# YouTube Search Scraper API 💰$1/1k videos (`flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-scraper`) Actor

Search YouTube and get video titles, IDs, views, duration, publish time, channel and thumbnails as JSON. Fast HTTP scraper, no browser. Pay per video.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Rakshit Solanki](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 videos

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## 🎥 YouTube Search & Video Intelligence Scraper

Fast, lightweight, and reliable YouTube search and video intelligence actor. Extracts structured video metadata, view counts, duration, channel information, upload times, and direct thumbnails **without the heavy memory or latency of headless browsers**.

***

### ⚡ Key Features

- **Blazing Fast**: HTTP/2 InnerTube client extraction. Under 2 seconds per query.
- **Cost Effective**: Runs in just **256MB–512MB RAM**, keeping compute cost near $0.
- **Rich Output Fields**:
  - `videoId` & direct `url`
  - `title`
  - `channelTitle` & `channelUrl`
  - `viewCount`
  - `duration`
  - `publishedTimeText` (e.g. "3 days ago", "1 month ago")
  - `thumbnailUrl` (high-resolution)
  - `query`

***

### 📥 Input Example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "artificial intelligence trends 2026",
    "python programming tutorial"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30
}
```

***

### 📤 Output Example

```json
{
  "videoId": "GGY17VD_9Bs",
  "title": "The Next 10 Years of AI Will Change Everything",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGY17VD_9Bs",
  "channelTitle": "TEDx Talks",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@TEDx",
  "viewCount": "156,706 views",
  "duration": "18:33",
  "publishedTimeText": "2 weeks ago",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GGY17VD_9Bs/hqdefault.jpg",
  "query": "artificial intelligence trends 2026"
}
```

### More actors by flyingnimbus

All pay-per-event and fast. Failed or empty runs are free:

- [Google Trends](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-trends-scraper)
- [Google Flights](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-flights-scraper)
- [Google Hotels](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-hotels-scraper)
- [AI Search Visibility Tracker](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/ai-search-visibility-tracker)
- [Google Ads Transparency](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-ads-transparency-scraper)
- [Google Jobs](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-jobs-scraper)
- [Google Shopping](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-shopping-scraper)
- [Career Site Jobs](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/career-site-jobs-scraper)
- [Hacker News](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/hackernews-intelligence-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

List of search terms or keywords to query YouTube for.

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of video results to collect per query.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy or custom proxies to bypass rate limits.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "artificial intelligence",
    "python tutorial"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per YouTube video.

## `overview` (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 = {
    "queries": [
        "artificial intelligence",
        "python tutorial"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-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 = { "queries": [
        "artificial intelligence",
        "python tutorial",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-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 '{
  "queries": [
    "artificial intelligence",
    "python tutorial"
  ]
}' |
apify call flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-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/DV7BE0ajmxACvMxXV/builds/ERy0pTJdmaog2ftIz/openapi.json