YouTube Search Scraper

Get the videos and Shorts from any YouTube search, with YouTube's own filters, no login and no API key. Each video is delivered once: YouTube repeats results on later pages, and you don't pay for the repeats.

What you get

One row per unique video or Short, in YouTube's order:

• title, URL, video ID, type (video or Short)
• channel name, ID and handle
• views, length, "3 weeks ago" and an estimated date
• description snippet, thumbnail, live flag
• with Exact details on: exact views, likes, publish date and time, full description, keywords and category

Filters

The same filters as YouTube's search page: type (videos, Shorts or both), upload date (today, this week, this month, this year), length (under 3, 3 to 20, over 20 minutes) and sort (relevance or popularity). They are applied the way the site applies them, so results match what you'd see.

YouTube itself returns nothing for Shorts with "This week", "This month" or popularity sort. The actor tells you so when you start the run instead of returning an empty file. For Shorts from a time window, use YouTube Shorts Scraper with a date limit.

"Today" can come back empty for some searches even when YouTube has new uploads for them; the same search with type set to Videos often returns them. An empty search costs nothing.

How many results can one search return?

About 300 unique results per search term (316 to 340 for "home workout" across four runs on 2026-10-27). After that YouTube stops serving more. To go wider, split the search: add a few related terms, or run the same term with different upload-date filters.

Input example

{
  "queries": ["home workout", "lofi hip hop"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
  "type": "videos",
  "uploadDate": "this_month",
  "includeDetails": true,
  "country": "US"
}

Output example

{
  "input": "home workout",
  "rank": 1,
  "type": "video",
  "videoId": "cbKkB3POqaY",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbKkB3POqaY",
  "title": "25 MIN FULL BODY HIIT for Beginners - No Equipment - No Repeat",
  "channelName": "growingannanas",
  "channelHandle": "@growingannanas",
  "viewCount": 34361669,
  "likeCount": 518555,
  "durationSeconds": 1699,
  "publishedAt": "2023-03-12T19:00:07-07:00",
  "publishedTimeText": "3 years ago",
  "category": "Sports",
  "hasExactDetails": true
}

The full row has more fields; see the Output tab.

Pricing

$1.00 per 1,000 results. Exact details, when you turn them on, are a separate event of $1.00 per 1,000 results. Apify's platform usage and proxies are included. Repeats are never charged.

YouTube declines the exact details for a few results in every hundred. Those rows still arrive with everything the search page shows, and their details charge is not applied.

Why did a search stop where it did?

Each search gets one plain sentence in RUN_SUMMARY (and in the status message when you run one):

• "50 results for "home workout": stopped at your limit of 50."
• "316 results for "home workout": YouTube served no more."
• "0 results for "…": YouTube found no results."

FAQ

Is this an alternative to the YouTube Data API search?

For search results, yes. You don't need a Google Cloud project, an API key or a daily quota.

Do I need a YouTube account or proxies?

No. It reads public search results logged out and uses Apify's proxy by default.

Why are some fields empty for Shorts?

YouTube's search page shows only a Short's title and rounded views. Turn on Exact details to get its channel, likes, date and length.

Can I use it through the API, Make, Zapier or n8n?

Yes, like any Apify actor. Call it with your API token and read the dataset when the run finishes.

Is scraping YouTube search results legal?

The actor collects only public information, logged out. You are responsible for how you use it. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer. Don't use the data for spam, impersonation or any other unlawful purpose.

This actor is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube or Google. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC.

More from Sedge Labs

• YouTube Comments Scraper: comments and replies from any public video, Short or live replay.
• YouTube Shorts Scraper: a channel's Shorts with exact views, likes and publish dates.
• YouTube Channel Scraper: a channel's videos, Shorts and live streams, with its profile on every row.

Support

Open an issue on the Issues tab and include your run link.