2026-08-23 · ytapi team
YouTube transcript API comparison: Supadata vs TranscriptAPI vs ytapi
Pricing, failure billing, endpoints, and agent support compared — facts only, sourced from public pricing pages (accessed 23 Aug 2026).
We're building ytapi, so read this with the appropriate skepticism — every number below comes from the providers' public pages as of 23 August 2026, and we encourage you to verify before buying anything (including from us). Dedicated pages: vs Supadata, vs youtube-transcript.io.
Pricing snapshot (accessed 23 Aug 2026)
| Free tier | Entry paid | Failure billing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supadata | 100 credits/mo | $17 / 3,000 credits/mo (pricing) | Docs list specific transcript credit rules, including charges for some transcript-unavailable outcomes — verify on their docs |
| TranscriptAPI | 100 credits | Homepage lists top-ups at $2.50 / 1,000 (transcriptapi.com) | Public docs: failed and rate-limited requests cost 0 credits |
| ytapi | 100 credits/mo | $17 / 3,000/mo (top-ups $5 / 1,000) | Only HTTP 200s are billed — failures are always free |
Supadata's public pricing page also lists: 1 transcript = 1 credit; 1 generated transcript minute = 2 credits; 1 minute of transcript translation = 30 credits.
What each is optimized for
Supadata is a broad multi-source scraping platform: transcripts across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, plus a web reader and AI-generated transcripts (Whisper fallback) billed per minute. If YouTube is one input among many in a wider data product, the breadth is real value.
TranscriptAPI is YouTube-focused with search, channels, playlists, and MCP support. Their per-credit top-up pricing at the entry tier is the most aggressive, and their success-only billing policy is customer-friendly.
ytapi is YouTube-only and optimized around two things:
- Billing trust — you pay only for successful calls, 0-credit endpoints exist for probing (languages, channel resolve, latest uploads), and we publish live success rates on our status page.
- AI-agent-native — an MCP server you can add to Claude Code or Cursor with one command, using the same key and the same billing as REST.
Endpoint comparison
| Capability | Supadata | TranscriptAPI | ytapi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transcripts (JSON/text/SRT/VTT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transcript translation | ✓ (30 credits/min) | — | ✓ (translate= param, same 1 credit) |
| Video metadata | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Search | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (1 credit/page) |
| Channel resolve / latest videos (free) | — | ✓ (resolve + RSS track listed free) | ✓ (0 credits) |
| Batch transcripts | ✓ (paid jobs) | — | ✓ (sync, ≤50, success-only billing) |
| MCP server | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI-generated transcripts (no-caption videos) | ✓ (2 credits/min) | — | — (we return a clean error instead) |
How to choose
- Multi-platform scraping + AI transcript generation → Supadata
- Cheapest published top-up rate, YouTube-focused → TranscriptAPI
- Success-only billing, transparent status, agent-first, batch → ytapi
Whichever you pick: check how failures are billed before you commit. It's the line item that surprises teams processing long-tail video IDs, and it's the difference between a predictable invoice and a random one.
Sources accessed 23 August 2026: supadata.ai/pricing, supadata.ai/youtube-transcript-api, transcriptapi.com. If a number here drifts, tell us and we will correct it.