# Best Damn YouTube Scraper (`josh99smith/youtube-scraper`) Actor Scrape YouTube videos from channels, playlists, search results or URLs through the official YouTube Data API: views, likes, comments, duration, tags, publish date and channel subscribers. Or export channel stats. Pay per video; failures are free. - **URL**: https://apify.com/josh99smith/youtube-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Joshua Smith](https://apify.com/josh99smith) (community) - **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Open source - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 1,000 video scrapeds 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-scraper banner](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/josh99smith/apify-actor-assets/main/banners/youtube-scraper.png?v=bd1) Scrape **YouTube videos, channels, playlists and search results** through the **official YouTube Data API v3**. For every video you get views, likes, comment count, duration, tags, category, publish date, live status and thumbnail, plus the channel's subscriber count, all in one downloadable dataset. Switch to **Channels only** for bulk subscriber counts and channel stats. Built for **marketers, agencies, creators, analysts and AI builders** who track channels, research competitors, shortlist influencers or build video datasets. You pay a flat price per video, and anything YouTube cannot return (private, deleted or unavailable videos) costs nothing. ### Features - Scrape all videos from a YouTube channel (`@handle`, channel URL or channel ID), newest first - Scrape YouTube playlists and single video, Shorts or live URLs - Scrape YouTube search results by keyword, sorted by relevance, upload date, views or rating - Filter by publish date ("last 7 days"), video length, country and language - Get YouTube subscriber counts and channel stats in bulk ("Channels only" mode) - Views, likes, comments, duration in seconds, tags, category, captions, licence and live status for every video - Duplicates across inputs are removed, so every video is returned and billed once - Export YouTube data to CSV, Excel, JSON or Google Sheets ### What can you do with Best Damn YouTube Scraper? - **Competitor and channel monitoring**: schedule a weekly run over competitor channels with "Only videos published after: 7 days" and chart what performs. - **Influencer research**: turn a list of creators into subscriber counts, upload frequency and average views before you reach out. - **Content research and SEO**: see which videos rank for your keywords, and which titles, tags and lengths get the most views. - **Reporting**: pull your own channel's full video history into Google Sheets or Looker Studio. - **AI and data science**: build video metadata datasets, or feed video lists into the [Best Damn YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/josh99smith/youtube-comments-scraper). ### How it works The Actor calls Google's official YouTube Data API v3 (`channels`, `playlistItems`, `search` and `videos`), the same public data YouTube shows on its pages. Nothing is scraped from HTML, no browser runs and no login is used, so runs are fast and don't break when YouTube changes its layout. Channel uploads come from the channel's uploads playlist, newest first. Statistics are fetched 50 videos at a time. Subscriber counts are rounded by YouTube itself (for example 46,300,000), and channels that hide their count return `null`. ### How to use it 1. Paste channel, playlist or video URLs into **YouTube URLs** and/or keywords into **Search terms**, one per line. 2. Set **Max results per channel, playlist or search** (0 = all) and, optionally, **Only videos published after**. 3. Choose **Videos** or **Channels only** output, and adjust the search sort, length, country and language if you search. 4. Click **Start**. Results appear in the **Output** tab; download them as JSON, CSV or Excel, or connect an integration. ```json { "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube", "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpi6ZahtOH6Blw3RGYpWkSByi_T7Rygb"], "searchQueries": ["web scraping tutorial"], "maxResults": 50, "publishedAfter": "90 days", "searchOrder": "viewCount" } ``` ### Use it from the API, Python, JavaScript or an AI agent Get a channel's latest 50 videos in one HTTP call: ```bash curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/josh99smith~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube"], "maxResults": 50}' ``` Python, with the `apify-client` package: ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient("") run = client.actor("josh99smith/youtube-scraper").call( run_input={"searchQueries": ["home espresso"], "maxResults": 50, "searchOrder": "viewCount"} ) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): if item["success"]: print(item["viewCount"], item["title"], item["channelTitle"]) ``` JavaScript or TypeScript, with the `apify-client` package: ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '' }); const run = await client.actor('josh99smith/youtube-scraper').call({ startUrls: ['https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube', 'https://www.youtube.com/@jawed'], outputMode: 'channels', }); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); console.log(items.map((c) => `${c.title}: ${c.subscriberCount} subscribers`)); ``` #### Use it from Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client The Actor is exposed as a tool by the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com), so an AI agent can call it by name. Add this to your MCP client configuration (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and others): ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=josh99smith/youtube-scraper", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer " } } } } ``` Then ask, for example: *"Use josh99smith/youtube-scraper to get the last 30 videos from @YouTube and tell me which topics get the most views."