# How to export YouTube comments for every video on a topic

> Search YouTube by keyword, then page through the comments under each video into one CSV: the two endpoints, the sort options, Python code, the official quota and cost.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/guides/youtube-comments-export/

Find the videos with YouTube video search, then page through YouTube video comments under each one. The worked example is 9 calls and costs $0.02; a failed call is not charged.

Updated 2026-11-12

The job: you sell a product, or plan to, and the review videos about it carry thousands of comments from buyers and doubters. Search for the videos people actually watch, then read the comments under each one into a single sheet. You end with one CSV where each row is a comment with its video, text, author, likes, reply count and date, ready for tagging by hand or for a model to group into complaints and praise.

No Google Cloud project, API key or quota request is involved. Each call is an HTTPS request with your key.

## Step by step

### Step 1: find the videos

Call [YouTube video search](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/search/) with `query` and `sort`: `relevance` (the default), `latest` or `most_viewed`. One call returns about 20 videos for $0.004, each with `id`, `title`, `url`, the channel in `author` and `metrics.views`. Search leaves `metrics.comments` null, so choose videos by views.

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/youtube/videos/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=robot vacuum review' \
  -d sort=most_viewed \
  -d fields=id,title,author.name,metrics.views
```

### Step 2: page through the comments

Pass a video's `id` to [YouTube video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/comments/list/). `sort` takes `top` (the default, YouTube's Top comments order) or `latest` (newest first). Use `top` to read what most viewers saw, `latest` to follow a video that is still collecting comments.

One call returns about 20 comments for $0.002. Each has `id`, `text`, `author` (`name` and `username`, the handle), `likes`, `replies` (how many replies sit under it) and `published_at`. For the next page, send `page.next_cursor` back as `cursor`, unchanged; stop when `page.has_more` is `false`.

```bash
curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/youtube/videos/comments/list" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  -d id=h4Lw0pZk3sE -d sort=top
```

### Step 3: put it together in Python

The script keeps the four most viewed videos and reads `MAX_PAGES` pages under each. Every page is its own call, so the page cap is also your spending cap.

```python
import csv
import os
import requests

API = "https://api.okdata.online"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['OKDATA_API_KEY']}"}
VIDEOS = 4
MAX_PAGES = 2  # comment pages per video; each page is one call


def get(path, **params):
    body = requests.get(API + path, headers=HEADERS, params=params, timeout=60).json()
    if body["code"] != "ok":
        raise RuntimeError(f"{body['code']}: {body['message']} (charged: {body['charged']})")
    return body


found = get("/v1/youtube/videos/search", query="robot vacuum review", sort="most_viewed")["data"]["items"]
videos = sorted(found, key=lambda v: v["metrics"]["views"] or 0, reverse=True)[:VIDEOS]

with open("youtube_comments.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8-sig") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["video_id", "video_title", "comment_id", "author", "likes", "replies", "published_at", "text"])
    for v in videos:
        cursor = None
        for _ in range(MAX_PAGES):
            body = get("/v1/youtube/videos/comments/list", id=v["id"], sort="top", **({"cursor": cursor} if cursor else {}))
            for c in body["data"]["items"]:
                out.writerow([v["id"], v["title"], c["id"], c["author"]["name"], c["likes"], c["replies"], c["published_at"], c["text"]])
            if not body["page"]["has_more"]:
                break
            cursor = body["page"]["next_cursor"]
```

`utf-8-sig` writes a byte-order mark so Excel shows emoji and non-English text correctly. To go deeper, raise `MAX_PAGES`: ten pages under each of the four videos is 40 comment calls, $0.08 on top of the search.

## Good to know

- **Top-level comments only.** You get each comment's reply count, not the replies themselves; `parent_id` is always null here.
- **Dates are approximate.** `published_at` is worked out from labels such as "2 months ago", so older comments carry a rounded date.
- **No commenter location.** YouTube does not show it, so `ip_location` is null and named in `meta.unavailable`.
- **Removed videos are free.** A video that no longer exists returns `not_found` and costs nothing.
- **The official quota.** Google's [quota calculator](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/determine_quota_cost) gives a new project 100 `search.list` calls a day in their own bucket and 10,000 units a day for the other methods, reset at midnight Pacific time. [commentThreads.list](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/commentThreads/list) costs 1 unit and returns up to 100 threads per call. If you already have a Google project and mostly read comments, the official API is the cheaper choice; the search quota is where a topic-wide job usually runs out first.
- **Retries without paying twice.** Send an `Idempotency-Key` header with each call. The same request with the same key within 24 hours returns the stored answer with `meta.replayed: true` and no new charge.

For a single video's comments in a spreadsheet, see [export YouTube comments to CSV](https://okdata.online/answers/export-youtube-comments-csv/). When the daily search limit is the problem, see [the YouTube search quota answer](https://okdata.online/answers/youtube-search-quota-exceeded/).

## What the example costs

One page of the most viewed robot vacuum review videos, then two pages of top comments under each of the four most viewed

| Endpoint | Calls | Price | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| [YouTube video search](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/search/) | 1 | $0.004 | $0.004 |
| [YouTube video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/comments/list/) | 8 | $0.002 | $0.016 |
| Total | 9 |  | $0.02 |

Prices in force when this page was built. A failed call costs nothing.

## In your AI (MCP)

Connect the MCP server once, then say what you want. The agent finds these endpoints, reads their prices and calls them on your balance.

Say: Search YouTube for robot vacuum review, most viewed first. Take the four most viewed videos, get two pages of top comments under each, and give me one table: video, comment, author, likes, replies, date. Then list the complaints that come up more than once.

```json
{
  "endpoint": "youtube.videos.search",
  "params": {
    "query": "claude code tutorial"
  },
  "idempotency_key": "<a new UUID>"
}
```

MCP: `https://api.okdata.online/mcp`

## Endpoints in this guide

- [YouTube video search](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/search/) `youtube.videos.search`: $0.004 per call · about 20 videos per page
- [YouTube video comments](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/videos/comments/list/) `youtube.videos.comments.list`: $0.002 per call · about 20 comments per page

## More about YouTube

- [YouTube API](https://okdata.online/apis/youtube/)
- [How to get YouTube video transcripts from a keyword search](https://okdata.online/guides/youtube-video-transcript/)
- [Is there one API to track a brand across TikTok, YouTube and X?](https://okdata.online/answers/social-listening-api-tiktok-youtube-x/)
- [How do I download transcripts for hundreds of YouTube videos at once?](https://okdata.online/answers/bulk-youtube-transcripts/)
- [How can I know what a social data job will cost before I run it?](https://okdata.online/answers/estimate-data-api-cost-before-running/)
- [How do I export YouTube comments to CSV or Excel?](https://okdata.online/answers/export-youtube-comments-csv/)
- [Is it legal to scrape public social media data?](https://okdata.online/answers/is-scraping-public-social-media-data-legal/)
- [Should I use a platform's official API or a third-party social data API?](https://okdata.online/answers/official-api-vs-third-party-social-data/)
- [Official platform APIs vs third-party data APIs (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/official-apis-vs-data-apis/)
- [How to choose a social media data API (2026)](https://okdata.online/compare/social-media-data-apis/)
- [Comments API](https://okdata.online/roles/posts-comments-list/)
- [Post search API](https://okdata.online/roles/posts-search/)

## Sources

- [YouTube Data API: Quota calculator](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/determine_quota_cost) (read 2026-11-12)
- [YouTube Data API: CommentThreads: list](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/commentThreads/list) (read 2026-11-12)