YouTube Data API
Videos, channels, playlists, comments and search across YouTube
Freemium
✓ Verified
🇺🇸 United States
The YouTube Data API v3 provides access to YouTube’s video, channel, playlist, comment, and search data. Common uses include building custom video players, YouTube analytics dashboards, content discovery tools, comment moderation systems, and channel management apps. Authentication is via API key (read-only public data) or OAuth 2.0 (user data, uploads). The daily 10,000 unit quota is tight for high-volume apps — quota increases require Google review. Part of the Google API suite so billing is unified through Google Cloud.
API Details
Auth Method
API Key
Pricing Model
Freemium
Free Tier
Yes — 10,000 units/day free
Rate Limit
10,000 units/day (free)
Format
REST / JSON
Versioning
v3
SLA / Uptime
99.9%
Compliance
GDPR, CCPA, COPPA
Geographic Restrictions
Global (unavailable in China)
Last Verified
2026-02-20
Categories
Frequently Asked Questions
The YouTube Data API has a quota system: 10,000 units per day free. Different operations cost different units u2014 a search.list costs 100 units, videos.list costs 1 unit, comments.list costs 1 unit. Most developers can work within the free quota. Additional quota can be requested from Google, but approval is not guaranteed and is reviewed carefully.
YouTube Data API supports: video search and metadata retrieval, channel analytics, comment reading and posting (requires OAuth), playlist management, video upload (with OAuth), subscription management, and live streaming data. Many developers use it for content aggregation, research tools, and YouTube channel management dashboards.
The search.list endpoint costs 100 quota units per call u2014 100x more than most other operations. If you are searching frequently, your 10,000 daily quota runs out after just 100 searches. Optimise by: caching search results, using videos.list for known video IDs (1 unit each), and using webhooks (Push Notifications via PubSubHubbub) for subscription updates instead of polling.
Unlisted videos can be accessed if you have the direct URL/video ID. Private videos require OAuth authentication and can only be accessed by the owner or users the owner has shared them with. The API respects the same visibility settings as the YouTube website u2014 you cannot access content that is not available to you normally.