YouTube Channel: All Transcripts

Paste a channel, get every video's transcript in one run. Videos, Shorts and live VODs, de-duplicated. Captions first, built-in speech-to-text when a video has none — so caption-less videos still return real text. No chaining, no per-channel fee, never charged for a video we can't transcribe.

Issues answered in about 3 hours. Unofficial: steadyfetch is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by YouTube or Google. "YouTube" is a trademark of Google LLC, used here only to say what this actor reads.

There is no per-channel fee — you only pay for transcripts that are delivered. Every row carries charged and statusReason, so you can reconcile the invoice from the dataset itself. Only rows with charged: true were billed.

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What a row looks like

Real output, unedited apart from trimming the transcript and segment list:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "charged": true,
  "statusReason": null,
  "inputChannel": "@mkbhd",
  "channelHandle": "@mkbhd",
  "positionInChannel": 0,
  "videosFound": 25,
  "videoId": "ngPkbaZliaU",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngPkbaZliaU",
  "title": "The Truth About the Bezelless Concept Phones",
  "channelName": "Marques Brownlee",
  "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
  "durationSeconds": 389,
  "viewCount": 2522420,
  "isLiveContent": false,
  "language": "en",
  "source": "captions",
  "captionKind": "manual",
  "text": "Do you remember back in the day when… screen-to-body ratio was one of those headlining numbers…",
  "segments": [
    { "start": 2.593, "end": 4.781, "text": "Do you remember back in the day when..." },
    { "start": 4.863, "end": 7.295, "text": "screen-to-body ratio was one of those, like," }
  ],
  "srt": null,
  "vtt": null,
  "chargeEvents": { "transcript": 1, "speechMinutes": 0 }
}

field	notes
inputChannel · channelHandle · positionInChannel · videosFound	which channel this came from, and where in it — join rows back to the channel you pasted
text · segments[{start,end,text}]	the transcript, and the same text with timestamps in seconds
srt · vtt	filled only when you ask for that format; otherwise null
source	captions or speech_ai — how this transcript was produced
captionKind	manual (uploaded by the channel) or auto (YouTube's own auto-captions); null on the speech route
title · channelName · channelId · durationSeconds · viewCount · isLiveContent	as YouTube reports them
charged · statusReason · chargeEvents	the reconciliation trio
retryable	on a row that did not deliver: true means YouTube refused us this time and the same input is worth running again, false means the answer will not change. It always agrees with the note in statusReason, so code can branch on the column instead of parsing the sentence

The run summary (in the key-value store) carries a per-channel breakdown: videos found vs transcribed, and the reason enumeration stopped (completed, maxVideos, …).

Browse the full live example dataset → — one real @mkbhd run, four transcripts as delivered: a 31-minute video (30,883 characters), a Pixel impressions video, a phone review and a foldable review, each with its own charged and chargeEvents line.

Agent / API paste-block

Actor:      steadyfetch/youtube-channel-transcripts
Required:   channels   (array of channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs — a single video link works too)
Optional:   maxVideos             (integer, default 50 — newest N videos per channel)
            maxItems              (integer, default 500 — cap for the WHOLE run, across channels)
            language              (string, e.g. "en", "es", "pt-BR" — preferred caption track)
            format                (json | text | srt | vtt, default json)
            enableSpeechFallback  (boolean, default true — off = captions only, no speech minutes)
            maxSpeechMinutes      (integer, default 60 — hard cap for the whole run)
Charges:    transcript      once per delivered transcript, captions or speech-to-text
            speech_minute   per started minute, only when speech-to-text actually ran
Build spec: https://apify.com/steadyfetch/youtube-channel-transcripts/api
Token:      https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/steadyfetch~youtube-channel-transcripts/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"channels":["https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"],"maxVideos":25,"format":"srt"}'

Calling from an agent or MCP client: omit an option you do not want rather than sending null — the platform rejects an explicit null before the run is even created.

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What you can paste

A channel URL (youtube.com/@handle, /channel/UC…, /c/…, /user/…), a bare @handle, a bare channel ID, or a full channel URL with any trailing tab. Casing in the link does not matter. A single video link works too — it transcribes just that video. Videos, Shorts and live recordings are all enumerated and de-duplicated into one list.

maxVideos caps how many of a channel's newest videos are transcribed (default 50). Raise it — and your Maximum cost per run — to transcribe a whole channel.

maxItems is the second cap, and it applies to the whole run rather than to each channel (default 500). Per-channel caps multiply — ten channels at 50 is 500 transcripts — so this is the one number that bounds what a multi-channel run can bill you. Channel reports, skipped videos and uncharged misses are free and never count against it; when the run stops on this limit the status line says so and names how many videos were left.

What you are charged for

Pricing: from $1.20/1,000 transcripts. Two events, and nothing else — listing the channel adds no separate fee:

• Transcript — once per video that returns real text, from captions or from speech-to-text.
• Speech-to-text minute — per started minute, and only when a video had no usable captions so speech-to-text had to run. A captioned video never triggers it, and a caption-less video too long for the speech route (see audio_too_long_for_speech below) is reported uncharged instead of being charged for a partial transcript.

