# YouTube Transcript (`zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript`) Actor Fetch YouTube video transcripts via TranscriptAPI. Bulk-friendly, with optional metadata and timestamps. - **URL**: https://apify.com/zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript.md - **Developed by:** [Andrej Ε imunaj](https://apify.com/zeropointstudio) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Videos, MCP servers - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $5.00 / 1,000 transcript fetcheds 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## $5/1K β€” YouTube Transcript Scraper: Bulk Extract Captions, Subtitles & Video Transcripts > **Extract YouTube transcripts at scale. No API key, no subscription, no actor-start fee. Pay $5 per 1,000 successful transcripts β€” and nothing when a video fails.** | ⚑ **Under 500 ms typical** | πŸ“Š **15 M+ transcripts processed every month** | πŸ›‘οΈ **Doesn't break when YouTube changes things** | πŸ”Œ **Powered by [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com)** | |---|---|---|---| A reliable, production-grade YouTube transcript scraper for content research, AI/LLM training data, RAG pipelines, SEO, accessibility, brand monitoring, and anything else that needs the spoken words from a YouTube video as clean structured text. --- ### πŸš€ Why this YouTube transcript scraper? - πŸ›‘οΈ **Doesn't break when YouTube changes things.** YouTube tweaks its backend constantly. Our infrastructure rolls with it β€” we've shipped through every YouTube change for years without dropping transcripts. You don't get empty results, mystery 500s, or weeks of broken runs. - ⚑ **Typically returns a transcript in under 500 ms.** Backed by [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com), which has a **median latency of 49 ms**, plus a small Apify networking hop on top. - πŸ“Š **15 M+ transcripts processed every month** β€” battle-tested in real production traffic, not a side-project script. - πŸ’Έ **No actor-start fee** β€” we absorb the run cost. You pay only for delivered transcripts. - πŸ†“ **Errors are free** β€” failed videos (no captions, removed, age-restricted, etc.) cost you nothing. - πŸ”‘ **No YouTube API key required** β€” bring a URL, we bring the transcript. - πŸ“¦ **Bulk-friendly** β€” pass an array of URLs or video IDs, get an Apify Dataset back, ready for export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or your warehouse. - 🧹 **Clean structured output** β€” JSON segments with timestamps, or plain text, your choice. - 🎞️ **Optional video metadata** β€” title, channel/author, thumbnail when you ask for it. - 🌐 **Every URL format** β€” `youtube.com/watch?v=`, `youtu.be/`, `youtube.com/shorts/`, embed links, or bare 11-character video IDs all work out of the box. --- ### πŸ’° Pricing | Event | Price | |---|---| | Actor start | **Free** *(we absorb it)* | | **Per transcript delivered** | **$0.005** *(= $5 per 1,000 transcripts)* | | Failed videos *(no captions, removed, etc.)* | **Free** | > Pay-per-result. No subscription. No monthly minimum. No hidden fees. If we don't deliver a transcript, you don't pay. --- ### ⚑ Quick Start 1. Click **Try for free** at the top of this page. 2. Paste one or more YouTube URLs into `videoUrls`. 3. Run. Results land in the actor's default Dataset, exportable to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML. ```json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw", "jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "format": "json", "includeTimestamps": true, "sendMetadata": true } ```` *** ### πŸ“₯ Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `videoUrls` | `string[]` | *(required)* | List of YouTube URLs or 11-character video IDs. | | `format` | `"json"` | `"text"` | `"json"` | `json` = array of timed segments. `text` = single concatenated string. | | `includeTimestamps` | `boolean` | `true` | When `true`, segments include `start` (seconds) and `duration`. When `false`, only `text`. | | `sendMetadata` | `boolean` | `false` | When `true`, include video title, author/channel, and thumbnail. | *** ### πŸ“€ Output Each video produces one item in the Dataset. **Successful transcript (JSON format, with metadata):** ```json { "input_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "language": "en", "transcript": [ { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.8, "duration": 4.2 }, { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 23.0, "duration": 3.5 } ], "metadata": { "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up", "author_name": "Rick Astley", "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley", "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg" } } ``` **Plain-text format (`format: "text"`, no timestamps):** ```json { "input_url": "https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw", "video_id": "jNQXAC9IVRw", "language": "en", "transcript": "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants..." } ``` **Failed video (free of charge):** ```json { "input_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BADID000000", "error": true, "status": 404, "detail": "No transcript available for video BADID000000" } ``` *** ### 🎯 Use Cases - **AI / LLM training data** β€” collect high-quality transcribed speech from any niche on YouTube. - **RAG knowledge bases** β€” index educational channels, lectures, and podcasts for retrieval-augmented generation. - **Content research & SEO** β€” extract topics, keywords, and themes from competitor videos. - **Brand monitoring** β€” pipe transcripts into NLP / sentiment analysis to track how creators talk about you. - **Podcast & lecture transcription** β€” turn long-form video into searchable, quotable text. - **Repurposing video into content** β€” blog posts, newsletters, X/LinkedIn threads, YouTube Shorts captions, summaries. - **Accessibility** β€” generate plain-text alternatives for video content. - **Search indexing** β€” make video libraries searchable inside your own app. - **Market research** β€” sentiment & narrative analysis across product/category videos. - **Academic research** β€” corpus building for linguistic, media, or political analysis. *** ### 🌐 Supported URL Formats The scraper accepts every common YouTube URL format and bare video IDs: | Format | Example | |---|---| | Standard watch URL | `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ` | | Short URL | `https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ` | | Shorts URL | `https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dQw4w9WgXcQ` | | Embed URL | `https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ` | | Bare video ID | `dQw4w9WgXcQ` | *** ### πŸ”Œ Integrations Run this actor from anywhere via Apify's native integrations: - 🐍 **Python** β€” `apify-client` SDK - 🟒 **Node.js / JavaScript** β€” `apify-client` SDK - πŸ”— **REST API** β€” POST to `/v2/acts/.../runs` and read the Dataset - 🧩 **n8n** β€” official Apify nodes - βš™οΈ **Make (Integromat)** β€” official Apify modules - ⚑ **Zapier** β€” official Apify Zap actions - πŸͺ **Webhooks** β€” fire on run finish, success, or failure - πŸ€– **MCP / Claude Desktop / Cursor** β€” expose this actor as a tool to your AI agents via the Apify MCP server - 🧱 **LangChain / LlamaIndex** β€” drop the Dataset directly into a RAG pipeline *** ### ❓ FAQ **How do I get a YouTube video transcript via API?