Youtube Comments Scraper

Youtube Comments Scraper

The Youtube Comments Scraper is a scalable YouTube comments extractor that collects structured comment data from public videos at scale — ideal when you want to download YouTube comments, export YouTube comments to CSV, or scrape YouTube comments without API keys. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, this YouTube video comments scraper handles bulk inputs, preserves reply threads, and captures rich engagement metadata so you can analyze conversations, sentiment, and trends at scale.

What data / output can you get?

Below are the exact fields this YouTube comments scraper tool saves to the Apify dataset. You can export to JSON or CSV and open it in Excel for further analysis.

Data type	Description	Example value
cid	Unique comment ID	Ugzxs4_5UJwAI1xrNF14AaABAg
type	Record type (constant)	comment
publishedTimeText	Relative time when the comment was posted	2 years ago
comment	The comment’s text content	Subscribe to be in one of my upcoming videos (it's going to be huge!)
author	Author username with @ prefix	@MrBeast
avatar	URL to the author’s profile image	https://yt3.ggpht.com/.../s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj
authorIsChannelOwner	Whether the author owns the channel (boolean)	true
isVerified	Whether the author is verified (boolean)	true
voteCount	Number of likes/upvotes	189000
hasCreatorHeart	Whether the creator hearted the comment (boolean)	true
replyCount	Number of replies to this comment	763
replyToCid	Parent comment ID (null for top-level)	null
videoId	YouTube video ID	KrLj6nc516A
pageUrl	Full YouTube video URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrLj6nc516A
title	Video title	$1 vs $100,000,000 Car!
commentsCount	Total number of comments on the video (if available)	155000

Bonus: The scraper also preserves reply threads using replyToCid, and includes video-level metadata like title, videoId, pageUrl, and commentsCount. Download as JSON or export YouTube comments to CSV for quick analysis or use in Excel.

Key features

• 🚀 Bulk scraping & sequential processing — Add multiple video URLs or IDs to run a bulk YouTube comments scraper in one execution. Each video is processed in order and saved with the correct title and metadata.
• 🧭 Sort by “top” or “newest” — Choose the comment order that fits your analysis: prioritize relevance/popularity or monitor the most recent discussion.
• 🧵 Threaded replies preserved — Extract top-level comments and replies while maintaining parent–child relationships via replyToCid for accurate conversation mapping.
• 🧠 Smart proxy fallback — Automatic escalation from no proxy → datacenter → residential, with built-in retries and clear logging to minimize blocks and rate limits.
• 🎛️ Configurable limits — Set maxComments per video, or use 0 to download YouTube comments without limits.
• 📄 Clean, structured output — Get consistent JSON fields and export CSV for “YouTube comments to Excel” workflows.
• 🔍 Detailed logging — Follow progress page-by-page, including proxy fallback events and per-page increments.

How to use Youtube Comments Scraper - step by step

1. Create or sign in to your Apify account at https://console.apify.com.
2. Open the actor “youtube-comments-scraper” from your dashboard or the Apify Store.
3. Add input data:
   • Paste YouTube video URLs or 11-character video IDs into startUrls (string list).
   • Set maxComments (use 0 to scrape all available comments).
   • Choose sortOrder: “top” or “newest”.
   • Optionally configure proxyConfiguration (enable Apify Proxy if you encounter blocks).
4. Click Start to run. The actor processes each video sequentially.
5. Watch the live logs to see progress, including any proxy fallback steps.
6. When complete, open the OUTPUT tab to review the dataset.
7. Export results as JSON or CSV and open in Excel for analysis.

Pro Tip: For sentiment analysis or social listening on trending content, use sortOrder = "newest" and set maxComments = 0 to capture the full discussion.

Use cases

Use case	Description
Marketing sentiment analysis	Aggregate comments to identify positive/negative themes about product launches, ads, or creator collaborations.
Social listening & brand monitoring	Track brand mentions and audience reactions across multiple videos for ongoing social insights.
Product & UX research	Extract feedback from relevant videos to inform roadmap decisions with real user commentary.
Competitor analysis	Compare engagement and audience response on competitor videos to benchmark messaging and format.
Influencer research	Analyze comment patterns and audience interaction to select high-fit creators.
Academic & media studies	Build datasets for research on online discourse, virality, or platform behavior.
Data enrichment pipelines	Use structured outputs to feed BI dashboards and automated reporting.

Why choose Youtube Comments Scraper?

This production-ready YouTube comments scraper online focuses on accuracy, resilience, and scale so your datasets stay complete and structured.

