Is there an official YouTube transcript API?

YouTube's Data API can only download captions of videos you own (OAuth as the channel owner). For public videos you don't own there is no official endpoint, which is why services like Transkrio exist.

How much does it cost?

1 credit per transcript. 100 credits are free, then plans start at $9 a month for 3,000 transcripts ($3 per 1,000). Failed requests are free and unused credits roll over.

What happens if a video has no captions?

You get a no_transcript error and pay nothing. TikTok, Reels and podcasts without captions are transcribed from the audio instead.

Can I get transcripts in other languages?

Yes. Pass lang=es (or any ISO code). Manual captions are preferred, then auto-generated, then YouTube's auto-translation.

Does it work from AWS, GCP or Vercel?

Yes. YouTube blocks most cloud IPs, but the requests to YouTube are made by Transkrio, not by your server, so it works from anywhere.

REST API · JSON, text, SRT, VTT

YouTube Transcript API

Send a YouTube URL, get the transcript back. One GET request, no OAuth, no proxies, and it works from AWS, Vercel or any cloud server where YouTube blocks direct requests.

curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.transkrio.com/v1/transcript?url=https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ&format=text"

What you get

Timestamped segments (text, start, duration) plus the full text in one field, ready for an LLM prompt.
Four formats: json, text, srt and vtt.
Any language with lang=: manual captions first, then auto-generated, then auto-translated.
Every kind of video: regular videos, Shorts, live replays, youtu.be links and bare video IDs.
Playlists and channels: /v1/videos lists up to 500 videos of a playlist or a channel (@handle works), and /v1/batch returns up to 50 transcripts in one call.
Metadata: title, channel, duration, views, upload date and available caption languages from /v1/metadata.

Example response

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "platform": "youtube",
  "language": "English",
  "language_code": "en",
  "is_generated": false,
  "source": "captions",
  "segments": [
    {"text": "Never gonna give you up", "start": 0.0, "duration": 2.5},
    ...
  ],
  "text": "Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down ...",
  "credits_charged": 1
}

Why not scrape it yourself?

The open-source youtube-transcript-api library works great on a laptop, then fails in production with RequestBlocked: YouTube blocks most IP ranges of cloud providers. The fix is rotating residential proxies, which means another account, another bill and retry logic to maintain. Transkrio does that part for you, caches results, and only charges when you actually get a transcript. More in how to fix RequestBlocked.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Transcripts	Per 1,000
Free	$0	100, once	-
Starter	$9 / month	3,000 / month	$3.00
Pro	$29 / month	15,000 / month	$1.93
Scale	$99 / month	75,000 / month	$1.32
Credit pack	$10 once	2,000, never expire	$5.00

Failed requests cost nothing, repeated requests are served from cache, and unused monthly credits roll over up to twice your plan.

Code examples

Step-by-step guides with retries and error handling: YouTube transcripts in Python and in Node.js. No code? Use the n8n node, or connect the MCP server to Claude or Cursor and just ask for the transcript. Want a single transcript right now? Try the free YouTube transcript generator.

Try it with 100 free credits No card needed. Failed requests are free and unused credits roll over.

Get free API key