YouTube Research & Transcript Scraper

Search YouTube, export channel video lists, enrich selected videos, and collect transcripts without setting up the YouTube Data API.

This Apify Actor is built for YouTube research workflows. Start with broad discovery, shortlist the videos that matter, then run metadata enrichment or transcript extraction only on that smaller set — that keeps runs faster even though every dataset row uses the same result price.

Pay per event — Actor start + each result; platform usage is included (you do not pay separate Apify compute on top of the event prices).

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Best for

• YouTube keyword research and topic mapping
• competitor and creator channel monitoring
• content audits for brands, agencies, and media teams
• transcript collection for LLM, RAG, summarization, and qualitative research pipelines
• building structured YouTube datasets from search results, channel pages, and known video URLs

How it works

The Actor accepts four source modes. You can mix them in one run.

Input	Use it when	Result source
searchQueries	You want to discover videos by topic or keyword	YouTube search results
channelUrls	You want recent videos from one or more channels	Channel /videos pages with browse continuation, plus RSS fallback when needed
videoUrls	You already know the exact videos to process	Direct video metadata paths with fallback metadata extraction
includeTrending	You want popular videos for a market (gl)	Topic hubs (gaming, sports, news, podcasts, live, learning, fashion) — classic /feed/trending was removed by YouTube

Every Dataset row is one billed entity with rowType and stable string id. Videos, channels, comments, and replies are deduplicated across inputs and cursor units. maxResults is the maximum number of rows for each distinct query, channel URL, video URL, or trending input. The whole run is still bounded by your maximum total charge (and by the 200-row free-plan run cap).

At least one of searchQueries, channelUrls, videoUrls, or includeTrending must be set. Empty input is rejected so the Actor does not create a misleading dataset row or charge for a helper item.

Comments (full coverage)

Set includeComments: true on a shortlist (videoUrls recommended). The worker paginates InnerTube /next; every top-level comment and reply is emitted as its own rowType=comment row with the parent video's ID, title, URL, and channel fields copied onto it. Use maxComments: 0 / maxRepliesPerComment: 0 for source-exhaustive collection within the hard safety caps and the originating input's maxResults allowance. includeRelated emits each related video as its own rowType=video row and charges it against that same input.

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How to use (no code required)

1. Click "Try for Free" at the top of this page
2. Add at least one input: searchQueries, channelUrls, videoUrls, and/or turn on includeTrending
3. Keep scrapeDetails / includeTranscript / includeComments off for faster discovery; turn them on only for a shortlist
4. Click Start — rows appear in the Dataset tab
5. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or call the Standby API for small interactive requests

Tip: discover broadly first, then enrich or pull transcripts only for the videos you actually need — that keeps runtime down. Every dataset row is billed at the same result price.

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Recommended workflow

1. Discover videos first

Use searchQueries or channelUrls first. Keep scrapeDetails and includeTranscript off while you are still exploring.

{
  "searchQueries": ["ai workflow automation", "youtube competitor analysis"],
  "maxResults": 50
}

This gives you a clean shortlist with titles, URLs, channels, thumbnails, rough publish text, durations, view counts when available, and descriptions when present in the search result.

2. Review and shortlist

Filter the dataset outside the Actor. Pick only the videos you actually need for deeper work.

Useful shortlist signals:

• topic relevance from title and description
• creator or company from channelName
• popularity from viewCount
• freshness from publishedText or publishedAt
• video length from duration or durationSeconds

3. Enrich selected videos

Use videoUrls with scrapeDetails when you need stronger metadata for specific videos.

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVv6mJpFOb0",
    "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "scrapeDetails": true
}

scrapeDetails may improve or fill:

• publishedAt
• category
• description
• viewCount

It is best used after shortlisting because it performs extra requests per video.

4. Collect transcripts only when needed

Use includeTranscript for videos where you actually need text, timestamps, or LLM-ready content.

