# YouTube Comments API (`soilair/youtube-comments-api`) Actor

Extract public YouTube comments by video URL or ID. Return comment text, authors, likes, timestamps, reply relationships, and video metadata. No YouTube Data API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/soilair/youtube-comments-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Salih Can Kurnaz](https://apify.com/soilair) (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 $0.70 / 1,000 comment results

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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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 Comments API

> **Unofficial independent tool. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or maintained by YouTube or Google.**

Extract public YouTube comments from known video URLs or IDs and return structured comment rows.

### What it returns

Each successfully returned comment is written as one dataset row with fields such as:

- video ID, URL, and title
- comment rank
- comment ID
- parent comment ID
- reply/top-level flag
- comment text
- author name and author/channel identifiers when available
- like count
- timestamp / relative time text
- uploader/favorited flags when available
- UTC collection timestamp

Per-video failures and run-level diagnostics are summarized in the `OUTPUT` record.

### Input example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50,
  "sort": "newest",
  "includeReplies": true
}
```

Accepted input forms include standard watch URLs, `youtu.be` links, Shorts URLs,
embed/live URLs, and raw 11-character video IDs.

### Sorting

`sort` supports:

- `newest` — recent-comment ordering
- `top` — YouTube's top-comment ordering

Comment feeds are dynamic. Results can change between runs even for the same input.

### Replies

When `includeReplies=true`, reply rows count toward `maxCommentsPerVideo`.

When `includeReplies=false`, the Actor requests top-level parent comments only.

### Pricing

Primary PPE event: `comment-result`.

You are charged only for comment rows successfully written to the dataset.

Current tiers:

- FREE: $1.00 / 1,000 successful comments
- BRONZE: $0.90 / 1,000
- SILVER: $0.80 / 1,000
- GOLD / PLATINUM / DIAMOND: $0.70 / 1,000

A small synthetic Actor-start event may also be charged by the platform.

### Scope and limitations

This Actor is intentionally focused on **public comments for known YouTube videos**.

It does not claim to provide video search, transcripts, channel crawling, video/audio
downloads, private comments, restricted content, or exhaustive YouTube data.

A video can return no comment rows when comments are disabled, unavailable, restricted,
removed, account/region dependent, temporarily inaccessible, or blocked by upstream
platform behavior.

No YouTube Data API key is required from the user.

### Responsible use

Use only for lawful purposes. Respect applicable platform terms, copyright, privacy
obligations, and local law. Do not use comment content in ways that infringe third-party rights.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Standard watch URLs, youtu.be links, Shorts URLs, embed/live URLs, or raw 11-character YouTube video IDs.

## `maxCommentsPerVideo` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of comment rows returned for each video. Replies count toward this limit when includeReplies is enabled.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Use newest for recent comments or top for YouTube's top-comment ordering.

## `includeReplies` (type: `boolean`):

Include reply rows. Disable to request top-level parent comments only.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 50,
  "sort": "newest",
  "includeReplies": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {};

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

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("soilair/youtube-comments-api").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 '{}' |
apify call soilair/youtube-comments-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/gYper3peU2wIwJCUj/builds/kOWI2RFkU7suSm6yX/openapi.json