# YouTube Video & Search Scraper (`emperor1978/youtube-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube video metadata and search results. Get titles, views, likes, descriptions, and thumbnails. No API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/emperor1978/youtube-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [The Emperor](https://apify.com/emperor1978) (community)
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## 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 Video & Search Scraper

Scrape YouTube video metadata and search results without an API key. Get titles, view counts, likes, descriptions, thumbnails, durations, and more.

### Features

- **Search Mode**: Search YouTube and get metadata for matching videos
- **Video Mode**: Scrape specific videos by URL or video ID
- No YouTube Data API key required
- Extracts: title, views, likes, duration, publish date, description, category, keywords, thumbnails
- Supports youtube.com, youtu.be, and bare video ID formats

### Use Cases

- **Competitor Analysis**: Track competitors' video performance and content strategy
- **Content Research**: Find trending topics and popular videos in your niche
- **Market Research**: Analyze view counts and engagement across topics
- **SEO Research**: Find keywords and topics with high YouTube search volume
- **Data Journalism**: Collect video statistics for analysis

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| mode | string | "search" | "search" or "videos" |
| searchQueries | string\[] | \[] | Search terms (search mode) |
| videoUrls | string\[] | \[] | Video URLs/IDs (videos mode) |
| maxResults | integer | 10 | Max results per query (max 50) |

### Output

Each result contains:

- `video_id`, `title`, `author_name`, `author_url`
- `view_count`, `like_count`, `duration_seconds`
- `publish_date`, `description`, `category`, `keywords`
- `url`, `thumbnail_url`

### Examples

#### Search Mode

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQueries": ["python web scraping tutorial", "fastapi deployment"],
  "maxResults": 20
}
```

#### Video Mode

```json
{
  "mode": "videos",
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "youtu.be/abc123",
    "xyz789"
  ]
}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose 'search' to search YouTube, or 'videos' to scrape specific video URLs.

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

Search terms to find videos (for 'search' mode). Example: \["python tutorial", "fastapi deployment"]

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube video URLs or IDs to scrape (for 'videos' mode). Supports youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, and bare video IDs.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum videos to return per search query (max 50).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQueries": [],
  "videoUrls": [],
  "maxResults": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Scraped results stored in the default dataset

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("emperor1978/youtube-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("emperor1978/youtube-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 '{}' |
apify call emperor1978/youtube-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,emperor1978/youtube-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/QfSTqFGDj2ofkefiy/builds/6preZO3596uIx4nDI/openapi.json