YouTube Comments Scraper | Replies for Videos

Collect public comments and replies from YouTube videos with one simple input. Get structured comment records with author details, timestamps, likes, and reply relationships, without downloading video files.

Submit one video or a list of videos, choose newest or top comments, and review each unique result in the Apify Dataset.

What this Actor does

The Actor collects comments and replies from public YouTube videos. It returns one Dataset item per unique comment, including the video, comment text, public author details, publication time, likes, and parent comment when available. Top-level comments have a null parentId.

The Actor accepts up to 10 video references and can return up to 10,000 comments per video, with a hard cap of 100,000 comments total per run. It does not download video or audio files.

Use cases

• Review audience responses to a set of public videos.
• Compare comment themes and engagement across videos.
• Export comment threads for research, reporting, or moderation workflows.

How to use

1. Start with the example video and five comments already shown in the input form, or enter your own YouTube video URLs or IDs.
2. Choose the maximum comments per video and the requested order.
3. Start the Actor and open the Dataset to view or export the results.

Input

startUrls is required. Each entry can be a YouTube watch, Shorts, live, embed, or youtu.be video URL, or an 11-character video ID. Duplicate video references are processed once.

maxComments applies separately to each unique video and includes replies. The input form starts at 5 to keep a first run small; API and task calls that omit it default to 100. Values from 1 to 10,000 are accepted. Submit up to 10 videos; the Actor enforces a hard cap of 100,000 comments total across the run. sort accepts new (newest first, the default) or top (top comments).

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    }
  ],
  "sort": "new",
  "maxComments": 5
}

Output

Each Dataset item represents one unique comment or reply. Fields include the video and comment URLs, text, author details, publication time in UTC, likes, reply status, and available pinned, uploader, and verification indicators. Values YouTube does not provide are returned as null.

The default key-value store also contains a SUMMARY record with the run status, requested and completed video counts, total saved comments, the 100,000-comment run cap, whether that cap was reached, the number of videos skipped after reaching it, and per-video errors. Reaching the cap is a successful bounded run; if a video fails, results already saved remain in the Dataset and the Actor run fails so collection errors are visible.

The run log shows video-by-video collection, periodic updates while comments are being fetched, and saved-comment counts as results are written. The run status message follows the current video and ends with a terminal completion or incomplete-run message. See SUMMARY.errors for details about videos that could not be processed.

This is a complete Dataset item from a successful run:

{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoTitle": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
  "channel": "Rick Astley",
  "commentId": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
  "commentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lc=Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
  "text": "can confirm: he never gave us up",
  "author": "@YouTube",
  "authorId": "UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ",
  "authorUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube",
  "authorThumbnail": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/3s6evpqAiDU9tQR4sC2siJippbH2RWVPnwHgyl4V0th2iuQz0VDQZbUhQBGmsxLYo-mjG6TqZQ=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "publishedAt": "2025-09-24T00:00:00Z",
  "likeCount": 319000,
  "parentId": null,
  "isReply": false,
  "isPinned": true,
  "isUploader": false,
  "isVerified": true
}

Pricing

The Actor charges one comment-result event for each unique comment or reply saved to the run's Dataset. The equivalent per-1,000 amount is shown for comparison; the actual charge is calculated per saved comment.

Apify tier	Price per comment	Equivalent per 1,000 comments
FREE	$0.001	$1.00
BRONZE	$0.0009	$0.90
SILVER	$0.0008	$0.80
GOLD	$0.00075	$0.75
PLATINUM	$0.00075	$0.75
DIAMOND	$0.00075	$0.75

FREE is Apify's discount tier; it does not mean that the event price is $0. There is no separate run-start charge. Duplicate comments, failed video requests, and the run summary do not trigger comment charges. The minimum maximum-spend setting is $0.001 per run.

Related Actors

Actor	Best for
TikTok Comments Scraper – No Login	Compare discussions on YouTube with public TikTok comments and replies.
Instagram Comments Scraper - No Login	Compare YouTube discussions with public comments from Instagram posts and Reels.
YouTube Channel Videos Scraper | Shorts & Streams	Find a channel’s public videos, Shorts, or streams before collecting their comments.
YouTube Transcript Extractor - Timestamps	Add available spoken captions and timestamps alongside comments from selected videos.

Limits and data quality

Results depend on comments being public and available to YouTube at run time. Videos with disabled comments, unavailable recordings, or source-side restrictions can return no comments or an error. YouTube may return fewer comments than requested, and comment ordering can vary with the source response. The requested limit is a maximum for each video, not a guarantee that the source contains that many comments. The Actor stops saving results at 100,000 comments across the run and records any videos skipped due to that cap in SUMMARY.

Repeated comment IDs are omitted. When one submitted video cannot be processed, inspect SUMMARY.errors; results from other videos remain available, but the run is marked failed or partial rather than reported as fully successful.

Frequently asked questions

Does the comment limit include replies?

Yes. maxComments is the maximum number of saved comments and replies combined for each video. You can submit up to 10 videos; the Actor enforces a maximum of 100,000 comments total across one run.

What happens if some videos fail?

The Dataset keeps comments already saved from successful videos. The run reports a failure, and SUMMARY identifies the videos that could not be processed.

Can I submit a live URL?

Yes, if YouTube makes the video or recording and its comments available. Active streams and unavailable recordings may not return comments.

Responsible use

Use the Actor only for public information you are allowed to collect and process. You are responsible for complying with applicable privacy rules, regulations, and YouTube’s terms.

Support

For help, open an issue in the Actor's Issues tab and include the run ID, a reproducible input, and the relevant SUMMARY details.

For ready-to-run Python, JavaScript and cURL requests, see the public YouTube Comments Scraper integration guide.