# Cheap YouTube Comments Scraper (`istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap`) Actor

Low-cost YouTube comments scraper with the same input and output fields as the most popular one, so you can switch with no code changes. Comment text, author, likes, reply count, replies, creator heart, video title. $1.10 per 1,000 comments.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap.md
- **Developed by:** [Istmobot](https://apify.com/istmobot) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Marketing
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.10 / 1,000 comments

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

## Cheap YouTube Comments Scraper

**A drop-in alternative to the most popular YouTube comments scraper on Apify, with the same input and output fields and a lower price on the Free, Bronze and Silver plans.** Paste the input you already use (`startUrls`, `maxComments`, `sortCommentsBy`, `oldestCommentDate`) and you get records with the same field names, in the same order. Your integrations, Make/Zapier/n8n flows and spreadsheets keep working.

### Price comparison

| | This Actor | Typical YouTube comments scraper |
|---|---|---|
| Per 1,000 comments | **$1.10** on every plan | $2.00 Free, $1.50 Bronze, $1.20 Silver, $0.90 Gold, $0.60 Platinum, $0.30 Diamond |
| Actor start | $0.005 per run | none |
| Proxy | included | included |

Pay only for comments in your dataset. Error rows (bad URL, deleted video, comments turned off) are free. 10,000 comments cost $11.

### What you get

Give it YouTube video URLs: `watch?v=`, `youtu.be/`, `/shorts/`, `/live/`. Every comment looks like this:

```json
{
  "cid": "UgwFI4huqYX7iVc683N4AaABAg",
  "replyToCid": null,
  "type": "comment",
  "publishedTimeText": "4 years ago (edited)",
  "comment": "Try YouTube Scraper for FREE at https://apify.it/4cjeX9W",
  "author": "@Apify",
  "authorIsChannelOwner": true,
  "replyCount": 1,
  "voteCount": 2,
  "hasCreatorHeart": false,
  "videoId": "xObhZ0Ga7EQ",
  "pageUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObhZ0Ga7EQ",
  "commentsCount": 14,
  "title": "How to extract data from YouTube with YouTube Scraper"
}
```

Replies have `"type": "reply"` and the parent comment's ID in `replyToCid`.

### Input

```json
{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }],
  "maxComments": 300,
  "sortCommentsBy": "NEWEST_FIRST",
  "oldestCommentDate": "7 days"
}
```

- `maxComments`: limit per video. Top-level comments come first, then replies with whatever is left of the limit.
- `sortCommentsBy`: `TOP_COMMENTS` or `NEWEST_FIRST` (default).
- `oldestCommentDate`: a date (`2026-03-01`) or an age (`1 day`, `2 weeks`). It switches sorting to newest first, so a scheduled run only collects recent comments.

### Good to know

- YouTube shows likes above 999 rounded, so `voteCount` is `293000` for "293K".
- YouTube only gives relative ages ("3 months ago"), so `oldestCommentDate` is approximate for older comments.
- `commentsCount` is YouTube's own total. It can be higher than what you can collect, because YouTube hides some comments.
- With a date filter, new replies under comments older than the cutoff are not collected.
- Public comments only. No login is used.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube video URLs (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, live). You can also import a CSV file or Google Sheet with a list of URLs.

## `maxComments` (type: `integer`):

Maximum comments per video. Top-level comments come first, then replies with whatever is left of this limit.

## `sortCommentsBy` (type: `string`):

YouTube's comment sorting.

## `oldestCommentDate` (type: `string`):

Only comments published on or after this date. Or an age: <code>1 day</code> is today's comments, <code>2 days</code> yesterday's and today's. YouTube only shows relative ages ("3 months ago"), so the cutoff is approximate. This switches sorting to newest first. Good for recurring monitoring.

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

YouTube blocks datacenter IPs, so residential proxy is the default. The Actor switches to a fresh IP when a request is blocked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObhZ0Ga7EQ"
    }
  ],
  "maxComments": 10,
  "sortCommentsBy": "NEWEST_FIRST",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObhZ0Ga7EQ"
        }
    ],
    "maxComments": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap").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 = {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObhZ0Ga7EQ" }],
    "maxComments": 10,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObhZ0Ga7EQ"
    }
  ],
  "maxComments": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,istmobot/youtube-comments-scraper-cheap"
        }
    }
}
```

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/5dj7NlUkjq60ADSZT/builds/tSBMynhrVXEQKhY1T/openapi.json