# YouTube Transcript | No API Key (`technicaldost/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor

Pull YouTube transcripts and subtitles via the InnerTube player API. Timed segments plus full text. No API key required. Pay per result.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/technicaldost/youtube-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Technical Dost Solutions](https://apify.com/technicaldost) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$8.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Transcript & Subtitle Scraper

Extract complete transcripts and subtitles from public YouTube videos. The Actor uses YouTube's public watch pages and caption tracks, so it requires no YouTube API key, paid proxy, or external transcript service.

Use the output for content analysis, accessibility workflows, research, search indexes, summaries, translations, and AI or RAG pipelines. Manual captions are preferred over auto-generated captions when both are available.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `videoUrls` | string\[] | Required | YouTube watch, Shorts, embed, live, or youtu.be video URLs. |
| `language` | string | `"en"` | Preferred YouTube caption language code. Falls back to the first available track, preferring manual captions. |
| `includeTimestamps` | boolean | `true` | Include timestamped caption segments. Set to `false` for transcript-only output. |

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": true
}
```

### Output

Each video with an available, readable caption track produces one dataset record. Videos without captions are logged and skipped.

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "segments": [
    {
      "text": "We're no strangers to love",
      "start": 18.64,
      "duration": 3.24
    }
  ],
  "transcriptText": "We're no strangers to love ...",
  "wordCount": 487
}
```

When `includeTimestamps` is `false`, the `segments` field is omitted. One `result` pay-per-event charge is emitted for every stored record.

### Notes

- Public videos may have no captions or may restrict caption access by region, age, or consent state.
- If the preferred language is unavailable, the Actor returns another available track and reports its actual language code.
- If a web caption URL has expired or returns an empty response, the Actor refreshes it through YouTube's free public player endpoint.
- Requests use a 12-second timeout, two retries with backoff, and process up to five videos concurrently.

# Actor input Schema

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

Public YouTube watch, Shorts, embed, or youtu.be URLs.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Preferred YouTube caption language code, for example en, es, or de. Falls back to another available language.

## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Include the segments array with start time and duration for every caption cue.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("technicaldost/youtube-transcript-scraper").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 = { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("technicaldost/youtube-transcript-scraper").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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ]
}' |
apify call technicaldost/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/T3ah8OHzy0rYtLGdq/builds/aIslfZGIbZW5dreea/openapi.json