🌟 Youtube Transcript Scraper - $0.5 per 1k

The most reliable YouTube transcript extractor on Apify. Extract transcripts, subtitles, and captions from YouTube videos in seconds — with built-in proxy rotation, multi-language support, and multiple output formats. Works with regular videos, Shorts, and auto-generated captions.

Feed it individual videos, an entire channel, a playlist, or just a search keyword — the actor finds the videos and returns their transcripts in one run.

Features

There are 20+ YouTube transcript scrapers on Apify. Here's why this one stands out:

• Scrape entire channels, playlists, and searches — Don't have a list of video URLs? Just paste a channel or playlist URL, or type a search keyword. The actor finds the matching videos for you and returns their transcripts — no separate video scraper needed
• Doesn't break when YouTube changes — Most transcript actors broke for days or even weeks during YouTube's backend changes in Dec 2025 and Jan 2026. This actor is built for resilience with fast recovery
• Clear errors, not empty results — Other actors silently return null/empty when something goes wrong. This actor tells you exactly what happened: no captions available, video age-restricted, IP blocked, or video removed, Also scrapes 100% of transcripts from video urls when available publicly
• Built-in proxy management — Many actors fail on free-tier because they use datacenter proxies that YouTube blocks instantly. This actor selects and rotates through best proxies automatically — no configuration needed
• 4 output formats — Most actors only output JSON. This one supports JSON (with timestamps), plain text (for AI/LLM pipelines), SRT (for video editors), and WebVTT (for web players)
• Actual multi-language support — Several competing actors claim language support but default to English only or have broken language parameters. This actor supports priority-based language fallback and YouTube's built-in translation
• Rich metadata included — Many actors return only the transcript. This one includes title, description, keywords, channel name, view count, duration, publish date, thumbnails, and more — no need for a separate metadata scraper
• Handles all URL formats — Other actors choke on youtu.be short links or /shorts/ URLs. This actor handles all standard YouTube URL formats
• State persistence for large batches — Long-running jobs survive Apify platform migrations without losing progress. Other actors often timeout or OOM on large batches

Input Configuration

Provide at least one source: a list of urls (videos, Shorts, channels, or playlists) and/or one or more searchKeywords.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
urls	Array	—	Any mix of YouTube URLs. Video and Shorts URLs are scraped directly; channel and playlist URLs are expanded into their videos automatically
searchKeywords	Array	—	One or more search terms. The actor scrapes transcripts from the top matching videos for each keyword
maxPagesPerUrl	Integer	unlimited	How many pages of results to fetch from each channel, playlist, or search URL. Each page is a batch of videos, so a higher number scrapes more videos per URL. Leave empty for unlimited (fetch every page). Only pages that contain videos count toward this limit. Does not affect direct video/Shorts URLs (those are always scraped)
scrapeShorts	Boolean	false	When expanding channels, playlists, or searches, also include Shorts. When off, only regular videos are scraped
outputFormat	String	json	Output format: json, text, srt, or vtt
languages	Array	["en"]	Language codes in priority order (e.g., ["es", "en", "fr"]). The actor tries each language in order and uses the first available transcript
translateTo	String	—	Translate the transcript to this language code (e.g., "es" for Spanish). Uses YouTube's built-in translation
preserveFormatting	Boolean	false	Keep HTML formatting tags (bold, italic, etc.) in transcript text

Supported URL Formats

Format	Example	Behavior
Standard watch URL	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID	Scraped directly
Short URL	https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID	Scraped directly
Shorts	https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID	Scraped directly
Channel	https://www.youtube.com/@HANDLE	Expanded into the channel's videos
Channel (ID)	https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID	Expanded into the channel's videos
Playlist	https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID	Expanded into the playlist's videos

Usage Examples

Basic — Extract English Transcript

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
  ]
}

Plain Text Output (No Timestamps)

Perfect for feeding into AI/LLM pipelines, summarization tools, or text analysis:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
  ],
  "outputFormat": "text"
}

