YouTube Scraper & API Alternative - Videos, Shorts | $1/1k

What does YouTube Scraper do?

YouTube Scraper turns YouTube searches, channels, Shorts, live streams, playlists and single videos into clean video data: title, channel, subscribers, exact views, likes, comment count, duration, upload date, full description, hashtags and thumbnail. Type a keyword, paste a channel link, an @handle, a playlist or a video link, and a few seconds later you have one row per video as JSON, CSV or Excel.

It is a YouTube Data API alternative with no API key and no quota: no Google Cloud project, no OAuth, no daily unit budget, no browser. The Actor reads the same public data youtube.com shows to a logged-out visitor, so it is fast and costs $1 per 1,000 videos.

Five ways in, freely combined in one run:

• Search YouTube by keyword, with YouTube's own filters: upload date (last hour to this year), type (videos, Shorts, channels, playlists, movies), length (under 4, 4 to 20, over 20 minutes) and sort by relevance or view count. Each row keeps its searchQuery and position.
• Scrape a channel: its Videos, Shorts or Live tab, newest, most popular or oldest first, by @handle, channel link or channel ID.
• Get a channel profile: one row with the About data: description, subscribers, total videos, total views, join date, country and the links the creator lists.
• Scrape a playlist by link or ID, in playlist order.
• Look up single videos or Shorts by link or video ID.

It reads video and channel metadata only. It does not collect comments, commenter names, e-mail addresses or any other data about individual viewers.

Use cases

• Replace the YouTube Data API. Get search results, channel uploads, playlist items and video statistics without an API key, quota units or a Google Cloud project. A 10,000-video job that would eat a day of API quota is one run here.
• Channel monitoring. Schedule a run on your own or competitors' channels (Latest order) and get every new upload with views, likes and comment counts; compare channels by subscribers and output.
• Search and SEO research. See which videos rank for a keyword, in which position, how old they are and how many views they get; filter by upload date to catch new content, or sort by views to find the evergreen hits.
• Shorts research. Pull a channel's Shorts tab or search Shorts only, with exact views, likes and upload dates.
• Playlists and courses. Export a playlist in order, with each video's length, views and upload date.
• Live streams. List a channel's past and current streams, see which ones are live right now (isLive) and which were streamed (wasLive).
• Influencer and creator research. Profile rows give subscribers, total views, total videos, join date, country and the creator's listed links for a shortlist of channels.
• Datasets for analytics and AI. Titles, descriptions, hashtags, durations and engagement numbers for thousands of videos, ready for a spreadsheet, a BI tool or a model.
• Tools for AI agents. Give an agent YouTube search and video lookup through the Apify MCP server, without an API key.
• Automation. Send results to Google Sheets, Airtable, Supabase, Slack or a CRM with Make, n8n or Zapier, or read them from the Apify API.

Why use YouTube Scraper?

• Cheap. $1 per 1,000 results plus $0.005 per run, Apify platform usage included, with no extra charge for video details, filters or channel profiles.
• Fast. No browser. The default run finishes in well under a minute on Apify (10 to 40 seconds in our tests); a run with 3 search terms, 2 channels and 1 playlist saved 583 fully detailed videos in under 4 minutes.
• Complete rows by default. Search, channel and playlist rows are opened one by one to add exact views, likes, comment count, upload date, full description, hashtags and the channel's subscribers (switch Include video details off for list data only).
• Honest results. Every row carries status (ok, not_found, error). A deleted video, an unknown @handle or a missing playlist is a free not_found row, and the run still ends successfully.
• Built for agents and automation. Call it with no input and it returns data; paste links, @handles or bare IDs; schedule it, call it from the API or connect it to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier or Make.

What data can YouTube Scraper extract?

