Pull YOUR YouTube comment dataset in minutes — no API key, no 10K/day quota, no OAuth app

Get the full comment stream from any YouTube video straight into CSV or JSON — 11+ real runs from sentiment-analysis, creator-economy, and NLP-dataset teams. We call YouTube's internal Innertube API (the one youtube.com uses on every page load), not the Data API v3, so there is no 10,000-unit/day quota to budget, no OAuth console to register, and no key to rotate. Comments, authors, like counts, reply counts, publish timestamps — straight into the pipeline your team already uses.

Questions we hear from buyers before they run this actor:

• "Isn't the YouTube Data API the official way?" — Yes, and its 10,000-unit/day quota blows up at roughly 5–8 videos with full comments. This actor uses the Innertube endpoint youtube.com itself calls — no quota, no key, no console project. 11+ production runs to date with zero throttling.
• "What if YouTube changes the Innertube format?" — We parse the 2025+ commentEntityPayload schema, not the deprecated commentRenderer most scrapers still use. YouTube can't retire Innertube without breaking their own site; we've patched two minor field renames in the last 6 months within 48h both times.
• "Can you build us a custom YouTube or cross-platform comment pipeline?" — Yes. Pilot build is $100/project or $150 for a 3-run research brief, typical turnaround 48h — email spinov001@gmail.com (reply by Friday for priority slot) or follow t.me/scraping_ai for case studies.
• "What about the cost on Apify?" — ~$0.30 per 100 comments on standard compute; under $2 for a 1,000-comment scrape. Free tier on Apify works for small batches.

Why This Scraper?

Other YouTube scrapers use the official YouTube Data API which has strict quota limits (10,000 units/day free). This scraper uses YouTube's Innertube API — the internal API that loads comments when you scroll on youtube.com. Benefits:

• ✅ No API key needed — zero setup, just paste video URLs
• ✅ No quota limits — YouTube Data API gives you 10K units/day. We have no such limit.
• ✅ Latest comment format — parses commentEntityPayload (2025+ format), not the deprecated commentRenderer
• ✅ Sorting support — Top comments or Newest first
• ✅ Batch processing — multiple videos in one run
• ✅ Cloud-tested — verified on Apify Cloud ✅

Output Data

{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "commentId": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
  "author": "@YouTube",
  "text": "can confirm: he never gave us up",
  "likes": 200,
  "publishedAt": "10 months ago",
  "isReply": false,
  "replyCount": 961,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-18T05:37:18.571Z"
}

Features

• Author name and channel ID for each comment
• Like count and reply count
• Nested replies detection
• Sorting — Top (most liked) or Newest first
• Pagination — automatically fetches all pages
• Multiple videos — process 10+ videos in one run
• Rate limiting — built-in delays to avoid detection

Use Cases

• Sentiment analysis — analyze audience reactions to content
• AI training data — build NLP datasets from real YouTube conversations
• Competitor monitoring — track comments on competitor videos
• Influencer research — study audience engagement patterns
• Content ideas — discover what viewers want to see next
• Brand monitoring — find mentions in YouTube comments
• Academic research — collect social media data for studies

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
videoUrls	Array	required	YouTube video URLs or video IDs
maxCommentsPerVideo	Number	100	Max comments per video (1-5000)
sortBy	String	"top"	Sort: top or newest

Technical Details

• Method: YouTube Innertube API (/youtubei/v1/next)
• Format: Parses frameworkUpdates.entityBatchUpdate.mutations with commentEntityPayload (2025+ format)
• No heavy dependencies: Pure fetch() — no Cheerio, no Playwright, no browser automation
• Rate limiting: Random delays 0.8-2s between pagination requests

Cost Estimation

• ~$0.30 per 100 comments
• Free tier available on Apify free plan

Step-by-Step Tutorial

1. Open on Apify

Go to YouTube Comments Scraper and click "Try for free."

2. Enter Video URLs

Paste one or more YouTube video URLs:

["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID_1", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID_2"]

3. Configure

• maxCommentsPerVideo: 100 (default) or up to 5000
• sortBy: "top" (most liked) or "newest" (chronological)

4. Run and Download

Click "Start." Comments appear in JSON, CSV, or Excel format within seconds.

Integration with Python

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/knotless_cadence~youtube-comments-scraper/runs/last/dataset/items",
    params={"token": "YOUR_TOKEN"}
)
comments = response.json()
for c in comments:
    print(f"{c['author']}: {c['text'][:100]}")

Integration with JavaScript

const res = await fetch(
    `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/knotless_cadence~youtube-comments-scraper/runs/last/dataset/items?token=YOUR_TOKEN`
);
const comments = await res.json();

FAQ

Q: Why not use the YouTube Data API? A: The YouTube Data API has a strict quota of 10,000 units per day. Each comment list request costs 1 unit, but with pagination and multiple videos, you can easily hit the limit. Our Innertube API approach has no such quota.

Q: Will this stop working if YouTube changes their API? A: The Innertube API is YouTube's core internal API — they can't remove it without breaking youtube.com itself. We parse the latest format (commentEntityPayload) which has been stable since 2025.

Q: Can I get replies to comments? A: Currently we detect if a comment is a reply and include reply counts. Full reply thread extraction is on the roadmap.

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Part of 79 data extraction tools by knotless_cadence. See also: Reddit Scraper Pro, Bluesky Scraper, Trustpilot Scraper

Pricing

Volume	Estimated Cost
100 comments	~$0.30
500 comments	~$1.00
1000 comments	~$1.50

Free tier available on Apify free plan.

Why Innertube Over Official API?

Factor	YouTube Data API	Innertube API
API Key	Required	Not needed
Quota	10,000 units/day	No quota
Setup	OAuth app + console	Zero setup
Rate limit	Strict	Generous
Comment format	v3 (older)	Latest (2025+)
Cost	Free but limited	Free and unlimited

YouTube Tool Family

• YouTube Channel Scraper
• YouTube Search Scraper
• YouTube Transcript Scraper

More

Need a custom YouTube or cross-platform scraper built in 48 hours? Pilot rate: $100/project or $150 for a 3-run research brief. 79 published Apify actors, 242+ runs on our flagship Trustpilot scraper. Email spinov001@gmail.com or Telegram @scraping_ai — reply by Friday for priority slot this week.