November 9, 2026 · 7 min read

The Best YouTube Transcript APIs in 2026, Compared

In short

Eight ways to get YouTube transcripts in code, compared on price per 1,000, free tier, formats, videos without captions, and AI agent support, with the best pick for each use case.

There are three kinds of YouTube transcript API: focused transcript APIs, multi-platform scraping APIs that include YouTube, and free open-source libraries you host yourself. This guide compares the main option in each group on price, formats, and reliability. We make TranscriptYT, so it's on the list, and every competitor's figure comes from their public pricing page as of November 2026; each one links to a detailed head-to-head.

Quick picks

The short version, by what you're building:

Cheapest way to start with a hosted API: TranscriptYT ($3 a month for 1,000 transcripts, 100 free to try)
Several platforms (TikTok, Instagram, X) from one API: Supadata or ScrapeCreators
Lowest price at 300,000+ a month: Supadata's Giga plan or ScrapeCreators' largest pack (about $0.99 per 1,000)
Free and self-hosted, for prototypes: the youtube-transcript-api Python library
Already on Apify or SearchAPI: their transcript actor or engine
Reading transcripts by hand in a browser: youtube-transcript.io or the free transcript tool

1. TranscriptYT

A REST API and hosted MCP server that only does YouTube: transcripts, translation into 150+ languages, AI transcription for videos without captions, playlist and channel listings, search, and summaries. Output comes as JSON, text, SRT, VTT, CSV, or Markdown, and failed requests are never billed.

Price: 100 free credits, then $3 a month for 1,000, $9 for 4,000, $29 for 15,000, and $79 for 50,000 ($1.58 per 1,000). Credit packs without a subscription start at $45 for 25,000. Best for developers and AI agents that need YouTube transcripts specifically and want to start small. See the API and docs.

2. Supadata

A content-extraction API covering YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, and web pages, with optional AI transcription. It returns JSON or plain text, so subtitle files need a conversion step.

Price: 100 requests a month free, $5 a month for 300 (billed yearly), $17 for 3,000, $47 for 30,000, and $297 for 300,000 (about $0.99 per 1,000). Best for multi-platform pipelines and very high volume. TranscriptYT vs. Supadata.

3. TranscriptAPI.com

A YouTube-focused transcript API with channel, playlist, and search endpoints and an MCP server, similar in scope to TranscriptYT.

Price: 100 free credits, $5 a month for 1,000 ($4.50 yearly), about $27.50 a month for 10,000 ($18 yearly), and about $127.50 for 50,000 ($78 yearly). Top-ups need an active plan. Best for teams that commit to a yearly plan at mid volume. TranscriptYT vs. TranscriptAPI.com.

4. ScrapeCreators

A social-media scraping API with endpoints for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more, sold as credit packs that never expire.

Price: 100 free credits, then packs from $47 for 25,000 ($1.88 per 1,000) down to about $0.99 per 1,000 on the $497 pack. Best for scraping many platforms at high volume. TranscriptYT vs. ScrapeCreators.

5. SearchAPI

A search-results API for Google, Bing, YouTube, and other engines, with a YouTube transcript engine as one of many.

Price: 100 free requests, then $40 a month for 10,000 searches ($4 per 1,000). Best if you already use it for web search. TranscriptYT vs. SearchAPI.

6. Apify YouTube transcript actors

Community-built scrapers that run on Apify's platform. Price, speed, and output differ by actor, and runs are usually asynchronous: you start a run and collect results later.

Best if your workflow already lives on Apify. TranscriptYT vs. Apify scrapers.

7. youtube-transcript-api (Python library)

A free, open-source Python package that fetches captions directly from YouTube. It works well on a laptop, but YouTube blocks most cloud server IPs, so production use needs your own rotating proxies and upkeep when YouTube changes. It has no AI transcription for videos without captions.

Price: free, plus proxy costs. Best for prototypes and personal scripts. TranscriptYT vs. the Python library, or see how to get transcripts in Python.

8. youtube-transcript.io

A transcript web app and Chrome extension with watchlists and playlist extraction, and API access on paid plans.

Price: 25 transcripts a month free, $9.99 for 1,000, $24.99 for 3,000, and $79.99 for 10,000. Best for reading transcripts by hand. TranscriptYT vs. youtube-transcript.io.

How to choose

Start with scope. If you only need YouTube, a focused API gives you one response shape, subtitle formats, and translation without extra work. If you need TikTok or Instagram too, a multi-platform API saves a second integration.

Then check what happens on hard videos. Many videos have no caption track, some are region-locked, and YouTube blocks datacenter IPs. Ask whether the API transcribes audio when captions are missing, whether failed requests are billed, and whether it publishes uptime: TranscriptYT's is on its status page.

Finally, price at your real volume, not the headline. Per-1,000 prices fall steeply on big plans, and yearly billing changes the order. For AI agents, check for a hosted MCP server so Claude, Cursor, or Codex can call it directly.

Common questions

What is the cheapest YouTube transcript API?

At small and mid volume, TranscriptYT: $3 a month for 1,000 transcripts and $79 for 50,000. At 300,000 or more a month, Supadata's Giga plan and ScrapeCreators' largest pack reach about $0.99 per 1,000. Prices as listed in November 2026.

Is there a free YouTube transcript API?

The open-source youtube-transcript-api Python library is free but needs your own proxies in production. Hosted APIs have free tiers: TranscriptYT gives 100 credits once, Supadata 100 requests a month, and youtube-transcript.io 25 transcripts a month.

Can the official YouTube Data API download transcripts?

Only for videos you own. The Data API's captions.download endpoint requires authorization from the video's owner, so it can't fetch transcripts of other people's public videos. Transcript APIs read the public caption tracks instead.

Which APIs handle videos without captions?

TranscriptYT transcribes the audio automatically at 1 credit per started minute, and Supadata offers AI transcription as an option. The youtube-transcript-api library and most scrapers return nothing for those videos.