YouTube API

Scrape YouTube data with one API

Name: YouTube Data API
Brand: SocialCrawl
Availability: InStock

Fetch public YouTube data as structured JSON with one SocialCrawl API key. Same Post, Comment, and Author schema as every other platform. Reads are priced in credits.

Read the docs How it works Try live

/v1/youtube

28 active endpoints

GET /v1/youtube/channel
GET /v1/youtube/profile/full
GET /v1/youtube/channel/videos
GET /v1/youtube/video
GET /v1/youtube/video/comments
GET /v1/youtube/video/transcript
GET /v1/youtube/search
GET /v1/youtube/search/advanced
GET /v1/youtube/playlist
GET /v1/youtube/shorts/trending

What YouTube endpoints does SocialCrawl ship?

28 live read endpoints for public YouTube data. Channels, videos, comments, transcripts, playlists, search, and shorts surfaces. Data API only.

Channel

1 credit

/v1/youtube/channel

Get YouTube channel info.

channelId, handle, url, hl

Full profile

5 credits

/v1/youtube/profile/full

YouTube profile, recent posts, and computed analytics in one call.

handle, channelId, url, posts

Channel videos

1 credit

/v1/youtube/channel/videos

List YouTube channel videos.

channelId, handle, sort, continuationToken

Video

1 credit

/v1/youtube/video

Get YouTube video details.

url, language, hl

Video comments

1 credit

/v1/youtube/video/comments

List YouTube video comments.

url, continuationToken, order, searchTerm, format

Video transcript

3 credits

/v1/youtube/video/transcript

Get YouTube video transcript.

url, language

Search

1 credit

/v1/youtube/search

Search YouTube.

query, uploadDate, sortBy, type, duration

Advanced search

1 credit

/v1/youtube/search/advanced

Advanced YouTube video search.

query, order, duration, event_type, license

Playlist

1 credit

/v1/youtube/playlist

Get YouTube playlist.

playlist_id, cursor, channel_id

Trending shorts

5 credits

/v1/youtube/shorts/trending

Get trending YouTube shorts.

see docs

YouTube API28 endpoints supported

View docs

Returns a YouTube channel's public profile: subscriber figure on author.followers (approximate above 1,000), total video count, total view count, description, banner URL, and avatar URL.

Use it when you have a handle, channel id, or channel URL and want an account snapshot before pulling its videos.

1 credit

GET/v1/youtube/channel?handle=MrBeast

channelIdhandleurlhlforUsername

$ curl https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel?handle=MrBeast \
    -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"

idle

// Running this live needs your own API key. Hit "Try it" to see an example response

How the YouTube API works

YouTube is a normal SocialCrawl social surface. You call GET /v1/youtube/… with an API key, spend credits on live misses, and get a single JSON envelope back. No second SDK.

Authenticate every call

Send your key in the x-api-key header. The same key works across the SocialCrawl catalog.

GET with query params

Routes are GET. Pass handles, urls, queries, and cursors as query strings. We validate formats before charging.

Pay in credits, not seats

Live misses debit the route tier. Cache hits cost 0. Empty or hard failures refund.

Read one JSON envelope

Every response is the same shape: success, data, credits_used, credits_remaining, request_id, cached.

The usual integration chain

Most products resolve an account, page content, then deepen only the posts that matter.

01Account

GET /v1/youtube/channel

Author-shaped profile

Resolve the handle or id once.

02Feed

GET /v1/youtube/profile/full

PostList of recent public items

Page with cursor or after when the route supports it.

03Item

GET /v1/youtube/channel/videos

Full Post for one URL or id

List rows are not enough when you need the full record.

04Comments

GET /v1/youtube/video

CommentList when the platform exposes it

Expand only when a thread matters.

request

GET /v1/youtube/channel
  ?handle=example
Host: www.socialcrawl.dev
x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here

response envelope

{
  "success": true,
  "data": { "/* Author | Post | PostList | CommentList | … */": true },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 9999,
  "request_id": "req_…",
  "cached": false
}

What lands in data

Field names match the rest of SocialCrawl where archetypes align.

Authorchannel

id, username, display_name, avatar_url, bio, followers, url, ext

PostList / Postprofile/full

items[].post with id, url, content, engagement, author, published_at, ext

CommentListchannel/videos

items[] with author, content.text, engagement, published_at when comments ship

Search / Mediavideo

search hits, media metadata, or transcripts depending on route

Inside the gateway

Same request lifecycle as every other /v1 platform endpoint.

Edge receives the call

Next.js catch-all routes into the Hono social API. We mint a request_id, authenticate the key, then enforce rate limit and concurrency.

Validate, then debit

Registry lookup finds the route. Required params run first. Invalid input returns 400 with no charge. Valid calls debit before upstream work.

Cache or fetch

A deterministic cache key is built from platform + resource + params. Hit: credits_used = 0. Miss: upstream fetch with retries and circuit breaker.

