YouTube Channel Scraper
Subscriber count, video list and channel metadata without a YouTube API key
What it does
Scrape YouTube channel metadata and video lists without a YouTube Data API key: subscriber count, video count, description, country, avatar, banner URL, and a list of videos with title, views, publish date, duration and thumbnail. HTTP only. No browser, no quota.
Built in
- ✓ Subscriber count, video count, description and country
- ✓ Avatar and banner image URLs
- ✓ Video list: title, views, publish date, duration and thumbnail
- ✓ No YouTube Data API key required
- ✓ HTTP-only. No browser overhead, fast and cheap
- ✓ Accepts channel handles, channel IDs and @username format
Guides & tutorials
Common questions
Do I need a YouTube Data API key? +
No. The actor extracts channel data from the public YouTube channel page using the same ytInitialData payload the browser already loads. No API key, no quota consumption, no Google Cloud project required.
What input formats does it accept? +
Channel handles (e.g. @MrBeast), channel IDs (UC... format) and full channel URLs are all accepted. The actor normalises them internally.
Does it include YouTube Shorts in the video list? +
Yes. Shorts appear in the video list alongside regular uploads. The duration field distinguishes them. Shorts are always under 60 seconds.
How accurate is the subscriber count? +
YouTube displays rounded subscriber counts publicly (e.g. "505M" rather than the exact figure). The actor records the displayed value. For channels under 1,000 subscribers the exact number is shown.
Can I scrape private or unlisted channels? +
No. The actor only accesses publicly visible channel pages. Private channels return no data; unlisted videos do not appear in the channel video list.
Try it on Apify.
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