YouTube Video Metadata & Thumbnail Extractor

Low-cost YouTube video metadata intelligence with snapshot drift detection and channel-level summaries for supplied public video URLs, without Google API keys. Returns structured, machine-readable results for repeatable research, monitoring, automation, Apify Tasks, API workflows, and.

Quick start

Start with this working example and replace the target values with your own:

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

The Actor writes structured results to the default Apify Dataset and can be used from the Store, API, schedules, Tasks, automations and MCP-compatible AI workflows.

Input

• urls — YouTube video URLs: Public YouTube video URLs to enrich.
• max_videos — Maximum videos: Maximum number of input URLs processed in one run.

All integration and advanced analysis fields are optional. The default example is intentionally runnable without configuring MCP or a previous-run baseline.

Output

The Dataset exposes predictable machine-readable output. Representative fields include results.

Pricing

This Actor uses Pay Per Event. The current factory base price is $0.000500 per result event. The Apify Store remains the source of truth for the price and plan/tier details shown to the buyer.

Use cases

• Run the buyer-ready workflows exposed as Apify Tasks without preparing a custom integration first.
• Use the Actor from API or schedules for recurring collection, comparison or monitoring.
• Feed the structured Dataset output into spreadsheets, databases, automations or AI agents.
• Compare repeat runs when the product supports snapshots or previous-run inputs.

Automation and AI

Use the same Actor through Apify API, schedules, public Tasks and the Apify MCP server. Outputs are structured for downstream workflows and AI agents rather than requiring manual copy/paste.

Limitations

• Public websites and upstream APIs can change markup, access rules, rate limits or field availability without notice.
• Fields that are not publicly available are returned as unavailable or omitted rather than fabricated.
• Analytical outputs depend on the quality and coverage of the supplied or collected source data.
• Treat marketplace, reputation, workforce, safety or commercial signals as decision support and validate material decisions against the underlying source evidence.

Detailed documentation

Detailed documentation

Extract clean, automation-ready metadata from public YouTube video URLs without creating a YouTube Data API project, managing API keys, or dealing with quota configuration.

This Actor is intentionally focused: give it YouTube video URLs and receive one predictable dataset item per input URL with normalized identifiers, title, channel/author information, thumbnail URL, provider metadata, and explicit success or error status.

Why use this Actor

Use it when you need lightweight YouTube enrichment rather than a large scraping stack. It is designed for workflows where predictable output, minimal setup, low per-result cost, and explicit failures matter more than collecting every possible YouTube metric.

Unlike workflows that require Google Cloud credentials and YouTube Data API quota management, this Actor uses public YouTube oEmbed metadata for supported public videos. No external API key is required.

Key features

• No YouTube Data API key required
• No Google Cloud project or quota configuration
• Accepts standard youtube.com/watch and youtu.be video URLs
• Normalizes the video URL and extracts the video ID
• Returns video title and channel/author name
• Returns the public thumbnail URL
• Includes provider metadata when available
• Produces one dataset item per input URL
• Returns an explicit ok status and error information instead of silently dropping failed inputs
• Processes up to 200 input URLs per run
• Structured JSON output for pipelines, catalogs, spreadsheets, databases, and automation tools

Input

Provide an array of public YouTube video URLs.

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/aqz-KE-bpKQ"
  ],
  "max_videos": 50
}

max_videos can be set from 1 to 200.

Output

Each input URL produces a dataset record. Successful records include fields such as:

• input
• video_url
• video_id
• ok
• title
• author_name
• thumbnail_url
• provider_name

Failed or unsupported inputs are represented explicitly so downstream workflows can distinguish a real failure from an empty result.

Example

A successful result can be used directly for video catalogs, CMS enrichment, editorial databases, thumbnail inventories, monitoring lists, or other automated workflows without additional parsing of a YouTube page.

The Actor keeps the output deliberately compact and predictable so it is easy to map into Zapier, Make, n8n, spreadsheets, databases, or custom applications.

Use cases

• Enrich a catalog of YouTube URLs with titles and thumbnails
• Build editorial or research inventories
• Normalize mixed YouTube URL formats
• Populate CMS or database records
• Validate public video links in automated workflows
• Collect thumbnail references for media-management pipelines
• Add channel/author metadata to existing URL lists

Pricing

Pay per result. The configured price is $0.0005 per dataset item, equivalent to $0.50 per 1,000 processed results before any plan-specific platform considerations.

One input URL produces one result record, including explicit error records when an input cannot be enriched.

Limitations

This Actor is not intended to replace the full YouTube Data API. It focuses on lightweight public oEmbed metadata and does not promise private data, authenticated content, view counts, likes, comments, transcripts, tags, or other fields that are not exposed by the public metadata source.

Private, deleted, restricted, unavailable, or unsupported videos may return an error result. The Actor does not bypass authentication, access controls, or platform restrictions.

Responsible use

Use the Actor only with public URLs and in accordance with applicable laws, platform terms, and your own data-handling requirements.