The YouTube Transcript API

Built for more than one video

Most free YouTube transcript tools stop at a single video. This API also searches YouTube, resolves channel handles, and lists channel or playlist videos - all behind one key.

• Transcript extraction for any public video, with language selection
• Full-text YouTube search, paginated
• Channel handle resolution and channel video listing
• Playlist video listing
• A Chrome extension for humans who just want to ask a video a question, on the same account

No OAuth screen, no Google Cloud project, no per-project quota to run out of - see what that costs people with the official API in our YouTube API quota guide.

One request, JSON back

curl "https://getyoutubetranscript.com/api/v1/transcript?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

# => { "success": true, "data": { "transcript": "...", "word_count": 1847 } }

Back up a whole channel in one job

List a channel's videos, send up to 100 of them in one batch request, and get a signed webhook when it's done. No polling loops and no proxies to babysit.

• You pay 1 credit only for videos that return a transcript. Videos without captions, private or removed videos, and failed fetches are free.
• Each video is retried before it's marked as failed, so a temporary YouTube hiccup doesn't cost you a credit or a rerun.
• Measured on 5,412 live fetches (Oct 2 – 8, 2026): 96.8% of videos with captions returned a transcript, and 98% of all requests got a definite answer (the transcript, or a clear no-captions or unavailable result).

# 1. List the channel's uploads (1 credit per page of results)
curl "https://getyoutubetranscript.com/api/v1/channel/videos?channel=@3blue1brown" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

# 2. Queue up to 100 of them in one batch
curl -X POST "https://getyoutubetranscript.com/api/v1/batch" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videos": ["aircAruvnKk", "IHZwWFHWa-w", "..."], "webhook_url": "https://you.example/hook"}'

# 3. Get a signed webhook when it's done, or poll GET /api/v1/batch?id=...

Simple, credit-based pricing

1 credit = 1 successful request across every endpoint below. Failed requests aren't charged.

Endpoints

Full parameter reference, response shapes, and error codes are in the API docs.