📹 YouTube Scraper

YouTube Scraper is a powerful, high-performance tool designed to extract comprehensive data from YouTube without the limitations of the official YouTube Data API. Scrape videos, channels, playlists, shorts, and search results at scale—no API key or quotas required.

🌟 Why choose this YouTube Scraper?

Compared to the official API and other scrapers, this tool offers:

• Zero Quota Limits: Scrape as much as you need without worrying about "units" or daily credits.
• Deep Data Extraction: Access fields not available in the official API, like detailed like counts (even on videos with hidden counts), precise subscriber counts, and full channel about data.
• Built-in Filtering: Use YouTube's native search filters directly through the scraper (HD, 4K, Live, etc.).
• Subtitles & Transcripts: Extract video transcripts in plaintext, SRT, or VTT formats (experimental).
• Advanced Channel Insights: Collect total video counts, total channel views, location, and social media links with one click.
• Flexible Sorting: Sort results by relevance, upload date, view count, or rating.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Create an Apify account if you don't have one.
2. Open the YouTube Scraper Actor.
3. Enter one or more search terms (e.g., web scraping tutorial) OR direct URLs (videos, channels, playlists).
4. (Optional) Enable Scrape Channel Data for extra depth.
5. Click Start and watch the data pour in.
6. Download your results in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

🛠 Features

🔍 Powerful Search

Enter search terms just like you would on YouTube. You can limit the number of results for regular videos, shorts, and streams separately.

🔗 Direct URL Support

Scrape specific entities directly by providing their URLs:

• Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
• Channels: https://www.youtube.com/@...
• Playlists: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...
• Hashtags: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/...

🎞️ Shorts & Streams

Specifically target YouTube Shorts or Live Streams with dedicated result limits and specific metadata for these formats.

📊 Comprehensive Metadata

Every result includes:

• Video Details: ID, Title, URL, Views, Likes, Comment Count.
• Timing: Duration (seconds + text), Published Date (ISO + text).
• Quality: Thumbnails, isShort, isStream flag.
• Transcripts: Full video subtitles/captions (Plaintext, SRT, or VTT).
• Channel Info: Name, ID, URL, Subscriber count.
• Social Hooks: Hashtags, full Description.

📍 Exclusive Channel Data

Enable the Scrape Channel Data option to navigate to the channel's About page and collect:

• Total Video Count
• Total Channel Views
• Channel Location
• Social Media Links (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.)

📥 Input Example

{
    "searchQueries": ["apify web scraping"],
    "maxResults": 10,
    "scrapeChannelData": true,
    "sortingOrder": "views"
}

📤 Output Example

{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video)",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "views": 1749021771,
  "likes": 18833617,
  "commentsCount": 2400000,
  "durationText": "3:33",
  "publishedAt": "2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00",
  "channelName": "Rick Astley",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyYT",
  "subscribers": "4.46M subscribers",
  "videoCount": 394,
  "totalViews": 2412509438,
  "channelLocation": "United Kingdom",
  "socialMediaLinks": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/RickAstley/",
    "https://twitter.com/rickastley"
  ]
}

❓ FAQ

Is it legal to scrape data from YouTube?

Scraping public data is generally legal in most jurisdictions. Our scraper only accesses publicly available data that any user can see in a browser. However, you should always consult with legal counsel regarding your specific use case and comply with local regulations.

Does it require a proxy?

While it can run without a proxy for small volumes, we highly recommend using Apify Proxy (Residential or Datacenter) for high-volume scraping to ensure reliability and avoid rate limits.

💬 Feedback

We are constantly improving! If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue on the Apify platform.