YouTube Scraper

The NanoScrape YouTube Scraper is an Apify actor that extracts public social media posts and profiles from youtube.com. It returns 26 fields per result including title, description, category, type, id, priced at $3/1k video details, with no API key or monthly subscription required.

Scrape YouTube search results, channels, and video details (source platform). Returns title, views, likes, comments, duration, tags, and engagement rate. No API key required. Pay-per-result.

Open on Apify →
Pricing
$3.00 / 1,000 video details
Runtime
Cloud (Apify)
Proxy
Datacenter

What you can scrape — 26 fields per result

FieldTypeExampleGroupFill %
idstringQhD015WUMxECore100%
titlestring | nullBeginners Guide To Web Scraping with Python - All You Need To KnowCore100%
channel_idstring | nullUCZDA1kA3y3EIg25BpcHSpwQCore100%
channel_namestring | nullTinkernutCore100%
channel_urlstring | nullhttps://www.youtube.com/@TinkernutCore100%
thumbnail_urlstring | nullhttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/QhD015WUMxE/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwErCNAFEJQDSFryq4qpAx0IARUAAIhCGA...Core100%
video_urlstringhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhD015WUMxECore100%
source_urlstring | null(populated when data available)Core
descriptionstring | nullThe web is full of data. Lots and lots of data. Data prime for scraping. But manually g...Description100%
durationstring | null7:36Employment100%
duration_secondsinteger | null456Employment100%
categorystring | null(populated when data available)Metadata
scraped_atstring2026-09-15T07:05:06ZMetadata100%
typestringvideoOther100%
published_atstring | null4 years agoOther100%
view_countinteger | null480746Other100%
like_countinteger | null(populated when data available)Other
comment_countinteger | null(populated when data available)Other
channel_subscribersstring | null(populated when data available)Other
is_shortbooleanfalseOther100%
is_livebooleanfalseOther100%
is_premierebooleanfalseOther100%
tagsarray[]Other
languagestring | null(populated when data available)Other
engagement_ratenumber | null(populated when data available)Other
search_querystring | nullweb scrapingOther100%

Input example — showcase (full detail)

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQueries": [
    "web scraping tutorial"
  ],
  "maxResults": 30,
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "includeDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
}

Output example — real dataset item (PII scrubbed)

{
  "type": "video",
  "id": "QhD015WUMxE",
  "title": "Beginners Guide To Web Scraping with Python - All You Need To Know",
  "description": "The web is full of data. Lots and lots of data. Data prime for scraping. But manually going to a website and copying and pasting the ...",
  "published_at": "4 years ago",
  "duration": "7:36",
  "duration_seconds": 456,
  "view_count": 480746,
  "like_count": null,
  "comment_count": null,
  "channel_id": "UCZDA1kA3y3EIg25BpcHSpwQ",
  "channel_name": "Tinkernut",
  "channel_subscribers": null,
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@Tinkernut",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QhD015WUMxE/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwErCNAFEJQDSFryq4qpAx0IARUAAIhCGAHYAQHiAQoIGBACGAY4AUABuALzGA==&rs=AOn4CLBQeOPUc-idKnM6KNtVolZeQFMX-g",
  "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhD015WUMxE",
  "is_short": false,
  "is_live": false,
  "is_premiere": false,
  "tags": [],
  "category": null,
  "language": null,
  "engagement_rate": null,
  "search_query": "web scraping",
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-15T07:05:06Z"
}

Cost math

Priced at $0.0030 per video details. 10 video detailss ≈ $0.03, 100 ≈ $0.30, 1,000 ≈ $3.00. The first runs land inside Apify's $5/mo free-tier credit — pay only for what you extract, no monthly subscription.

Integrations

Run this actor directly on Apify (no code)

Click Open on Apify above to run youtube-scraper in your browser - no code, no install. In the Apify console you get:

Get your Apify API token

To run this actor from your own code you need an Apify API token. Get one in about a minute:

  1. Sign up for a free Apify account (Google, GitHub, or email).
  2. Go to Settings → Integrations → API tokens.
  3. Click Create a new API token. Copy it and keep it secret.

Free tier: Apify credits your account with $5 of platform usage every month, no credit card required. Enough to test any actor meaningfully - at $0.001 per result on typical scrapers, that is roughly 5,000 results for free every month.

Call from code

Run this actor from any language via the Apify REST API. Replace YOUR_TOKEN with your API token and adapt the input JSON to your needs.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria-automations~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'
// npm install apify-client
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper').call({});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
# pip install apify-client
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper').call(run_input={})
items = list(client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items())
print(items)
// dotnet add package Apify.Client
using Apify.Client;

var client = new ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN");
var run = await client.Actor("santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper").CallAsync(new { });
var items = await client.Dataset(run.DefaultDatasetId).ListItemsAsync();
// Maven: com.apify:apify-client
import com.apify.client.ApifyClient;

ApifyClient client = new ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN");
ActorRun run = client.actor("santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper").call(Map.of());
List<Map<String,Object>> items = client.dataset(run.getDefaultDatasetId()).listItems();

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This actor is available on the Apify MCP server, so you can drive it from any MCP-compatible AI client - Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, Cursor, VS Code, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or a custom agent - without writing any code.

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper

Example prompt once connected:

"Use <code>youtube-scraper</code> to run a scrape on my target list and give me the results as a table."

Clients that support dynamic tool discovery (Claude.ai, VS Code) receive the full input schema automatically via add-actor.

Use with no-code platforms

Trigger this actor from your favorite automation tool. Every platform below can call the Apify API in a few clicks - no code required.

  1. Add the n8n Apify node (installed by default on n8n Cloud; on self-hosted install @apify/n8n-nodes-apify).
  2. Set Actor to santamaria-automations/youtube-scraper.
  3. Choose operation Run Actor and get dataset, paste your input JSON, and connect a downstream node (Google Sheets, Postgres, webhook, ...).
  1. Create a new Zap with any trigger.
  2. Add a Webhooks by Zapier POST action to https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria-automations~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN.
  3. Body: your input JSON. Content-Type: application/json.
  1. Create a new scenario.
  2. Add an HTTP module: URL https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria-automations~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN, method POST, body raw JSON.
  3. Parse the response with a JSON module to iterate items downstream.
  1. Create a new workflow.
  2. Add an HTTP Request step: POST to https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria-automations~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN.
  3. Access steps.http.$return_value in subsequent steps.
  1. Install the API Connector plugin.
  2. Add a new API: POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria-automations~youtube-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN, body type JSON.
  3. Initialize the call with your input, then reference the response array in workflow actions.

FAQ

How much does the youtube-scraper cost?

$3.00 / 1,000 video details, billed per result on Apify. Apify's $5/month free tier covers the first runs. No monthly subscription — you only pay for what you extract.

What fields does it return?

26 fields per result. Full field catalog is listed in the 'What you can scrape' table above — includes core identifiers, descriptive text, dates, and any category-specific data.

Is scraping this site legal?

Scraping publicly available data is generally permitted in most jurisdictions, but GDPR applies to any personal data you collect. Review your local rules and consult a lawyer for commercial use.

Do I need an API key from the source platform?

No. This actor reads public pages over HTTP with datacenter proxies. No API key, no OAuth, no rate-limit management on your side.

How fresh is the data?

Every run pulls live data at execution time. Set up a schedule (daily/hourly/weekly cron) in the Apify console to keep your dataset current automatically.

Related actors in this category

Related tutorials

Open on Apify →