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVv6mJpFOb0"
  ],
  "scrapeDetails": true,
  "includeTranscript": true,
  "transcriptLanguage": "en"
}

When a transcript is available, the row includes timestamped transcript segments and a combined plain-text transcript. If YouTube does not provide captions for the video, or the captions cannot be fetched, the Actor still returns the video row without transcript fields.

Input reference

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	array of strings	["ai workflow automation"]	YouTube search keywords. Each deduplicated query is an independent input with up to maxResults billed entity rows.
channelUrls	array of strings	empty	Each deduplicated channel URL is an independent input. With channelTab: all, videos, shorts, and streams share that channel's allowance.
videoUrls	array of strings	empty	Each deduplicated exact video URL or ID is an independent input. Its video, comments, replies, and related videos share that input's allowance.
maxResults	integer	70	Maximum Dataset rows delivered and billed for each distinct query, channel URL, video URL, or trending input. The whole run also stops at your charge/free-tier cap.
scrapeDetails	boolean	false	Fetches richer metadata for each row. Use on shortlists or smaller runs.
includeTranscript	boolean	false	Attempts transcript extraction for each video. Use on targeted runs because this is the heaviest mode.
includeEngagement	boolean	true	Backfill like/subscriber/comment counts from /next.
includeStructure	boolean	true	Backfill chapters/heatmap/topics/hashtags/rich description.
includePlaybackMeta	boolean	true	Backfill storyboards/playbackTracking/playerConfig from /player.
includeFormats	boolean	includePlaybackMeta	Backfill streamingData formats/adaptiveFormats (manifest URLs, itag, quality). Set false to drop the formats list; many popular videos return no stream URLs to anonymous clients.
includeCardsEndscreen	boolean	true	Backfill in-video cards and end-screen recommendations.
transcriptLanguage	string	en	Preferred transcript language code, such as en, es, fr, de, ja, or pt. If that language is unavailable, the Actor can fall back to the first available caption track.
includeComments	boolean	false	Full comment pagination; top-level comments and replies become standalone billed rows. Prefer with videoUrls.
maxComments	integer	0	Max top-level comments; 0 = all (cap 20000).
includeCommentReplies	boolean	true	Expand reply threads with full pagination.
maxRepliesPerComment	integer	0	Max replies per thread; 0 = all (cap 2000).
commentSort	string	top	top or newest.
includeRelated	boolean	false	Attach related/recommended videos per watch page.
maxRelated	integer	20	Cap related videos per source video.
includeTrending	boolean	false	Discover popular videos via topic hubs for gl.
trendingMaxResults	integer	min(maxResults, 200)	Optional smaller cap for topic-hub discovery.
gl / hl	string	US / en	Market / UI language for search, comments, and topic hubs.
includeUpdatedMetadata	boolean	false	Re-check viewCount/likeCount for each collected video with one light request each; fresh values are stored under updatedMetadata. No billed rows.
includeResolveHandle	boolean	false	Resolve each channel URL/@handle to its channel ID; adds resolvedChannelId/resolvedCanonicalUrl to channel rows and diagnostics.
includeGuide	boolean	false	Fetch the YouTube guide (topic/category navigation) once per run into run diagnostics. No billed rows.

Input examples

Search by keyword

{
  "searchQueries": ["supply chain automation"],
  "maxResults": 25
}

Export latest channel videos

{
  "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp"],
  "maxResults": 100
}

Process known videos

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVv6mJpFOb0",
    "https://youtu.be/PXMJ6FS7llk"
  ],
  "scrapeDetails": true
}

Transcript run for a shortlist

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVv6mJpFOb0"
  ],
  "includeTranscript": true,
  "transcriptLanguage": "en"
}

Mixed discovery run

{
  "searchQueries": ["ai sales outreach"],
  "channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@HubSpot"],
  "maxResults": 30
}

Output fields

Each dataset item is one billed YouTube entity:

• rowType=video, id=videoId
• rowType=channel, id=channelId
• rowType=comment, id=commentId

Comments and replies carry the parent video fields. Related videos carry the seed video's ID, title, and URL. The Actor does not write helper rows for empty input. Large requests are split into units of at most 70 rows by the control plane, one source input at a time, and continue from a stable cursor without billing duplicate rowType + id pairs.

