# YouTube Comments Scraper (`outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper`) Actor Scrape the comments of one or MANY YouTube videos in a single run. Returns text, author, likes, thread structure (parent/depth) and the source video itself. Top or newest-first order, optional replies. No login, no API quota. - **URL**: https://apify.com/outspoken\_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [code craker](https://apify.com/outspoken_strategy) (community) - **Categories:** Social media, Videos, E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $15.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. 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 Comments Scraper Apify actor that scrapes the comments of one or **many** YouTube videos in a single run and exports them as structured data — no login, no cookies, no YouTube API quota. It reads the entry token from the video's watch page and pages through YouTube's own InnerTube `/youtubei/v1/next` API (the same requests the site itself makes). Requests go over plain HTTP first (fast and cheap); if YouTube blocks that, the actor automatically escalates to a real Chrome browser for the rest of the run — API requests then run inside the page as same-origin fetches. ### Features - **Batched**: pass many video URLs and they are all scraped in ONE actor run (`maxComments` applies per video). Results are pushed after each video, so an abort or timeout keeps everything collected so far. - Any video reference works: `youtube.com/watch?v=...`, `youtu.be/...` short links, `/shorts/...` links, or a bare 11-character video id. - `top` (YouTube's ranked order) or `newest` first. - Replies included with full thread structure (`parentCommentId` + `depth`), or top-level comments only (`includeReplies: false`). Top-level comments are collected first; replies fill the remaining budget. - The source video itself is emitted too (flagged `is_source_post: true`) with title, channel, views, exact publish date and total comment count; disable with `includeSourcePost: false`. Videos with disabled comments are flagged (`commentsDisabled: true`) instead of failing. - Automatic block recovery: fresh proxy IP on each retry, plain HTTP → real Chrome escalation, EU consent interstitial bypassed via cookies. - When a run ends with 0 results, the last page fetched is saved as `DEBUG_HTML` in the run's key-value store. ### Input ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs", "https://youtu.be/SSE4M0gcmvE" ], "maxComments": 100, "commentsSort": "top", "includeReplies": true, "includeSourcePost": true, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } } ```` `startUrls` (`[{ "url": ... }]`) is accepted as an alternative to `urls` and merged with it. `resultsLimit` is accepted as an alias for `maxComments`. ### Output One dataset item per comment. Every item carries `postId` / `postUrl` / `inputUrl`, so comments from a multi-video run can always be attributed back to their source video. ```json { "id": "Ugw4obgfNOpuN6L96qF4AaABAg", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs&lc=Ugw4obgfNOpuN6L96qF4AaABAg", "text": "Full text of the comment...", "author": "@some_user", "authorChannelId": "UCQLsJdT08EKD_7boRxYusGw", "authorProfileUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQLsJdT08EKD_7boRxYusGw", "authorAvatar": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/...", "isCreator": false, "isVerified": false, "likeCount": 52, "repliesCount": 3, "edited": false, "parentCommentId": null, "depth": 0, "publishedTimeText": "14 hours ago", "created_at": "2026-07-08T18:53:19.009Z", "postId": "XXaUd0fGpOs", "postUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs", "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs", "commentsSort": "top", "is_source_post": false } ``` - `parentCommentId` is `null` for a top-level comment; otherwise the id of the comment it replies to (YouTube threads are exactly two levels deep). A reply's own id is `parentId.replyId`. - `created_at` is APPROXIMATE: YouTube only exposes relative publish times for comments ("2 weeks ago"); the raw value is kept in `publishedTimeText`. - `isCreator` marks the video's own channel commenting (YouTube's Creator badge) — the equivalent of Reddit's `isSubmitter`/OP. - The source video item has `is_source_post: true` with `title`, `description`, `channelName`, `viewCount`, `numComments` and an EXACT `created_at` (watch pages expose the real publish date). ### Integration (scraping-tool) Batched, like the other comment scrapers in `scrapeCommentsForPostsBatched`. Add a branch to `scrapingService.scrapeCommentsBatch`: ```js } else if (actor === 'outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper') { delete input.startUrls; input.urls = urls; input.maxComments = cappedComments(input.maxComments ?? resultsLimit); input.includeSourcePost = input.includeSourcePost ?? false; input.includeReplies = input.includeReplies ?? false; // match FB: top-level only input.proxyConfiguration = input.proxyConfiguration ?? { useApifyProxy: true, apifyProxyGroups: ['RESIDENTIAL'], apifyProxyCountry: 'US' }; } ``` Attribution in `_matchCommentToPost` (platform `youtube`): match on `item.postUrl`, `item.inputUrl` or `item.postId` — a good `_postMatchKey` is the video id extracted with `/[?&]v=([A-Za-z0-9_-]{11})/` (plus the `youtu.be`/`shorts` variants). Normalization hints: `likesCount` ← `likeCount`, `repliesCount` is already named, `createdTime` ← `created_at` (approximate), `parentCommentId` is already named, and author fields are flat (`author`, `authorChannelId`, `authorProfileUrl`). ### Local development ```bash npm install echo '{ "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs"], "maxComments": 25, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false } }' > storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json npm start ``` Deploy with `apify push`. # Actor input Schema ## `urls` (type: `array`): URLs of the YouTube videos whose comments you want to scrape — one or MANY videos per run. Any form works: youtube.com/watch?v=..., youtu.be/... short links, /shorts/... links, or a bare 11-character video id. De-duplicated by video. ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): Alternative way to provide the video URLs as a request list of { "url": ... } objects. Merged with "urls" and de-duplicated by video. ## `maxComments` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of comments to fetch PER video (replies count towards this limit). The source video itself is also emitted (flagged is\_source\_post) and does not count. ## `commentsSort` (type: `string`): Which comments YouTube puts first — matters when a video has more comments than maxComments. "top" (YouTube's ranked order) or "newest" (newest first). ## `includeReplies` (type: `boolean`): Also fetch the replies under each comment (with parentCommentId/depth set). Top-level comments are collected first; replies fill the remaining maxComments budget. Uncheck to keep only top-level comments. ## `includeSourcePost` (type: `boolean`): Also emit one dataset item for the video itself (flagged is\_source\_post: true) with its title, channel, views, publish date and total comment count. Uncheck to get comments only. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy to route traffic through. Residential proxies are recommended — YouTube captchas or blocks flagged datacenter IPs. ## `headless` (type: `boolean`): The actor fetches over plain HTTP and only falls back to a Chrome browser when YouTube blocks it. Uncheck to run that fallback browser headed (useful only for local debugging). ## Actor input object example ```json { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs" ], "startUrls": [], "maxComments": 100, "commentsSort": "top", "includeReplies": true, "includeSourcePost": true, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" }, "headless": true } ``` # 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 = { "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs" ], "startUrls": [], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-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 = { "urls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs"], "startUrls": [], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "US", }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper").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 '{ "urls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXaUd0fGpOs" ], "startUrls": [], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }' | apify call outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=outspoken_strategy/youtube-comments-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Comments Scraper", "description": "Scrape the comments of one or MANY YouTube videos in a single run. Returns text, author, likes, thread structure (parent/depth) and the source video itself. Top or newest-first order, optional replies. No login, no API quota.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "SO2hZwxRBtdgKHCNI" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/outspoken_strategy~youtube-comments-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-outspoken_strategy-youtube-comments-scraper", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/outspoken_strategy~youtube-comments-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-outspoken_strategy-youtube-comments-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/outspoken_strategy~youtube-comments-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-outspoken_strategy-youtube-comments-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "urls": { "title": "Video URLs", "type": "array", "description": "URLs of the YouTube videos whose comments you want to scrape — one or MANY videos per run. Any form works: youtube.com/watch?v=..., youtu.be/... short links, /shorts/... links, or a bare 11-character video id. De-duplicated by video.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "startUrls": { "title": "Video URLs (request list)", "type": "array", "description": "Alternative way to provide the video URLs as a request list of { \"url\": ... } objects. Merged with \"urls\" and de-duplicated by video.", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "url" ], "properties": { "url": { "type": "string", "title": "URL of a web page", "format": "uri" } } } }, "maxComments": { "title": "Max comments per video", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 5000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of comments to fetch PER video (replies count towards this limit). The source video itself is also emitted (flagged is_source_post) and does not count.", "default": 100 }, "commentsSort": { "title": "Comments sort", "enum": [ "top", "newest" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which comments YouTube puts first — matters when a video has more comments than maxComments. \"top\" (YouTube's ranked order) or \"newest\" (newest first).", "default": "top" }, "includeReplies": { "title": "Include replies", "type": "boolean", "description": "Also fetch the replies under each comment (with parentCommentId/depth set). Top-level comments are collected first; replies fill the remaining maxComments budget. Uncheck to keep only top-level comments.", "default": true }, "includeSourcePost": { "title": "Include the source video", "type": "boolean", "description": "Also emit one dataset item for the video itself (flagged is_source_post: true) with its title, channel, views, publish date and total comment count. Uncheck to get comments only.", "default": true }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy to route traffic through. Residential proxies are recommended — YouTube captchas or blocks flagged datacenter IPs.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "US" } }, "headless": { "title": "Run browser headless", "type": "boolean", "description": "The actor fetches over plain HTTP and only falls back to a Chrome browser when YouTube blocks it. Uncheck to run that fallback browser headed (useful only for local debugging).", "default": true } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```