Field	Type	Description
type	string	video, short, channel or playlist
source	string	How the row was found: search, channel, playlist or video (a link or ID you gave)
title	string	Video, channel or playlist title
videoId	string	YouTube video ID
url	string	Link to the video, Short, channel or playlist
channelName	string	Channel name
channelId	string	Channel ID (UC...)
channelHandle	string	Channel @handle
channelUrl	string	Channel link
channelVerified	boolean	Channel shows a verified badge
subscriberCount	integer	Channel subscribers as YouTube shows them (YouTube rounds, e.g. 15.1M)
viewCount	integer	Views (exact with video details)
likeCount	integer	Likes (exact, with video details)
commentCount	integer	Comments as YouTube shows them (with video details)
duration	string	Length as shown, e.g. 13:38
durationSeconds	integer	Length in seconds
publishedAt	string	Upload date YYYY-MM-DD (with video details, and for single videos)
publishedTimeText	string	Relative time as shown, e.g. 3 days ago, Streamed 5 months ago
description	string	Full description with video details (a search snippet without); personal email addresses and phone numbers in it read [email] / [phone]
hashtags	array	Hashtags above the title and in the description
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image
isShort	boolean	The video is a Short
isLive	boolean	Live right now
wasLive	boolean	A past live stream
isUpcoming	boolean	A scheduled live stream or premiere that has not started (isLive and wasLive are then false)
isMembersOnly	boolean	YouTube marks the video Members only
commentsTurnedOff	boolean	The creator turned comments off (with video details; left out when the page does not say)
isAgeRestricted	boolean	The logged-out watch page is age-gated (with video details; see Limitations)
descriptionLinks	array	Every link in the description as { url, text } with the full target URL (with video details)
searchQuery	string	The search term that found the row
position	integer	1-based position in the search, channel list or playlist
inputUrl	string	The link, @handle or ID you gave
status	string	ok, not_found or error (see below)
error	string	Reason when status is not ok
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 time of extraction

Channel profile rows (type: channel) add videoCount, channelViewCount, joinedDate, country, links (title and URL of each link on the About panel), avatarUrl and bannerUrl. Channel search results (type: channel, source: search) carry the channel's name, handle, subscribers, description snippet and avatar. Playlist search results (type: playlist) carry playlistId and videoCount. detailsError appears only when the extra video-details request failed; the row then keeps its list data. Optional fields are left out when YouTube does not show them.

Result status (tri-state output)

status	Meaning	Billed?
ok	The video, channel or playlist was found and extracted.	Yes
not_found	YouTube answered, but the video, @handle, channel tab or playlist does not exist, or a search has no results.	No
error	YouTube could not be read after retries. error says why.	No

How to scrape YouTube with YouTube Scraper

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and click Try for free.
2. Paste links, @handles or IDs into YouTube URLs, handles or IDs, and/or type keywords into Search terms.
3. Set Max results per search, channel or playlist and Maximum results (total). Start with the defaults to see the output.
4. Optional: pick search filters (upload date, type, length, sort, features such as 4K or subtitles), the channel tab (Videos, Shorts, Live, About), the channel order (Latest, Popular, Oldest), a date limit for channels and extra Shorts / live-stream caps.
5. Click Start. The default run takes well under a minute.
6. Open the Output tab or Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML.

To automate it, use the API tab (Node.js, Python, curl examples) or add a Schedule.

Which input finds what

You give	You get
web scraping tutorial in Search terms	The top videos for that keyword, with searchQuery and position
https://www.youtube.com/@TED, @TED, UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug	TED's videos (or Shorts / Live with Channel tab)
https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/shorts	That channel's Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/streams	That channel's past, current and scheduled live streams
https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/about or Channel tab about	One channel profile row
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL... or PL...	The playlist's videos in order
https://youtu.be/..., a bare 11-character video ID, a /shorts/ or /live/ link	That one video with full details
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=...	The same search, including the filters in its sp= parameter

m.youtube.com and music.youtube.com links work too.

