# YouTube Channel Scraper (all videos, Shorts, live, subscribers) (`scrapemole/youtube-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape every video, Short and live stream of any YouTube channel, newest first: title, link, views, upload time, duration, plus channel name, handle, ID and subscriber count. Optional full details and a days filter for cheap channel monitoring. Pay only per video.

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

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 video delivereds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 Channel Scraper: all videos, Shorts, live streams and subscribers

Scrape **every video, Short and live stream from YouTube channels** without an API key or quota. Give it `@handles`, channel URLs or IDs and get each upload's title, link, **views**, upload time, **duration** and thumbnail, plus the channel's **subscriber count**, video count and description. Turn on **full details** for **likes, comment count, exact publish date, category, description and tags**.

**You only pay for videos delivered.** Channels that don't exist, empty tabs, invalid links and rate-limited requests are reported as clear error rows and never charged.

### Why this channel scraper

- **Whole channels, not just the first page.** Videos, Shorts and Live tabs are paged to the end (or to your limit), newest first.
- **Track new uploads cheaply.** Set *Only videos newer than (days)* and the run stops at the first older video, so a daily schedule costs cents.
- **No browser, no API key.** It reads the same JSON the YouTube website loads: fast and light.
- **Retries with backoff and a fresh IP** on rate limits. Residential IPs are used only as a capped fallback.
- **Clear errors**: `NOT_FOUND` (channel doesn't exist), `NO_DATA` (for example, no Shorts tab), `INVALID_INPUT`, `BLOCKED`.

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `videoId`, `url`, `title` | The upload (Shorts get a `/shorts/` link) |
| `channelName`, `channelHandle`, `channelId`, `channelUrl` | The channel |
| `channelSubscribers`, `channelVideoCountText`, `channelDescription` | Channel stats |
| `viewCount`, `viewCountText`, `publishedText`, `publishedAtApprox` | Views and upload time |
| `durationSeconds`, `durationText`, `isShort`, `isLive`, `channelTab`, `position` | Format and position on the channel |
| `likeCount`, `commentCount`, `publishDate`, `category`, `description`, `keywords` | **Full details** mode |

E-mail addresses in descriptions are replaced with `[email removed]`: we don't collect personal data.

### How to scrape a YouTube channel

1. Add **channels**: `@mkbhd`, `https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium`, `/channel/UC…` links or IDs.
2. Choose the **tabs**: Videos, Shorts, Live (default Videos).
3. Set **Max videos per channel tab** and, optionally, **Only videos newer than (days)** or **Full details**.
4. Click **Start** and download JSON, CSV or Excel, or use the API.

#### Input example

```json
{
  "channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium"],
  "channelContent": ["videos", "shorts", "streams"],
  "maxResultsPerSource": 500,
  "newerThanDays": 30
}
```

#### Output example

```json
{
  "status": "ok",
  "sourceType": "channel",
  "channelTab": "videos",
  "position": 1,
  "videoId": "…",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…",
  "title": "…",
  "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
  "channelHandle": "@mkbhd",
  "channelSubscribers": 20000000,
  "viewCount": 2100000,
  "publishedText": "3 days ago",
  "durationSeconds": 1020,
  "isShort": false
}
```

### Monitoring channels for new uploads

Add your channels, set **Only videos newer than (days)** to 1 and schedule the Actor daily. Connect a webhook, Slack, Make or Zapier to get each new upload. You pay only for new videos.

### Pricing

Pay per event, no start fee:

| Event | Free | Starter (Bronze) | Scale (Silver) | Business (Gold) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `video`: video, Short or live stream from a channel | $0.001 | $0.0008 | $0.0006 | $0.0005 |
| `video-details`: video with likes, comments and exact date | $0.003 | $0.002 | $0.0016 | $0.0012 |

A 1,000-video channel costs $0.80 on the Starter plan. Errors and duplicates are free. Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly at that budget.

