# YouTube Scraper - Videos, Channels, Shorts, Search (`unbrowseai/youtube-video-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube search results, channels (videos, shorts, streams), playlists and single videos: title, views, likes, comments count, duration, publish date, description, tags, category, channel and subscribers. Half the usual price.

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

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 1,000 videos

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 Scraper – Videos, Channels, Shorts, Playlists and Search

Collect YouTube video data at scale: search results, every video on a channel (including Shorts and live streams), playlists and single videos. Each result includes exact view count, likes, comments count, duration, publish date, full description, tags, category, and the channel's name, URL and subscriber count.

### What people use it for

- **Creator and influencer research** – compare channels by views, engagement and posting frequency.
- **Competitor and brand monitoring** – track what is published about a product or topic every day.
- **Content strategy and SEO** – see which titles, tags and lengths win for a keyword.
- **AI and analytics datasets** – descriptions, tags and engagement for thousands of videos.

### How to use it

1. Enter **search terms** and/or **YouTube URLs**:
   - Channel: `https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd` (videos), `.../@mkbhd/shorts`, `.../@mkbhd/streams`
   - Playlist: `https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...`
   - Video: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` or `https://youtu.be/...`
2. Set **Max videos** per search term or URL, and optionally an upload-date filter for searches (free, unlike some scrapers that charge extra for filters).
3. Run and export as JSON, CSV, Excel, or through the API.

### Output example

```json
{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "viewCount": 1820653557,
  "likes": 19424493,
  "commentsCount": 2400000,
  "durationSeconds": 213,
  "publishedAt": "2009-10-24T23:57:33-07:00",
  "category": "Music",
  "keywords": ["rick astley", "Never Gonna Give You Up"],
  "description": "The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley...",
  "channelName": "Rick Astley",
  "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
  "channelUrl": "http://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyYT",
  "channelSubscribers": 4550000,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.webp"
}
```

### Pricing

One price per video, full details included, date filters free:

| Apify plan | Price per 1,000 videos |
|---|---|
| Free | $2.00 |
| Starter | $1.50 |
| Scale | $1.30 |
| Business | $1.20 |
| Enterprise | $0.50–$0.75 |

About half of what the most popular YouTube scrapers charge. A small fee applies to each run start. Set a maximum cost per run and the scraper stops cleanly at that limit.

### FAQ

**Are comments or transcripts included?** Not the comment text or transcripts, only the comment count.

**Why is a count approximate?** In list-only mode (details off), YouTube shows rounded view counts such as "9M". With details on (default), view counts are exact; comment counts are as YouTube displays them.

**Is it legal?** It collects publicly available video metadata. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's terms and data protection law where you use the data.

Need another field? Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

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

What you would type in YouTube's search box. Each term is scraped separately.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Channel (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd, add /shorts or /streams for those tabs), playlist, search results or single video URLs.

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

Stop each search term or URL after this many videos.

## `uploadDate` (type: `string`):

Only search results uploaded within this window.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Adds exact views, likes, comments count, full description, tags, category, publish date and channel subscribers. Same price either way; turn off only for speed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "espresso machine review"
  ],
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxResults": 5,
  "uploadDate": "any",
  "includeDetails": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "espresso machine review"
    ],
    "maxResults": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("unbrowseai/youtube-video-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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["espresso machine review"],
    "maxResults": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("unbrowseai/youtube-video-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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "espresso machine review"
  ],
  "maxResults": 5
}' |
apify call unbrowseai/youtube-video-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,unbrowseai/youtube-video-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/cK86V7FcFB26lZC9M/builds/lgMkZlairpGeLMbpU/openapi.json