# Podcast Transcript Scraper — RSS podcast:transcript (`scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Extract per-episode transcripts from any podcast RSS feed using the Podcasting 2.0 <podcast:transcript> tag — no login, no ASR. Returns clean text, timestamped segments, and SRT/VTT per episode, plus metadata. Works with Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com and more.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapers Delight](https://apify.com/scrapersdelight) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Other, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 per record returneds

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## 🎙️ Podcast Transcript Scraper — RSS `podcast:transcript`

**Pull per-episode transcripts from any podcast that publishes them — no login, no AI transcription. A growing share of shows ship a transcript with every episode via the Podcasting 2.0 `<podcast:transcript>` RSS tag, and this actor reads any feed, grabs those transcripts, and returns clean text, timestamped segments, and SRT/VTT — across any compliant host (Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com, and more).**

Because the show already published the transcript, there's no speech-to-text compute — it's fast and cheap.

---

### What does it do?

Give it one or more podcast **RSS feed URLs** and, per episode, it returns:

- 📝 **Full transcript** (plain text) — always included
- ⏲️ **Timestamped segments** — `{start, end, text}` (+ speaker when the feed provides JSON)
- 🎬 **SRT / VTT subtitles**
- 🎧 **Episode metadata** — title, publish date, duration, audio URL, episode link

No ASR, no API key — it reads the transcript the show published.

---

### What data does it extract?

For every episode:

- 🎙️ `podcast`, 🏷️ `episode_title`, 🆔 `guid`, 📅 `published`, ⏱️ `duration`
- 🔊 `audio_url`, 🔗 `episode_url`, `feed_url`
- 🗂️ `transcript_type`, `transcript_url`
- 📄 `transcript`, ⏲️ `segments[]`, 🎬 `srt`, `vtt`, `segment_count`
- ✨ `is_new` (monitor), 🕒 `scraped_at`

---

### Who is it for?

- ✍️ **Show teams & marketers** repurposing episodes into show notes, articles, and clips.
- 🤖 **AI / RAG builders** assembling clean spoken-word datasets.
- 🔎 **Researchers & journalists** searching episode content by keyword.
- ♿ **Accessibility & SEO** workflows that need episode text.

---

### How to use it (step by step)

1. Click **Try for free**.
2. Paste one or more **podcast RSS feed URLs**.
3. *(Optional)* choose a **preferred format** and extra **output formats** (`srt`, `vtt`, `segments`).
4. Click **Start**, then open the **Dataset** tab to view/export.
5. *(Optional)* set **monitorMode** + a **Schedule** to grab transcripts for new episodes automatically.

#### Quick start

```json
{ "feedUrls": ["https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss"], "transcriptFormats": ["txt", "srt"] }
````

***

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|-------|--------------|
| `feedUrls` | podcast RSS feed URLs |
| `maxEpisodes` | hard cap per feed (0 = all) |
| `preferType` | `srt` · `json` · `vtt` (which transcript variant to use) |
| `transcriptFormats` | `txt` · `segments` · `srt` · `vtt` |
| `monitorMode`, `alertOnNewEpisode` | recurring new-episode watcher + alerts |
| `webhookUrl`, `slackWebhookUrl`, `emailRecipients` | alert channels |
| `proxyConfiguration`, `requestConcurrency` | proxy + parallelism |

***

### Output

Each episode is one dataset record (fields above). Export to **JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or RSS**, or fetch via the **Apify API**. Episodes whose feed has no transcript tag are returned with a `note` (not faked).

***

### How much does it cost?

Pay-per-event — and with **no transcription compute**, it's cheap:

| Event | What it covers | Suggested price |
|-------|----------------|-----------------|
| `lot-scraped` | each episode returned | ~$0.003 / episode |
| `lot-detail-enriched` | each transcript fetched | ~$0.003 / episode |
| `monitor-run-completed` | each scheduled watch run | ~$0.05 / run |
| `new-lot-detected` | each new episode | ~$0.02 / episode |
| `alert-delivered` | each Slack/email/webhook push | ~$0.005 / alert |

*(Final per-event prices are set on the actor's pricing page.)*

***

### How does it work without AI transcription?

Podcasting 2.0 added a `<podcast:transcript>` RSS tag so shows can publish a transcript (SRT / VTT / JSON) alongside each episode. This actor reads those published transcripts — it does **not** run speech-to-text, so there's no GPU/compute cost.

**Coverage note:** only feeds whose host/publisher opts in emit the tag (well supported by Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com). Episodes without a transcript tag are reported as such.

***

### Is it legal to scrape podcast transcripts?

This actor reads **publicly published** RSS feeds and the transcript files the shows link from them. The content is the show's spoken material (copyrighted by its creators) plus public episode metadata. Scraping public feeds is generally legal, but **you are responsible for your use — review the show's terms and respect creators' copyright; don't redistribute transcripts you're not licensed to.**

***

### FAQ

**Which shows have transcripts?**
Any whose feed includes `<podcast:transcript>`. Hosts like Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, and RSS.com support it; adoption is growing.