Normalize and return

Upstream JSON is mapped to Author / Post / PostList / CommentList (or route archetype), validated, wrapped in the success envelope, and logged for billing audit.

Billing rules that matter in production

Standard live miss: tier cost (often 1 credit)
Advanced reads: typically 5 credits
Premium reads: typically 10 credits
Metered routes: min floor when documented
Cache hit: 0 credits
Empty / hard fail: auto-refund
Bad params: 400, never charged
No credits: 402, never charged
Disabled routes: 503, never charged

How we get the data

YouTube is public-read data on SocialCrawl. We normalize it into the shared schema so your code does not learn a second OAuth flow.

What YouTube is for this API

Public YouTube surfaces exposed by the registry. Read-only for research, monitoring, and product jobs.

How SocialCrawl reaches it

Social-read upstreams behind one gateway. Prism composites combine legs when a fat route is registered.

What leaves our edge

Unified JSON envelope: success, data, credits_used, request_id, cached. Shared Author / Post / Comment leaves where archetypes align.

What we do not ship live

No write endpoints and no private inbox. Disabled routes stay out of the active count. Prefer registry docs for the live inventory.

field map sketch

public profile / channel→ author.*profile identity and counters

public post / media→ post.* / items[].postpost content and engagement

comment page / tree→ CommentList items[]comments or search hits when present

What this API is used for

The jobs this API is most often used for.

28active YouTube endpoints in the registry

1 / 5 / 10credit ladder across standard, advanced, premium

Channel intelligence and video VoC

Callers concentrate on profile, content lists, search, and deepen paths on YouTube. Channel to video to comments to transcript chains at credit prices, without maintaining a separate YouTube Data API project for these reads.

Detail reads are typically a few seconds on live miss. Search and fat composites are slower paths.

What people build with the YouTube API

The jobs YouTube data is most often used for. Each one is a full recipe with the endpoint chain and pricing.

Social listeningAdvanced search with date windows, plus comments on what it finds.

Comment scrapingVideo comment threads and the replies beneath them, page by page.

Creator analyticsChannel record, videos and shorts, with per-video statistics on each.

Influencer discoveryChannel search and resolution, plus the videos and shorts a creator actually ships.

Identity resolutionChannel resolution and its video list, which is what confirms an account is active rather than merely reserved.

Trend detectionTrending shorts and videos, plus advanced search with date windows.

Market researchAdvanced search with date windows, plus the comment threads under review and comparison videos.

Video transcriptsThe deepest transcript lane. Single video by URL, or a batch of video IDs in one call. Coverage is the best of any platform we carry and still short of universal.

News and OSINT monitoringAdvanced search with date windows plus the comments underneath, for video coverage of an event.

Use case examples

Common ways teams put this data to work, and the stack each one tends to run.

Monitoring jobs

Python, cron, Slack bots

Poll profiles and feeds on YouTube. Alert when engagement velocity jumps.

Research and VoC

Node, notebooks, BI loads

Search and expand posts for brand, product, and competitor language on YouTube.

Backend product jobs

Go, workers, Explorer

Wire resolve to list to detail into pipelines. Cache hits keep recurring runs cheap.

Call it in two lines

Live misses spend credits by tier. Cache hits are free. Empty or hard failures refund.

curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/channel?handle=example" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here"

curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/profile/full?handle=example" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_your_api_key_here"

YouTube on SocialCrawl

Same key as the rest of the catalog

Platform docs Get an API key

Endpoints

What data does the YouTube API return?

Every endpoint returns structured JSON in a unified envelope. Computed fields such as engagement rate and content category are included only where the endpoint supports them and the required source inputs are present.

ChannelGet YouTube channel info Channel VideosList YouTube channel videos VideoGet YouTube video details VideosBatch get YouTube video details (up to 1000)ChannelsBatch get YouTube channel details (up to 1000)TranscriptsUp to 100 YouTube video ids → one transcript per row, failed ids refunded.Video SponsorsDetect sponsors of a YouTube video Video CommentsList YouTube video comments Video Comment RepliesList YouTube comment replies SearchSearch YouTube Channel ShortsList YouTube channel shorts Community PostGet YouTube community post PlaylistGet YouTube playlist Search HashtagSearch YouTube by hashtag Shorts TrendingGet trending YouTube shorts Video TranscriptGet YouTube video transcript Channel PlaylistsList a YouTube channel's playlists Channel LivesList a YouTube channel's live streams Channel Community PostsList a YouTube channel's community posts Videos TrendingGet trending YouTube videos Playlist ItemsList the videos in a YouTube playlist Search AdvancedAdvanced YouTube video search Search SuggestionsGet YouTube search suggestions Video AudioGet a YouTube video's audio file streams Video FilesGet a YouTube video's video file streams Video SubtitlesGet a YouTube video's subtitle files Video ThumbnailsGet a YouTube video's thumbnail files Profile FullYouTube profile, recent posts, and computed analytics in one call.

