# Youtube Comments Api (`caa_software/youtube-comments-api`) Actor

This alternative YouTube Data API has no limits or quotas. Extract YouTube comments data from any YouTube video via Url or VideoId: full comment text, posting date, author username, video title, videoId. Download YouTube comments in JSON, CSV, and Excel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/caa\_software/youtube-comments-api.md
- **Developed by:** [CAA Software](https://apify.com/caa_software) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, AI, Integrations
- **Stats:** 31 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 4.28 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $1.75 / 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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 Api for Apify

**Professional YouTube comments api actor for Apify platform**

This documentation provides complete integration guide for creating an Apify actor that downloads YouTube video comments. No API keys required.

### 🎯 Overview

#### What This Actor Does

- Extracts comments from any public YouTube video
- Supports multiple languages and sorting options
- Returns structured data perfect for analysis
- Handles large datasets efficiently
- No YouTube API quotas or restrictions

#### Key Features

- ✅ **No API Key Required** - Uses direct scraping approach
- ✅ **Flexible Input** - Accepts video URLs or IDs
- ✅ **Language Support** - Multiple language options
- ✅ **Sorting Options** - Top comments or newest first
- ✅ **Scalable** - Handle any number of comments
- ✅ **Rich Metadata** - Complete comment information
- ✅ **Error Handling** - Robust error management

### 📋 Input Schema

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `urlOrVideoId` | Array\[String] | ✅ Yes | - | YouTube video URLs or video IDs |
| `language` | String | ✅ Yes | "en" | Language code (en, tr, es, fr, de, it) |
| `max_comments` | Number | ✅ Yes | 50 | Maximum comments per video |
| `sortBy` | String | ✅ Yes | "top" | Sort method: "top" or "newest" |

#### Input Examples

##### Basic Input

```json
{
    "language": "en",
    "max_comments": 50,
    "sort_by": "newest",
    "urlOrVideoId": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnF3sUfyNRI"
}
```

### 📤 Output Schema

#### Output Structure

Each video produces an output record with the following structure:

```json
[
  {
    "video_info": {
      "video_id": "mnF3sUfyNRI",
      "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnF3sUfyNRI",
      "download_date": "2025-09-03T20:22:16.881390",
      "downloader": "youtube-comments-api"
    },
    "settings": {
      "max_comments": 50,
      "sort_by": "newest",
      "language": "en",
      "total_downloaded": 50
    },
    "comments": [
      {
        "comment_id": "Ugz_xHS6GebfPxWhAjt4AaABAg",
        "author": "@sandro6411",
        "author_channel_id": "UCkAr1IWgyEBfp49BamNnVTw",
        "text": "what's up with speed's voice ?",
        "time_text": "1 minute ago",
        "time_parsed": 1756930876.09903,
        "like_count": "0",
        "reply_count": 0,
        "is_reply": false,
        "parent_id": null,
        "is_hearted": false,
        "is_pinned": false,
        "is_verified": false
      },
      ...
    ],
    "summary": {
      "total_comments": 50,
      "main_comments": 50,
      "replies": 0,
      "hearted_comments": 0,
      "pinned_comments": 0
    }
  }
]
```

### 📊 Performance Guidelines

#### Best Practices

1. **Batch Size**: Process 10-50 videos per run for optimal performance
2. **Memory**: Allocate at least 512MB for large comment sets
3. **Timeout**: Set timeout to 15-30 minutes for large datasets
4. **Error Handling**: Always include error handling for failed videos
5. **Rate Limiting**: Add delays between requests if processing many videos

### 🚨 Error Handling

#### Common Errors and Solutions

##### Video Unavailable

```json
{
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INVALID",
  "error": true,
  "errorMessage": "Video unavailable: INVALID",
  "processedAt": "2023-12-01T10:30:00.000Z"
}
```

##### Comments Disabled

```json
{
  "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "error": true,
  "errorMessage": "Comments disabled: dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "processedAt": "2023-12-01T10:30:00.000Z"
}
```

##### Invalid URL

```json
{
  "videoUrl": "invalid-url",
  "error": true,
  "errorMessage": "Invalid YouTube URL or video ID: invalid-url",
  "processedAt": "2023-12-01T10:30:00.000Z"
}
```

### 🔐 Security & Privacy

#### Data Handling

- Only public comments are extracted
- No personal data beyond public usernames
- Comments are processed as-is from YouTube
- No authentication or login required

#### Compliance

- Respects YouTube's public content policy
- No rate limiting violations
- Ethical scraping practices
- GDPR compliant for public data

***

**This documentation provides everything needed to create a professional YouTube comment extraction actor for the Apify platform. The solution is scalable, robust, and ready for production use.**

# Actor input Schema

## `urlOrVideoId` (type: `string`):

The URL or VideoId of video you want to get the data from.

## `max_comments` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of comments to download

## `sort_by` (type: `string`):

'top' for popular, 'newest' for chronological

## `language` (type: `string`):

tr, en, es, fr, de, it, etc.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urlOrVideoId": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AbFXuGDRTs",
  "max_comments": 50,
  "sort_by": "newest",
  "language": "en"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "urlOrVideoId": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AbFXuGDRTs",
    "sort_by": "newest",
    "language": "en"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("caa_software/youtube-comments-api").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 = {
    "urlOrVideoId": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AbFXuGDRTs",
    "sort_by": "newest",
    "language": "en",
}

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

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urlOrVideoId": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AbFXuGDRTs",
  "sort_by": "newest",
  "language": "en"
}' |
apify call caa_software/youtube-comments-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,caa_software/youtube-comments-api"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/X8vJSXp6FaneeNClD/builds/GYc0SaFx56vsHMYry/openapi.json