Input examples

Every field is optional; a call with no input scrapes the built-in example channel. One example per mode:

Search (newest videos for a keyword, this month, sorted by views):

{
    "searchQueries": ["web scraping tutorial", "python web scraping"],
    "uploadDate": "month",
    "sortBy": "views",
    "maxResultsPerSource": 50,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Channel uploads (a channel's 100 most popular videos):

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"],
    "channelSort": "popular",
    "maxResultsPerSource": 100,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Shorts (a channel's latest Shorts, plus Shorts from a search):

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/shorts"],
    "searchQueries": ["space facts"],
    "searchType": "shorts",
    "maxResultsPerSource": 30,
    "maxItems": 60
}

Live streams (a channel's past, current and scheduled streams):

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"],
    "channelTab": "streams",
    "maxResultsPerSource": 20,
    "maxItems": 20
}

Playlist (every video in order):

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKjhJtqVAbnqBxcdjVGgT3uVR10bzTEB"],
    "maxResultsPerSource": 500,
    "maxItems": 500
}

Single videos (links or IDs, one row each):

{
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6XX8FHOHM", "https://youtu.be/HGOBQPFzWKo", "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-62C9R_41Sc"],
    "maxItems": 10
}

Channel profiles (one About row per channel, no videos):

{
    "startUrls": ["@NASA", "@TED", "@freecodecamp"],
    "channelTab": "about",
    "maxItems": 3
}

AI agents (one search string, nothing else):

{ "query": "artemis moon launch", "maxItems": 10 }

Input fields

See the Input tab for the full schema. The main options:

Field	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	array of strings	["https://www.youtube.com/@TED"]	Video, Short, channel, @handle, playlist or search-result links, or bare IDs
searchQueries	array of strings	-	Keywords to search
maxResultsPerSource	integer	10	Cap per search term, channel and playlist (up to 5,000)
maxItems	integer	20	Cap for the whole run
includeVideoDetails	boolean	true	Open each video for exact views, likes, comments, date, description, hashtags
includeChannelInfo	boolean	false	Add one channel profile row per channel
channelTab	string	videos	videos, shorts, streams or about
channelSort	string	newest	newest, popular or oldest
searchType	string	video	video, shorts, channel, playlist, movie or all
uploadDate	string	any	hour, today, week, month, year
videoDuration	string	any	short (under 4 min), medium (4 to 20), long (over 20)
sortBy	string	relevance	relevance or views
searchFeatures	array of strings	-	Only results with all these features: live, 4k, hd, subtitles, creativeCommons, 360, vr180, hdr, location
oldestPostDate	string	-	Channel runs: only items published on or after this date, e.g. 2026-01-31 or 30 days
maxShorts	integer	-	Channel runs: also read this many Shorts per channel (caps the Shorts tab when it is the chosen tab)
maxStreams	integer	-	Channel runs: also read this many Live-tab items per channel (caps the Live tab when it is the chosen tab)
query	string	-	A single search term (same as one entry in searchQueries)
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy on (datacenter)	Residential proxies are not needed

The search filters apply to Search terms and to youtube.com/results links without their own sp= filter. If you call the Actor with search terms only, the built-in example channel is skipped.

Output

You can download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it from the API. Real rows from a run on 2026-10-16, one per row type (descriptions and thumbnail links shortened):

Video from a search (source: search):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6XX8FHOHM",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:40:27.967Z",
    "type": "video",
    "source": "search",
    "searchQuery": "nasa artemis",
    "position": 2,
    "title": "Artemis II to the Moon: Launch to Splashdown (NASA Mission Animation)",
    "videoId": "Ke6XX8FHOHM",
    "channelName": "NASA",
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "channelHandle": "@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "subscriberCount": 15100000,
    "viewCount": 2865942,
    "likeCount": 37322,
    "duration": "7:45",
    "durationSeconds": 465,
    "publishedAt": "2025-02-10",
    "publishedTimeText": "1 year ago",
    "isLive": false,
    "wasLive": false,
    "isShort": false,
    "description": "The Artemis II mission, slated to launch early 2026, will fly four astronauts around the Moon. This mission wi ...",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ke6XX8FHOHM/hqdefault.jpg"
}

