YouTube Channel Scraper

YouTube Channel Scraper

Scrape YouTube channel data from any channel URL or @handle, up to a million videos per run. Every video comes with its title, description, view count, like count, comment count, and publish date. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

YouTube's official API requires an app registration, OAuth, and rate-limits you. This reads the public channel pages directly, collecting all videos from one or multiple channels, and returns each video as a flat row with channel metadata. No quotas, no sign-up.

Who uses it	What they scrape YouTube for
Content marketers	Analyze competitor channels to see which video topics drive the most views and engagement.
Social media analysts	Track subscriber growth and video performance across multiple channels over time.
Influencer researchers	Build a dataset of top creators by channel stats and video metrics for partnership decisions.
Data journalists	Gather large-scale YouTube channel data for stories on platform trends or creator economies.

What it does

This Actor collects video metadata from YouTube channels by URL or @handle, and returns each video as a flat row with channel info.

• 📊 Channel metadata: subscriber count, total videos, total views, channel creation date, and country.
• 📹 Video details: title, description, view count, like count, comment count, duration, publish date, and thumbnail URL.
• 🔍 Bulk channels: input up to hundreds of channel URLs or @handles in one run, each channel's videos collected sequentially.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with YouTube data

📈 Track competitor channels.

A content strategist inputs competitor YouTube channels to see which video topics drive the most views and engagement, then adjusts their own content plan.

🔍 Build a creator database.

An influencer marketing agency runs the scraper on hundreds of channels to collect subscriber counts, video performance, and channel metadata for partnership outreach.

📊 Monitor channel growth.

A social media analyst runs the scraper weekly on a set of channels to track subscriber growth, total views, and video output over time.

📰 Research platform trends.

A data journalist scrapes top YouTube channels to analyze video duration trends, like-to-view ratios, and publishing frequency across genres.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	No YouTube Data API registration or quota management needed.
Channel metadata	Get subscriber count, total videos, total views, and creation date per channel.
Video-level data	Each video row includes title, description, view count, like count, comment count, duration, and publish date.
Bulk channels	Input multiple channel URLs or @handles in one run; all videos collected in a single dataset.
Export formats	Download results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or push to a database via webhook.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on scraping entire YouTube channels, while the competitors below offer different YouTube data capabilities.

Feature	ParseForge	YouTube Scraper	Fast YouTube Channel Scraper	YouTube Comments Scraper
Scrapes all videos from a channel	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
Channel metadata (subscribers, total videos)	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
Video-level data (views, likes, comments)	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Scrapes comments from videos	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
No API key required	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bulk channel input	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from one or more YouTube channel URLs or @handles, and set a maximum video count per run. The scraper reads each channel's video list and stops when the limit is reached. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@tseries",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@cocomelon",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@SETIndia",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@kidsdiana",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@LikeNastyaofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@5minutecraftsyoutube",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@zeemusiccompany",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@justinbieber",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@edsheeran",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@BTSofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@blackpinkofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@arianagrande",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@taylorswift",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@eminem",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MarvelEntertainment",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@WarnerBrosPictures",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NetflixFamily",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@KurzgesagtEnglish",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Linustechtips",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@unboxtherapy",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mrwhosetheboss",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@peterlindgren",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@TheVerge",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@BuzzFeedVideo",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Vox",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@tseries",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@cocomelon",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@SETIndia",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@kidsdiana",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@LikeNastyaofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@5minutecraftsyoutube",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@zeemusiccompany",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@justinbieber",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@edsheeran",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@BTSofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@blackpinkofficial",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@arianagrande",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@taylorswift",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@eminem",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MarvelEntertainment",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@WarnerBrosPictures",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NetflixFamily",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@KurzgesagtEnglish",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Linustechtips",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@unboxtherapy",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mrwhosetheboss",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@peterlindgren",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@TheVerge",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@BuzzFeedVideo",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@Vox",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
  ],
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.03199 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$3.20
1,000 results	$31.99
10,000 results	$319.90

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the YouTube Channel Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to YouTube through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/youtube-channel-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that the channel URL or @handle is correct and the channel has public videos. Also verify that maxItems is set to a positive number.

The scraper is slow or timing out.

Reduce maxItems or use Apify proxy. Large channels with many videos may take longer; consider splitting into multiple runs.

Some videos are missing from the output.

The scraper reads the channel's video tab. If a video is unlisted or removed, it won't appear. Also, YouTube may paginate results; ensure maxItems is high enough.

I get an error about invalid URL.

Use the full YouTube channel URL (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast) or the channel ID format (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC...). Do not use shortened URLs.

The dataset is empty after a run.

Check the run log for errors. If the channel has no public videos or the URL is incorrect, the dataset will be empty. Verify the channel URL in a browser.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a YouTube API key?	No. This scraper reads public YouTube channel pages directly, so no API key or OAuth is required.
What channel URL formats are supported?	You can use https://www.youtube.com/@handle or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC... URLs. Both work.
How many videos can I scrape per run?	You can set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000. The scraper stops when it reaches that limit or when the channel has no more videos.
Does it scrape private or unlisted videos?	No. Only public videos visible on the channel's video tab are collected.
Can I scrape multiple channels at once?	Yes. Input multiple channel URLs or @handles in the startUrls field. The scraper processes them sequentially.
What data does it return per video?	Each video row includes title, description, view count, like count, comment count, duration, publish date, thumbnail URL, and channel metadata.
Does it include channel subscriber count?	Yes. The scraper collects subscriber count, total videos, total views, and channel creation date for each channel.
Is proxy configuration required?	Not for small runs. For large-scale scraping (thousands of videos), using Apify proxy is recommended to avoid IP blocks.
Can I export the data to Google Sheets?	Yes. You can connect the Actor to Apify's Google Sheets integration or download the dataset as CSV and import it.
How often can I run the scraper?	As often as you like. There are no API quotas. For frequent runs, use proxy to avoid rate limiting.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.