Developer API
The YouTube download API that delivers the file
Queue YouTube and social-video downloads programmatically, fetch metadata, and get the finished file back on a secure signed link. The same proven engine behind TubePull — now with a REST API and predictable, flat-rate pricing.
Why TubePull
Most “YouTube APIs” never hand you the file
They return metadata, a transcript, or a stream URL that expires in minutes — and you still own the fetching, transcoding, proxies, and hosting. TubePull does the whole job and hands your code a finished, downloadable file.
It downloads the actual file
Fetch, transcode, store, and serve — your code gets a finished MP4, MP3, or M4A on a secure signed link, not a raw stream URL to wrangle yourself.
Predictable, flat-rate pricing
A fixed monthly fee bundles downloads and metadata calls, with simple per-download overage. No credit-multiplier math, no per-request guesswork.
Built-in cost control
Set a monthly overage hard cap and runaway loops or traffic spikes stop at an HTTP 402 instead of running up an unbounded bill.
The same proven engine
API jobs run on the exact pipeline behind the TubePull web app — maintained extraction, a health-checked proxy pool, and managed delivery. Not a thinner second-class path.
Ten platforms, one API
YouTube plus TikTok, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Twitter/X, Dailymotion, Bandcamp, Mixcloud, Twitch, and Streamable — video as MP4, audio as MP3/M4A.
A small, focused surface
Five endpoints cover the whole lifecycle. Authenticate with a Bearer token, POST a URL, poll for the link. Start free in the Sandbox.
Pricing
API plans for every scale
Start free in the Sandbox, then scale up as your usage grows. Overage keeps you running past your monthly allowance.
Sandbox
Kick the tires with metadata calls — no card required.
- 0 downloads / mo
- 50 metadata calls / mo
- No overage
Dev 100
For prototypes and side projects getting off the ground.
- 100 downloads / mo
- 500 metadata calls / mo
- Overage at $0.25 / download
Studio 500
The sweet spot for production apps with steady volume.
- 500 downloads / mo
- 2,500 metadata calls / mo
- Overage at $0.18 / download
Scale 2000
High-volume pipelines with the lowest overage rate.
- 2,000 downloads / mo
- 10,000 metadata calls / mo
- Overage at $0.12 / download
The Developer API is a separate add-on — independent of your TubePull web subscription. Manage your API plan from your dashboard.
How it compares
The only managed download API at developer pricing
We compared every commercial YouTube/video API with public pricing. In the $19–$149/mo range, TubePull is the only one that delivers a finished, hosted file and bundles a metadata API. Everyone cheaper returns metadata, a transcript, or a raw URL; the only other managed-delivery option is enterprise-priced.
| Provider | Sticker price | Real all-in cost* | Delivers the file? | Metadata API? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TubePull Studio 500 | $59/mo | $59/mo — all-in | Yes — managed, signed link | Yes — bundled |
| Video-Download-API.com | ~$0.15 / 500 dl | ~$450+/mo (you build hosting, reliability & metadata) | Raw file, no hosting | No |
| YTStream (RapidAPI) | $18.75/mo | You build everything around a stream URL | Stream URL only | No |
| Apify (YouTube actors) | ~$31/mo | Can’t deliver a file | No | Metadata only |
| Scrapingdog | $40/mo | Can’t deliver a file | No | Metadata only |
| ScraperAPI / ScrapingBee | $49/mo | Can’t deliver a file | No | Metadata only |
| Supadata | $17/mo | Can’t deliver a file | No | Transcripts / metadata |
| Tornado API | ~$1,200+/mo | ~$1,200+/mo (enterprise) | Yes — enterprise only | Partial |
*Real all-in cost includes the hosting, reliability and metadata work a cheaper option pushes onto you — it’s an illustrative estimate, not a quote. Sticker pricing is from each provider’s public pricing page (June 2026); per-request services are shown at their effective cost for 500 downloads/month. See the full launch breakdown for sources and methodology.
Quick Start
Fetch video metadata in seconds
Authenticate with a Bearer token and call the API from any language. Here is the metadata endpoint in four.
curl -X GET "https://tubepull.com/api/v1/video/metadata?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_api_key_here"$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_URL => 'https://tubepull.com/api/v1/video/metadata?url=' . urlencode('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'),
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['Authorization: Bearer tp_live_your_api_key_here'],
]);
$response = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);
echo $response['data']['title'];import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://tubepull.com/api/v1/video/metadata',
params={'url': 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'},
headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer tp_live_your_api_key_here'}
)
data = response.json()
print(data['data']['title'])const response = await fetch(
'https://tubepull.com/api/v1/video/metadata?url=' + encodeURIComponent('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'),
{ headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer tp_live_your_api_key_here' } }
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.data.title);Endpoints
A small, focused surface
Five endpoints cover the full lifecycle — metadata, download, status, credits, and key issuance. See the full reference.
| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GET | /api/v1/video/metadata | Fetch video title, duration, formats, and thumbnail |
| POST | /api/v1/video/download | Queue a video download, returns a job ID |
| GET | /api/v1/video/status | Poll job status and retrieve the download link |
| GET | /api/v1/credits | Check your remaining credits and billing period |
| POST | /api/v1/auth/key | Programmatically issue a new API key |
FAQ
Developer questions, answered
One credit is consumed each time you successfully queue a video download via the API. Metadata calls use a separate metadata credit pool and do not count against your download credits.
Paid plans automatically continue processing downloads at the overage rate for your tier. You’ll receive an email warning at 80% and 100% usage. Free (Sandbox) plans stop at the limit with a 402 response. You can also enable a hard cap from your API settings dashboard (Settings → Developer API) to set a monthly ceiling on overage charges — once your overage charges reach the cap, downloads stop with a 402 instead of billing further.
No. Download links returned by /api/v1/video/status are secure, signed URLs that expire after 1 hour. Re-poll the status endpoint to get a fresh link if yours has expired.
Any format yt-dlp can extract. Common options include MP4 (up to 4K), WebM, MP3, and M4A. Pass a format string in the format field of your download request (e.g. best[ext=mp4][height<=1080]).
No. Credits reset at the start of each billing period. Overage charges from the previous period appear as a line item on your next invoice.
It downloads the actual file. The API fetches, transcodes, stores, and serves the finished video or audio, then returns a secure signed link. Most other “YouTube APIs” only return metadata, a transcript, or a raw stream URL you have to fetch and host yourself.
Among APIs that actually deliver the finished file, TubePull is the only option at developer pricing ($19–$149/mo). Scraping and transcript APIs are $5–$49/mo but return metadata only; RapidAPI wrappers return stream URLs with no managed hosting; and the only other managed-delivery competitor is enterprise-priced at roughly $1,200+/mo. See the full comparison.