Video from a playlist (source: playlist; channel videos look the same with source: channel):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGOBQPFzWKo",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:33:11.944Z",
    "type": "video",
    "source": "playlist",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKjhJtqVAbnqBxcdjVGgT3uVR10bzTEB",
    "position": 2,
    "title": "Intermediate Python Programming Course",
    "videoId": "HGOBQPFzWKo",
    "channelName": "freeCodeCamp.org",
    "channelId": "UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ",
    "channelHandle": "@freecodecamp",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "subscriberCount": 11900000,
    "viewCount": 4530932,
    "likeCount": 92866,
    "commentCount": 2000,
    "duration": "5:55:47",
    "durationSeconds": 21347,
    "publishedAt": "2020-08-27",
    "publishedTimeText": "6 years ago",
    "isLive": false,
    "wasLive": false,
    "isShort": false,
    "description": "Take your Python skills to the next level with this intermediate Python course. First, you ...",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HGOBQPFzWKo/hqdefault.jpg"
}

Short (type: short, from a channel's Shorts tab):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-62C9R_41Sc",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:35:44.528Z",
    "type": "short",
    "source": "channel",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/shorts",
    "position": 1,
    "title": "From the Moon to the 50-Yard Line",
    "videoId": "-62C9R_41Sc",
    "channelName": "NASA",
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "channelHandle": "@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "subscriberCount": 15100000,
    "viewCount": 46003,
    "likeCount": 858,
    "publishedAt": "2026-10-05",
    "publishedTimeText": "10 days ago",
    "isShort": true,
    "isLive": false,
    "wasLive": false,
    "description": "From the Moon to the 50-yard line. ...",
    "hashtags": ["#FlyEaglesFly", "#ArtemisII", "#MoonJoy"],
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-62C9R_41Sc/hqdefault.jpg"
}

Live stream (a past stream from a channel's Live tab; a stream that is on air right now has isLive: true and no viewCount, because YouTube shows current viewers instead):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivng4U5xeYM",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:40:27.852Z",
    "type": "video",
    "source": "channel",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/streams",
    "position": 4,
    "title": "NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Postflight News Conference (Oct. 15, 2026)",
    "videoId": "ivng4U5xeYM",
    "channelName": "NASA",
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "channelHandle": "@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "subscriberCount": 15100000,
    "viewCount": 52470,
    "likeCount": 820,
    "duration": "39:56",
    "durationSeconds": 2396,
    "publishedTimeText": "Streamed 17 hours ago",
    "isLive": false,
    "wasLive": true,
    "isShort": false,
    "description": "After spending over seven months in space, members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 will discuss their mission aboard ...",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ivng4U5xeYM/hqdefault.jpg"
}

Single video lookup (source: video, from a link or ID you gave):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6XX8FHOHM",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:42:28.285Z",
    "type": "video",
    "source": "video",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6XX8FHOHM",
    "position": 1,
    "title": "Artemis II to the Moon: Launch to Splashdown (NASA Mission Animation)",
    "videoId": "Ke6XX8FHOHM",
    "channelName": "NASA",
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "channelHandle": "@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "subscriberCount": 15100000,
    "viewCount": 2865943,
    "likeCount": 37322,
    "publishedAt": "2025-02-10",
    "publishedTimeText": "1 year ago",
    "isLive": false,
    "wasLive": false,
    "description": "The Artemis II mission, slated to launch early 2026, will fly four astronauts around the Moon. This mission wi ...",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ke6XX8FHOHM/hqdefault.jpg"
}

Channel profile (type: channel, from Channel tab about or Add one channel profile row per channel):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:33:11.656Z",
    "type": "channel",
    "source": "channel",
    "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA/about",
    "position": 1,
    "title": "NASA",
    "channelName": "NASA",
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "channelHandle": "@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelVerified": true,
    "description": "NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and ae ...",
    "subscriberCount": 15100000,
    "videoCount": 6191,
    "channelViewCount": 1128867209,
    "joinedDate": "2008-06-03",
    "links": [
        { "title": "nasa.gov", "url": "https://www.nasa.gov" },
        { "title": "X", "url": "https://x.com/nasa" }
    ],
    "avatarUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/eIf5fNPcIcj9...=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
    "bannerUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/y8Srh-oCcilL...=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-nd-rj"
}

