# YouTube Video & Comments Scraper + AI (`lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai`) Actor Scrape YouTube video data, comments and transcripts via URLs, search terms or channels (no API key, no quota), then optionally turn comments into AI insights: sentiment, themes, viewer questions, content ideas and video summaries. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai.md - **Developed by:** [Lizzy](https://apify.com/lizzyyy2) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Social media, Videos - **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $30.00 / 1,000 results 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## YouTube Video & Comments Scraper + AI Scrape **YouTube video data, comments and transcripts** — by video URL, search term or channel — then optionally turn the comments into **AI insights** that most scrapers don't give you: audience sentiment, discussion themes, recurring viewer questions, content ideas and video summaries. **No API key. No quota.** The official YouTube Data API limits you to 10,000 units/day and needs a Google Cloud project. This Actor reads public YouTube data directly (via YouTube's internal endpoints) and layers a **built-in AI model** (billed as platform usage) on top. **You don't need to bring your own AI key.** ### Why this Actor Most YouTube scrapers just dump raw rows. This one adds the part that takes humans hours: **reading the comments and telling you what your audience actually thinks.** - 🤖 **AI insights (optional)** — comment sentiment, themes, viewer questions, content ideas, summaries. Most scrapers don't offer this. - 🔑 **No API key, no quota** — skip Google Cloud setup and the 10k/day cap. - 🎯 **Flexible discovery** — direct video URLs, keyword search, or whole channels. - 💬 **Real comment data** — author, text, likes, replies, pinned/hearted flags. - 📝 **Transcripts** — pull subtitles when available (best-effort). - 💸 **Pay only for what you use** — cheap base scraping, premium per AI insight. ### What you can do with it - **Creators** — see what viewers praise, complain about and ask for; get next-video ideas mined from your own comments. - **Marketers / brands** — measure audience sentiment on any video or campaign. - **Researchers** — collect comments + transcripts across a topic for analysis. - **Competitor watch** — scrape a rival channel's recent videos and read the room. ### Input Provide at least one source: `videoUrls`, `searchTerms` or `channelUrls`. | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `videoUrls` | array | Video URLs (watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed) or bare 11-char IDs. | | `searchTerms` | array | Keywords to search and scrape matching videos. | | `channelUrls` | array | Channel URLs, `@handles` or `UC...` IDs — pulls recent videos. | | `maxVideos` | integer | Hard cap on total videos (1–200). Default 25. | | `maxVideosPerSource` | integer | Max videos per search term / channel (1–200). Default 50. | | `includeComments` | boolean | Fetch comments. Default `true`. | | `maxCommentsPerVideo` | integer | Max comments per video (0–500). Default 100. | | `commentsSort` | string | `TOP` or `NEWEST`. Default `TOP`. | | `includeTranscript` | boolean | Fetch transcript/subtitles when available. Default `false`. | | `aiEnrichment` | boolean | Master switch for AI insights. Default `false`. | | `aiCommentAnalysis` | boolean | AI sentiment, themes, praises, complaints, questions, summary. | | `aiContentIdeas` | boolean | AI next-video ideas, title suggestions and hooks. | | `aiVideoSummary` | boolean | AI summary + key points from transcript (or description + comments). | | `aiLanguage` | string | Language for AI output. Default `English`. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Proxy for reaching YouTube. **RESIDENTIAL recommended.** | > **Proxy note:** YouTube blocks datacenter IPs aggressively. For reliable runs keep > the proxy set to **Apify Residential** (the default). Datacenter proxy may work for > small runs but will get rate-limited at scale. #### Example input ```json { "searchTerms": ["how to make sourdough"], "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"], "maxVideos": 15, "includeComments": true, "maxCommentsPerVideo": 150, "commentsSort": "TOP", "includeTranscript": false, "aiEnrichment": true, "aiCommentAnalysis": true, "aiContentIdeas": true, "aiVideoSummary": false, "aiLanguage": "English", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] } } ```` ### Output One row per video, with its comments and any AI insights you enabled: ```json { "recordType": "video", "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up", "channelName": "Rick Astley", "viewCount": 1778042476, "likeCount": 19130004, "durationSeconds": 213, "commentsFetched": 150, "comments": [ { "author": "@YouTube", "text": "can confirm: he never gave us up", "likeCount": "248K", "replyCount": "963" } ], "aiSentiment": { "positive": 78, "neutral": 16, "negative": 6 }, "aiTopThemes": ["Nostalgia", "Rickroll culture", "Timeless song"], "aiViewerQuestions": ["Is the 4K remaster official?"], "aiCommentSummary": "Viewers are overwhelmingly positive and playful...", "aiContentIdeas": { "videoIdeas": ["Behind the scenes of the 4K remaster"], "titleSuggestions": ["The Song That Never Dies"] } } ``` ### Pricing This Actor uses **pay-per-event** pricing: | Event | What it covers | |---|---| | Video result | Each video row scraped (with its comments). | | AI comment analysis | Per video analyzed with AI. | | AI content ideas | Per video with content suggestions. | | AI video summary | Per video summarized. | You only pay for the AI features you turn on. Leave AI off and it's a fast YouTube data + comments scraper. ### FAQ **Do I need a YouTube / Google API key?** No. The Actor reads public data directly — no key, no 10k/day quota. **Do I need an OpenAI/AI key?** No. The AI runs on a built-in model billed as platform usage. **Why is residential proxy recommended?** YouTube blocks datacenter IPs. Residential proxy keeps runs reliable, especially at scale. **Why did a transcript come back empty?** Not every video has captions, and YouTube's transcript endpoint is occasionally restricted. Transcript fetching is best-effort. **Is this affiliated with YouTube?