Core fields

Field	Type	Description
recordVersion	string	Output contract version, currently 1.0.
enrichmentLevel	string	base, detail, or transcript. Shows how far the row was enriched.
videoId	string	YouTube video ID.
title	string	Video title.
url	string	Canonical YouTube watch URL.
channelName	string	Channel or author name when available.
channelId	string	YouTube channel ID when available.
channelUrl	string	Channel URL when available.
viewCount	integer	View count when available. May be 0 when the source does not expose it.
duration	string	Human-readable duration from listing pages when available.
durationSeconds	integer	Duration in seconds when available.
publishedText	string	Relative publish text from listing pages, such as 2 weeks ago, when available.
publishedAt	string	Publish date when available. Detail mode can improve this field.
description	string	Search snippet, RSS description, or fuller video description depending on source and enrichment.
thumbnailUrl	string	Video thumbnail URL.
category	string	Video category when detail metadata is available.
isLive	boolean	Whether the source marks the video as live content.
source	string	Source path used for the row: search, channel, or detail.
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp when the row was created.

Engagement & enrichment fields

These fields are backfilled from the InnerTube /next and /player responses — the data is already returned in the same requests, so they cost no extra calls. Toggle groups via the includeEngagement / includeStructure / includePlaybackMeta / includeCardsEndscreen input flags (all default true).

Field	Type	Description
likeCount	integer	Video like count from the engagement panel.
likeStatus	string	Like button state (LIKE/INDIFFERENT) when present.
viewCountExact	integer	Exact view count from the viewCount factoid (more precise than the rounded label).
commentCountExact	integer	Exact comment count from commentsHeaderRenderer when exposed.
subscriberCount	integer	Channel subscriber count parsed to integer.
subscriberCountText	string	Raw subscriber label, e.g. 4.54M subscribers.
chapters	array	Video chapters: [{title, startMs, thumbnailUrl}].
heatmap	array	Retention heatmap markers: [{startMs, durationMs, intensity}] (100 points when present).
topics	array	SuperTitleLink topic chips on the watch page.
hashtags	array	Hashtag tiles.
descriptionRich	string	Attributed/expandable description with inline links and timestamps.
structuredDescription	boolean	Whether the structured-description panel was present.
cards	array	In-video info cards: [{teaser, startMs}].
endscreen	array	End-screen recommendations: [{videoId, title}].
transcriptSearchIndex	array	Searchable transcript panel data when present.
formats	array	Full streamingData format list: [{itag, mimeType, bitrate, fps, width, height, qualityLabel, audioChannels, audioQuality, audioSampleRate, url}].
storyboards	array	Storyboard spec entries for thumbnail grids.
playbackTracking	object	player.playbackTracking payload.
playerConfig	object	player.playerConfig payload.

Notes: fields are only present when YouTube returns them for the video (e.g. chapters needs chapters; formats is empty on LOGIN_REQUIRED playability-gated videos such as age/region-restricted content). commentCountExact is null when the header exposes only the "Comments" label without a count.

Transcript fields

Transcript fields appear only when includeTranscript is true and captions are successfully returned.

Field	Type	Description
transcript	array	Timestamped caption segments. Each segment has text, start, and duration.
transcriptLanguage	string	Language code of the transcript actually returned.
transcriptText	string	Full transcript joined into one plain-text string.

Example transcript segment:

{
  "text": "Welcome back to the channel.",
  "start": 12.4,
  "duration": 3.2
}

Standby API

The Actor includes a Standby API for small interactive requests. The same validation rules apply as normal runs.

