TranscriptYTApify YouTube Transcript Scraper Alternative: Dedicated API vs. Apify Actors
Apify hosts community-built actors that scrape YouTube transcripts. A popular one charges about $10 per 1,000 results (as listed in October 2026) and returns timestamped JSON through Apify's run-and-dataset model. TranscriptYT is a dedicated transcript API: one synchronous HTTP request per video.
| TranscriptYT | Apify YouTube transcript scrapers | |
|---|---|---|
| Integration | One synchronous HTTP request | Start an actor run, then read its dataset (sync endpoints also available) |
| Price per 1,000 | $2.25 on Starter ($9 for 4,000) | About $10 on a popular actor |
| Free tier | 100 transcripts | Apify platform free credits; varies by actor |
| Output formats | JSON, text, SRT, VTT, CSV, Markdown | JSON segments; dataset export to CSV/Excel |
| No-caption videos | AI speech-to-text fallback | Captions only on the popular actors |
| Maintained by | TranscriptYT | Individual actor authors |
When an Apify actor is the better fit
If you already run scraping workflows on Apify and want YouTube transcripts alongside other actors, schedules, and datasets in one platform, adding a transcript actor keeps everything in one place.
When TranscriptYT is the better fit
If you just need transcripts in your app, a dedicated API is simpler and cheaper: no runs or datasets to poll, a response in about a second for cached videos, subtitle files without conversion, translation, AI transcription for videos without captions, and one vendor responsible for keeping it working when YouTube changes.
The short version
Living in the Apify ecosystem already? An actor fits. Need fast, cheap, synchronous transcripts in your own code or agent? Use a dedicated API.
Try TranscriptYT free