# YouTube Video Comments API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/youtube/video-comments)

> Returns a list of comments on a specific YouTube video. Each comment includes the author name, comment text, like count, reply count, and an exact per-second publish timestamp. For a date-window pull (say, the last two years of comments), pass `since` (and optionally `until`): `since` sets `order=newest`, rows arrive newest-first on `comment.published_at` with each next page strictly older and no overlap, rows older than `since` are left off, and the page that reaches one ends the walk (`pagination.stopped_at: "since"`). Each page costs what a page costs, so you pay only for the pages walked. One caveat for that walk: the first row of the first page can be the video's pinned comment regardless of `order`; it is out of date order and never ends the walk, so if you walk with `order=newest` yourself, filter rows by timestamp rather than stopping at the first out-of-window row.

TL;DR: `GET /v1/youtube/video/comments` costs 1 credit per page, with the default labels (sentiment, question, purchase_intent, complaint) included free. label=spam, toxic or low_quality holds 4 extra credits and refunds down to 1 credit per started 25 comments that were newly judged: comments already labelled are free, a page where nothing could be judged refunds the whole extra, and a cached page is free. With `max_pages`, `max_items` or `max_credits`, each page walked is billed at this price (a cached page is free), and `max_credits` caps the total. and returns SocialCrawl's unified JSON schema. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `url` | yes | Full URL of the YouTube video to fetch comments for |
| `continuationToken` | no | Continuation token to get more comments. Get 'continuationToken' from previous response. |
| `order` | no | Order of comments: 'top' (default, YouTube's relevance ranking) or 'newest' (exact newest-first on `comment.published_at`; each next page continues strictly older with no overlap: the lane for date-window and recency pulls). (top \| newest) |
| `searchTerm` | no | Filter comments to those containing this search term. |
| `format` | no | Text format for comment bodies: 'html' (default) or 'plainText'. (html \| plainText) |
| `max_results` | no | Comments per page, 1-100. The default page is already 100, so set this only to shrink a page; out-of-range values are rejected with a free 400 rather than degrading the response. |
| `channel_id` | no | YouTube channel id to fetch channel-level community comments for (instead of a video's comments). |
| `label` | no | Optional CSV of SocialCrawl labels to add to every comment: sentiment, spam, question, purchase_intent, complaint, toxic, low_quality, injection. Without this param every page already carries sentiment, question, purchase_intent and complaint, free; label= adds the labels you name to them (the defaults keep running). Each comment gains computed.labels with probabilities (0 to 1), so you choose the cut-off; a comment that could not be judged carries labels: null. sentiment, question, purchase_intent and complaint are free when asked for too; spam, toxic, low_quality and injection add 1 credit per started 25 newly judged comments (comments already labelled for anyone are free, and so is a cached page). injection flags text that addresses an AI system and tries to direct it (flagged, p); it never drops or rewrites a row. judgments=off (or label=none) turns the default labels off. data.labels reports what was judged and billed. |
| `exclude` | no | Optional CSV (spam, low_quality), only with the same preset in label. Drops comments whose probability is 0.8 or higher and lists their ids in data.labels.dropped_ids. A comment that could not be judged is never dropped. |
| `judgments` | no | Optional, on (the default) or off. By default every row gains free SocialCrawl judgments (computed.labels, and computed.relevance on search endpoints), reported in data.labels (mode default) and data.relevance (origin default), each with a status (complete, partial or skipped) and pending: the rows still being judged when the page was sent, which carry null now and are filled on your next call or cached read. Default judgments never add credits, never change an existing field, and never drop or reorder a row. off returns the page exactly as before, with none of those keys. label=none does the same. (on \| off) |
| `dry_run` | no | Optional. When 1, return a cost preview for this labelled or relevance-filtered request without fetching the page or judging any row. data.estimate reports rows_expected, rows_cached, label_credits_min, label_credits_max and base_credits. 0 credits charged. (1) |
| `label_evidence` | no | Optional, only with label=. When 1, every labelled row also carries computed.labels_evidence.<preset> = { quote, sentence_index }: the sentence in the row that most clearly shows the label, copied verbatim. Absent or null when no single sentence shows it. (1) |
