YouTube Channel Analytics - Subscriber Count, Views & Video Stats Scraper (No API Key)

Extract YouTube channel statistics and video-level metrics without a YouTube Data API key -- no OAuth, no Google Cloud billing, no quotas. Get subscriber count, total views, video count, join date, and individual video metrics (views, duration, publish date). The best free alternative to Social Blade ($3.99/mo), VidIQ ($7.50/mo), TubeBuddy ($4.99/mo), and YouTube Data API (10,000 units/day limit).

Who Is This For?

• YouTubers -- Track your own channel growth and video performance without third-party dashboards
• Marketing agencies -- Pull influencer channel stats for campaign reporting and vetting
• Brand managers -- Evaluate potential sponsorship partners by subscriber count, engagement, and content frequency
• Market researchers -- Analyze competitor channels and industry trends at scale
• Data analysts -- Build YouTube datasets for trend analysis, content strategy, and audience research
• Investors -- Due diligence on creator economy startups and influencer-driven businesses

Features

• Extract subscriber count, total views, video count, join date
• Scrape individual video titles, view counts, duration, publish dates
• Sort videos by newest, most popular, or oldest
• Bulk channel analysis (multiple channels per run)
• Supports @handle, /channel/ID, and /c/name URL formats
• Playwright-based for reliable JavaScript rendering
• No API key or Google Cloud account required
• Export as JSON, CSV, or Excel

Pricing -- Free to Start

Tier	Cost	What You Get
Free trial	$0	Apify free tier includes monthly compute credits
Pay per channel	~$0.02-0.10/channel	Only pay for actual Apify compute used
vs. Social Blade Pro	Saves $3.99/mo	No subscription needed
vs. VidIQ Pro	Saves $7.50/mo	Bulk processing + API access included
vs. YouTube Data API	No quota limits	No 10,000 units/day cap

Quick Start (3 Steps)

1. Click "Try for free" on this Actor's page in Apify Store
2. Paste YouTube channel URLs (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast)
3. Click "Start" and get channel stats with video metrics as JSON, CSV, or Excel

How It Compares to Paid YouTube Analytics Tools

Feature	This Actor (FREE)	Social Blade ($3.99/mo)	VidIQ ($7.50/mo)	YouTube Data API (Free + quota)
Subscriber count	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Total views	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video-level stats	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes
Bulk channels	Yes (unlimited)	1 at a time	Limited	Rate limited (10K units/day)
API access	Yes (Apify API)	No	No	Yes
Scheduling	Yes (Apify scheduler)	No	No	Manual
Historical data	Current snapshot	30-day history	Limited	Current only
No API key needed	Yes	Yes	Browser extension	No (key required)
Monthly cost	$0 (pay per run)	$3.99	$7.50	Free (quota limited)

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
channelUrls	string[]	Yes	-	YouTube channel URLs (@handle, /channel/ID, or /c/name)
includeVideos	boolean	No	true	Whether to scrape individual video details
maxVideos	integer	No	30	Max videos to collect per channel (1-200)
sortVideos	string	No	"newest"	Sort: newest, popular, oldest

Example Input -- Single Channel Analysis

{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"
  ],
  "includeVideos": true,
  "maxVideos": 50,
  "sortVideos": "popular"
}

Example Input -- Bulk Competitor Analysis

{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@markiplier",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@jacksepticeye"
  ],
  "includeVideos": true,
  "maxVideos": 20,
  "sortVideos": "newest"
}

Example Input -- Channel Overview Only (No Videos)

{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
  ],
  "includeVideos": false
}

Output Example -- Channel Data

{
  "success": true,
  "dataType": "channel",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
  "channelName": "MrBeast",
  "handle": "@MrBeast",
  "subscriberCount": 358000000,
  "subscriberText": "358M subscribers",
  "totalViews": 62000000000,
  "videoCount": 850,
  "joinDate": "Feb 20, 2012",
  "description": "SUBSCRIBE FOR A COOKIE!",
  "avatarUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/...",
  "bannerUrl": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Output Example -- Video Data

{
  "success": true,
  "dataType": "video",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
  "channelName": "MrBeast",
  "handle": "@MrBeast",
  "videoTitle": "$1 vs $1,000,000,000 Yacht!",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...",
  "views": 245000000,
  "viewsText": "245M views",
  "published": "2 months ago",
  "durationSeconds": 952,
  "durationText": "15:52",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/.../hqdefault.jpg",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Output Fields

Channel Record

Field	Type	Description
dataType	string	Always "channel"
channelName	string	Channel display name
handle	string	@handle (e.g., @MrBeast)
subscriberCount	number	Subscriber count (parsed)
totalViews	number	Lifetime view count
videoCount	number	Total videos uploaded
joinDate	string	Channel creation date
description	string	Channel description
avatarUrl	string	Profile picture URL
bannerUrl	string	Banner image URL

Video Record

Field	Type	Description
dataType	string	Always "video"
videoTitle	string	Video title
videoUrl	string	Full video URL
views	number	View count (parsed)
published	string	Relative publish date
durationSeconds	number	Video length in seconds
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image URL

Real-World Use Cases

1. Influencer Vetting for Sponsorships

Bulk-analyze 50+ influencer channels in minutes. Compare subscriber counts, average views per video, and posting frequency to find the best ROI for your brand deal budget.

2. Competitor Content Strategy Analysis

Sort competitor videos by "popular" to identify their top-performing content. Analyze video lengths, title patterns, and posting frequency to reverse-engineer their strategy.

3. YouTube Niche Research

Scrape 20+ channels in a niche to calculate average subscribers, views, and video frequency. Determine market saturation and opportunity gaps before starting a new channel.

4. Creator Economy Due Diligence

For investors evaluating creator-led businesses, pull verified channel metrics (not self-reported) for subscriber trends, engagement rates, and content consistency.

5. Automated Channel Growth Tracking

Schedule weekly runs via Apify scheduler. Export to Google Sheets or webhook to track your own channel's growth metrics over time without manual checking.

FAQ

Q: What YouTube URL formats are supported? A: All three formats work: @handle (e.g., youtube.com/@MrBeast), /channel/ (e.g., youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3...), and /c/ (e.g., youtube.com/c/MrBeast).

Q: Why is the subscriber count approximate? A: YouTube only shows abbreviated subscriber counts publicly (e.g., "358M"). The Actor parses these abbreviations to numbers. For exact counts, only the channel owner has access via YouTube Studio.

Q: Can I get likes and comments for each video? A: The current version extracts view counts, duration, and publish dates from the channel's video listing page. Individual video likes/comments require visiting each video page, which is available as a feature enhancement.

Q: How many channels can I scrape in one run? A: No hard limit. Practical limit depends on your Apify compute budget. Each channel takes 30-60 seconds to process (more with video scraping). 50+ channels in a single run is typical.

Q: Can I schedule this to run automatically? A: Yes. Use Apify's built-in scheduler to run daily, weekly, or on any cron schedule. Export to Google Sheets, webhook, or S3 for automated reporting pipelines.

Pricing

Pay Per Event -- charged per channel processed. Typical cost: $0.02-0.10 per channel (depends on maxVideos and Apify compute). Free tier available for testing.

Tags

youtube, channel-analytics, subscriber-count, video-stats, influencer-research, social-media-scraper, youtube-scraper, content-analysis, creator-economy, social-blade-alternative