YouTube Search Scraper: Videos with Chapters

What you get

Type a search term and get the YouTube search results as data: videos, Shorts, channels or playlists, with YouTube's own filters, exact publish dates, likes, tags, and the chapters of each video that has them (title, start time and a link that opens the video at that point).

{
  "position": 1,
  "title": "Learn Python in Less than 10 Minutes for Beginners",
  "channelName": "Indently",
  "viewCount": 1856215,
  "likeCount": 38898,
  "publishedAt": "2021-05-26T12:32:40.000Z",
  "chapters": [
    { "title": "Intro", "startTime": "0:00", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjsdhR3z3c&t=0s" },
    { "title": "Variables", "startTime": "0:25", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjsdhR3z3c&t=25s" }
  ]
}

How to start

1. Type one or more search terms (or paste YouTube search links).
2. Optionally pick filters: type, upload date, duration, 4K, subtitles and more. Click Start.
3. Download as JSON, CSV or Excel. $0.50 per 1,000 results; failed results are not charged.

---

Full documentation (optional)

Everything below is reference material. You do not need it to get started.

Why use this YouTube search scraper?

Feature
Many search queries in one run, or pasted YouTube search URLs (their filters are kept)	✅
Result type: videos, Shorts, channels, playlists, movies, or everything mixed	✅
Sort by relevance or popularity	✅
Upload date: last hour, today, this week, this month, this year	✅
Duration: under 3 min, 3–20 min, over 20 min (and the older 4-minute filters)	✅
Features: HD, 4K, HDR, subtitles, Creative Commons, live, 360°, VR180, 3D, location, purchased	✅
Country and language of the results	✅
Exact date range (published after / before), checked against the exact publish date	✅
Results outside the upload-date filter dropped before charging	✅
Full description, tags, hashtags, category, family-safe flag	✅
Exact view count, exact like count, exact publish date and time	✅
Chapters on every video result that has them, with a link to each chapter	✅
Need the full transcripts too? Use farovin/youtube-transcripts	✅
Position of each result in YouTube's ranking	✅
Channel name, id, handle, link, verified badge, avatar	✅
No API key, no login, no cookies	✅
Failed results free, pay only for delivered results	✅

Use cases

SEO and keyword research

See which videos rank for a search term, in which position, with their titles, tags and chapter titles. Chapter titles show how top creators structure a topic.

Competitor and trend monitoring

Schedule a daily run with Upload date: Today to catch every new video on your topic, sorted by popularity.

Influencer and channel discovery

Search with Result type: Channels to get channel names, handles, subscriber counts and verified badges for a niche.

Content planning

Collect the chapters of the 50 top videos for a query and see which subtopics they all cover, and which they skip.

AI and datasets

Feed titles, descriptions and chapters into an LLM, or build a labelled dataset of videos for a topic. Combine with our YouTube Transcript Scraper to get the spoken text split by the same chapters.

What data can it extract?

Field	Description
position	Rank in YouTube's results for the query (1 = top)
searchQuery	The query that found the result
type	video, short, channel or playlist
videoId, url	Video id and link
title	Title
channelName, channelId, channelHandle, channelUrl, channelIsVerified, channelThumbnailUrl	Channel
descriptionSnippet	Snippet shown on the search page
description	Full description
tags, hashtags	Creator tags and hashtags from title and description
viewCount, viewCountText	Views (exact with video details on)
likeCount	Exact likes; empty when the creator hides them
publishedAt, publishedText	Exact publish time (UTC) and "3 weeks ago" text
durationSeconds, durationText	Length
isLiveNow, isLiveContent, badges	Live flags and badges such as 4K, CC, New
category, isFamilySafe	YouTube category and family-safe flag
thumbnailUrl	Largest thumbnail
chapters	[{ title, startSeconds, startTime, url }]
chaptersSource	creator-description, youtube-key-moments, youtube-auto-generated or none
subscriberCount, videoCount	For channel and playlist results
status, charged, errorCode, error	Result status; failed items have charged: false
scrapedAt	When the result was scraped

How to scrape YouTube search results

1. Open the Actor and type your search terms in Search queries, one per line.
2. Set Max results per query.
3. Choose filters if you need them, then click Start.
4. Open the Results or Chapters view, or export to JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

Input examples

Top 100 videos for two queries

{ "searchQueries": ["python tutorial", "learn javascript"], "maxResults": 100 }

New videos this week, most popular first

{ "searchQueries": ["iphone review"], "uploadDate": "week", "sortBy": "popularity", "maxResults": 50 }

Exact date range

{ "searchQueries": ["world cup highlights"], "publishedAfter": "2026-06-01", "publishedBefore": "2026-07-31" }

Long 4K videos with subtitles

{ "searchQueries": ["drone footage"], "duration": "over20", "features": ["4k", "subtitles"] }

Shorts only, in Greece, in Greek

{ "searchQueries": ["συνταγές"], "type": "shorts", "country": "GR", "language": "el" }

Channels for a niche

{ "searchQueries": ["home workout"], "type": "channel", "maxResults": 200 }

A pasted YouTube search link

{ "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lofi+music&sp=EgIQAg%253D%253D"] }

