YouTube Video Comments

Get comments from any YouTube video by URL. Returns each comment’s text, author, like count, reply count, publication date, a direct link, and up to 5 preview replies. Supports sorting by most recent or relevance, and fetching multiple pages in a single API call.

Endpoint

GET /v1/youtube/comments

Price: $0.005 per page Free tier: 50 requests/month

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`url`	Yes	YouTube video URL or 11-character video ID. Accepts `watch`, `youtu.be`, `shorts`, `embed`, and `live` URL forms.
`pages`	No	Number of pages to fetch, 1-10 (default: 1). Each page returns up to ~100 comments.
`sort_by`	No	Sort order: `most_recent` (newest first) or `relevance` (default: `relevance`).

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`comments`	array	Array of comment threads (top-level comments)
`comments[].comment_id`	string	Unique comment ID
`comments[].text`	string	Comment text
`comments[].author`	string	Comment author’s display name (handle)
`comments[].author_channel_id`	string	Comment author’s channel ID
`comments[].author_channel_url`	string	Comment author’s channel URL
`comments[].author_thumbnail`	string	Comment author’s profile image URL
`comments[].likes`	integer	Number of likes on the comment
`comments[].reply_count`	integer	Total number of replies to the comment
`comments[].date`	string	Publication date and time
`comments[].updated_date`	string	Last edited date and time
`comments[].url`	string	Direct link to the comment
`comments[].video_id`	string	YouTube video ID
`comments[].channel_id`	string	Channel ID of the video
`comments[].source`	string	`"YouTube"`
`comments[].domain`	string	`"youtube.com"`
`comments[].replies`	array	Up to 5 preview replies. Each reply has `comment_id`, `text`, `author`, `author_channel_id`, `author_channel_url`, `author_thumbnail`, `likes`, `date`, `url`, `video_id`.
`pages`	integer	Number of pages requested (each page is billed)
`count`	integer	Total comments returned

Example Request

cURL

curl "https://apidirect.io/v1/youtube/comments?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&pages=1&sort_by=relevance" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://apidirect.io/v1/youtube/comments",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "pages": 1,
        "sort_by": "relevance"
    }
)
print(response.json())

Example Response

{
  "comments": [
    {
      "comment_id": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
      "text": "can confirm: he never gave us up",
      "author": "@YouTube",
      "author_channel_id": "UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ",
      "author_channel_url": "http://www.youtube.com/@YouTube",
      "author_thumbnail": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/.../photo.jpg",
      "likes": 261929,
      "reply_count": 1000,
      "date": "2025-04-22 19:05:08",
      "updated_date": "2025-04-22 19:05:08",
      "url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lc=Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg",
      "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "channel_id": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
      "source": "YouTube",
      "domain": "youtube.com",
      "replies": [
        {
          "comment_id": "Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg.AHE8_QAWJx9AHE9eIiztxR",
          "text": "YOUTUBE AND ONE LIKE WOOHAAAAH",
          "author": "@linganguliguliwatcha",
          "author_channel_id": "UCjFRISlX-LPxiqViJAE3h6Q",
          "author_channel_url": "http://www.youtube.com/@linganguliguliwatcha",
          "author_thumbnail": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/.../photo.jpg",
          "likes": 7026,
          "date": "2025-04-22 19:14:32",
          "url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lc=Ugzge340dBgB75hWBm54AaABAg.AHE8_QAWJx9AHE9eIiztxR",
          "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "pages": 1,
  "count": 100
}

Notes

A video’s pinned comment may appear first regardless of sort_by.
Each page returns up to ~100 comments. Billing is per page requested.
replies contains up to 5 preview replies per comment; a comment’s full reply count is in reply_count.
Videos with comments disabled (or otherwise unavailable) return an empty comments array.
A nonexistent, private, or removed video returns 404 with code video_not_found.