# YouTube Comments (`datasaurus/youtube-comments`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Video and YouTube Shorts Comments and Replies without limits. Fast and Reliable. Extract author details, published date, like count, viewer rating reply count, video details, channel details. Link Comments and Replies via cascading id numbers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datasaurus/youtube-comments.md
- **Developed by:** [datasaurus](https://apify.com/datasaurus) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 96 total users, 22 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 5 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

$0.50 / 1,000 results

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 web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## YouTube Comments Scraper

A powerful tool for extracting YouTube comments, replies, and engagement metrics.

### 🎯 Data Extraction

- Comment text in (HTML and plain text formats)
- Author information
- Channel information
- Published and lasted updated timestamps
- Engagement metrics (likes, reply counts)
- Comment thread information

### 📊 Purpose

- Content analysis
- Audience engagement tracking
- Social media research
- Community management
- Sentiment analysis
- Market research

### 🚀 Getting Started

1. Create your Apify account
2. Input video URLs or IDs
3. Run and collect your data

### 📥 Input Parameters

```json
{
    "video_urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W001vfAvNvg",
        "www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA",
        "W001vfAvNvg",
        "3VdiAJvpAuA"
        
    ],
    "max_results": 100,
    "order": "relevance",
    "moderation_status": "published"
}
```

### 📤 Output Fields

```json
{
  "id": "Ugx_HZFD2Q-sGU-3CdZ4AaABAg",
  "commentHtml": "Hey guys, how do you like the Bonin Islands so far?! 🐋 Download &#39;SeaPeople App&#39; to stay up to date with our journey in real time (it&#39;s FREE!): <a href=\"https://dashboard.seapeopleapp.com/group/8bd5246f-8395-49a4-ba02-94ae5cfa49c8?utm_source=SLV&amp;utm_medium=YT&amp;utm_campaign=Jan+2024+update\">https://dashboard.seapeopleapp.com/group/8bd5246f-8395-49a4-ba02-94ae5cfa49c8?utm_source=SLV&amp;utm_medium=YT&amp;utm_campaign=Jan+2024+update</a>",
  "comment": "Hey guys, how do you like the Bonin Islands so far?! 🐋 Download 'SeaPeople App' to stay up to date with our journey in real time (it's FREE!): https://dashboard.seapeopleapp.com/group/8bd5246f-8395-49a4-ba02-94ae5cfa49c8?utm_source=SLV&utm_medium=YT&utm_campaign=Jan+2024+update",
  "author": "@SailingLaVagabonde",
  "publishedAt": "2025-04-28T19:40:21Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-04-28T19:40:21Z",
  "likeCount": 155,
  "canRate": true,
  "viewerRating": null,
  "canReply": true,
  "totalReplyCount": 7,
  "isTopLevelComment": "TopLevelComment",
  "parentCommentId": null,
  "authorChannelId": "UCZdQjaSoLjIzFnWsDQOv4ww",
  "authorIsChannelOwner": true,
  "authorChannelUrl": "http://www.youtube.com/@SailingLaVagabonde",
  "authorProfileImageUrl": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/idehYrFJqFfE-LL6offHIhZJlc28vwSd881LKYH-F9vEgtUWTpmDLbiZ08nD6_w_3a89R7hE=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
  "videoId": "W001vfAvNvg",
  "videoTitle": "7 days at Sea to find THIS! (Raw, Unfiltered cut)",
  "channelId": "UCZdQjaSoLjIzFnWsDQOv4ww",
  "channelTitle": "Sailing La Vagabonde"
}
```

### 💡 Key Advantages

- Scrape comments and replies from both YouTube Videos and YouTube Shorts
- No proxies required
- Maintains comment threading structure
- Exports in multiple formats (JSON, CSV, Excel)
- Rate limit compliance

### ✏️ API Access

Access via Apify's API:

- RESTful endpoints
- SDK integration
- Webhook support
- Automated workflows

Full API documentation is available on the Apify platform.

\*Keywords: YouTube comments, data extraction, API integration, social media analytics, engagement metrics, content analysis

# Actor input Schema

## `video_urls` (type: `array`):

YouTube video URLs or IDs
e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwRjEruEsm4/ or
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA or
YwRjEruEsm4.
You can add multiple video urls or ids.

## `moderation_status` (type: `string`):

Limit the returned comment threads to a specific moderation status.

## `order` (type: `string`):

Result Order - results appear by relevance (most relvant first) or published date (latest first).

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of top-level comments to scrape per video. Replies to these comments are also scraped in addition meaning that the total results returned will be greater than this number.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "video_urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W001vfAvNvg",
    "www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA",
    "dZujTBh7M7M"
  ],
  "max_results": 25
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "video_urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W001vfAvNvg",
        "www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA",
        "dZujTBh7M7M"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datasaurus/youtube-comments").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 = { "video_urls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W001vfAvNvg",
        "www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA",
        "dZujTBh7M7M",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datasaurus/youtube-comments").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "video_urls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W001vfAvNvg",
    "www.youtube.com/shorts/3VdiAJvpAuA",
    "dZujTBh7M7M"
  ]
}' |
apify call datasaurus/youtube-comments --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datasaurus/youtube-comments",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/Dmwhbpqwqy1xWKw4t/builds/bhi8bSXRStgaVuaiN/openapi.json