# YouTube Comments Scraper – Comments & Replies, $1/1k (`tpai/youtube-comments-scraper`) Actor

Extract comments and replies from any YouTube video: text, author, likes, reply count, pinned and creator-hearted flags. Top or newest first. Fast, no browser, $1 per 1,000 comments.

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

## Pricing

$1.00 / 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 – comments & replies, $1 per 1,000

Extract **comments and replies from any YouTube video** in bulk: text, author, likes, number of replies, publish time, and the **pinned** and **❤ hearted by creator** flags. Comments come in the same order YouTube shows them, either **Top comments** or **Newest first**.

It's fast, uses no browser and needs no login or API key. Shorts and live replays are supported too.

### Why use this YouTube Comments Scraper?

- 💸 **Low price:** $1 per 1,000 comments. No start fee, no proxy costs.
- ⚡ **Fast:** thousands of comments per minute.
- 🧵 **Replies included on demand,** each linked to its parent comment.
- 📌 **Rich data:** likes, reply count, pinned comment, creator heart, verified author, the channel owner's own comments, and an edited flag.
- 🔗 **Direct link** to every comment.
- 🛡️ **Reliable:** automatic retries and a residential proxy fallback are built in.

### Use cases

- **Audience research and sentiment analysis:** learn what viewers love, hate or ask for.
- **Content ideas:** mine questions and requests from comments.
- **Brand and competitor monitoring:** track reactions to launches, ads and reviews.
- **AI and LLM datasets:** feed comments to ChatGPT or Claude for summaries and classification.
- **Giveaways:** collect every participant of a comment contest.

### How to use it

1. Paste one or more YouTube video URLs or IDs.
2. Choose how many comments per video you want, the sort order, and whether to include replies.
3. Click **Start** and export the results to JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them via API, Make, Zapier, n8n or MCP.

### Output example

```json
{
  "videoId": "aircAruvnKk",
  "videoTitle": "But what is a neural network? | Deep learning chapter 1",
  "videoChannel": "3Blue1Brown",
  "videoCommentCount": 9457,
  "commentId": "Ugwedfi--9yZVC0eefl4AaABAg",
  "text": "I study mathematics, physics and architecture. By definition this man is an ORACLE...",
  "author": "@kummer45",
  "authorChannelId": "UCqArZkt3NAOU0tcgIi6xmFQ",
  "authorIsVerified": false,
  "authorIsCreator": false,
  "likes": 14000,
  "replyCount": 176,
  "publishedTimeText": "7 years ago",
  "isEdited": true,
  "isPinned": false,
  "isHeartedByCreator": false,
  "isReply": false,
  "parentCommentId": null,
  "commentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk&lc=Ugwedfi--9yZVC0eefl4AaABAg",
  "success": true
}
```

### Pricing

**$1 per 1,000 comments** ($0.001 per comment or reply). Videos with comments turned off, invalid links and failed videos are not charged. Use **Maximum cost per run** to cap your spending. The Actor stops cleanly at the limit.

### Notes

- Like counts are shown by YouTube in rounded form (e.g. "14K"). They are converted to numbers (14000), so large counts are approximate.
- `publishedTimeText` is relative ("2 days ago"), as displayed by YouTube.
- `maxComments` counts top-level comments. Replies come on top when enabled.

### FAQ

**Do I need a YouTube API key?** No.

**Is it legal?** Comments are public, but they are personal data of their authors. Use them responsibly, in line with GDPR and YouTube's terms. Avoid building profiles of individuals.

**Problem or feature request?** Open an issue in the **Issues** tab. We usually reply within 24–48 hours.

### More YouTube tools from the same developer

- **YouTube Transcript Scraper:** transcripts with SRT and VTT, $3 per 1,000.
- **YouTube Scraper (search & video details):** search results with filters, $1.50 per 1,000.
- **YouTube Comments Scraper** and **YouTube Channel & Playlist Scraper.**

# Actor input Schema

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

Video URLs or IDs, one per line (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, live links).

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

Maximum number of top-level comments per video. Replies (if enabled) come on top of this.

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

Same order as on YouTube.

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

Also extract replies to each comment.

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

Only used when 'Include replies' is on.

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

How many videos to process at the same time.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk"
  ],
  "maxComments": 100,
  "sortBy": "top",
  "includeReplies": false,
  "maxRepliesPerComment": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One item per comment or reply.

# 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=aircAruvnKk"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tpai/youtube-comments-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=aircAruvnKk"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tpai/youtube-comments-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=aircAruvnKk"
  ]
}' |
apify call tpai/youtube-comments-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,tpai/youtube-comments-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/dpOMMIuo1U20htWYS/builds/JGMiiA6hhu04nBRZH/openapi.json