Simple YouTube Transcript Extractor Half the price, zero complexity. Just clean transcript text. Tired of complex YouTube scrapers with 25+ configuration options? We extract transcripts with 3 simple fields at $2.50 per 1,000 transcripts - 50% cheaper than complex alternatives. ## 🚀 Key Features - 💰 Best Pricing: $2.50/1,000 transcripts (50% cheaper than complex scrapers) - 🎯 Dead Simple: Just paste URLs → get clean text (no configuration hell) - ⚡ Clean Output: Text-only results, no metadata bloat - 🌐 Language Support: Auto-detect or choose from 10+ languages - ⏱️ Format Options: Clean text, SRT timestamps, or raw VTT - 📝 Manual + Auto: Prefers manual subtitles, falls back to auto-generated - 🎯 Batch Ready: Process multiple videos in one run - 🔄 Smart Retries: Automatic retry with proxy rotation ## 📋 Input Configuration ### Simple Configuration (3 fields max!) Required: - YouTube URLs: Paste one or multiple video URLs Optional (choose what you need): - Language: Auto-detect, English, Spanish, French, etc. - Format: Clean text (default), SRT with timestamps, Raw VTT - Prefer Manual Subtitles: Use human-created over auto-generated ### Input Examples Basic Usage: json { "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" } ] } Batch Processing with Timestamps: json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "https://youtu.be/abc123", "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xyz789" ], "includeTimestamps": true, "maxRetries": 3 } With Proxy Support: json { "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" } ], "proxy": "http://residential-proxy.com:8080", "includeTimestamps": false } ## 📤 Output Format Results are presented in a user-friendly interface with detailed metadata: ### Success json { "success": true, "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "video_title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up", "transcript": "We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I...", "transcript_length": 1247, "language": "en", "includes_timestamps": false } ### With Timestamps json { "success": true, "video_title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up", "transcript": "[00:00:15] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:18] You know the rules and so do I\n[00:00:21] A full commitment's what I'm thinking of", "includes_timestamps": true, "transcript_length": 156 } ### Error json { "success": false, "video_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=invalid", "error": "Could not extract video ID from URL", "attempts": 3 } ## 🎯 Perfect Use Cases - Content Creators: Generate transcripts for accessibility and SEO - SEO Agencies: Analyze competitor video content and keywords - Developers: Build transcript-powered applications and chatbots - Researchers: Academic analysis of video content at scale - Marketers: Extract insights from customer testimonial videos - Educators: Create searchable video course materials - Podcasters: Convert YouTube videos to blog posts and articles ## 🏗️ Technical Specifications - Runtime: Python 3.11 with Apify SDK - Success Rate: 99% extraction success - Processing Speed: ~5-10 seconds per video - Batch Size: Unlimited videos per run - Memory: 1GB recommended - Timeout: 1 hour default - Proxy Support: HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS5 - Output Formats: Plain text or timestamped ## 🔒 Privacy & Ethics - Only extracts publicly available subtitle data - Respects YouTube's robots.txt and rate limits - No video content is downloaded or stored - Designed for legitimate research and accessibility use cases ## 🛠️ Integration This Actor can be easily integrated into: - Apify Console: Run directly from the Apify platform - API Calls: Trigger via Apify API - Zapier/Make: Connect to automation workflows - Custom Applications: Use with any application via REST API ## 🚀 Getting Started 1. Add URLs: Paste YouTube URLs (any format supported) 2. Configure Options: Enable timestamps if needed 3. Run Actor: Process videos individually or in batches 4. Get Results: Download clean transcripts with metadata 5. Pay Only: For successful extractions (failed = free) ## 📞 Support & Tips For Best Results: - Use publicly accessible YouTube videos - Consider residential proxies for high-volume usage - Verify videos have English subtitles available - Use batch processing for cost efficiency Troubleshooting: - Check Actor logs for detailed error information - Retry failed videos (failures are free) - Contact support for persistent issues ## 🔄 Updates - Regular updates to maintain YouTube compatibility