Channel from a search (searchType: channel):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceAgency",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:35:13.899Z",
    "type": "channel",
    "source": "search",
    "searchQuery": "space agency",
    "position": 1,
    "title": "Space.Agency",
    "channelName": "Space.Agency",
    "channelId": "UCR1qqnuREBQ5zCgUbuWdfsQ",
    "channelHandle": "@SpaceAgency",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceAgency",
    "subscriberCount": 53600,
    "description": "Space.Agency is a marketplace of commercial space companies, products and services. ...",
    "avatarUrl": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/PCzuZSg3l8Ul...=s176-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj-mo"
}

Playlist from a search (searchType: playlist):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKjhJtqVAbnqBxcdjVGgT3uVR10bzTEB",
    "status": "ok",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:27:27.049Z",
    "type": "playlist",
    "source": "search",
    "searchQuery": "python tutorial",
    "position": 2,
    "title": "Python Tutorials",
    "playlistId": "PLWKjhJtqVAbnqBxcdjVGgT3uVR10bzTEB",
    "channelName": "freeCodeCamp.org",
    "channelId": "UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ",
    "channelHandle": "@freecodecamp",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp",
    "videoCount": 12,
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eWRfhZUzrAc/hq720.jpg?sqp=..."
}

Not found (an unknown @handle; free, and the run still succeeds):

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/youtubei/v1/navigation/resolve_url?prettyPrint=false&ytk=resolve&ytin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40thisdoesnotexist12345xyz&yto=0&ytl=2",
    "status": "not_found",
    "error": "HTTP 404: page does not exist",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:33:11.353Z"
}

For not_found and error rows, url is the request that answered, with the link you gave inside it.

How much does it cost to scrape YouTube?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing, with Apify platform usage and proxies included:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.005 per run (at the default 1 GB memory)
Result (status: ok row: a video, Short, channel or playlist)	$0.001 per result

What typical jobs cost:

Job	Results	Cost
Default run (try it)	20	$0.025
Top 100 videos for one keyword	100	$0.105
A channel's 1,000 latest videos	1,000	$1.005
50 channel profiles	50	$0.055
10,000 videos from many searches and channels in one run	10,000	$10.005
Daily check of 10 channels, 20 newest videos each, for 30 days	6,000	about $6.15

Rows with status not_found or error are never billed, and video details, filters and channel profiles cost nothing extra. The free Apify plan's monthly credit covers a few thousand videos. You can cap spending per run with Maximum results and in the run's Max total charge option; the Actor stops cleanly when the limit is reached. The start fee is per GB of memory, so keep the default 1 GB (the Actor does not need more).

Use the YouTube Scraper API

Every run is available through the Apify API. Get your token from Settings > API & Integrations in Apify Console.

JavaScript / Node.js (npm install apify-client):

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('glasswing/youtube-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['web scraping tutorial'],
    uploadDate: 'month',
    maxResultsPerSource: 50,
    maxItems: 50,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
for (const video of items.filter((row) => row.status === 'ok')) {
    console.log(video.title, video.viewCount, video.url);
}

Python (pip install apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("glasswing/youtube-scraper").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"],
    "channelSort": "newest",
    "maxResultsPerSource": 50,
    "maxItems": 50,
})

for video in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    if video["status"] == "ok":
        print(video["title"], video.get("viewCount"), video["url"])

One HTTP call (runs the Actor and returns the rows, for runs under 5 minutes):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/glasswing~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "artemis moon launch", "maxItems": 10}'

AI agents and MCP. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client through the Apify MCP server at https://mcp.apify.com?tools=glasswing/youtube-scraper. The agent can call it with a single query string or a list of links; every row says whether it is real data (ok), missing (not_found) or a failure (error), so the agent never mistakes an empty result for a broken tool.

