# YouTube Channel Scraper: Stats, Videos & Shorts (`inimi/youtube-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube channels: subscribers, total views, video count, country, joined date, links and description, plus their latest videos, Shorts and live streams with views and dates. Fast, cheap, no API key.

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

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 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 Channel Scraper: Stats, Videos & Shorts

Scrape **YouTube channel data**: subscribers, total views, number of videos, country, joined date, description, external links, plus the channel's **latest videos, Shorts and live streams** with views and dates.

No browser and no YouTube API key. Fast, cheap, and proxies are included in the price.

### What can you use it for?

- **Influencer marketing**: vet creators by subscribers, total views, country and posting frequency.
- **Competitor analysis**: track how fast competitor channels grow and what they publish.
- **Lead generation**: collect channel links (websites, socials, stores) from the About section.
- **Market research**: compare many channels in a niche at once.
- **Monitoring**: schedule daily runs to log subscriber and view growth over time.

### Features

| | |
|---|---|
| Inputs | Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs |
| Channel profile | Name, handle, ID, URL, description, subscribers (number + text), total views, video count, country, joined date, links, keywords, avatar, RSS feed |
| Videos | Latest videos: title, URL, views, duration, published time, thumbnail |
| Shorts | Latest Shorts: title, URL, views, thumbnail |
| Live streams | Past and current streams with views and dates |
| Limits | Max items per tab, max total cost per run |

### How to use

1. Add channels: `@mkbhd`, `https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown` or `UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw`.
2. Choose whether to include **videos**, **Shorts** and **live streams**, and how many per channel.
3. Click **Start**. Each channel gives one `type: "channel"` row, followed by its video rows.

### Input example

```json
{
    "channels": ["@mkbhd", "@3blue1brown"],
    "includeVideos": true,
    "includeShorts": true,
    "maxVideosPerChannel": 30
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
    "type": "channel",
    "channelId": "UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw",
    "handle": "@3blue1brown",
    "name": "3Blue1Brown",
    "subscribers": 8730000,
    "subscribersText": "8.73M subscribers",
    "videoCount": 247,
    "totalViews": 790047618,
    "country": "United States",
    "joinedDate": "2015-03-03",
    "links": [{ "title": "Patreon", "url": "patreon.com/3blue1brown" }],
    "status": "ok"
}
```

```json
{
    "type": "video",
    "videoId": "LKrwhjOI8Nc",
    "title": "There's never been a better time to go into math",
    "channelName": "3Blue1Brown",
    "viewCount": 2600000,
    "durationText": "40:44",
    "publishedTimeText": "13 days ago",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKrwhjOI8Nc"
}
```

### Pricing

You pay **per channel profile** and **per video, Short or stream** saved. Proxies and compute are included. Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

### FAQ

**Are subscriber counts exact?**
YouTube only shows rounded subscriber counts (e.g. 8.73M), so that is what you get. Total views are exact.

**Can I get all videos of a channel?**
Yes, set **Max items per tab** to 0.

**Need exact likes or publish dates for each video?**
Use the YouTube Scraper by the same author with **Full details** on, or the YouTube Shorts Scraper for Shorts.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

One per line: channel URL, @handle, or channel ID (UC...).

## `includeVideos` (type: `boolean`):

Latest videos from the Videos tab.

## `includeShorts` (type: `boolean`):

Include Shorts.

## `includeStreams` (type: `boolean`):

Include live streams.

## `maxVideosPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Per channel and per tab (videos, Shorts, streams), newest first. 0 = all.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Channels in parallel.

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

Proxies are included in the price.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown"
  ],
  "includeVideos": true,
  "includeShorts": false,
  "includeStreams": false,
  "maxVideosPerChannel": 50,
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `summary` (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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("inimi/youtube-channel-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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("inimi/youtube-channel-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call inimi/youtube-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,inimi/youtube-channel-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/wHwhvABGgY21sptQi/builds/QbxAPUqMERl2lhCxB/openapi.json