# YouTube Comments Scraper · Channel Comments Monitor + Replies (`thequietstack/youtube-comments-monitor`) Actor

Comments and replies of YouTube videos, Shorts or a channel's newest uploads. Newest first, only-new mode for monitoring, keyword, likes and date filters, pinned and hearted flags, exact video comment count. No login, no API key, no quota.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thequietstack/youtube-comments-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [TheQuietStack](https://apify.com/thequietstack) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 comments

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Comments Scraper · Channel Comments Monitor + Replies

**YouTube comments monitor for whole channels:** comments and replies of videos, Shorts or a channel's newest uploads, only new ones on schedules.

Comments and replies of YouTube videos and Shorts - or of a channel's newest uploads in one go. Newest first, an **only-new mode** for scheduled monitoring (you never pay twice for the same comment), keyword, likes and date filters, pinned / hearted / written-by-creator flags and the video's exact comment count.

No login, no Google account, no API key, no YouTube Data API quota.

### What you get

| | This Actor | Most comment scrapers |
|---|---|---|
| Input | video links, Shorts **or channels** (their newest N videos, Shorts or streams) | video links only |
| Monitoring | `onlyNewComments`: next run returns only comments posted since the last one | same comments again, charged again |
| Order | YouTube's own *Newest first* or *Top comments* | often only one |
| Filters before charging | keywords, exclude words, min likes, posted since | rarely |
| Likes | exact when YouTube shows them exactly, `likesExact: false` for "1.1K" | "1.1K" silently turned into 1100 |
| Creator signals | `isPinned`, `isHeartedByCreator`, `authorIsVideoOwner` | partly |
| Video comment count | exact (`1,849`), from the comment header | rounded "1.8K" or missing |

### Use cases

- **Community and brand monitoring:** schedule a daily run on your own channel (or a competitor's) with `onlyNewComments` - each morning you get only the comments of the last 24 hours, straight into Google Sheets, Slack, Make, n8n or Zapier.
- **Customer questions and buying intent:** `textKeywords: ["price", "where can i buy", "link", "discount"]` over the last 10 uploads of a product channel.
- **Creator and sponsor research:** how many comments a channel's recent uploads really get, how often the creator replies (`authorIsVideoOwner`) or hearts comments.
- **Product feedback mining:** collect "Top comments" of review videos of your product and its competitors, with replies.
- **Datasets for sentiment analysis or AI:** clean JSON, one row per comment or reply, with the parent link for threads.

### Input example

```json
{
    "channels": ["@veritasium"],
    "videosPerChannel": 5,
    "sortBy": "newest",
    "onlyNewComments": true,
    "textKeywords": [],
    "includeReplies": false,
    "maxCommentsPerVideo": 200,
    "maxComments": 2000
}
```

- `videos` - `watch?v=` links, `youtu.be/` links, `/shorts/`, `/live/` or bare 11-character IDs.
- `channels` - `@handle`, `youtube.com/@handle`, `/channel/UC...`, `/c/...`, `/user/...` or a bare channel ID; with `channelTab` (`videos`, `shorts`, `streams`), `videosPerChannel` and `skipVideosOlderThanDays`.
- `sortBy` - `newest` (default) or `top`. The pinned comment comes first in both, as on YouTube.
- `onlyNewComments` + `stateStoreName` - monitoring memory per video (forces `newest`).
- `commentsFrom` (YYYY-MM-DD) or `commentsNewerThanDays`; `textKeywords` + `keywordMode`, `excludeTextKeywords`, `minLikes`.
- `includeReplies` + `maxRepliesPerComment`; `maxCommentsPerVideo`, `maxComments` (hard cap for the whole run), `maxPagesPerVideo`, `requestDelaySecs`.

### Output example

Real rows from a run on 01 Oct 2026 (`@veritasium`, 2 newest videos, newest first, replies on):

```json
{
    "recordType": "comment",
    "commentId": "UgyL2NE2HWz4MtoZLIx4AaABAg",
    "text": "Fight the data brokers, use code veritasium at https://incogni.com/veritasium to get an exclusive 60% off your annual subscription.",
    "authorHandle": "@veritasium",
    "authorChannelId": "UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
    "authorIsVerified": true,
    "authorIsVideoOwner": true,
    "authorIsArtist": false,
    "likes": 427,
    "likesText": "427 likes",
    "likesExact": true,
    "replyCount": 83,
    "replyCountExact": true,
    "isPinned": true,
    "pinnedText": "Pinned by @veritasium",
    "isHeartedByCreator": false,
    "isEdited": false,
    "publishedTimeText": "10 days ago",
    "publishedAtLatest": "2026-09-21T15:05:43.077Z",
    "publishedAtEarliest": "2026-09-20T15:05:43.077Z",
    "replyLevel": 0,
    "commentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBZOcqZerk&lc=UgyL2NE2HWz4MtoZLIx4AaABAg",
    "parentCommentId": null,
    "videoId": "JsBZOcqZerk",
    "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBZOcqZerk",
    "videoTitle": "The Insane Real Engineering of the Nazi Enigma Machine",
    "videoChannelId": "UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
    "videoChannelTitle": "Veritasium",
    "videoChannelHandle": "@veritasium",
    "videoCommentCount": 6083,
    "videoCommentCountExact": true,
    "sortedBy": "newest",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-01T15:05:43.077Z"
}
```