• ✅ Accurate, structured fields aligned to real YouTube UI data (authors, likes, replies, verification, channel-owner flags).
• 🔁 Robust proxy fallback and retries to reduce blocks and rate limits during larger runs.
• 📦 Bulk-ready: scrape multiple videos in one run with per-video metadata preserved.
• 💬 Reply threads captured via replyToCid to maintain conversation context.
• 📤 Export-friendly: JSON by default and CSV for spreadsheet workflows.
• 🔧 No API keys needed: scrape YouTube comments without API credentials or extensions.
• 🧰 Developer-friendly on Apify with clear logs and consistent output for downstream automations.

Bottom line: If you’re comparing a YouTube comments scraper tool vs. brittle browser extensions, this actor delivers reliable, structured results at scale.

Is it legal / ethical to use Youtube Comments Scraper?

Yes — when done responsibly. This actor collects data from publicly available YouTube pages and does not access private or password-protected content. You are responsible for ensuring your use complies with applicable laws and YouTube’s Terms of Service.

Guidelines:

• Only collect public video comments.
• Respect platform rate limits and usage policies.
• Comply with data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) where applicable.
• Avoid spam and misuse; use the data for legitimate analysis and research.

If you have edge cases or compliance questions, consult your legal team.

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrLj6nc516A",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "maxComments": 50,
  "sortOrder": "top",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Input fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
startUrls	array (stringList editor)	Yes	—	Enter YouTube video URLs (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID or https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID) or 11-character video IDs. Supports multiple entries; videos are processed sequentially.
maxComments	integer	No	50	Maximum number of comments to scrape per video. Use 0 for no limit (scrape all available comments).
sortOrder	string (enum: top, newest)	No	top	Choose how comments are ordered: “top” for most liked/relevant first or “newest” for most recent first.
proxyConfiguration	object (proxy editor)	No	useApifyProxy: false	Configure proxies. By default, no proxy is used. If blocked, the actor can automatically fall back to datacenter, then residential proxies.

Note: Language and region are handled internally for robust performance; you don’t need to configure them.

Example JSON output

{
  "cid": "Ugzxs4_5UJwAI1xrNF14AaABAg",
  "type": "comment",
  "publishedTimeText": "2 years ago",
  "comment": "Subscribe to be in one of my upcoming videos (it's going to be huge!)",
  "author": "@MrBeast",
  "avatar": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/nxYrc_1_2f77DoBadyxMTmv7ZpRZapHR5jbuYe7PlPd5cIRJxtNNEYyOC0ZsxaDyJJzXrnJiuDE=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "authorIsChannelOwner": true,
  "isVerified": true,
  "voteCount": 189000,
  "hasCreatorHeart": true,
  "replyCount": 763,
  "replyToCid": null,
  "videoId": "KrLj6nc516A",
  "pageUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrLj6nc516A",
  "title": "$1 vs $100,000,000 Car!",
  "commentsCount": 155000
}

Notes:

• author may fall back to “@Unknown” and title to “Unknown Title” if not available in the page data.
• replyToCid is null for top-level comments and contains the parent CID for replies.

FAQ

Do I need API keys or a Chrome extension to use this?

No. This YouTube comments scraper works without official API keys and does not require a Chrome extension. It fetches public page data and returns structured JSON and CSV exports.

Can I download YouTube comments to CSV or Excel?

Yes. You can export the dataset to CSV directly and open it in Excel, making it easy to transform YouTube comments to Excel for analysis or reporting.

How many comments can I scrape per video?

You control this with maxComments. Set it to 0 to scrape all available comments, or specify a limit (default is 50 per video).

Can I scrape replies and maintain threads?

Yes. The actor saves both top-level comments and replies. It uses replyToCid to preserve parent–child relationships for accurate thread analysis.

Does it support sorting by newest or top comments?

Yes. Use the sortOrder input to choose “top” (most liked/relevant) or “newest” (most recent first), depending on your use case.

Can I input just video IDs instead of full URLs?

Yes. You can provide either full URLs or 11-character video IDs in startUrls. The actor accepts both formats.

What happens if YouTube rate limits or blocks requests?

The actor includes automatic proxy fallback and retry logic. It escalates from no proxy → datacenter → residential proxies and logs each step to keep you informed.

Can I run it for multiple videos at once?

Yes. Add multiple entries to startUrls to run a bulk YouTube comments scraper. Each video is processed sequentially, and all results are stored in the same dataset.

Closing CTA / Final thoughts

The Youtube Comments Scraper is built for structured, scalable extraction of public YouTube comment data. It captures clean fields, preserves reply threads, and offers export-ready results for marketers, analysts, researchers, and developers.

Set your maxComments, choose “top” or “newest,” and run bulk jobs to download YouTube comments and export them to CSV/JSON for dashboards, research, and social listening. Start extracting smarter insights from your audience conversations today.