# 🎬 YouTube Search API (`scrapier/youtube-search-api`) Actor - **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapier/youtube-search-api.md - **Developed by:** [Scrapier](https://apify.com/scrapier) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Lead generation, Social media - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.99 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. 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 ## 🎬 YouTube Search API — Videos, Stats & Channels Search YouTube the way the YouTube Data API does — **without an API key, quota limits, or OAuth** — and get back rich, structured data for every video **and** its channel. Enter keywords or full YouTube search URLs (bulk supported) and receive views, likes, comment counts, duration, subscribers, keywords, hashtags, thumbnails and more. ### 💡 Why Choose Us? - **No API key & no quota** — the official Data API caps you at 10,000 units/day; this Actor doesn't. - **Deeper data** — we merge the search feed with each video's player, comments, and the channel's About panel + RSS feed, so you get subscriber counts, channel creation date, comment counts and full keyword lists that the bare search endpoint never returns. - **Bulk-friendly** — search many keywords/URLs in one run. - **Resilient** — automatic **direct → datacenter → residential** proxy fallback with retries keeps runs alive when YouTube pushes back. - **Live results** — records stream into the dataset as they're scraped, with three ready-made table views. ### ✨ Key Features - 🔍 Bulk search by keyword or YouTube results URL - 📹 Full video metadata (title, description, views, likes, duration, keywords, hashtags, thumbnail) - 💬 Real comment counts + comments-disabled detection - 📺 Channel enrichment (subscribers, total views, video count, handle, creation date) - 🎛️ Advanced filters (order, duration, definition, license, event type, date range, region, language, safe search) - 🌐 Self-healing proxy ladder with clear logs - 💾 Live saving — partial data survives interruptions ### 📥 Input ```json { "searchQueries": ["surfing", "https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=longboarding"], "maxResults": 100, "useFilters": true, "order": "viewCount", "videoDuration": "medium", "publishedAfter": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z", "regionCode": "US", "relevanceLanguage": "en", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ```` | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `searchQueries` | array | **Required.** Keywords or YouTube results URLs. Each runs as its own search. | | `q` | string | Optional single keyword (alternative to the bulk list). | | `maxResults` | integer | Videos per query, 1–1000 (default 100). | | `useFilters` | boolean | Enable the advanced filters below. | | `order` | string | `date`, `rating`, `relevance`, `title`, `videoCount`, `viewCount`. | | `videoDuration` | string | `any`, `short`, `medium`, `long`. | | `videoDefinition` | string | `any`, `high`, `standard`. | | `videoLicense` | string | `any`, `creativeCommon`, `youtube`. | | `eventType` | string | `completed`, `live`, `upcoming`. | | `safeSearch` | string | `moderate`, `none`, `strict`. | | `publishedAfter` / `publishedBefore` | string | RFC 3339 date filters. | | `regionCode` / `relevanceLanguage` | string | ISO country / language codes. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Proxy settings for the fallback ladder. | ### 📤 Output ```json { "title": "SURFING A REMOTE ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC! (RAW POV)", "type": "video", "channelName": "Surfing With Noz", "date": "2026-06-16T09:35:15Z", "text": "I flew to a remote island in the Pacific...", "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j5n5GN3bZ0U/maxresdefault.jpg", "order": 0, "input": "surfing", "hashtags": ["#1", "#2"], "channelId": "UCoicMEw3njXscfwHlaAJVcQ", "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@surfingwithnoz", "channelUsername": "surfingwithnoz", "numberOfSubscribers": 230000, "channelViewCount": 77184748, "channelVideoCount": 592, "hiddenSubscriberCount": false, "channelCreatedAt": "2012-01-02T06:38:17Z", "id": "j5n5GN3bZ0U", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5n5GN3bZ0U", "viewCount": 26218, "likes": 805, "commentsCount": 170, "commentsTurnedOff": false, "duration": "00:10:37", "keywords": ["surfing", "POV surfing", "..."], "isMembersOnly": false } ``` The dataset ships with three table views: **📹 Videos**, **📺 Channels**, and **🔥 Engagement**, plus a full **🗂️ All Fields** view. ### 🚀 How to Use (Apify Console) 1. Log in at [console.apify.com](https://console.apify.com) → **Actors**. 2. Open **🎬 YouTube Search API**. 3. Add your keywords/URLs to **Search Queries**, set **Max Results**, optionally enable filters. 4. Click **Start** and watch the live logs. 5. Open the **Output** tab — switch between the Videos / Channels / Engagement views. 6. Export to JSON / CSV / XLSX. ### 🤖 Use via API ```bash curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts//run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"searchQueries":["surfing"],"maxResults":50}' ``` ### 🎯 Best Use Cases - Content & competitor research - Influencer / channel discovery - Trend and keyword analysis - Building YouTube datasets for ML / analytics ### 💳 Pricing This Actor uses **Pay Per Event**. You're charged once per **`video-scraped`** event — i.e. per fully enriched video saved to the dataset. Runs stop gracefully when your spend limit is reached. ### ❓ FAQ **Do I need a YouTube API key?** No. The Actor works entirely from public pages. **Why did I get fewer results than `maxResults`?** Date-range and `upcoming`/`completed` event filters are applied after fetching video details, so they can reduce the count. YouTube also simply may not have that many matching videos. **Are private/age-restricted videos included?** Only publicly available data is collected. ### 🛟 Support & Feedback Found a bug or want a new field? Open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab. > Data is collected only from publicly available sources. You are responsible for compliance with YouTube's Terms of Service and applicable laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.). # Actor input Schema ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): One or more search keywords or full YouTube results URLs (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=surfing). Each runs as a separate search. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of videos to return per query (1–1000). ## `useFilters` (type: `boolean`): Turn on the advanced filtering options below. ## `order` (type: `string`): How to sort the results. ## `channelType` (type: `string`): Type of channel to search for. ## `eventType` (type: `string`): Restrict to broadcast type. ## `videoDuration` (type: `string`): Filter by duration (short < 4 min, medium 4–20 min, long > 20 min). ## `videoDefinition` (type: `string`): Filter by resolution. ## `videoLicense` (type: `string`): Filter by license. ## `safeSearch` (type: `string`): Whether to include restricted content. ## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`): Only videos published after this date (RFC 3339, e.g. 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z). ## `publishedBefore` (type: `string`): Only videos published before this date (RFC 3339, e.g. 2022-12-31T23:59:59Z). ## `regionCode` (type: `string`): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, e.g. US. ## `relevanceLanguage` (type: `string`): ISO 639-1 two-letter language code, e.g. en. ## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`): Retries for any blocked/failed request (also the residential-proxy retry budget). ## `maxScrollRetries` (type: `integer`): Retries for empty/failed pagination pages. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Runs direct (no proxy) first for speed. If YouTube blocks the request it automatically falls back to a datacenter proxy, then sticks to a residential proxy. Pick your preferred datacenter groups/country here. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQueries": [ "surfing" ], "maxResults": 10, "useFilters": false, "order": "relevance", "channelType": "any", "videoDuration": "any", "videoDefinition": "any", "videoLicense": "any", "safeSearch": "moderate", "maxRetries": 3, "maxScrollRetries": 3, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchQueries": [ "surfing" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("scrapier/youtube-search-api").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchQueries": ["surfing"], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("scrapier/youtube-search-api").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 '{ "searchQueries": [ "surfing" ], "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } }' | apify call scrapier/youtube-search-api --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapier/youtube-search-api", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "🎬 YouTube Search API", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "U1oAZQcgcHNINyoFH" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/scrapier~youtube-search-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapier-youtube-search-api", "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/scrapier~youtube-search-api/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-scrapier-youtube-search-api", "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/scrapier~youtube-search-api/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-scrapier-youtube-search-api", "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", "required": [ "searchQueries" ], "properties": { "searchQueries": { "title": "🔍 Search Queries (bulk)", "uniqueItems": true, "type": "array", "description": "One or more search keywords or full YouTube results URLs (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=surfing). Each runs as a separate search.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxResults": { "title": "🔢 Max Results (per query)", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of videos to return per query (1–1000).", "default": 10 }, "useFilters": { "title": "🎛️ Enable Advanced Filters", "type": "boolean", "description": "Turn on the advanced filtering options below.", "default": false }, "order": { "title": "↕️ Sort By", "enum": [ "date", "rating", "relevance", "title", "videoCount", "viewCount" ], "type": "string", "description": "How to sort the results.", "default": "relevance" }, "channelType": { "title": "📺 Channel Type", "enum": [ "any", "show" ], "type": "string", "description": "Type of channel to search for.", "default": "any" }, "eventType": { "title": "🔴 Event Type", "enum": [ "completed", "live", "upcoming" ], "type": "string", "description": "Restrict to broadcast type." }, "videoDuration": { "title": "⏱️ Video Duration", "enum": [ "any", "long", "medium", "short" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by duration (short < 4 min, medium 4–20 min, long > 20 min).", "default": "any" }, "videoDefinition": { "title": "📺 Video Definition", "enum": [ "any", "high", "standard" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by resolution.", "default": "any" }, "videoLicense": { "title": "📜 Video License", "enum": [ "any", "creativeCommon", "youtube" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by license.", "default": "any" }, "safeSearch": { "title": "🛡️ Safe Search", "enum": [ "moderate", "none", "strict" ], "type": "string", "description": "Whether to include restricted content.", "default": "moderate" }, "publishedAfter": { "title": "📅 Published After", "type": "string", "description": "Only videos published after this date (RFC 3339, e.g. 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z)." }, "publishedBefore": { "title": "📅 Published Before", "type": "string", "description": "Only videos published before this date (RFC 3339, e.g. 2022-12-31T23:59:59Z)." }, "regionCode": { "title": "🌍 Region Code", "type": "string", "description": "ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, e.g. US." }, "relevanceLanguage": { "title": "🗣️ Relevance Language", "type": "string", "description": "ISO 639-1 two-letter language code, e.g. en." }, "maxRetries": { "title": "🔁 Max Retries", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10, "type": "integer", "description": "Retries for any blocked/failed request (also the residential-proxy retry budget).", "default": 3 }, "maxScrollRetries": { "title": "🔁 Max Scroll Retries", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10, "type": "integer", "description": "Retries for empty/failed pagination pages.", "default": 3 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "🌐 Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Runs direct (no proxy) first for speed. If YouTube blocks the request it automatically falls back to a datacenter proxy, then sticks to a residential proxy. Pick your preferred datacenter groups/country here.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```