YouTube Search Scraper — Videos by Keyword + Transcripts

Type a search phrase and get one row per YouTube video: title, link, channel, handle, views, when it was published, length and thumbnail — and, if you want it, each video's transcript as plain text. No login, no cookies, no API key, no start fee — from $0.50 per 1,000 videos.

Put one or more search phrases in the list ("sourdough bread", "how to start a podcast") and the actor returns the videos YouTube shows for each, in YouTube's own order, about 20 at a time. Built for researchers, content and SEO teams who want YouTube's results as data — and, with one switch, what is said in each video.

Using an AI agent? Pin this actor in Apify's MCP server with one link: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=steadyfetch/youtube-search-scraper

• Actor id: steadyfetch/youtube-search-scraper
• Input: { "searchQueries": ["sourdough bread"], "maxResults": 20, "transcripts": false }
• Cap the bill: set maxTotalChargeUsd on the run (a run option, not Actor input), e.g. 1.00 — the run stops when it reaches it.
• Price: from $0.0005 per video ($0.001 on the Apify free plan); a transcript, when you turn them on, from $0.00225 each, only when real text lands. A page that brings fewer videos than $0.0055 is worth is billed one $0.0055 page check instead. Full table below.
• How often it changes: YouTube's results for a phrase move daily (new uploads, rising views). Re-run daily or weekly on the same searches; turn on "Only videos I don't have yet" to get just the new ones.

Unofficial, not affiliated with YouTube.

What you get

One row per video:

Column	What it holds
videoId · videoUrl	the video's id and its YouTube link
title	the video's title
channelTitle · channelHandle · channelId · channelUrl	the channel that published it
views	the view count YouTube shows, as a number
publishedText	when it was published, in YouTube's own words ("2 months ago") — YouTube's search shows no exact date, so none is made up
durationSeconds · isShort	its length in seconds, and whether it is a Short
thumbnailUrl	the video's thumbnail
transcript · transcriptLanguage · transcriptSource	with transcripts on: the transcript as plain text, its language, and whether it came from the uploader's captions or YouTube's automatic ones
transcriptStatus	delivered, or why there is none: no_captions, no_speech, unavailable (private, age-restricted, removed or region-blocked), try_again, skipped_budget, skipped_deadline, not_requested
query · rank · searchPage	what you searched, and the video's place in YouTube's list
seenBefore	true when your account received this video for this search before

Every row also carries charged, chargedEvents, status, retryable and statusReason, so you can reconcile your bill from the dataset itself. The last row (run_summary) is the receipt.

How to use it

1. Put search phrases in Search phrases, one per line, exactly as you would type them into YouTube — or paste a YouTube search results address (youtube.com/results?search_query=…) and its phrase is read for you. Up to 50 searches per run.
2. Set Max videos per search. Optionally limit by Uploaded within (today, this week, this month, this year).
3. Turn on Add each video's transcript if you want what is said in each video, and press Start.

Refused before anything is read, and never charged: a single video's link, a channel's link, any other address, and a value with no letters or numbers. Have video links already? Use YouTube Transcript Scraper. Want every video of a channel? Use YouTube Channel Transcripts.

One search is read to at most 500 videos (25 pages) per run; most lists end sooner.

Pricing

Pay per result, all-inclusive (no platform usage on top), no start fee:

Event	Apify Free plan	Bronze	Silver	Gold and up
Video (one delivered video)	$0.001	$0.0008	$0.0006	$0.0005
Transcript (only with transcripts on, only when text lands)	$0.005	$0.003	$0.0025	$0.00225
Page check	$0.0055	$0.0055	$0.0055	$0.0055

That is $0.50 per 1,000 videos at Gold, and $2.75 per 1,000 videos with their transcripts.

The page check. Each page of about 20 videos is read whole, whatever it returns. A page bills either its videos or one check — whichever is more — never both. A full page of 20 videos at $0.0005 is $0.01 and pays no check. A page with fewer videos than one check is worth is billed one $0.0055 check on its own row, and its videos are not charged one by one (their transcripts still are). That includes the page that ends a list, a short page in the middle (YouTube sometimes shows only 10), and a search YouTube finds nothing matching: YouTube then shows unrelated videos instead, which are delivered as found, marked so, and billed only that one check — the next page of them is never read.

Examples at Gold: 20 videos of one search = $0.01. The same 20 with transcripts, 19 of which have captions = $0.01 + 19 × $0.00225 = $0.053. A search with 42 videos asked for 100 = its full pages per video, its short and last pages one check each.

Good to know

• Transcripts are captions. The transcript is the video's captions — the uploader's own, or YouTube's automatic ones (most videos have them). A video with no captions, or one YouTube will not play without a signed-in account, gets no transcript and no transcript charge, and its row says why. "Preferred transcript language" picks a caption language when the video has it.
• Transcripts take time: 1–3 seconds a video on top of 2–3 seconds a page.
• Re-runs return the list again, charged. By default a re-run delivers every video with today's views, and charges it. A video your account had before is marked seenBefore: true.
• Only new videos. Turn "Only videos I don't have yet" on to skip, without charge, videos this actor delivered to your account for the same search in the last 90 days. A re-run then stops after 3 pages in a row with nothing new (maxEmptyPages, up to 25), so it costs at most 3 page checks ($0.0165).
• Your memory lives in your account: the list of videos delivered to you sits in a key-value store in your own Apify account (youtube-search-account). If the run's API token cannot open stores, the run still works, every video reads as new, and a row says so.
• Shorts: YouTube shows Shorts on their own shelf beside the results; this version delivers the videos list, and the receipt counts the Shorts it did not deliver.
• A time limit ends the collecting, never the delivering: rows already read are delivered, and the receipt says which limit stopped the run.
• Paused for now: if collection on this actor is paused, the rest of a search ships as one uncharged try_again row — run the same search again later.
• Free plan: on the Apify free plan a run reads up to 25 pages (about 500 videos) per 24 hours; the row says when it resets. Paid plans have no daily allowance.
• Standby endpoint: one search is also available as one HTTP request (GET /?query=sourdough%20bread), up to 40 videos a request (20 on the free plan), at the same prices. The endpoint answers the search only (transcripts come from a run) and does not use your account memory, so seenBefore is always empty there.
• A bare Start (nothing named) returns 10 dated sample videos for "sourdough bread" and charges nothing.

Support

Questions, a search that returns something odd, or a column you need: open an issue on the Issues tab and it will be looked at.

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