Multi-Language with Fallback

Request Spanish first, fall back to English, then French:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
  ],
  "languages": ["es", "en", "fr"]
}

Translate Transcript

Get the transcript translated to Japanese using YouTube's built-in translation:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
  ],
  "translateTo": "ja"
}

SRT Subtitles for Video Editing

Export transcripts in SRT format for use in video editors like Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or Final Cut:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" }
  ],
  "outputFormat": "srt"
}

Batch Processing — Multiple Videos

Process multiple videos in one run. The actor handles state persistence, so even large batches survive migrations:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO1" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO2" },
    { "url": "https://youtu.be/VIDEO3" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO4" }
  ],
  "outputFormat": "json",
  "languages": ["en"]
}

Scrape an Entire Channel

Paste a channel URL and the actor pulls transcripts from its videos. Use maxPagesPerUrl to fetch more pages of videos:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd" }
  ],
  "maxPagesPerUrl": 3
}

You can also use a channel ID URL (https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID).

Scrape an Entire Playlist

Grab transcripts from the videos in a playlist. Raise maxPagesPerUrl to go deeper into long playlists:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkiWvdL-IJa8NvXNuJpKiUEwQ5UHHw8t" }
  ],
  "maxPagesPerUrl": 5
}

Scrape by Search Keyword

Type a keyword and the actor scrapes transcripts from the top matching videos. You can pass several keywords at once:

{
  "searchKeywords": ["lo-fi hip hop", "morning routine"],
  "maxPagesPerUrl": 2
}

Tip: You can also paste a full YouTube search URL (including its filters, e.g. &sp=... for "this month" or "videos only") directly into urls — the filters are respected.

Include Shorts

By default only regular videos are scraped. Turn on scrapeShorts to also include Shorts when expanding channels, playlists, and searches:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd" }
  ],
  "maxPagesPerUrl": 3,
  "scrapeShorts": true
}

Mix Everything in One Run

Combine direct videos, channels, playlists, and search keywords in a single run:

{
  "urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd" },
    { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkiWvdL-IJa8NvXNuJpKiUEwQ5UHHw8t" }
  ],
  "searchKeywords": ["productivity tips"],
  "maxPagesPerUrl": 2,
  "outputFormat": "text"
}

Output

JSON Format (Default)

Each video produces a dataset item with transcript data and full video metadata:

{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neabI31ofMc",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neabI31ofMc",
  "language": "English (auto-generated)",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "isGenerated": true,
  "transcript": [
    {
      "text": "today I'm going to show you all the",
      "start": 0.04,
      "duration": 3.359
    },
    {
      "text": "things that can help suppress your",
      "start": 1.36,
      "duration": 4.64
    }
  ],
  "snippetCount": 185,
  "videoDetails": {
    "videoId": "neabI31ofMc",
    "title": "BETTER Than Ozempic! STOP Your Cravings",
    "lengthSeconds": "412",
    "keywords": ["appetite suppressant", "natural appetite suppressants", "..."],
    "channelId": "UC3w193M5tYPJqF0Hi-7U-2g",
    "shortDescription": "Avoiding cravings is not up to sheer willpower...",
    "thumbnail": {
      "thumbnails": [
        { "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/neabI31ofMc/sddefault.webp", "width": 640, "height": 480 }
      ]
    },
    "viewCount": "1088282",
    "author": "Dr. Eric Berg DC",
    "isLiveContent": false,
    "publishDate": "2024-03-12T07:00:07-07:00",
    "uploadDate": "2024-03-11T18:30:02-07:00"
  }
}

inputUrl vs videoUrl: videoUrl is always the actual video's watch URL. inputUrl is the source you provided — for a direct video URL these match, but for videos discovered from a channel, playlist, or search, inputUrl is the channel/playlist/search URL they came from, so you can always trace each transcript back to its source.

Text Format

Returns the full transcript as a single plain-text string — no timestamps, no JSON nesting. Ideal for AI processing.

