# YouTube Shorts Scraper: Views, Likes & Channels (`inimi/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel or Shorts URL: title, views, likes, publish date, description and channel. Fast, cheap, no browser, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/inimi/youtube-shorts-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 $1.00 / 1,000 shorts

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 Shorts Scraper: Views, Likes & Channels

Scrape **YouTube Shorts** from any channel or Shorts URL: title, views, likes, publish date, description and channel, as clean JSON, CSV or Excel.

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

### What can you use it for?

- **Short-form content research**: find which Shorts perform best for a creator or competitor.
- **Trend tracking**: monitor new Shorts from a list of channels every day.
- **Influencer vetting**: check how creators perform on Shorts, not just long videos.
- **Content planning**: collect titles and hooks of top Shorts in your niche.

### Features

| | |
|---|---|
| Inputs | Channel URLs, @handles, channel IDs, or Shorts URLs |
| Always included | Short ID, URL, title, views (rounded), channel, thumbnail |
| Full details (optional) | Exact views, exact likes, publish date, description, hashtags, channel subscribers |
| Bulk | Many channels in parallel, latest N Shorts each |

### Input example

```json
{
    "sources": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V_uq3v6xK-4"],
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 100,
    "includeDetails": true
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
    "videoId": "V_uq3v6xK-4",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V_uq3v6xK-4",
    "title": "The Sphere Intersection Puzzle",
    "channelName": "3Blue1Brown",
    "channelId": "UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw",
    "viewCount": 245574,
    "likes": 7556,
    "publishDate": "2026-10-25",
    "description": "...",
    "status": "ok"
}
```

### Pricing

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

### FAQ

**Why are views rounded without Full details?**
The Shorts grid on YouTube shows rounded views ("245K views"). Turn on **Full details** for exact views, likes and the publish date.

**Can I scrape all Shorts of a channel?**
Yes, set **Max Shorts per channel** to 0.

# Actor input Schema

## `sources` (type: `array`):

One per line: channel URL, @handle or channel ID (gets the latest Shorts of the channel), or a Shorts URL.

## `maxShortsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Newest first. 0 = all.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Adds exact views, likes, publish date, description and channel subscribers (one extra request per Short). Shorts URLs always get full details.

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

Channels in parallel.

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

Proxies are included in the price.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sources": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 50,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "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 = {
    "sources": [
        "@mkbhd"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("inimi/youtube-shorts-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 = {
    "sources": ["@mkbhd"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

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

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,inimi/youtube-shorts-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/SQsdir73ELZtY24Tn/builds/qL1DtOHiEBgs4qmmm/openapi.json