTok often offers translations of the spoken language. Leave empty for the spoken language.

## `languageFallback` (type: `boolean`):

When a video has no captions in your language, return the spoken-language transcript instead of an error.

## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Add the transcript as {start, duration, text} segments next to the plain text.

## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`):

Also return the transcript as SRT subtitles.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377"
  ],
  "languageFallback": true,
  "includeTimestamps": true,
  "includeSrt": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `transcripts` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "urls": [
        "https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cycha/tiktok-transcript-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 = { "urls": ["https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cycha/tiktok-transcript-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 '{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.tiktok.com/@theeconomist/video/7278364993064537377"
  ]
}' |
apify call cycha/tiktok-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cycha/tiktok-transcript-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/JwJ6c77sj1WaLkBIJ/builds/25KAQWMhgHsy81sZb/openapi.json