YouTube Data API

YouTube's data API for searching videos, retrieving channel/video metadata, managing playlists, and accessing captions and comments programmatically.

Evaluated Mar 06, 2026 (0d ago) vcurrent

Homepage ↗ Other youtube google video social-media search oauth rest-api sdk

⚙ Agent Friendliness

/ 100

Can an agent use this?

🔒 Security

/ 100

Is it safe for agents?

⚡ Reliability

/ 100

Does it work consistently?

Score Breakdown

⚙ Agent Friendliness

MCP Quality

Documentation

Error Messages

Auth Simplicity

Rate Limits

🔒 Security

TLS Enforcement

100

Auth Strength

Scope Granularity

Dep. Hygiene

Secret Handling

OAuth2 with granular YouTube scopes. API key for public data. SOC2, ISO27001, FedRAMP. Quota system limits daily usage. Content policy compliance required for automated uploads.

⚡ Reliability

Uptime/SLA

Version Stability

Breaking Changes

Error Recovery

Best When

You need to query YouTube's vast video catalog for research, content discovery, or managing an owned YouTube channel.

Avoid When

You need high-volume automated queries - YouTube's quota system severely limits heavy usage.

Use Cases

• Searching YouTube for relevant videos in agent research workflows
• Retrieving video metadata, transcripts, and statistics
• Managing YouTube channels and uploading content programmatically
• Building video recommendation or discovery agents
• Monitoring comments and engagement on published videos

Not For

• Downloading video files (violates ToS - use licensed content APIs)
• Real-time streaming analytics
• Apps requiring high quota limits without Google partnership

Interface

REST API

Yes

GraphQL

gRPC

MCP Server

SDK

Yes

Webhooks

OpenAPI Spec ↗

Authentication

Methods: api_key oauth2

OAuth: Yes Scopes: Yes

API key for read-only public data. OAuth 2.0 required for user account operations (upload, manage playlists). Multiple granular scopes.

Pricing

Model: free_with_limits

Free tier: Yes

Requires CC: No

Technically free but the quota unit system is confusing and limiting. Agents that do searches burn through quota fast. Quota increases are difficult to obtain.

Agent Metadata

Pagination

cursor

Idempotent

Retry Guidance

Documented

Known Gotchas

⚠ Quota units are consumed per request type - a search list costs 100 units vs 1 for a video fetch, catching agents off guard
⚠ Daily quota resets at midnight Pacific Time, not rolling
⚠ OAuth tokens expire and refresh logic must be implemented for long-running agents
⚠ Caption/transcript retrieval requires additional OAuth scopes and isn't available for all videos
⚠ Content ID and monetization APIs are separate, restricted programs requiring approval

Alternatives

vimeo-api

Full Evaluation Report

Detailed scoring breakdown, competitive positioning, security analysis, and improvement recommendations for YouTube Data API.

$99

API endpoint ↗ Agent guide ↗ Report inaccuracy

Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.