# YouTube Data API

**Provider:** Google
**Category:** entertainment
**Base URL:** `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3`
**Auth:** api-key — `?key=AIzaSy...`
**Rate Limit:** 10,000 units/day (free)
**Free Tier:** Yes — [object Object]
**Pricing:** Pay per use (pay-as-you-go)
**Docs:** https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3

## Description

The YouTube Data API v3 lets you search across YouTube's 800M videos, retrieve channel and video statistics, fetch video captions and transcripts, read and post comments, manage playlists, and work with live broadcasts. Essential for any content discovery or analytics tool.

## Endpoints

| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search` | Search videos, channels, and playlists |
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos` | Get video details and statistics |
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/channels` | Get channel details and subscriber count |
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads` | List top-level comment threads |
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/captions` | List or download video captions |
| GET | `https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems` | List items in a playlist |

## Authentication

Use an API key for public data access. Use OAuth 2.0 for user-specific actions like uploading or posting comments.

```
?key=AIzaSy...
```

## Sample Request

```bash
curl "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=machine+learning+tutorial&type=video&maxResults=3&key=$YOUTUBE_API_KEY"
```

## Sample Response

```json
{
  "kind": "youtube#searchListResponse",
  "pageInfo": {"totalResults": 1000000},
  "items": [{
    "id": {"kind": "youtube#video", "videoId": "aircAruvnKk"},
    "snippet": {
      "title": "Neural Networks - 3Blue1Brown",
      "channelTitle": "3Blue1Brown",
      "description": "But what is a neural network?",
      "publishedAt": "2017-10-05T19:46:01Z"
    }
  }]
}
```

## Pricing Details

Search costs 100 units. Video list: 1 unit. Comments list: 1 unit. Upload: 1,600 units. Additional quota: $0 (apply for increase via Google).

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*Source: [API Map](https://apimap.dev/apis/youtube/) — CC BY 4.0*