# YouTube Data Scraper - Videos, Channels, Comments & Search (`pushbuild/youtube-data`) Actor

Get YouTube video details (views, likes, comments, duration, tags), channel stats and uploads, search results and comments. Built on the official YouTube Data API, so it is fast and reliable, with no blocking or proxies. No API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pushbuild/youtube-data.md
- **Developed by:** [Pushbuild Data](https://apify.com/pushbuild) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Data Scraper - Videos, Channels, Comments & Search

Pull structured YouTube data in one run: video details, channel statistics and uploads, keyword search results and comments. It is built on the official YouTube Data API, so runs are fast and never blocked. You do not need an API key.

### What you can get

- **Videos**: title, description, publish date, views, likes, comment count, duration (ISO and seconds), tags, category, language, captions flag, made-for-kids flag, HD/SD, thumbnail.
- **Channels**: title, @handle, description, country, subscribers, total views, video count, keywords, creation date, plus the latest uploads with full video details.
- **Search**: videos for any keyword, sortable by relevance, date, views or rating, optionally filtered by publish date and region.
- **Comments**: top-level comments with author, text, likes, reply count and dates.

### Input examples

```json
{ "channels": ["@mkbhd"], "maxVideosPerSource": 20 }
```

```json
{ "searchQueries": ["home espresso machine review"], "searchOrder": "viewCount", "includeComments": true, "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50 }
```

```json
{ "videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"] }
```

### Output

Each dataset item has a `type` of `video`, `channel` or `comment`. Export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read it through the Apify API.

### Pricing

Pay per result: per video, per channel and per comment. See the Pricing tab.

### Use cases

Influencer research, competitor channel tracking, content and keyword research, comment sentiment analysis, and building datasets for analytics.

### Limits

Only public data is returned. Private videos and videos with comments turned off are skipped. For very large daily volumes you can supply your own free API key in the `apiKey` input.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Search YouTube for videos matching these terms.

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Channel URLs, @handles, channel IDs (UC...) or names. Returns channel stats plus its latest uploads.

## `videos` (type: `array`):

Video URLs or 11-character video IDs (watch, shorts, youtu.be links all work).

## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`):

How many videos to collect for each search query and each channel.

## `searchOrder` (type: `string`):

Sort order for search results.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only search results published after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `regionCode` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code to localise search results (e.g. US, GB, DE).

## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`):

Also collect top-level comments for every video.

## `maxCommentsPerVideo` (type: `integer`):

Comment cap per video.

## `commentsOrder` (type: `string`):

Top comments first, or newest first.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional. Leave empty to use ours. For very large jobs you can supply your own free YouTube Data API v3 key.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "home espresso machine review"
  ],
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 50,
  "searchOrder": "relevance",
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 100,
  "commentsOrder": "relevance"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "home espresso machine review"
    ],
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pushbuild/youtube-data").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQueries": ["home espresso machine review"],
    "channels": ["@mkbhd"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pushbuild/youtube-data").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "home espresso machine review"
  ],
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd"
  ]
}' |
apify call pushbuild/youtube-data --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pushbuild/youtube-data"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/OhcuYjT4dMb3gdqCQ/builds/v7MvdqsXc52P6niLI/openapi.json