| `fit` | no | Optional. When goal, keep the rows and fields needed for the goal you pass in goal= (plus any that are uncertain, and the first and last), and replace the rest with a stub. data.held_back lists the held ids and a recall id that re-reads the full page from cache at no extra charge. Without this param the page is unchanged. (goal) |
| `goal` | no | Required by fit=goal. What you are trying to do, in your own words, up to 300 characters. |
| `fit_tokens` | no | Optional, only with fit=goal. Soft cap on how much of the page to keep, in tokens. Uncertain blocks and the first and last block are kept even if they exceed it. |
| `since` | no | Only rows published on or after this date: YYYY-MM-DD (midnight UTC) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Rows older than it are left off the page, and the page that reaches one ends the walk: `next_cursor` is not returned and `pagination.stopped_at` is `since`. Sending it sets the newest-first sort shown in this endpoint's sort parameter (any other sort value is a free 400). The page still costs what a page costs, so you pay for the pages you walk and no more. A row with no date is kept. `published_after`, `start_date`, `from_date`, `publish_time` (`yesterday`, `this-week`, `this-month`, `last-3-months`, `last-6-months`) and `max_age_days` are accepted and applied as `since`. |
| `until` | no | Only rows published on or before this date: YYYY-MM-DD (that whole UTC day is included) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Newer rows are left off each page and the walk does not stop, so older pages follow. A row with no date is kept. `published_before`, `end_date` and `to_date` are accepted and applied as `until`. |
| `max_pages` | no | 1 to 50 (default 1, or 50 when `max_items` or `max_credits` is sent). Walk up to this many pages in one call and return the rows from all of them. Each page walked is billed exactly as one call to this endpoint (a cached page is free) and counts against your rate limit; its charge and any refund are recorded under the page's own request id, listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. The walk stops early at the last page, or when the request's time budget runs low; `data.walk.stopped` says why (`end`, `max_pages`, `max_items`, `max_credits`, `time_budget`, `page_error`) and `pagination.next_cursor` continues from where it stopped. |
| `max_items` | no | 1 to 5000. Get more in one call: keep walking pages until the response holds at least this many rows, then stop with `data.walk.stopped: "max_items"`. The last page is returned whole (it was billed), so `data.items` can hold up to one page more than this, and `pagination.next_cursor` resumes right after it without skipping a row. Walks up to 50 pages unless `max_pages` says fewer; each page is billed as one call (a cached page is free). Add `max_credits` to cap the spend. A long walk can stop on the time budget first (`"time_budget"`): send the returned cursor with the same params to continue. |
| `max_credits` | no | 1 to 100000. The most this call may spend, across every page it walks. A page starts only while the credits already spent plus that page's price (or, when higher, the most any page of this walk has cost) still fit, so the call never goes past it; the walk then stops with `data.walk.stopped: "max_credits"` and the cursor to resume. Sent alone, it walks as far as the budget goes (up to 50 pages). A value below the price of one page is a free 400 whose `error.details.page_credits` names that price. Credits a row join (`include=`) adds are known only once a page has run, so page 1 is checked against its own price. |

## Code example

```bash
curl -G "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/video/comments" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

## FAQ

### How do I scrape comments from a YouTube video?

Send a GET request to /v1/youtube/video/comments with the video URL in the url parameter. The response includes author name, comment text, like count, reply count, and publish timestamp for each comment.

### Can I sort comments by top or newest?

Yes. Pass order=top for the most-liked comments first, or order=newest for reverse-chronological order. Default is top, which matches YouTube's default UI sort.

### How do I paginate through every comment?

Each response returns a continuationToken. Pass it as continuationToken=... on the next call to get the next page. Keep going until the token is empty, no total-count cap.

### How do I get replies to a specific comment?

Every comment with replies exposes a repliesContinuationToken. Pass it to /v1/youtube/video/comment/replies to fetch the full reply thread with author, text, likes, and publish date.

### Is this good for YouTube sentiment analysis?

Yes. You get clean comment text with author and engagement counts, ready to feed into an LLM or classifier. Batch it with the video endpoint to pair comments with video metadata.

See the full YouTube API: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/youtube

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- How to scrape YouTube comments for sentiment analysis
- What fields does SocialCrawl YouTube comments API return?