A reply to it (shortened - same video fields as above):

```json
{
    "recordType": "reply",
    "commentId": "UgyL2NE2HWz4MtoZLIx4AaABAg.Ab0oCv-duVMAb1F-b8xq2b",
    "text": "hi veritasium",
    "authorHandle": "@Acheron2Liam",
    "likes": 3,
    "likesExact": true,
    "publishedTimeText": "9 days ago",
    "replyLevel": 1,
    "parentCommentId": "UgyL2NE2HWz4MtoZLIx4AaABAg"
}
```

And a rounded count, flagged instead of presented as exact (Rick Astley, pinned comment by @YouTube):

```json
{ "likes": 322000, "likesText": "322K likes", "likesExact": false, "isPinned": true, "isHeartedByCreator": true }
```

The run summary (`SUMMARY` in the key-value store) lists every channel and video with its status (`ok`, `partial`, `comments_off`, `unavailable`, `not_found`, `failed`, `blocked`, `stopped`), rows written, pages fetched, what was skipped and why paging stopped.

### Works with: YouTube Channel Videos Scraper

Monitoring a channel end to end? Pair this Actor with [YouTube Channel Videos Scraper](https://apify.com/thequietstack/youtube-channel-videos): it lists every upload of a channel with exact views, likes and dates (with an "only new videos" mode), and this Actor then pulls the comments of those uploads, with `onlyNewComments` so a daily schedule only pays for what is new. Both Actors take the same channel handles as input.

### How much does it cost?

Pay per result, nothing else: **$0.0015 per comment or reply** ($1.50 per 1,000). Only rows written to the dataset are charged; the platform usage is included.

| Job | Rows | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500 newest comments of one video | 500 | $0.75 |
| Top 100 comments + up to 5 replies each, 10 review videos | ~2,500 | ~$3.75 |
| Daily monitoring of one channel's 10 newest videos, `onlyNewComments`, ~60 new comments a day | ~1,800 / month | ~$2.70 per month |

Never charged: invalid input, unknown channels or videos, videos with comments turned off, deleted videos, blocked or failed requests, comments outside the date window, keyword and `minLikes` misses, duplicates and comments already delivered by an earlier `onlyNewComments` run. Set *Max cost per run* in Apify and the run stops cleanly at that amount; `maxComments` is a second hard cap.

### Honest numbers

- **YouTube shows comment times only as "3 days ago".** You get that text plus `publishedAtLatest` / `publishedAtEarliest`, the two moments it can mean. There is no exact timestamp to be had without the official API; this Actor does not invent one. Date filters drop a comment only when it is *certainly* older than `commentsFrom`.
- **Likes and reply counts** are exact up to 999; from 1,000 YouTube rounds ("1.1K"), and the row says so with `likesExact: false` / `replyCountExact: false`. `minLikes` compares rounded counts by their highest possible value, so nothing that could qualify is dropped.
- **The video's comment count** comes from the comment header (`1,849 Comments`) and includes replies. It is exact in every video we measured; `videoCommentCountExact` flags it either way.
- **Only-new mode** remembers up to 1,000 comment IDs per video. The first run is the baseline (up to your limits). New replies to old comments are not detected - only new top-level comments (with their replies if `includeReplies` is on).
- Measured on 01 Oct 2026: two runs four minutes apart on a fresh video - the first returned 40 comments, the second only the 2 new top-level comments posted in between and stopped at the first known one (the header count went from 1,862 to 1,865 - it also counts replies).

### Polite access - Bot protection is never bypassed

- Only YouTube's public web-client data for the watch page, its comment section and channel lists - the same requests youtube.com makes for a visitor who is not logged in. The video player / stream endpoint is never called, nothing is downloaded.
- One request at a time with a pause (`requestDelaySecs`, minimum 0.5 s, default 1 s), hard caps per video and per run, and filters applied before charging.
- **Bot protection is never bypassed.** If YouTube answers with HTTP 403 or 429, a captcha or "confirm you're not a bot" page, a consent or login redirect, or an answer without the expected structure, the Actor stops the whole run at once with status FAILED and a clear message (`SUMMARY.blocked` names where and why; remaining videos are listed under `notReached`). No retries of a block, no proxy or IP rotation, no header tricks, no login, no cookies, no consent clicking. Rows written before the stop stay in the dataset; nothing is charged for what was not delivered.
- A plain server error (5xx) is retried exactly once after 5 seconds; anything else is reported, not retried.

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No. And there is no daily quota like the YouTube Data API has.

