# Is the YouTube API free? There is no price list, but there is a quota.

> Google's docs give the YouTube Data API a daily quota, not a price list: 10,000 units a day by default, and more only after an audit.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/guides/is-the-youtube-api-free · Updated 2026-10-21

Mostly, in money terms. Google's documentation for the YouTube Data API describes a daily quota rather than a price list: by default 10,000 units a day for most calls, plus separate buckets of 100 searches and 100 uploads, as of October 2026. The real cost is the quota, and more quota needs a compliance audit.

- Default quota: 10,000 units / day
- search.list: 100 calls / day
- More quota: After an audit
- Checked: Oct 2026

## Official API or this one

YouTube's side is from Google's developer documentation, seen 21 October 2026.

|  | YouTube Data API | API for Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Public channels, videos, comments | Yes, with an API key | Yes |
| Upload, manage playlists, reply as a channel | Yes, with the owner's OAuth consent | No |
| Daily limit | 10,000 units, plus 100 searches and 100 uploads | Priced per record; you top up as you go |
| Who can get access | Anyone with a Google account and a Cloud project | Anyone. An agent signs itself up in one call and starts on a $0.10 trial |
| Price model | No price list in the docs; a daily quota | Pay as you go, from $0.00045 per record |
| Setup | Cloud project, enable the API, create a key | One API key. No YouTube account or app review |

## How the quota works

Every project that enables the YouTube Data API gets a default allocation. Google's quota page says it is 100 search.list calls, 100 videos.insert calls and 10,000 units a day for all other endpoints combined. Reading a list of channels, videos or comment threads costs 1 unit a call. The quota resets at midnight Pacific Time.

Since 1 June 2026, search.list and videos.insert have their own buckets at 1 unit per call. Before that a search cost 100 units from the shared pool, so older guides that say a project can only run about 100 searches a day from its 10,000 units are describing the old rule.

To go past the default you fill in the YouTube API Services Audit and Quota Extension Form. Google says you must first complete an audit of your use against its terms.

## When the official API is the right tool

If you upload videos, manage a channel's playlists, reply to comments as a channel or build an app that people sign in to with their Google account, use the YouTube Data API. It acts with the owner's permission, which no data API can do.

It is also a good fit for small, steady reads of public data that stay inside the quota. Where it gets hard is volume: many channels, deep comment threads or many searches a day, each of which spends quota you then have to apply for.

## What you can get here

- **[YouTube Channel API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/channel-api).** Subscribers, total views, video count, country and description for up to ten channels per call.
- **[YouTube Videos API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/videos-api).** A channel's recent videos with views, likes, comments, duration and publish date.
- **[YouTube Comments API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/comments-api).** Top comments on videos and Shorts by URL or id, with author, text, likes and replies.

> **Not affiliated** API for Agents is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google. It returns public data only: nothing behind a login.

## Operation pages

- [YouTube Channel API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/channel-api)
- [YouTube Videos API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/videos-api)
- [YouTube Comments API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/youtube/comments-api)

## Questions

### Does the YouTube Data API cost money?

Google's YouTube Data API documentation describes quota, not prices, as of October 2026. Check the current terms before you rely on that for a commercial product.

### How many searches can I run per day?

By default 100 search.list calls a day, in their own bucket, since a change on 1 June 2026. Other reads come out of a separate pool of 10,000 units a day.

### How do I get more YouTube API quota?

Through the YouTube API Services Audit and Quota Extension Form. Google says an audit of your use comes first.

### Does the YouTube API need OAuth?

Not for public data: an API key is enough. OAuth is for private user data and for acting on a channel, such as uploads.

### What does a YouTube lookup cost here?

Priced per record, from $0.00045 per record. Quote any call first with estimateOnly, which is free.

## Sources

1. [YouTube Data API: Quota calculator](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/determine_quota_cost), seen 21 October 2026
2. [YouTube Data API: Revision history (1 June 2026)](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/revision_history), seen 21 October 2026
3. [YouTube API Services: Quota and compliance audits](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/guides/quota_and_compliance_audits), seen 21 October 2026
4. [YouTube Data API: Getting started](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/getting-started), seen 21 October 2026

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md