YouTube Transcript Scraper & API: captions and subtitles

YouTube Transcript Scraper is an Apify Actor that returns the transcript of any YouTube video as plain text and timestamped segments, in any caption language, with the title, channel, views and duration. It accepts video, Shorts, channel and playlist URLs, costs $1.50 per 1,000 transcripts and charges nothing for videos without captions.

Run it on Apify $1.50 per 1,000 transcripts ($1.20 on Gold and above)

Quick facts

• One row per video: transcript text, timestamped segments, language, auto-generated flag, all caption languages, title, channel, views, duration, description and tags.
• Videos, Shorts, channels and playlists (latest 15 videos).
• Manual captions first, then auto-generated; best-effort translation.
• Price: $1.50 per 1,000 transcripts; videos without captions are free.

Example input

{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc"
  ],
  "language": "en"
}

Run it from code

REST API (cURL)

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automationnation~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc"], "language": "en"}'

Python

# pip install apify-client
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("automationnation/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc"
  ],
  "language": "en"
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item.get("title"), item.get("channel"), item.get("wordCount"), item.get("transcriptLanguage"))

JavaScript / Node.js

// npm install apify-client
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('automationnation/youtube-transcript-scraper').call({
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc"
  ],
  "language": "en"
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
for (const item of items) console.log(item.title, item.channel, item.wordCount, item.transcriptLanguage);

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Connect AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor through Apify's MCP server. Hosted URL:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automationnation/youtube-transcript-scraper

Or run it locally in Claude Desktop / Cursor:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript-scraper": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@apify/actors-mcp-server",
        "--tools",
        "automationnation/youtube-transcript-scraper"
      ],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Step-by-step guide: How to get YouTube transcripts in 2026 (any video, channel or playlist)

Open YouTube Transcript Scraper on Apify Store