Export and join

Export 10,000+ videos in one run. Put all your search terms, channels and playlists into one input, set Max results per search, channel or playlist (up to 5,000) and Maximum results to the total you want, and start one run. A 10,000-video export costs $10.005 and pays the start fee once. When it finishes, download the dataset as CSV, Excel, JSON, JSONL, XML or HTML from the run's Output tab, or page through it with the API:

# CSV with only the columns you need, 1,000 rows per page (raise offset for the next page)
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?format=csv&clean=true&fields=videoId,title,channelId,channelName,viewCount,likeCount,commentCount,durationSeconds,publishedAt,status&limit=1000&offset=0&token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"

Keys for joining rows. Every row carries stable YouTube IDs, so you can merge runs and tables without matching on titles:

Key	Use it to
videoId	Deduplicate (the same video can come back from a search and from a channel in one run), join daily snapshots to track views and likes over time, and join to the comments and transcript Actors below.
channelId	Join videos to their channel profile rows (type: channel, from Add one channel profile row per channel) for subscribers, total views and country.
searchQuery + position	Track where a video ranks for a keyword from run to run.
scrapedAt	Tell snapshots apart when you append scheduled runs to one table.

Join with comments or transcripts. Both Actors accept bare video IDs and return videoId on every row:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("glasswing/youtube-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["home espresso machine review"],
    "maxResultsPerSource": 200,
    "maxItems": 200,
})
videos = [v for v in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items() if v["status"] == "ok"]
ids = list(dict.fromkeys(v["videoId"] for v in videos))  # deduplicated, order kept

t_run = client.actor("glasswing/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={"startUrls": ids[:50]})
transcripts = {row["videoId"]: row for row in client.dataset(t_run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items()}

for v in videos[:50]:
    print(v["videoId"], v["viewCount"], v["videoId"] in transcripts)

In a spreadsheet, the same join is one lookup on the videoId column (XLOOKUP in Excel, VLOOKUP in Google Sheets). Filter on status = ok first: not_found and error rows are free and carry no video data.

Tips

• Keep maxItems small while testing, then raise it.
• Put many search terms, channels and playlists into one run instead of many single runs; you pay the start fee once.
• Switch Include video details off when you only need titles, links, durations and rounded view counts: runs need one request per 20 videos instead of one per video (the price stays the same).
• For a channel's most viewed videos use Channel sort order: Popular; for new uploads keep Latest and schedule the run.
• Need only 4K, HD, subtitled, Creative Commons, live, 360°, VR180, HDR or geotagged results? Pick them under Features (searchFeatures). For any other filter combination, apply it on youtube.com, copy the results page link and paste it into YouTube URLs: its sp= filter is kept.
• Monitoring channels? Set Only items published since (oldestPostDate, e.g. 7 days) with Latest order: each channel's list stops at the first older video, so a scheduled run only pays for new uploads.
• Want a channel's videos, Shorts and streams in one run? Keep Channel tab on Videos and set Max Shorts per channel and Max live streams per channel.

Limitations

• Video tags (keywords), category and captions/transcripts are not included: YouTube only serves them to its video player, which refuses requests from cloud servers.
• Comments and commenter data are not collected.
• subscriberCount and commentCount are YouTube's rounded figures (e.g. 15.1M, 2K); likes and views are exact with video details on.
• Shorts rows usually have no duration: YouTube's Shorts lists do not carry it. Single video lookups get it from YouTube's search when the video page does not show it (one extra request, same price); a video that search does not find yet keeps the row without duration.
• A video credited to several channels at once ("Channel A and Channel B") reports the first, main channel in the channel fields.
• Without video details, channel and playlist rows carry YouTube's rounded view counts and a relative upload time only; search rows carry exact views.
• Live streams that are on air have no viewCount. Scheduled streams and premieres have isUpcoming: true and no viewCount; with video details publishedAt is then the scheduled date. For a stream that ended a few hours ago YouTube shows only "Streamed 7 hours ago", so publishedAt is computed from that (UTC date).
• oldestPostDate works from YouTube's relative upload times in channel lists ("3 weeks ago"), which YouTube rounds down, so a few items from just before the date can remain; filter on publishedAt (with video details) for an exact cut. Shorts lists carry no upload time and are not filtered by date.
• YouTube search returns a few hundred results per keyword at most; use several related keywords for more. Each channel or playlist is capped at 5,000 rows per run.
• Private videos are not available. Age-restricted and members-only videos come back with their public page data only, flagged by isAgeRestricted and isMembersOnly. YouTube sends no explicit age-gate flag to logged-out visitors; isAgeRestricted is true when the watch page shows neither recommendations nor a comment section, which is how YouTube serves age-gated videos.
• When YouTube changes its pages, rows come back as error and the Actor is updated quickly (report it in the Issues tab).