**Is there a Whisper/ASR step?**
No — it reads the show's published transcript, so it's fast and cheap. (For shows *without* transcripts, you'd need an ASR actor instead.)

**Can I get subtitles?**
Yes — add `srt` and/or `vtt` to `transcriptFormats`.

**Can I auto-grab new episodes?**
Yes. Turn on `monitorMode` + an Apify **Schedule** — each run handles only episodes new since the last run.

**How do I export?**
JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or RSS from the Dataset tab, or via the Apify API.

***

### Feedback

Want speaker diarization passthrough, chapter support, or a directory-search input? Open an issue on the actor.

# Actor input Schema

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

Public podcast RSS feed URLs. The actor reads each feed's <podcast:transcript> tags. Works with any host that publishes them (Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com…).

## `maxEpisodes` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap per feed (0 = all episodes).

## `preferType` (type: `string`):

Which transcript variant to use when a feed offers several (falls back to whatever is available).

## `transcriptFormats` (type: `array`):

Which transcript representations to include. Plain text is always included.

## `monitorMode` (type: `boolean`):

Recurring watcher: diff against the prior run's seen episodes (per feed) and output/alert ONLY new episodes. Pair with an Apify Schedule.

## `alertOnNewEpisode` (type: `boolean`):

In monitor mode, deliver an alert for each new episode via the channels below.

## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`):

POST endpoint for new-episode alert payloads.

## `slackWebhookUrl` (type: `string`):

Slack incoming-webhook URL for formatted cards.

## `emailRecipients` (type: `array`):

Emails for the new-episode digest (via apify/send-mail).

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

Proxy settings. Datacenter rotation is plenty.

## `requestConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Max parallel transcript fetches.

## `diagnose` (type: `boolean`):

Dev only. Logs the feed's episode + transcript counts and the first parsed transcript, then exits.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss"
  ],
  "maxEpisodes": 0,
  "preferType": "srt",
  "transcriptFormats": [
    "txt"
  ],
  "monitorMode": false,
  "alertOnNewEpisode": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "requestConcurrency": 5,
  "diagnose": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `transcripts` (type: `string`):

The dataset of podcast episode transcripts (one item per episode).

# 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 = {
    "feedUrls": [
        "https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-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 = { "feedUrls": ["https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/231452.rss"
  ]
}' |
apify call scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapersdelight/podcast-transcript-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Podcast Transcript Scraper — RSS podcast:transcript",
        "description": "Extract per-episode transcripts from any podcast RSS feed using the Podcasting 2.0 <podcast:transcript> tag — no login, no ASR. Returns clean text, timestamped segments, and SRT/VTT per episode, plus metadata. Works with Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com and more.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "1momXFM4A86Bsj5Ll"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/scrapersdelight~podcast-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapersdelight-podcast-transcript-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapersdelight~podcast-transcript-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-scrapersdelight-podcast-transcript-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapersdelight~podcast-transcript-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-scrapersdelight-podcast-transcript-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "feedUrls": {
                        "title": "Podcast RSS feed URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Public podcast RSS feed URLs. The actor reads each feed's <podcast:transcript> tags. Works with any host that publishes them (Buzzsprout, Captivate, Transistor, Fireside, RSS.com…).",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxEpisodes": {
                        "title": "Max episodes per feed",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Hard cap per feed (0 = all episodes).",
                        "default": 0
                    },
                    "preferType": {
                        "title": "Preferred transcript format",
                        "enum": [
                            "srt",
                            "json",
                            "vtt"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Which transcript variant to use when a feed offers several (falls back to whatever is available).",
                        "default": "srt"
                    },
                    "transcriptFormats": {
                        "title": "Output formats",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Which transcript representations to include. Plain text is always included.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "txt",
                                "segments",
                                "srt",
                                "vtt"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "Plain text",
                                "Timestamped segments (array)",
                                "SRT subtitles",
                                "VTT subtitles"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "txt"
                        ]
                    },
                    "monitorMode": {
                        "title": "Monitor mode (new-episode watcher)",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Recurring watcher: diff against the prior run's seen episodes (per feed) and output/alert ONLY new episodes. Pair with an Apify Schedule.",
                        "default": false
                    },
                    "alertOnNewEpisode": {
                        "title": "Alert on new episodes",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "In monitor mode, deliver an alert for each new episode via the channels below.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "webhookUrl": {
                        "title": "Webhook URL",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "POST endpoint for new-episode alert payloads."
                    },
                    "slackWebhookUrl": {
                        "title": "Slack webhook URL",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Slack incoming-webhook URL for formatted cards."
                    },
                    "emailRecipients": {
                        "title": "Email recipients",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Emails for the new-episode digest (via apify/send-mail).",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Proxy settings. Datacenter rotation is plenty.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": true
                        }
                    },
                    "requestConcurrency": {
                        "title": "Request concurrency",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 10,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Max parallel transcript fetches.",
                        "default": 5
                    },
                    "diagnose": {
                        "title": "Diagnostic mode (dev)",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Dev only. Logs the feed's episode + transcript counts and the first parsed transcript, then exits.",
                        "default": false
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```