** No. It only reads publicly available YouTube data. ### Related Actors — build a full pipeline - **Audience research → outreach:** Find creators in a niche with this Actor, then feed their channels/sites into the **AI Lead Enricher** for contact info and a personalized opener. - **Cross-platform listening:** Pair with the **Google Play / App Store Scraper + AI** to compare what users say about an app on stores vs. on YouTube. # Actor input Schema ## `videoUrls` (type: `array`): YouTube video URLs (watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed) or bare 11-character video IDs to scrape directly. ## `searchTerms` (type: `array`): Keywords to search on YouTube and scrape the matching videos. ## `channelUrls` (type: `array`): Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs (UC...) to pull recent videos from. ## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on the total number of videos scraped across all sources. ## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`): Max videos taken from each search term or channel. ## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`): Fetch the video's comments. ## `maxCommentsPerVideo` (type: `integer`): Max comments fetched per video (0 to skip). Capped at 150 to keep cost predictable. ## `commentsSort` (type: `string`): Order comments by top (most relevant) or newest. ## `includeReplies` (type: `boolean`): Reserved for future use; currently top-level comments are fetched. ## `includeTranscript` (type: `boolean`): Fetch the video transcript/subtitles when available. ## `aiEnrichment` (type: `boolean`): Master switch for AI features. Turn on, then pick which insights below. ## `aiCommentAnalysis` (type: `boolean`): Sentiment, top themes, praises, complaints, viewer questions and a summary from the comments. ## `aiContentIdeas` (type: `boolean`): Next-video ideas, title suggestions and hooks mined from viewer comments. ## `aiVideoSummary` (type: `boolean`): Summary and key points from the transcript (or description + top comments if no transcript). ## `aiLanguage` (type: `string`): Language for the AI-generated text. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy for reaching YouTube. RESIDENTIAL is strongly recommended — YouTube blocks datacenter IPs. ## Actor input object example ```json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "maxVideos": 25, "maxVideosPerSource": 50, "includeComments": true, "maxCommentsPerVideo": 100, "commentsSort": "TOP", "includeReplies": false, "includeTranscript": false, "aiEnrichment": false, "aiCommentAnalysis": true, "aiContentIdeas": false, "aiVideoSummary": false, "aiLanguage": "English", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `videos` (type: `string`): Video records (with comments, transcript and optional AI insights) in the default dataset. # 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 = { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai").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 = { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }' | apify call lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lizzyyy2/youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Video & Comments Scraper + AI", "description": "Scrape YouTube video data, comments and transcripts via URLs, search terms or channels (no API key, no quota), then optionally turn comments into AI insights: sentiment, themes, viewer questions, content ideas and video summaries.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "0w31cKiD8eOWf0oNG" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lizzyyy2~youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lizzyyy2-youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lizzyyy2~youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lizzyyy2-youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lizzyyy2~youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lizzyyy2-youtube-video-comments-scraper-ai", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "videoUrls": { "title": "Video URLs or IDs", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube video URLs (watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed) or bare 11-character video IDs to scrape directly.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "searchTerms": { "title": "Search terms", "type": "array", "description": "Keywords to search on YouTube and scrape the matching videos.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "channelUrls": { "title": "Channel URLs / handles / IDs", "type": "array", "description": "Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs (UC...) to pull recent videos from.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxVideos": { "title": "Max videos (total)", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 200, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on the total number of videos scraped across all sources.", "default": 25 }, "maxVideosPerSource": { "title": "Max videos per source", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 200, "type": "integer", "description": "Max videos taken from each search term or channel.", "default": 50 }, "includeComments": { "title": "Scrape comments", "type": "boolean", "description": "Fetch the video's comments.", "default": true }, "maxCommentsPerVideo": { "title": "Max comments per video", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 150, "type": "integer", "description": "Max comments fetched per video (0 to skip). Capped at 150 to keep cost predictable.", "default": 100 }, "commentsSort": { "title": "Comments sort", "enum": [ "TOP", "NEWEST" ], "type": "string", "description": "Order comments by top (most relevant) or newest.", "default": "TOP" }, "includeReplies": { "title": "Include replies (reserved)", "type": "boolean", "description": "Reserved for future use; currently top-level comments are fetched.", "default": false }, "includeTranscript": { "title": "Scrape transcript", "type": "boolean", "description": "Fetch the video transcript/subtitles when available.", "default": false }, "aiEnrichment": { "title": "Enable AI insights", "type": "boolean", "description": "Master switch for AI features. Turn on, then pick which insights below.", "default": false }, "aiCommentAnalysis": { "title": "AI comment analysis", "type": "boolean", "description": "Sentiment, top themes, praises, complaints, viewer questions and a summary from the comments.", "default": true }, "aiContentIdeas": { "title": "AI content ideas", "type": "boolean", "description": "Next-video ideas, title suggestions and hooks mined from viewer comments.", "default": false }, "aiVideoSummary": { "title": "AI video summary", "type": "boolean", "description": "Summary and key points from the transcript (or description + top comments if no transcript).", "default": false }, "aiLanguage": { "title": "AI output language", "type": "string", "description": "Language for the AI-generated text.", "default": "English" }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy for reaching YouTube. RESIDENTIAL is strongly recommended — YouTube blocks datacenter IPs.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```