Pricing

from $0.003 / video scraped

YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions

YouTube transcript scraper and transcript API alternative for public videos, channels, and searches. Export captions, subtitles, timestamped segments, metadata, comments, and optional AI chapters. No YouTube API key required.

Pricing

from $0.003 / video scraped

Rating

0.0

(0)

Developer

Nick

Actor stats

Bookmarked

Total users

Monthly active users

6 days ago

Last modified

Categories

Social media

MCP servers

You can access the YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions programmatically from your own applications by using the Apify API. You can also choose the language preference from below. To use the Apify API, you’ll need an Apify account and your API token, found in Integrations settings in Apify Console.

Python

JavaScript

CLI

OpenAPI

HTTP

MCP

{
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    "/acts/harvestlab~youtube-scraper/runs": {
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  "components": {
    "schemas": {
      "inputSchema": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "mode": {
            "title": "Scraping Mode",
            "enum": [
              "transcript",
              "video",
              "channel",
              "search"
            ],
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Choose the type of YouTube content to scrape. Transcript Export is the fastest first-run path for RAG-ready transcript text and timestamped segments from video URLs.",
            "default": "transcript"
          },
          "channelUrls": {
            "title": "Channel URLs",
            "type": "array",
            "description": "YouTube channel URLs (used in 'channel' mode). Supported formats: https://youtube.com/@handle (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast), https://youtube.com/channel/UCxxx, or https://youtube.com/c/CustomName.",
            "items": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "channelUrl": {
            "title": "Channel URL (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for channelUrls (single-URL form). Hidden from Console form; exposed so `apify call -i '{\"channelUrl\":\"...\"}'` works consistently across the portfolio."
          },
          "searchQuery": {
            "title": "Search Query",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Search term to find videos on YouTube (e.g. 'AI tutorials', 'machine learning 2026', 'python crash course'). Used in 'search' mode."
          },
          "query": {
            "title": "Search Query (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for searchQuery. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "q": {
            "title": "Search Query (short CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Short CLI alias for searchQuery. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "search": {
            "title": "Search Query (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for searchQuery. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "keyword": {
            "title": "Search Keyword (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for searchQuery. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "searchTerm": {
            "title": "Search Term (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for searchQuery. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "videoUrls": {
            "title": "Video URLs",
            "type": "array",
            "description": "YouTube video URLs to fetch details or transcripts for (used in 'transcript' and 'video' modes). Supported formats: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID, https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID.",
            "items": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "videoUrl": {
            "title": "Video URL (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for videoUrls (single-URL form). Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "url": {
            "title": "URL (CLI alias)",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CLI alias for videoUrls (single-URL form). Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "maxVideos": {
            "title": "Max Videos per Channel",
            "minimum": 1,
            "maximum": 100,
            "type": "integer",
            "description": "Maximum number of videos to scrape per channel (in 'channel' mode) or total search results (in 'search' mode). Range: 1-100.",
            "default": 10
          },
          "maxItems": {
            "title": "Max Items (CLI alias)",
            "minimum": 1,
            "maximum": 100,
            "type": "integer",
            "description": "CLI alias for maxVideos. Hidden from Console form."
          },
          "includeComments": {
            "title": "Include Comments",
            "type": "boolean",
            "description": "Scrape top comments for each video. Adds ~2-3 seconds per video and requires extra HTML parsing. Disable for faster runs.",
            "default": false
          },
          "maxCommentsPerVideo": {
            "title": "Max Comments per Video",
            "minimum": 1,
            "maximum": 50,
            "type": "integer",
            "description": "Maximum number of top-level comments to scrape per video (only used when Include Comments is enabled). Range: 1-50.",
            "default": 10
          },
          "includeTranscripts": {
            "title": "Include Transcripts",
            "type": "boolean",
            "description": "Download video subtitles/transcripts via YouTube's timedtext endpoint. Prefers human-uploaded captions; falls back to auto-generated (ASR). When enabled alongside AI analysis, the AI report switches to transcript-aware theme extraction (actual spoken topics, not just titles). Adds ~1-2 seconds per video and a separate $0.005 charge per transcript retrieved. Disabled by default.",
            "default": false
          },
          "transcriptLanguages": {
            "title": "Transcript Languages",
            "type": "array",
            "description": "Preferred transcript language codes in priority order (e.g. ['en', 'es']). YouTube has hundreds of ASR languages; specify a short list to match your content. If none match, the first available track is returned. Only used when 'Include Transcripts' is enabled.",
            "default": [
              "en"
            ],
            "items": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "generateChapters": {
            "title": "Generate AI Chapters",
            "type": "boolean",
            "description": "Auto-segment each video's transcript into 3-8 chapters with titles, summaries, and start/end timestamps - useful for podcasters and long-form creators who want searchable timestamps without writing them manually, or agencies re-packaging long-form content into clips. Requires 'Include Transcripts' AND an LLM API key. Each chapter-set costs $0.01 per video (only charged when chapters are successfully generated). Disabled by default.",
            "default": false
          },
          "sortVideosBy": {
            "title": "Sort Videos By",
            "enum": [
              "popular",
              "newest",
              "oldest"
            ],
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Order for channel videos: 'Most Popular' (highest view count), 'Newest First' (recent uploads), or 'Oldest First' (channel's earliest uploads).",
            "default": "popular"
          },
          "enableAiAnalysis": {
            "title": "Enable AI Analysis",
            "type": "boolean",
            "description": "Generate AI-powered channel or content analysis with growth strategy insights, audience patterns, and content recommendations. Requires an LLM API key.",
            "default": false
          },
          "llmProvider": {
            "title": "LLM Provider",
            "enum": [
              "openrouter",
              "anthropic",
              "google",
              "openai",
              "ollama"
            ],
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Which AI provider to use for analysis. OpenRouter is the cheapest option.",
            "default": "openrouter"
          },
          "llmModel": {
            "title": "LLM Model",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Specific model to use. Leave empty for the provider default (google/gemini-2.0-flash-001 for OpenRouter, claude-sonnet-4-20250514 for Anthropic, gemini-2.0-flash for Google AI, gpt-4o-mini for OpenAI, llama3.1 for Ollama)."
          },
          "openrouterApiKey": {
            "title": "OpenRouter API Key",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Your OpenRouter API key. Get one free at https://openrouter.ai/keys. Required if using OpenRouter as the LLM provider. Alternatively set OPENROUTER_API_KEY env var."
          },
          "anthropicApiKey": {
            "title": "Anthropic API Key",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Your Anthropic API key. Get one at https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys. Required if using Anthropic as the LLM provider. Alternatively set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var."
          },
          "googleApiKey": {
            "title": "Google AI API Key",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "API key for Google AI (Gemini). Get one at https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey. Required if using Google AI as the LLM provider. Alternatively set GOOGLE_API_KEY env var."
          },
          "openaiApiKey": {
            "title": "OpenAI API Key",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "API key from https://platform.openai.com/api-keys. Required if using OpenAI as the LLM provider. Alternatively set OPENAI_API_KEY env var."
          },
          "ollamaBaseUrl": {
            "title": "Ollama Base URL",
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Base URL for Ollama API. Default: http://localhost:11434"
          },
          "proxyConfiguration": {
            "title": "Proxy Configuration",
            "type": "object",
            "description": "Proxy settings. YouTube rate-limits datacenter IPs at scale - Apify residential proxy is recommended for runs scraping many channels or videos."
          }
        }
      },
      "runsResponseSchema": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "data": {
            "type": "object",
            "properties": {
              "id": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "actId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "userId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "startedAt": {
                "type": "string",
                "format": "date-time",
                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
              },
              "finishedAt": {
                "type": "string",
                "format": "date-time",
                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
              },
              "status": {
                "type": "string",
                "example": "READY"
              },
              "meta": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                  "origin": {
                    "type": "string",
                    "example": "API"
                  },
                  "userAgent": {
                    "type": "string"
                  }
                }
              },
              "stats": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                  "inputBodyLen": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 2000
                  },
                  "rebootCount": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "restartCount": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "resurrectCount": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "computeUnits": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  }
                }
              },
              "options": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                  "build": {
                    "type": "string",
                    "example": "latest"
                  },
                  "timeoutSecs": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 300
                  },
                  "memoryMbytes": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 1024
                  },
                  "diskMbytes": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 2048
                  }
                }
              },
              "buildId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "defaultDatasetId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "buildNumber": {
                "type": "string",
                "example": "1.0.0"
              },
              "containerUrl": {
                "type": "string"
              },
              "usage": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                  "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATASET_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATASET_WRITES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 1
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "PROXY_SERPS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  }
                }
              },
              "usageTotalUsd": {
                "type": "number",
                "example": 0.00005
              },
              "usageUsd": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                  "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATASET_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATASET_WRITES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                    "type": "number",
                    "example": 0.00005
                  },
                  "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  },
                  "PROXY_SERPS": {
                    "type": "integer",
                    "example": 0
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