Fastest run, search-page data only

{ "searchQueries": ["news"], "includeDetails": false, "maxResults": 500 }

Output

{
  "status": "ok",
  "charged": true,
  "type": "video",
  "searchQuery": "python tutorial",
  "position": 1,
  "videoId": "fWjsdhR3z3c",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjsdhR3z3c",
  "title": "Learn Python in Less than 10 Minutes for Beginners (Fast & Easy)",
  "channelName": "Indently",
  "channelId": "UCuudpdbKmQWq2PPzYgVCWlA",
  "channelHandle": "@Indently",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@Indently",
  "channelIsVerified": true,
  "viewCount": 1856215,
  "likeCount": 38898,
  "publishedText": "5 years ago",
  "publishedAt": "2021-05-26T12:32:40.000Z",
  "durationText": "10:30",
  "durationSeconds": 630,
  "category": "Education",
  "isFamilySafe": true,
  "tags": ["code palace"],
  "hashtags": [],
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fWjsdhR3z3c/hq720.jpg",
  "chaptersSource": "youtube-auto-generated",
  "chapters": [
    { "title": "Intro", "startSeconds": 0, "startTime": "0:00", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjsdhR3z3c&t=0s" },
    { "title": "Variables", "startSeconds": 25, "startTime": "0:25", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjsdhR3z3c&t=25s" }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-22T18:47:42.441Z"
}

A channel result

{ "type": "channel", "title": "Lofi Girl", "channelHandle": "@LofiGirl", "subscriberCount": 15800000, "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@LofiGirl" }

How to get the chapters of YouTube videos from a search

Leave Video chapters on (default). For each video the Actor first reads the creator's chapters from the description, using YouTube's rules (first chapter at 0:00, at least 3 chapters, each at least 10 seconds). If there are none, it uses the chapters YouTube shows under the result in search, which can be the creator's or generated by YouTube; chaptersSource tells you which. Every chapter has a url that opens the video at that moment.

How much does it cost to scrape YouTube search results?

What	Price
Search result delivered	$0.50 per 1,000 ($0.0005 each)
Run start	$0.05 per 1,000 runs ($0.00005 per run), covers server start-up
Failed result, video outside your date range	Free

Run	Cost
100 results	about $0.05
1,000 results	about $0.50
10,000 results	about $5.00

Apify's free $5 monthly credit covers about 10,000 results a month. Popular alternatives charge $1 to $5 per 1,000 results on the Free plan (Apify Store, 22 Oct 2026). Max results per query caps the cost of any run.

Use with AI agents: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor (MCP)

Every Apify Actor can be used by AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

1. Get your Apify API token in Settings > API & Integrations.
2. Add the Apify MCP server to your client and enable the Actor farovin/youtube-search-scraper.
3. Ask your agent, for example: "Find the 30 most popular videos about home espresso from this month and list the chapter titles they have in common."

Use in n8n, Make, Zapier and Google Sheets

Use the Apify node or app, choose Run Actor, select farovin/youtube-search-scraper and pass the JSON input. Export every run to Google Sheets, or trigger a webhook when a run finishes.

Use from code

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("farovin/youtube-search-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["python tutorial"],
    "maxResults": 50,
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["position"], item["title"], len(item.get("chapters", [])))

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('farovin/youtube-search-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['python tutorial'],
    uploadDate: 'month',
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((i) => i.title));

Tips

• Lower cost per result: put many queries in one run (the start fee is paid once per run).
• Faster runs: turn off Video details if you only need search-page data; chapters then come only from what YouTube shows in search.
• Spreadsheets: use the Results view for flat columns; chapters is easier in JSON.
• Monitoring: schedule a daily run with Upload date: Today.

Limitations

• YouTube decides how many results a query has; it usually stops after a few hundred.
• YouTube currently offers only two sort orders (relevance and popularity); use the upload-date filter or the date range for the newest videos.
• Without video details, the date range uses the approximate "3 weeks ago" text.
• Not every video has chapters (in our test run 31 of 60 videos had them); the others have chaptersSource: "none".
• Subscriber counts of channel results are rounded as YouTube shows them (e.g. 286K).
• Comment counts are not included.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
NO_RESULTS	No result matches the query and filters	Relax the filters. Not charged.
Fewer results than Max results	YouTube ran out of results, or your date range filtered many out	Use several related queries. Skipped results are not charged.
INVALID_INPUT	A link that is not a YouTube search link	Paste a youtube.com/results?search_query=... link. Not charged.
BLOCKED	YouTube refused a request after several retries	Run again. Not charged. If it repeats, open an issue.
likeCount empty	The creator hides likes	Nothing to fix.

Responsible use

Use this Actor only for lawful purposes. It reads public search results and public video information; it does not log in and does not collect comments or viewer data. Respect YouTube's terms and the laws that apply to you.

Our Actors are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as email addresses, gender, or location. They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. We therefore believe that our Actors, when used for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe. However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the world. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you're unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers.

Our other Actors

• YouTube Transcript Scraper: transcripts and subtitles of videos, channels and playlists, split into chapters.

FAQ

Do I need a YouTube API key?

No. The Actor works without any key, login or cookies.

Is there a free tier?

Yes. Apify gives every account $5 of free usage per month, which covers about 10,000 results.

Does the date filter really work?

YouTube's own upload-date filter sometimes lets older videos through. With video details on, the Actor checks each result's exact publish date and drops those outside the period before charging.

Can I get Shorts, channels or playlists?

Yes, with Result type.

Can I use YouTube search operators?

Yes. Quotes, -word and other operators are passed to YouTube as typed.

Am I charged for failed results?

No. Every item shows charged: true or false.

Can I run it on a schedule or via API?

Yes. Use Apify schedules, the API, webhooks, or n8n, Make and Zapier.

How do I report a problem?

Open an issue in the Issues tab with your input.

Did it help you?

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