What can fail, and what it costs you: nothing. The two most common non-deliveries are no_speech (the audio is music or silence, so there is no transcript to sell) and blocked_retry (YouTube challenged or throttled the fetch, or was still processing the video). Both come back as a row with charged: false naming the reason — as do no_captions, private_or_members_only, removed_or_unavailable, age_restricted, region_blocked and live_no_transcript_yet. You pay for delivered transcripts and nothing else.

Switch "Use speech-to-text when a video has no captions" off and you will never be charged a speech-to-text minute; caption-less videos come back as uncharged rows instead. Max videos and Max speech-to-text minutes are hard stops: the run finishes successfully and each skipped row names the limit that stopped it.

When a video (or channel) is not charged

status	what happened	temporary?
channel_not_found	the channel handle / ID / URL did not resolve	no
no_videos_found	the channel has no public videos, Shorts or live VODs	no
resolve_failed · enumerate_failed	the channel could not be looked up or listed right now	yes — re-run
channel_region_blocked	YouTube does not serve this channel to the location the run fetched from — a limit on where we went out, not a verdict on the channel. Runs can leave from different locations, so another one may be allowed to list it	yes — re-run
no_speech	the audio is music or silence — there is no transcript to sell	no
no_captions	no captions, and you switched speech-to-text off for this run	no
asr_unavailable	our speech-to-text service refused this actor's access mid-run — that is on us, not you. Captioned videos still delivered; caption-less ones came back uncharged	yes — try again later
audio_too_long_for_speech	no captions, and the video is too long for the speech-to-text route — YouTube does not release enough of its audio for a complete transcript, and we never sell a partial one as whole. Captioned videos are unaffected at any length	no
private_or_members_only	private or members-only	no
removed_or_unavailable	YouTube says the video is gone; its own words are in the row	no
age_restricted	YouTube requires a signed-in, age-verified account	no
region_blocked	the uploader has not published it in the country we fetched from	no
live_no_transcript_yet	a live stream — no transcript exists until it ends	re-run after it ends
blocked_retry	YouTube challenged, throttled or was still processing	yes — re-run
skipped_budget · skipped_speech_cap	a limit stopped it; the row names which	yes
input_error	the paste was not a channel or video	fix and re-run

A temporary problem is never reported as a permanent one. This actor may fail when the platform changes things — failed items are never charged.

FAQ

How do I download every transcript from a YouTube channel? Paste the channel URL or @handle and run it. No YouTube API key, no cookies, no sign-in.

Does it include Shorts and live streams? Yes — the Videos, Shorts and Live tabs are all enumerated and merged, de-duplicated by video ID.

Can I transcribe just the newest few videos? Set maxVideos. Videos are taken newest-first.

What if a video has no captions? Speech-to-text runs on the audio and you get real text, marked source: "speech_ai". If the audio has no speech at all, the row comes back no_speech and uncharged. The speech route works on short videos only: past a few minutes YouTube stops releasing the audio to anything but its own player, so a long caption-less video comes back audio_too_long_for_speech and uncharged rather than half-transcribed. Shorts are unaffected, and so is every video that has captions — the large majority of a channel, including nearly every spoken upload — at any length.

Can I get SRT or VTT subtitles? Set format to srt or vtt and each row carries a ready-to-save subtitle string.

Can I use this through an MCP server? Yes. It is a standard Apify actor, so any MCP client that can call Apify actors can call it.

Why does a run cost more than the transcripts? Apify bills platform usage (compute and proxy) for what a run actually consumes, separately from these events. Maximum cost per run is the ceiling that covers both.

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Steadyfetch YouTube suite

Same transcript engine, different way in. All-inclusive pay per event, no start fee, charged only on delivery.

What you paste	Actor
Video URLs or IDs	YouTube Transcripts + Speech AI
A channel URL, @handle or channel ID	this actor

The rest of the steadyfetch shelf — same contract everywhere: all-inclusive pay per event, no start fee, charged only on delivery.

Family	Actors
Ad creative intelligence	Facebook · Google Ads video · TikTok · LinkedIn · Google Ads text & OCR
Trends & keywords	Google Trends · Trends Now · Breakout keywords · Autocomplete keywords · Keyword volume & CPC · Social trends
YouTube transcripts	YouTube videos · YouTube channels
Instagram	Reel transcripts · Profile posts
Jobs	Indeed · Career sites by domain · Glassdoor · Multi-board
Amazon	Products · Search · Bestsellers · Sellers
Any media file	Speech to Text · any link or file

Unlinked names are publishing shortly on the same account — search steadyfetch on Apify Store.

Free n8n templates for the suite: github.com/steadyfetch/n8n-templates — no community nodes needed.

Feedback & support

Found an issue? Open it on the Issues tab — issues are answered in about 3 hours, and always within one business day.