* The agent fills in the input, runs the Actor and reads the dataset back; you pay the same per-video price as in the Console. ### Output One record per video. Real example (description trimmed): ```json { "success": true, "type": "video", "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "title": "Me at the zoo", "publishedAt": "2005-04-24T03:31:52Z", "durationSeconds": 19, "viewCount": 435887912, "likeCount": 19914774, "commentCount": 10626831, "tags": ["me at the zoo", "jawed karim", "first youtube video"], "category": "Film & Animation", "language": "en", "liveStatus": "none", "hasCaptions": true, "definition": "hd", "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jNQXAC9IVRw/hqdefault.jpg", "channelTitle": "jawed", "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@jawed", "channelSubscribers": 6610000, "channelCountry": "US", "sourceType": "video", "scrapedAt": "2026-09-23T15:30:00.209Z" } ``` In **Channels only** mode each record is a channel: `title`, `handle`, `url`, `subscriberCount`, `viewCount`, `videoCount`, `country`, `publishedAt`, `description`, `keywords`, `thumbnailUrl` and `uploadsPlaylistId`. Inputs that cannot be read produce a free record such as `{"success": false, "input": "@thisHandleDoesNotExist", "errorType": "not-found"}`. ### Output fields | Field | Description | | --- | --- | | `videoId` / `url` / `title` / `description` | The video. Use **Max description length** to trim long descriptions. | | `publishedAt` / `durationSeconds` | Upload date and length in seconds. | | `viewCount` / `likeCount` / `commentCount` | Current statistics (`null` when the owner hides likes or turns comments off). | | `tags` / `categoryId` / `category` / `language` | Uploader tags, YouTube category and default language. | | `liveStatus` / `liveStartedAt` | `none`, `live`, `upcoming` or `was-live`. | | `isMadeForKids` / `hasCaptions` / `definition` / `license` | Audience, captions, HD/SD and `youtube` or `creativeCommon` licence. | | `thumbnailUrl` | Largest available thumbnail. | | `channelId` / `channelTitle` / `channelUrl` / `channelSubscribers` / `channelVideoCount` / `channelCountry` | The uploading channel and its stats. | | `input` / `sourceType` / `searchQuery` / `playlistId` / `position` | Where the video came from: `video`, `channel`, `playlist` or `search`. | | `success` / `errorType` | `true` for billed results; failures carry `invalid-url`, `not-found`, `rate-limited`, `missing-api-key`, `http-error`, `timeout`, `network` or `other`. | A `SUMMARY` record in the key-value store lists videos queued and delivered, failures and the API quota units used. ### Pricing: how much does it cost to scrape YouTube? You pay a **flat price per delivered video** (or per channel in Channels only mode; see the price next to the Start button): 1,000 videos cost $1.00. Private, deleted and unavailable videos, invalid inputs and quota errors cost nothing, and there is no charge for Actor start-up. The Actor stops automatically when it reaches the maximum cost you set for a run. **How it compares (September 2026).** The most-used YouTube scraper on Apify Store charges $4.00 per 1,000 videos, and channel scrapers charge $1.00 to $1.30 per 1,000 results. This one charges $1.00 per 1,000 for full video statistics with channel stats included, through the official API rather than the YouTube website. ### API key and quota By default the Actor uses a built-in YouTube API key shared by all its users. The YouTube Data API is free, but each key has a daily quota of 10,000 units. Reading channels, playlists and videos is cheap (about 1 unit per 50 videos), but **each search page costs 100 units**, so the shared key allows up to 5 search terms and 100 results per term per run. For heavy searching or large scheduled workloads, create your own free key in the [Google Cloud Console](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/getting-started) (enable "YouTube Data API v3", then create an API key) and paste it into **YouTube API key**. The key is stored encrypted and never written to the log or dataset. When a quota runs out, the run stops cleanly and reports free `rate-limited` records; quotas reset at midnight Pacific Time. ### Tips - **Whole channel**: set **Max results** to 0. Even channels with thousands of uploads take only a few seconds. - **Only new uploads**: combine a channel list with "Only videos published after: 7 days" on a weekly schedule. Paging stops as soon as older videos appear. - **Influencer lists**: use **Channels only** with a list of `@handles` for one row per creator. - **Search in a market**: set **Search country** (for example `DE`) and **Search language** (`de`) to see what local viewers get. - **Comments too**: pass the video URLs to the [Best Damn YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/josh99smith/youtube-comments-scraper). ### FAQ #### Is it legal to scrape YouTube? The Actor does not scrape YouTube's website: it uses Google's official, documented YouTube Data API under its terms of service and returns only public video and channel data. No personal data about viewers is collected. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube or Google. #### Why is a subscriber count rounded or null? YouTube rounds public subscriber counts to three significant figures, and channels can hide the count entirely. The Actor returns exactly what YouTube publishes. #### Why did a channel return fewer videos than it shows? Private, unlisted, members-only and removed videos are not public. Live streams that have not started yet are included with `liveStatus: "upcoming"`. #### Can it get Shorts? Yes. Shorts appear in channel uploads and search like any other video, and Shorts URLs work as input; `durationSeconds` tells you the length. #### Will the output fields change between runs? No. Output fields are stable: existing fields are never renamed or removed without a major version bump announced in the changelog, and new fields are only ever added. ### Integrate Best Damn YouTube Scraper and automate your workflow Best Damn YouTube Scraper plugs into the tools you already use through [Apify integrations](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations), so results can flow on without anyone downloading a file. Ready-made connectors include: - [Make](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make) - [Zapier](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/zapier) - [n8n](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/n8n) - [Slack](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/slack) - [Airbyte](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/airbyte) - [GitHub](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/github) - [Google Drive](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/drive) - and [many more](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations). You can also attach [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks) to trigger your own endpoint whenever a run succeeds, fails or times out. For example, post every new competitor upload to Slack, or append weekly channel stats to a Google Sheet. ### Related Actors by the same developer - [Best Damn YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/josh99smith/youtube-comments-scraper): comments and replies from YouTube videos and channels. - [Best Damn App Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/josh99smith/app-reviews-scraper): App Store and Google Play reviews as JSON. - [Best Damn Google Autocomplete Scraper](https://apify.com/josh99smith/google-autocomplete-scraper): keyword suggestions from Google search. - [Best Damn RSS to JSON Converter](https://apify.com/josh99smith/rss-feed-to-json): RSS and Atom feeds as JSON. - [Best Damn Tech Stack Detector](https://apify.com/josh99smith/tech-stack-detector): find out what a website is built with. - [Best Damn Website Screenshot API](https://apify.com/josh99smith/website-screenshot-api): full-page screenshots and PDFs of any URL. - [Best Damn PageSpeed Insights Audit](https://apify.com/josh99smith/pagespeed-insights-audit): Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse scores in bulk. - [Best Damn Remote Jobs Aggregator](https://apify.com/josh99smith/remote-jobs-aggregator): remote job listings from five public boards. - [Best Damn PDF Text Extractor](https://apify.com/josh99smith/pdf-text-extractor): text and metadata from PDF files. - [Best Damn Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/josh99smith/sitemap-url-extractor): all URLs from XML sitemaps. ### Support and feedback Found a channel or video that fails unexpectedly, or a field you are missing? Open a ticket in the **Issues** tab of this Actor. # Changelog This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/josh99smith/youtube-scraper/changelog.md # Actor input Schema ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): One per line. Channel URLs (youtube.com/@handle, youtube.com/channel/UC...) or @handles return the channel's latest uploads; playlist URLs (youtube.com/playlist?list=...) return the playlist; video, Shorts and youtu.be URLs or bare video IDs return that video. ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Optional. Find videos by keyword, exactly like the YouTube search box. Each term returns up to "Max results" videos. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): How many videos to take from each channel, playlist or search term (newest first for channels). Use 0 for all of them (search is limited to 500 by YouTube). ## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`): Optional. A date (2026-01-31) or a relative period such as "7 days", "2 weeks" or "6 months". Applies to channels, playlists and search. ## `outputMode` (type: `string`): "Videos" returns one record per video with its statistics and channel stats. "Channels" returns one record per channel (subscribers, total views, video count, country, description) without listing videos. ## `searchOrder` (type: `string`): How YouTube ranks search results. ## `searchDuration` (type: `string`): Short: under 4 minutes. Medium: 4 to 20 minutes. Long: over 20 minutes. ## `searchRegion` (type: `string`): Optional two-letter country code (US, GB, DE, IN...) to get the results people in that country see. ## `searchLanguage` (type: `string`): Optional two-letter language code (en, es, de...) to prefer videos in that language. ## `maxDescriptionLength` (type: `integer`): Cut video descriptions to this many characters to keep exports small. 0 keeps the full description. ## `apiKey` (type: `string`): Optional. Your own free YouTube Data API v3 key (Google Cloud Console > APIs & Services > Credentials, with the YouTube Data API v3 enabled). Without it the Actor uses a shared key whose daily quota is shared by all users and allows up to 5 search terms and 100 search results per term per run; with your own key you get 10,000 quota units a day to yourself. ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): How many channels, playlists or searches to read in parallel. ## Actor input object example ```json { "startUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube" ], "maxResults": 20, "outputMode": "videos", "searchOrder": "relevance", "searchDuration": "any", "maxDescriptionLength": 0, "maxConcurrency": 4 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): One record per video (or per channel in channel mode) with statistics and metadata, plus free failure records for inputs that could not be read. ## `summary` (type: `string`): Counts of queued and delivered results, failures, quota units used and billed events. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "startUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube" ], "maxResults": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("josh99smith/youtube-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "startUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube"], "maxResults": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("josh99smith/youtube-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 '{ "startUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube" ], "maxResults": 20 }' | apify call josh99smith/youtube-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,josh99smith/youtube-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 ` 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/O8ivXKqWpMd118le6/builds/TMtzqMg6EBM846qVF/openapi.json