# YouTube Channel Scraper: Subscribers, Views, Links (`torix33/youtube-channel-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube channel info in bulk or discover channels by keyword: subscribers, exact total views, video count, average views per video, joined date, country, description, external links (Instagram, X, TikTok, website), verified badge, avatar and banner. No API key. Pay per channel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/torix33/youtube-channel-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Torix](https://apify.com/torix33) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.10 / 1,000 channel scrapeds

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?

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 Channel Scraper — Subscribers, Total Views, Links & Country

Get the **About data of any YouTube channel** — or **discover channels by keyword** — in one clean row per channel:

**channel ID, name, @handle, verified badge, subscribers, exact total views, exact video count, average views per video, joined date, country, description, keywords, external links (website, Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook…), "has business email" flag, avatar, banner and RSS feed.**

### How to run it in 3 steps

1. **Add your input.** In **Channels** paste @handles or channel links (or use **Search queries** to discover channels) — e.g. `@mkbhd`. The form is already filled with a working example, so you can skip this step for a first try.
2. **Press Start.** The prefilled run returns 2 channels in about 2 s and costs about **$0.006**. Set **Max results (cost cap)** to cap the cost of bigger runs; you only pay for channels actually delivered.
3. **Get the data.** Open the **Output** tab and export JSON, CSV or Excel — or run it from the API, Make, Zapier, n8n or an AI agent (see below).

### Features

- **Influencer discovery:** search a topic (`"home espresso"`) and get every matching channel with its stats.
- **Exact numbers** for total views and videos (e.g. `142,688,379,304` views).
- **HTTP only, no browser:** YouTube's own internal API, ~60 KB per channel, no API key or quota — 24 channels in about a second.
- **Pay per channel:** $3 per 1,000 channels. Filtered and missing channels are free.

### Use cases

- **Influencer marketing:** shortlist creators by subscribers, views per video and country; get their social links.
- **Competitor tracking:** monitor channel growth (schedule daily).
- **Market research:** map every channel in a niche.

### Input

```json
{
  "channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA", "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"],
  "searchQueries": ["home espresso"],
  "maxChannelsPerSearch": 50,
  "minSubscribers": 10000
}
```

### Output

#### Real output (default input)

First 2 of 2 records from a run with the prefilled input (2.5 s on a test machine; long values shortened here):

```json
[
  {
    "channelId": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "title": "NASA",
    "handle": "@NASA",
    "verified": true,
    "description": "NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.\r\n\r\nTo do that, we have worked …",
    "keywords": "nasa space iss shuttle 50th astronauts planets earth rockets hubble telescopes NASA TV galaxy apollo gemini mercury sta Moon Artemis \"solar …",
    "avatar": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/eIf5fNPcIcj9ig-wZBeq4stFy1lgjWTW1nLT5dYlFkHZprZ03QBiMcbpwNMB6XSBjrSFGtAGQg=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
    "banner": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/y8Srh-oCcilLvBO8jAPI546m1bn0puA5DIvQiBZ1cSxc_rZfKxKSFlTCtoCQCtB6viUf1NGsaQ=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a…",
    "isFamilySafe": true,
    "rssUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "subscribers": 15100000,
    "subscribersText": "15.1M subscribers",
    "totalViews": 1128842971,
    "videos": 6189,
    "avgViewsPerVideo": 182395,
    "joinedDate": "2008-06-03",
    "country": null,
    "links": [
      {
        "title": "nasa.gov",
        "url": "https://www.nasa.gov"
      },
      {
        "title": "X",
        "url": "https://x.com/nasa"
      },
      {
        "title": "Facebook",
        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/NASA"
      }
    ],
    "hasBusinessEmail": false,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-15T12:12:01.672Z"
  },
  {
    "channelId": "UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "title": "Marques Brownlee",
    "handle": "@mkbhd",
    "verified": true,
    "description": "MKBHD: Quality Tech Videos | YouTuber | Geek | Consumer Electronics | Tech Head | Internet Personality!\n\nbusiness@MKBHD.com\n\nNYC",
    "keywords": "MKBHD MarquesBrownlee Marques Brownlee",
    "avatar": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/qu4TmIaYUlS41-dJ9gZ7DUR3nilvmB5_11i6OKSdvNnBNiyOusZP1bMN6ICnuxtjFBb6ioKgRQ=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
    "banner": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/zi_48HwHU4s0Hnb6tZuvRzTfCPHrLEnrtIMDLzMauDEyDmURh9JZ4wrNd3lKr7m9uVnT4YjYKw=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a…",
    "isFamilySafe": true,
    "rssUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ",
    "subscribers": 21400000,
    "subscribersText": "21.4M subscribers",
    "totalViews": 5775491395,
    "videos": 1858,
    "avgViewsPerVideo": 3108445,
    "joinedDate": "2008-03-21",
    "country": "United States",
    "links": [
      {
        "title": "Twitter",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/MKBHD"
      },
      {
        "title": "Instagram",
        "url": "http://instagram.com/MKBHD"
      },
      {
        "title": "The Studio",
        "url": "http://youtube.com/c/TheStudio"
      }
    ],
    "hasBusinessEmail": true,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-15T12:12:01.697Z"
  }
]
```

```json
{
  "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
  "title": "MrBeast",
  "handle": "@MrBeast",
  "verified": true,
  "subscribers": 521000000,
  "totalViews": 142688379304,
  "videos": 1006,
  "avgViewsPerVideo": 141837355,
  "joinedDate": "2012-02-19",
  "country": "United States",
  "links": [{ "title": "Follow", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/mrbeast/" }, { "title": "Twitter", "url": "https://twitter.com/MrBeast" }],
  "hasBusinessEmail": true,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"
}
```

