# How do I get a YouTube video's view count and likes from its URL?

> Read views, likes and comments of any public YouTube video from its link, with no Google Cloud project. Price per check, curl, and when the official API is cheaper.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/youtube-view-count-api/

**Short answer: **Send the link to YouTube video detail (/v1/youtube/videos/get) and read metrics.views, metrics.likes and metrics.comments: $0.004 per video, any watch, youtu.be or Shorts link works, and no Google key is needed. If you already have a Google Cloud project, the official videos.list returns the same counts for 1 quota unit.

An agency runs 40 sponsored videos for a client and reports their views every morning. Someone opens each link and types the number into a sheet. That works for a week, then someone forgets a day. A scheduled call per link takes the person out of it.

## One call per link

[YouTube video detail](/apis/youtube/videos/get/) accepts `url` (watch, `youtu.be`, `/shorts/`, `/embed/` and `/live/` links) or `id`. It returns `title`, `published_at`, the channel's name and handle, the description in `text`, and the counts under `metrics`.

```bash
curl -s -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/youtube/videos/get" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  -d fields=id,title,published_at,metrics.views,metrics.likes,metrics.comments
```

The response also has `meta.fetched_at`. Store it next to the numbers; a view count is only meaningful with the time it was read.

## What 40 videos a day costs

| Job | Calls | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| One check of one video | 1 | $0.004 |
| 40 videos, once a day for 30 days | 1,200 | $4.80 |
| 1,000 checks | 1000 | $4.00 |

Failed calls and videos that no longer exist (`not_found`) are not charged.

## Be honest with yourself about the official API

For this exact job, Google's YouTube Data API is hard to beat. `videos.list` costs 1 quota unit and accepts up to 50 IDs per call, and a project gets 10,000 units a day for free ([quota table](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/determine_quota_cost)). The 40-video report is one unit a day. If you can create a Google Cloud project and keep an API key, use it.

okdata makes more sense when:

- you would rather not run a Google Cloud project or handle its quota and keys;
- the same report also tracks TikTok and X posts, and you want one key and one response shape;
- an AI agent fetches the numbers through the [MCP server](/mcp/) as part of a larger task.

## Gotchas

- **No subscriber count.** The channel's subscribers are not returned; `author.followers` is null and listed in `meta.unavailable`.
- **No shares or saves.** YouTube does not show them publicly, so they are null.
- **Hidden likes.** If a creator hides the like count, `metrics.likes` can be null.
- **Snapshots only.** There is no history endpoint. Call on a schedule and keep your own time series.
- **Extras on request.** `view=full` adds `ext.duration_ms`, `ext.genre` and `ext.is_paid_promotion`.

For a fuller monitoring setup, see the [competitor monitoring solution page](/solutions/competitor-monitoring/).

## Endpoints used

- [YouTube video detail](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/get/) `youtube.videos.get`: $0.004 per call

Updated 2026-11-12