**Shorts?** Yes - put Shorts links under `videos`, or use `channelTab: "shorts"` for a channel's newest Shorts.

**Can it get all comments of a huge video?** It pages as far as YouTube lets a visitor scroll, about 20 comments per page, capped by `maxPagesPerVideo` (default 50 pages = ~1,000 comments) and `maxCommentsPerVideo`. Raise both for more.

**Why fewer comments than the count YouTube shows?** The header count includes replies, and YouTube hides held-for-review and spam-filtered comments from visitors. Check `SUMMARY` for filters and limits.

**Does it get e-mails or contact data?** No. It returns what YouTube shows publicly next to a comment: handle, channel ID, text and counts. Avatars are not stored.

**Is it legal?** It reads public pages without logging in. Comments are personal data of their authors: you need your own legal basis (e.g. GDPR legitimate interest) for your purpose, keep only what you need, and respect YouTube's Terms of Service and the authors' rights when you republish text. This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google.

### Use it via API, integrations and AI agents

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/thequietstack~youtube-comments-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videos":["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"],"sortBy":"top","maxCommentsPerVideo":100}'
```

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("thequietstack/youtube-comments-monitor").call(
    run_input={"channels": ["@veritasium"], "videosPerChannel": 5, "onlyNewComments": True}
)
for c in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(c["videoTitle"], c["authorHandle"], c["likes"], c["text"][:80])
```

Works with Apify schedules, webhooks and integrations (Google Sheets, Make, n8n, Zapier, Slack), and as a tool for AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

# Actor input Schema

## `videos` (type: `array`):

Video or Short links (watch?v=, youtu.be/, /shorts/, /live/) or bare 11-character video IDs.

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Channel handles or links: @veritasium, https://www.youtube.com/@NASA, youtube.com/channel/UC..., or a bare channel ID. The Actor takes the newest videos of each channel (see 'Videos per channel') and collects their comments.

## `channelTab` (type: `string`):

Only used for channels.

## `videosPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

How many of the newest uploads of each channel are read.

## `skipVideosOlderThanDays` (type: `integer`):

Only for the Videos and Live tabs (Shorts show no date in the list). Uses the age YouTube shows in the list.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

YouTube's own two orders. The pinned comment always comes first in both.

## `onlyNewComments` (type: `boolean`):

For scheduled monitoring: remembers the comments already seen per video in a named key-value store and stops at the first known one on the next run. You are not charged again for comments you already have. Forces 'Newest first'.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store for the only-new memory. Use a different name per monitoring task.

## `commentsFrom` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD (UTC). YouTube only shows relative times ('3 days ago'); a comment is dropped only when it is certainly older. With 'Newest first' paging stops there.

## `commentsNewerThanDays` (type: `integer`):

Shortcut for 'Comments posted from' = today minus N days. Ignored when that field is set.

## `textKeywords` (type: `array`):

Keep only comments containing these words (case-insensitive), e.g. price, link, where to buy. Misses are not charged.

## `keywordMode` (type: `string`):

Whether a comment needs one or all of the words.

## `excludeTextKeywords` (type: `array`):

Drop comments containing any of these words. Not charged.

## `minLikes` (type: `integer`):

Drop comments with fewer likes. Rounded counts ('1.2K') are compared by their highest possible value, so nothing that could qualify is dropped.

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

Adds the replies of every written comment right after it (recordType 'reply', parentCommentId set). Each reply is charged like a comment.

## `maxRepliesPerComment` (type: `integer`):

Only with 'Include replies'.

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

Top-level comments written per video (replies not counted here).

## `maxComments` (type: `integer`):

Comments plus replies. The run stops cleanly at this number. You are never charged for more rows than this.

## `maxPagesPerVideo` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap. One page holds about 20 comments.

## `requestDelaySecs` (type: `number`):

Requests go out one at a time with this pause. Lower is not allowed: this Actor crawls politely.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VKlulHwMxgU"
  ],
  "channels": [
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "channelTab": "videos",
  "videosPerChannel": 5,
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "onlyNewComments": false,
  "stateStoreName": "youtube-comments-monitor-state",
  "textKeywords": [
    "price",
    "where can i buy"
  ],
  "keywordMode": "any",
  "includeReplies": false,
  "maxRepliesPerComment": 20,
  "maxCommentsPerVideo": 100,
  "maxComments": 1000,
  "maxPagesPerVideo": 50,
  "requestDelaySecs": 1
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `comments` (type: `string`):

One row per comment or reply: comment ID and link, text, author handle and channel ID, likes (with exact flag), reply count, pinned, hearted by the creator, written by the video owner, edited, publish time (YouTube's relative text plus its two bounds), video ID, title, channel and the video's exact comment count.

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

Per channel and per video: status (ok, partial, comments\_off, unavailable, not\_found, failed, blocked, stopped), comments and replies written, pages fetched, what was skipped and why paging stopped. Nothing listed as skipped is charged.

# 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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ]
};

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

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

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/h7RVoLWjr3tZpYfcw/builds/E2vqgk2ZuJiTeslhf/openapi.json