Need the channel's videos? Use our **YouTube Scraper** with the same channel URLs.

### Pricing

- **$3.00 per 1,000 channels** ($0.003 per channel).
- The prefilled input returns 2 channels → **$0.006**.
- Example: 1,000 channels → $3.00; 10,000 → $30.00. Set **Max results (cost cap)** to limit any run.

* Filtered and missing channels are free.
* Your Apify spending limit is respected exactly: the actor stops charging and finishes cleanly when it is reached. Apify platform usage (compute, proxy) is included in the price.

### Use with AI agents (MCP), LangChain, RAG & the API

This actor is a ready-made **tool for AI agents**: an LLM can call it, wait for the run and read clean JSON back.

**MCP server (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, any MCP client)** — add Apify's hosted MCP server with this actor enabled as a tool:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=torix33/youtube-channel-scraper",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}
```

**LangChain / LangGraph** (`pip install langchain-apify`, set `APIFY_API_TOKEN`):

```python
import json
from langchain_apify import ApifyActorsTool, ApifyWrapper
from langchain_core.documents import Document

## 1) give the actor to an agent as a tool
tool = ApifyActorsTool("torix33/youtube-channel-scraper")

## 2) or load results as Documents for a RAG index
loader = ApifyWrapper().call_actor(
    actor_id="torix33/youtube-channel-scraper",
    run_input={"channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA", "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"], "searchQueries": ["home espresso"], "maxChannelsPerSearch": 50, "minSubscribers": 10000},
    dataset_mapping_function=lambda item: Document(page_content=json.dumps(item, ensure_ascii=False), metadata={"url": item.get("url")}),
)
docs = loader.load()
```

**REST API — one synchronous call, dataset items in the response:**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/torix33~youtube-channel-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channels": ["@mkbhd", "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA", "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"], "searchQueries": ["home espresso"], "maxChannelsPerSearch": 50, "minSubscribers": 10000}'
```

Also works with the Apify Python/JS clients, **Make, Zapier, n8n**, Google Sheets, webhooks and schedules. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS.

**RAG tip:** An influencer-discovery agent can search a topic, filter by `subscribers` and `country`, and pull outreach links from `links`.

### Limitations

- No channel email: YouTube hides it behind a captcha; `hasBusinessEmail` only tells you whether one exists.
- Subscriber and view counts are what YouTube displays publicly.
- Only public channels; no API key or OAuth data (e.g. analytics).

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?**
No. No API key and no quota.

**Can I find channels by topic?**
Yes. Use `searchQueries`; filter with `minSubscribers`.

**Does it return the channel email?**
No — YouTube hides it behind a captcha. `hasBusinessEmail` tells you whether one exists, and `links` gives the public website and social links.

# Actor input Schema

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

Channel URLs, @handles or channel IDs (UC…), one per line.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Discover channels for a topic (YouTube search, type = Channel), e.g. <code>home espresso</code>.

## `maxChannelsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

How many channels to take from each keyword search.

## `minSubscribers` (type: `integer`):

Skip (and don't charge for) smaller channels.

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

Interface language (affects country names and date format).

## `country` (type: `string`):

Region for channel search results.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many channels. <code>0</code> = no limit.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Channels fetched in parallel.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Datacenter proxy is used only for retries.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
  ],
  "maxChannelsPerSearch": 50,
  "minSubscribers": 0,
  "language": "en",
  "country": "US",
  "maxResults": 0,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `channels` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runStats` (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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("torix33/youtube-channel-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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("torix33/youtube-channel-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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call torix33/youtube-channel-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,torix33/youtube-channel-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/09UyRpMmIG8dIOWzB/builds/HcQ8ZPmhLS8SBRgDP/openapi.json