YouTube Transcript Scraper & Captions
Pricing
from $3.00 / 1,000 video scrapeds
YouTube transcript scraper and transcript API alternative for public videos, channels, and searches. Export captions, subtitles, timestamped segments, metadata, comments, AI chapters, and MCP connector summaries.
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.
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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). 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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" }, "outputConnectors": { "title": "MCP Output Connectors", "maxItems": 5, "uniqueItems": true, "type": "array", "description": "Optional MCP connectors for transcript and video summaries. Choose Slack, Notion, GitHub, Sheets, CRM, or another compatible connector. At the end of the run, the actor sends a compact video/transcript summary plus structured payload through each connector. Connector failures never fail the scrape. Billed at $0.002 per successful connector dispatch." }, "connectorAlertTarget": { "title": "Connector Target", "type": "string", "description": "Optional connector destination such as a Slack channel, Notion database ID, sheet name, table, or CRM list. Leave empty when the selected connector already has a default target." }, "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 } } } } } } } } }}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. 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