YouTube Transcript Scraper API Alternative OpenAPI definition

OpenAPI is a standard for designing and describing RESTful APIs, allowing developers to define API structure, endpoints, and data formats in a machine-readable way. It simplifies API development, integration, and documentation.

OpenAPI is effective when used with AI agents and GPTs by standardizing how these systems interact with various APIs, for reliable integrations and efficient communication.

By defining machine-readable API specifications, OpenAPI allows AI models like GPTs to understand and use varied data sources, improving accuracy. This accelerates development, reduces errors, and provides context-aware responses, making OpenAPI a core component for AI applications.

You can download the OpenAPI definitions for YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions from the options below:

OpenAPI.json

If you’d like to learn more about how OpenAPI powers GPTs, read our blog post.

You can also check out our other API clients:

YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions API in Python

YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions API in JavaScript

YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions API through CLI

YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions API

YouTube Transcript Scraper API | Captions & Subtitles

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Extract YouTube transcripts, captions, subtitles, and timestamped transcript segments from YouTube URLs, Shorts, or video IDs. No YouTube API key required. Residential proxy enabled. Use from Apify Console or API.

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scrapium/youtube-transcript-scraper

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Youtube Transcript Scraper

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ScraperForge

YouTube Transcript Scraper

thescrappa/youtube-transcript-scraper

Extract YouTube transcript segments and full transcript text by video ID.

Scrappa

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devscrapper/youtube-transcript-scraper

YouTube Transcript Scraper – Fast, Clean & Reliable

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naz_here/youtube-transcript-scraper

Cheap, Reliable and best YouTube transcript scraper.

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176

3.4

YouTube Transcripts Subtitles Captions Extractor. ⚡

lume/yt-transcripts

YouTube transcript extractor, subtitle downloader, captions scraper, and video transcript crawler. Extract, download, and save YouTube video transcripts, subtitles, and captions for one or many Youtube Videos.