** Pass the video URL or ID to this actor's `videoUrls` input. The transcript comes back in the Dataset as either JSON segments (with timestamps) or a single plain-text string. No YouTube Data API key, no Google Cloud project, nothing to configure. **Is there an API for YouTube transcripts?** Yes β€” this actor exposes a clean REST endpoint via Apify. Call it from Python, Node.js, or any HTTP client. Full SDK docs in the **API** tab above. **How much does YouTube transcript extraction cost?** $5 per 1,000 successfully delivered transcripts. Failed videos are free. No actor-start fee. No subscription. **Can I extract transcripts from YouTube Shorts?** Yes. Pass the Shorts URL (`https://www.youtube.com/shorts/`) like any other video. **What if a video has no captions?** You get a structured error item with `error: true`, `status`, and `detail`. You're **not** charged for it. **Which languages are supported?** This version returns the transcript in the video's primary published caption language (typically the video's original audio language). Multi-language priority fallback is on the roadmap. **Can I translate transcripts to another language?** Not in this actor. Translation is on the roadmap as a separate optional event. **Is YouTube transcript scraping legal?** Captions on public YouTube videos are publicly available data. We only access what YouTube itself shows to any visitor; we don't bypass age gates, private uploads, or unlisted-link gates. Use the data lawfully (respect copyright, attribution, and GDPR/CCPA where applicable). Talk to your own counsel for your specific use case. **Does the price include Apify platform costs?** The $5/1k is what you pay total at run-time, before any optional Apify proxy add-ons (this actor does not require proxies). You only ever pay the per-transcript event price plus any usage-tier costs your own Apify plan adds. **Where do the results go?** Each transcript is one item in the actor's default Dataset. Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML, or RSS, or read it programmatically via the Apify API. **What if I need higher volume / parallelism?** For very large batches, run the actor multiple times in parallel β€” Apify schedules and bills each run independently. Reach out via the Issues tab if you have specific scale needs. *** ### πŸ›‘οΈ Legal & Ethical Scraping This actor only accesses captions and metadata that YouTube makes public to any visitor of a video page. It does not: - bypass age restrictions or private/unlisted-only gates, - collect personally identifiable user data, - scrape comments, watch history, or any signed-in surface. You're responsible for using the output in compliance with copyright law, YouTube's Terms of Service for your jurisdiction, GDPR / CCPA, and any platform-specific licensing your downstream product requires. *** ### πŸ› Support & Roadmap - 🐞 **Issues / feature requests** β€” use the **Issues** tab at the top of this page. - πŸ“¬ **Response time** β€” within 1 business day. - πŸ—ΊοΈ **Roadmap** β€” multi-language priority fallback, optional translations, SRT/VTT output, and parallel fetching. # Actor input Schema ## `videoUrls` (type: `array`): List of YouTube video URLs or 11-character video IDs (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ). ## `format` (type: `string`): json = list of segments. text = single concatenated string. ## `includeTimestamps` (type: `boolean`): Include start/duration on each segment (json) or \[Xs] prefix (text). ## `sendMetadata` (type: `boolean`): Include video title, author, thumbnail in the output. ## Actor input object example ```json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "format": "json", "includeTimestamps": true, "sendMetadata": false } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `transcripts` (type: `string`): All result items in the default dataset, one per input URL. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ 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("zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`πŸ’Ύ 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); }); // πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ 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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # 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("zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("πŸ’Ύ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ] }' | apify call zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=zeropointstudio/youtube-transcript", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube Transcript", "description": "Fetch YouTube video transcripts via TranscriptAPI. Bulk-friendly, with optional metadata and timestamps.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "cRCDUisQG0KnekVha" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/zeropointstudio~youtube-transcript/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-zeropointstudio-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/zeropointstudio~youtube-transcript/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-zeropointstudio-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/zeropointstudio~youtube-transcript/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-zeropointstudio-youtube-transcript", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "videoUrls" ], "properties": { "videoUrls": { "title": "Video URLs", "minItems": 1, "type": "array", "description": "List of YouTube video URLs or 11-character video IDs (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "format": { "title": "Output format", "enum": [ "json", "text" ], "type": "string", "description": "json = list of segments. text = single concatenated string.", "default": "json" }, "includeTimestamps": { "title": "Include timestamps", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include start/duration on each segment (json) or [Xs] prefix (text).", "default": true }, "sendMetadata": { "title": "Include video metadata", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include video title, author, thumbnail in the output.", "default": false } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```