FAQ

Do I need a YouTube API key or a Google account?

No. There is no API key, no OAuth, no Google Cloud project and no login. The Actor reads the public data youtube.com shows to any logged-out visitor.

Is there a quota like the YouTube Data API?

No. The YouTube Data API gives a project 10,000 quota units per day and charges 100 units per search call. This Actor has no daily quota; you pay per result and set your own limits with Maximum results.

How many videos can I scrape?

Up to 5,000 per channel or playlist per run, and as many channels, playlists and search terms per run as you like. YouTube itself stops a single keyword search after a few hundred results.

Which fields do I get, and which not?

Title, IDs, links, channel, subscribers, views, likes, comment count, duration, upload date, description with its full links, hashtags, thumbnail, and live/upcoming/Short/members-only/age-restricted/comments-off flags for videos; About data for channels. Not included: tags, category, captions, comments and dislikes (YouTube no longer shows dislikes).

How fresh is the data?

Live. Every run reads YouTube at that moment; nothing is cached. scrapedAt shows when each row was read. Schedule the Actor to track changes over time.

Is it legal to scrape YouTube?

Scraping publicly available data is generally legal, but you are responsible for how you use the output. Read the legal notice below and YouTube's terms of service, and do not collect personal data without a legitimate reason.

How do I get a channel's most popular videos?

Paste the channel link or @handle, set Channel sort order to Popular and Max results per search, channel or playlist to the number you want.

How do I get a channel's subscribers, total views and links?

Turn on Add one channel profile row per channel, or set Channel tab to About for the profile row only.

Can it scrape Shorts and live streams?

Yes: a channel's Shorts tab (a /shorts channel link or Channel tab: Shorts), Shorts in search (Search result type: Shorts), single /shorts/ links, and a channel's Live tab (a /streams channel link or Channel tab: Live). To get a channel's videos, Shorts and streams in one run, set Max Shorts per channel and Max live streams per channel. Scheduled streams are marked isUpcoming.

Why is a row not_found?

The video was removed or made private, the @handle does not exist, the channel has no Shorts or Live tab, or the search had no results. not_found rows are free.

Do I need proxies?

No setup needed. Apify's datacenter proxy is on by default and included in the price; residential proxies are not needed.

Can I use this Actor from an AI agent or MCP client?

Yes. Every row is self-describing (status + error), inputs are plain strings, links, @handles or IDs, and a call with no input returns data. Connect it through the Apify MCP server (see Use the YouTube Scraper API above) or read results through the dataset API.

Why did I get fewer rows than maxItems?

Each search term, channel and playlist stops at Max results per search, channel or playlist, a search can run out of results, or the run hit your Max total charge limit.

Related Actors

• Google Trends Scraper - use it to see whether a topic is rising before you research the videos that rank for it.
• Keyword Suggestions API - use it to expand one seed keyword into hundreds of long-tail searches to run through YouTube Scraper.
• Google News Scraper - use it to read the news coverage behind a trending video topic.
• Pinterest Scraper - use it to compare the same topic's pins and boards with its YouTube videos.
• Substack Scraper - use it to follow creators who publish both newsletters and videos.
• Telegram Channel Scraper - use it to monitor public Telegram channels next to the YouTube channels you track.
• YouTube Transcript Scraper - use it to pull the full captions of the videos you find, as timed segments or plain text.
• YouTube Comments Scraper - use it to read what viewers say under the videos, with likes and reply threads.

Legal and data-protection notice

This Actor extracts only data that YouTube publishes publicly to logged-out visitors; it does not extract private user data such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers, gender or precise location, it does not collect comments or commenter names, and it does not log in or get around access controls. Channel names, @handles and the links a creator lists on their channel are public business information, but your results could still 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 are unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's terms of service and applicable law when using the extracted data.

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube, Google or their owners. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.