Top 5 Tools to Download YouTube Comments (Free and Paid)
Whether you're a marketer looking for audience insights, a researcher gathering qualitative data, or a content creator trying to understand your viewers — YouTube comments are a goldmine.
But manually scrolling through comments? Copying and pasting thousands of lines into a spreadsheet? That’s not only tedious, it’s just not scalable.
The good news: there are tools built exactly for this purpose.
In this post, you’ll discover 5 of the best tools to extract and download YouTube comments — including both free and paid options. We’ll compare features, ease of use, and even show you how one of them goes a step further with built-in sentiment analysis.
What to Look for in a YouTube Comment Downloader
Before diving into the tools themselves, let’s quickly cover what actually matters when choosing a YouTube comment scraper. Depending on your use case — whether you’re doing light content research or heavy-duty data analysis — some features will matter more than others.
Here are the key factors to consider:
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Ease of Use
Not everyone’s a developer. The best tools are beginner-friendly and don’t require installing anything or using API keys. -
Export Options
Look for tools that let you download comments in structured formats like CSV or JSON, so you can work with the data easily in Excel, Google Sheets, or a database. -
Scalability
Some tools slow down or break on videos with thousands of comments. Make sure the tool can handle the volume you need. -
Sentiment Analysis (Bonus!)
Some tools — like SocialDataExtract.com — go a step further and include automatic sentiment tagging using AI models like TextBlob and VADER, right in the output file. -
Free vs Paid
If you only need a few extractions here and there, free tools may be fine. But for ongoing or professional use, a reliable paid tool is worth it.
The 5 Best YouTube Comment Scraper Tools (2025)
Let’s break down five of the most effective tools available today — covering free and paid options, ease of use, output formats, and standout features.
1. SocialDataExtract.com — Best for Speed, Simplicity & Sentiment Analysis
If you’re looking for the fastest way to extract YouTube comments — without needing any tech skills — SocialDataExtract.com is the go-to choice.
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What it does:
Paste a YouTube video link or ID, click "Extract," and instantly get all public comments in structured format. -
What makes it special:
It includes automatic sentiment analysis using TextBlob and VADER, so you don’t just get raw comments — you get insights. -
Output: CSV and JSON, with sentiment tags built in.
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Pros:
- No login or API key needed
- Works on desktop and mobile
- Clean UI and blazing-fast results
- Built-in sentiment scoring (👍 Huge for marketers and researchers)
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Best for:
Marketers, product teams, researchers, content creators — anyone who wants to understand audience opinions quickly. -
Pricing:
Free for basic usage. Premium plans available for higher volume or frequent use.
2. YouTube Comment Exporter (by AppTweaks.net) — Good Free Alternative
A simple and functional tool if you just need a quick CSV export of comments from public YouTube videos.
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Pros:
- Free
- No signup required
- Output is clean and Excel-ready
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Cons:
- Limited comment depth on long threads
- No sentiment features
- Slower on videos with lots of comments
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Best for:
Occasional users who want a basic export.
3. YT Comments Downloader (Chrome Extension) — Browser-Based and Basic
This Chrome plugin grabs visible comments on any YouTube video page.
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Pros:
- Easy install
- Works directly in your browser
- Fast for low-volume needs
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Cons:
- Doesn’t capture hidden or paginated comments
- No sentiment or structured output beyond basic CSV
- Possible privacy/security concerns
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Best for:
Casual users or quick one-off extractions.
4. Apify YouTube Comment Scraper — Powerful, but More Technical
Apify is a developer-oriented platform with a YouTube comment extractor available as a ready-made “actor.”
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Pros:
- Scalable for large extractions
- Fully customizable
- Includes thread replies
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Cons:
- Requires registration and platform knowledge
- Limited free credits
- Not suitable for non-technical users
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Best for:
Developers or advanced users who want full control.
5. Octoparse or Web Scraper.io — Flexible General-Purpose Scrapers
These no-code scraping tools can be configured to work with YouTube — but they’re not specialized.
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Pros:
- Drag-and-drop interface
- High flexibility for scraping custom data
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Cons:
- Requires setup time
- Less stable on dynamic pages like YouTube
- No native comment-specific features
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Best for:
Power users who want to build custom scrapers for multiple platforms.
Bonus: Why Not Just Use the YouTube API?
If you're technical, you might be wondering — why not just use the official YouTube Data API?
While it's a valid option for developers, the API comes with a few limitations:
- API Key Required: You’ll need to register for access and set up credentials.
- Rate Limits: There’s a quota system, so you can only make a limited number of requests per day.
- Complex Setup: Pagination, threading, and data formatting take time and code to manage properly.
- No Sentiment Analysis: You’ll only get raw comment data — no extra insights unless you build them yourself.
For most people — especially marketers, researchers, or non-technical teams — tools like SocialDataExtract.com do all the heavy lifting for you, instantly and without the setup headache.
Comparison Table: YouTube Comment Download Tools
Here’s a quick breakdown of how the top 5 tools compare across the most important factors:
Tool | Free Plan | Output Format | Ease of Use | Sentiment Analysis | Best For |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SocialDataExtract.com | ✅ | CSV / JSON | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ (TextBlob + VADER) | Most users: marketers, researchers, creators |
AppTweaks Exporter | ✅ | CSV | ⭐⭐⭐ | ❌ | Quick, one-off exports |
YT Comments Downloader | ✅ | CSV | ⭐⭐ | ❌ | Casual users |
Apify Scraper | ✅ (small) | JSON | ⭐⭐ | ❌ (manual setup) | Developers / tech-savvy |
Octoparse / WebScraper | ✅ | Custom (CSV) | ⭐⭐ | ❌ | Power users with custom scraping needs |
✅ Tip: Sentiment analysis is a huge time-saver if you're looking for more than just raw comment data — and SocialDataExtract.com is the only one that includes it natively.
Conclusion: The Smart Way to Extract YouTube Comments
If you're serious about understanding your audience, tracking public sentiment, or gathering real user feedback — YouTube comments are a data source you can't ignore.
The good news? You don’t need to scrape manually or wrestle with APIs.
There are tools that make it fast, simple, and even insightful — especially if you're using one that offers sentiment analysis out of the box.
Among the five tools we reviewed, SocialDataExtract.com stands out as the easiest and most insightful option:
✅ No coding
✅ Instant download
✅ CSV/JSON output
✅ Built-in sentiment scoring using TextBlob + VADER
🚀 Ready to try it yourself?
Head over to SocialDataExtract.com and extract YouTube comments in seconds — complete with powerful audience sentiment insights.