Comparison

How does SocialCrawl compare to YouTube Data API v3 for YouTube data?

Same YouTube data, two very different paths. Auth, rate limits, schema, and cost, side by side.

Feature	SocialCrawl	YouTube Data API v3
Authentication	One x-api-key header	Google Cloud API key, plus OAuth for private data
Setup / approval	Sign up and call in under a minute	Google Cloud project setup; quota extensions require an audit
Rate limits	Pay per request in credits, with no daily quota	10,000 quota units per day by default; one search costs 100 units
Data coverage	Channels, videos, Shorts, comments, playlists, community posts, trending Shorts, and transcripts	Core resources covered; community posts not served, captions only for videos you own
Response schema	Unified JSON envelope shared across 51 platforms	YouTube-specific resource payloads
Pricing	From 1 credit per request, 100 free credits to start	Free within the daily quota
Maintenance	Schema stays stable when YouTube changes its frontend	Official Google support and stable versioning

Authentication

SocialCrawl

One x-api-key header

YouTube Data API v3

Google Cloud API key, plus OAuth for private data

Setup / approval

SocialCrawl

YouTube Data API v3

Google Cloud project setup; quota extensions require an audit

Rate limits

SocialCrawl

Pay per request in credits, with no daily quota

YouTube Data API v3

10,000 quota units per day by default; one search costs 100 units

Data coverage

SocialCrawl

Channels, videos, Shorts, comments, playlists, community posts, trending Shorts, and transcripts

YouTube Data API v3

Core resources covered; community posts not served, captions only for videos you own

Response schema

SocialCrawl

Unified JSON envelope shared across 51 platforms

YouTube Data API v3

YouTube-specific resource payloads

Pricing

SocialCrawl

From 1 credit per request, 100 free credits to start

YouTube Data API v3

Free within the daily quota

Maintenance

SocialCrawl

Schema stays stable when YouTube changes its frontend

YouTube Data API v3

Official Google support and stable versioning

FAQ

Have a question? We got answers

Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.

How do I scrape YouTube data without the official API quota?

Send a GET request to any /v1/youtube/* endpoint with your SocialCrawl API key. No Google Cloud project, no OAuth, no quota units, just pay-as-you-go credits with no rate limits.

What YouTube data can SocialCrawl return?

28 endpoints: Channel, Channel Videos, Video, Videos, Channels, Transcripts, Video Sponsors, Video Comments, Video Comment Replies, Search, Channel Shorts, Community Post, Playlist, Search Hashtag, Shorts Trending, Video Transcript, Channel Playlists, Channel Lives, Channel Community Posts, Videos Trending, Playlist Items, Search Advanced, Search Suggestions, Video Audio, Video Files, Video Subtitles, Video Thumbnails, and Profile Full. Every response uses a unified schema.

How does this compare to YouTube Data API v3?

YouTube Data API v3 meters everything in quota units (10,000/day default) and caps certain resources behind OAuth. SocialCrawl charges 1–10 credits per request, has no per-day quota, and exposes Shorts and transcripts the official API does not serve.

How much does the YouTube API cost on SocialCrawl?

Most endpoints cost 1 credit (channel, video, search, comments, playlist). Trending Shorts costs 5 credits, and video transcripts cost 10 credits. Every new account gets 100 credits free, no card required.

Is it legal to scrape YouTube with SocialCrawl?

SocialCrawl only reads public YouTube pages, the same data visible to anyone on the site. Your own use still has to respect YouTube's terms of service and any applicable data-protection law in your region. SocialCrawl operates under a documented GDPR legitimate-interest framework: public, logged-out data only, no credential use, short-lived caches (2 to 30 minutes) with no persistent store, and a public opt-out channel for anyone whose public info appears in responses. Full details: socialcrawl.dev/legal/public-data-notice.

Can I use SocialCrawl's YouTube API in production?

Yes. The endpoints are built for production workloads with consistent response times, upstream retry handling, and a unified schema that does not break when YouTube changes its frontend.

What is the best YouTube scraper API?

SocialCrawl offers 28 YouTube endpoints, including channels, videos, Shorts, comments, playlists, community posts, trending Shorts, transcripts, and more, for 1 to 10 credits per request, with 100 free credits on signup and no daily quota. For managing channels you own or uploading videos, YouTube Data API v3 is still the right choice.

Is there a YouTube data API without quota limits?

Yes, SocialCrawl is a YouTube data API with no daily quota, returning channels, videos, Shorts, comments, playlists, community posts, trending Shorts, and transcripts as unified JSON. The official YouTube Data API v3 is the right tool for managing channels you own and uploading videos, but it meters everything in quota units and gates some resources behind OAuth. SocialCrawl charges from 1 credit per request with 100 free credits on signup, and it exposes Shorts and transcripts the official API does not serve.

Ask AI about SocialCrawl

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Related APIs and tools

Adjacent endpoints and free tools on SocialCrawl. The tools run without an API key.

Read the YouTube API reference in the docs

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