Endpoint	Method	Use
/	GET	Readiness check
/search?query=python%20automation&maxResults=10	GET	Search videos
/channel?url=https://www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp&maxResults=10	GET	List recent channel videos
/video?url=XVv6mJpFOb0	GET	Fetch one direct video
/run	POST	Run the normal Actor input JSON through Standby

Limits and practical notes

• Transcripts are not guaranteed. They depend on whether YouTube exposes captions for the video and whether those captions can be fetched.
• includeTranscript can still return a valid video row without transcript fields.
• Search and channel rows may have lighter metadata than direct detail rows.
• maxResults applies independently to each deduplicated query, channel URL, video URL, or trending input. All row types produced by one source share that source's allowance.
• The total run can be smaller than maxResults × input count when the user's maximum total charge or the free-plan 200-row run cap is reached.
• Channel scraping works best with public channels and common YouTube URL formats.
• Very large transcript runs are slower than discovery runs. Shortlist first when possible.
• YouTube page structure and availability can change. If a source path fails for a specific video or channel, try the most direct input type, especially videoUrls for known videos.

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. Platform usage costs are included — you do not pay separate Apify compute on top of the event prices below (User pays platform usage costs: No).

Event	Price
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.005 per start
Result (apify-default-dataset-item)	$1.50 / 1,000 rows ($0.0015 each)

Every dataset row is billed as one result, including search, channel, detail, and transcript rows.

Store discount tiers

All Apify Store discount tiers use the same result price:

Tier	$/1,000	per result
FREE*	$1.500	$0.0015
BRONZE	$1.500	$0.0015
SILVER	$1.500	$0.0015
GOLD	$1.500	$0.0015
PLATINUM	$1.500	$0.0015
DIAMOND	$1.500	$0.0015

*FREE is the list price before any Store volume discount. This Actor does not discount higher tiers.

Example cost estimates

Rows	Approx. event cost*
100	~$0.155
1,000	~$1.505
10,000	~$15.005

*Assumes one Actor start plus $0.0015 per Dataset item. Exact start billing can scale with allocated memory (one start event per GB, minimum one). This Actor defaults to 512 MB, so a typical run is one start event.

This price change is scheduled for 2026-10-03 14:14 UTC (22:14 CST). Until then, the Store pricing panel is the live bill.

Local tests

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt pytest
pytest -q

Why use this Actor

This Actor is focused on research, not just bulk scraping. It separates discovery, detail enrichment, and transcript extraction so you can control speed and dataset size.

Use it when you need structured YouTube data for market research, creator research, competitor monitoring, content strategy, or LLM-ready transcript workflows without maintaining your own YouTube scraping stack.

Operational hardening

This Actor emits structured progress logs so long runs are easier to diagnose from Apify logs and Insights:

• progress_event=run_input_ready after the input is normalized.
• progress_event=source_start / source_done / source_error for search, channel, and video sources.
• progress_event=detail_enrich_start / detail_enrich_done for optional video detail enrichment.
• progress_event=transcript_start / transcript_done for optional transcript extraction.
• progress_event=row_push_start / row_push_done for dataset writes and billing-event boundaries.
• progress_event=run_summary_ready before RUN_SUMMARY is written.

HTTP requests use curl_cffi Chrome impersonation plus coherent browser headers, consent cookies, InnerTube client context, and YouTube-specific JSON headers to reduce obvious datacenter/client-fingerprint mismatches while keeping the Actor lightweight and API-first.

Live-view web server OpenAPI schema

This Actor includes a real Actor Standby / Live-view web server schema at:

.actor/openapi.json

The schema is published and validated through .actor/actor.json:

{
  "usesStandbyMode": true,
  "webServerSchema": "./openapi.json"
}

Documented Standby endpoints:

• GET / - service information and Apify readiness-probe response
• GET /health - health check
• GET /input-example - quick YouTube research request examples
• GET /openapi.json - returns the OpenAPI document packaged with the Actor
• GET /search and POST /search - runs a bounded YouTube search
• GET /channel - scans a YouTube channel
• GET /video - processes one exact video URL or ID
• POST /run - runs the Actor with the full YouTube Research Scraper input contract

For low-cost validation, use POST /search with a small maxResults value and includeTranscript: false.

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