SRT Format

Standard SubRip subtitle format, ready for video editors and subtitle players:

1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,399
today I'm going to show you all the

2
00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:06,000
things that can help suppress your

WebVTT Format

Web Video Text Tracks format for HTML5 video players and web applications:

WEBVTT

00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.399
today I'm going to show you all the

00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:06.000
things that can help suppress your

Related YouTube Scrapers

For extracting video metadata including titles, descriptions, view counts, and engagement metrics, use the YouTube Video Scraper. To collect comments from YouTube videos and shorts, the YouTube Comment Scraper extracts complete comment details including author information, likes, and replies.

Error Handling

The actor provides clear, specific error codes so you always know what happened:

Error Code	Meaning	What to Do
TranscriptNotFound	No captions/subtitles available for this video in the requested languages	Try different language codes, or check if the video has captions enabled
URL_NOT_SUPPORTED	The provided URL is not a valid YouTube video URL	Use a standard YouTube video URL format (see Supported URL Formats above)
VIDEO_ID_NOT_FOUND	Could not extract a video ID from the URL	Check that the URL contains a valid video ID
AgeRestricted	Video is age-restricted and requires authentication	Age-restricted videos cannot be scraped without login
VideoUnavailable	Video has been removed or is no longer available	The video no longer exists on YouTube
IpBlocked	YouTube is blocking requests from this IP	Usually temporary — retry later or the actor's proxy rotation will handle it
NO_VIDEOS_FOUND	A channel, playlist, or search keyword returned no videos	Check the channel/playlist URL or try a different keyword
SOURCE_EXPANSION_FAILED	The channel, playlist, or search could not be listed	Usually temporary — retry later; verify the URL is public and correct

Note: When a video genuinely has no captions (common with music videos, some Shorts, and older content), the actor returns a clear TranscriptNotFound error rather than an empty result.

Proxy Support

The actor includes built-in residential proxy rotation — no configuration needed. This handles YouTube's aggressive IP blocking automatically. You don't need to provide your own proxies.

Language Codes

The actor supports any language code that YouTube supports. Common codes:

Code	Language	Code	Language
en	English	ko	Korean
es	Spanish	zh	Chinese
fr	French	ar	Arabic
de	German	hi	Hindi
it	Italian	ja	Japanese
pt	Portuguese	ru	Russian

Tip: Use the languages parameter with multiple codes to set up automatic fallback. The actor tries each language in order and uses the first transcript it finds.

Integration Examples

n8n / Make.com

This actor works with Apify's official integrations for n8n and Make.com. Use the Run Actor module with the input schema above.

API

Access transcripts programmatically via the YouTube Transcript Scraper API. Results are stored in a dataset that you can export as JSON, CSV, XML, or other formats.

# Start a run via API
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/supreme_coder~youtube-transcript-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "urls": [{ "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" }],
    "outputFormat": "text"
  }'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("supreme_coder/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "urls": [{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"}],
        "outputFormat": "text",
        "languages": ["en"]
    }
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["transcript"])

Pricing

This scraper costs approximately $0.30 per 1,000 YouTube transcripts. With the Apify Starter plan, you can extract up to ~16,000 transcripts per month.

Limitations

• Videos without captions/subtitles cannot be transcribed (the actor extracts existing captions, not audio)
• Age-restricted videos require authentication and are not currently supported
• Translation availability depends on what YouTube offers for each specific video
• Very long videos (3+ hours) may require higher memory allocation

Is It Legal to Scrape YouTube?

Our scrapers are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as email addresses, gender, or location. They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. We therefore believe that our scrapers, when used for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe.

However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the world.

You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you're unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers. You can also read our blog post on the legality of web scraping.

Related Actors

• YouTube Comment Scraper — Extract comments from YouTube videos

Feedback

We're always working on improving the performance of our actors. If you've got any technical feedback or found a bug, please create an issue on the actor's Issues tab in Apify Console.