### Use cases

- **Competitor and creator analysis:** every upload with views and length, to see what works.
- **Influencer vetting:** subscribers, upload frequency and recent performance.
- **New-upload alerts** for a list of channels.
- **Datasets for AI:** titles, descriptions and tags for whole channels. Pair with the ScrapeMole YouTube Transcript Scraper for the spoken text.

### API, Python and AI agents

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("scrapemole/youtube-channel-scraper").call(run_input={"channels": ["@mkbhd"], "channelContent": ["videos"], "maxResultsPerSource": 200})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["title"], item.get("viewCount"))
```

Works with schedules, webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n and Apify's MCP server for AI agents.

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No key and no quota.

**Can I search YouTube by keyword?** Use the ScrapeMole YouTube Scraper (search, channels, playlists) or the YouTube Shorts Scraper. This Actor is for channels.

**Why is `publishedText` empty for Shorts?** YouTube doesn't show upload times for Shorts in channel lists. Turn on full details for exact dates.

**Is this legal?** The Actor collects publicly available video data and no personal data. You are responsible for how you use the data; check YouTube's terms and the laws that apply to you.

### More from ScrapeMole

ScrapeMole builds focused, reliable scrapers for public data: pay per result, no start fees, clear error rows that are never charged, and a `RUN_SUMMARY` on every run.

- [YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/youtube-transcript-scraper)
- [Google Trends Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/google-trends-scraper)
- [YouTube Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/youtube-video-channel-scraper)
- [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/youtube-comments-scraper)
- [Telegram Channel Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/telegram-channel-scraper)
- [Amazon Product & Search Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/amazon-product-scraper)
- [Google Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/google-jobs-scraper)
- [YouTube Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapemole/youtube-shorts-scraper)
- [ATS Jobs Scraper: Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable](https://apify.com/scrapemole/ats-jobs-scraper)

Building an AI agent with its own wallet? The YouTube and Google Trends data is also sold per call over [x402](https://www.x402.org) (USDC on Base, no account): see [scrapemole.pages.dev](https://scrapemole.pages.dev). Questions or a missing field? Open an issue on this Actor. ScrapeMole is the maker of this Actor.

# Actor input Schema

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

@handles (e.g. @mkbhd), channel URLs (youtube.com/@name, /channel/UC..., /c/..., /user/...) or channel IDs. Every row carries the channel name, handle, ID and subscriber count.

## `channelContent` (type: `array`):

Which channel tabs to scrape: Videos, Shorts and/or Live streams. The limit applies to each tab separately.

## `maxResultsPerSource` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many videos for each channel tab (newest first). Up to 5,000.

## `newerThanDays` (type: `integer`):

Skip videos published more than this many days ago. For channels, scraping stops at the first older video (tabs are newest first), so it is also a cheap way to monitor channels.

## `scrapeVideoDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also open each video to add likes, comments count, exact publish date, category, full description and tags. Charged as a 'video with details' instead of a 'video'.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Paste a list of channel links, e.g. from a spreadsheet. Non-channel links are reported as errors and never charged.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code for YouTube texts such as '3 days ago' (e.g. en, de, es). Keep 'en' if you use the parsed numbers and dates.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code. Affects search ranking and which videos are available.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many sources or videos to scrape at once.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries for rate limits, timeouts and server errors, each with a fresh proxy IP.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy (datacenter) works well. If YouTube rate-limits, the Actor switches to residential IPs automatically.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "channelContent": [
    "videos"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSource": 50,
  "scrapeVideoDetails": false,
  "language": "en",
  "country": "US",
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "maxRetries": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All dataset rows (status ok or error).

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

JSON summary: processed/ok/failed counts, error codes, events charged, HTTP stats.

# 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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

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

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapemole/youtube-channel-scraper").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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call scrapemole/youtube-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/xgFaHwDt1MQJ4c0fp/builds/geVgVBaazdByiiPah/openapi.json