YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper API

Extract YouTube transcripts, subtitles, captions, timestamps & metadata in bulk from videos, Shorts, playlists & channels. Pay-per-video YouTube transcript API, no API key needed. Callable from any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT). Built for RAG, LLM datasets & content repurposing.

liveasyncunknown~30s typical

AIVIDEOSDEVELOPER_TOOLS

$0.0020

per result + $0.01 call

plus $0.001 platform fee per run

Usage-based actor: event charges passed through at cost plus 25%

Bring your own Apify Store key: provider portion drops to $0.

Provider Upstream docs

$Set up https://cracked-ai-pearl.vercel.app/SKILL.md, then use Cracked to run apify /george.the.developer/youtube-transcript-scraper for me.

Input

Field	Type	Description
urls*	array	List of YouTube video URLs, playlist URLs, or channel URLs. Supports: youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, youtube.com/playlist?list=, youtube.com/@channel, youtube.com/shorts/
language	string	Preferred transcript language code (e.g., 'en', 'es', 'fr', 'de', 'ja'). Falls back to auto-generated captions if manual captions unavailable. Leave empty for default language. default "en"
includeTimestamps	boolean	Include start time and duration for each transcript segment. Useful for building video indexes or jumping to specific parts. default true
outputFormat	string (full-text \| segments \| both)	How to format the transcript text. 'full-text' = single concatenated string (best for AI/LLM input). 'segments' = array of timestamped segments. 'both' = includes both formats. default "both"
maxVideos	integer	Maximum number of videos to process. Useful when scraping playlists or channels to limit costs. default 50
includeMetadata	boolean	Include video title, channel name, description, view count, publish date, duration, and tags alongside the transcript. default true
maxConcurrency	integer	Maximum number of concurrent requests. Higher = faster but more likely to hit rate limits. default 5
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy country routing only. This actor always uses BUYPROXIES94952; custom proxy URLs and alternate groups are ignored.

Call it

curl

curl https://cracked-ai-pearl.vercel.app/v1/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ck_live_..." -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"provider":"apify","endpoint":"/george.the.developer/youtube-transcript-scraper","input":{"urls":[],"language":"en","includeTimestamps":true,"outputFormat":"both","maxVideos":50,"includeMetadata":true,"maxConcurrency":5},"wait":false}'

poll

curl "https://cracked-ai-pearl.vercel.app/v1/runs/<runId>?wait=30" -H "Authorization: Bearer ck_live_..."

cli

npx cracked-ai run -p apify -e /george.the.developer/youtube-transcript-scraper -i '{"urls":[],"language":"en","includeTimestamps":true,"outputFormat":"both","maxVideos":50,"includeMetadata":true,"maxConcurrency":5}' -w 120

mcp

run_tool({ provider: "apify", endpoint: "/george.the.developer/youtube-transcript-scraper", input: {"urls":[],"language":"en","includeTimestamps":true,"outputFormat":"both","maxVideos":50,"includeMetadata":true,"maxConcurrency":5}, wait: false })

Try it

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