Getting started: your first transcript in two minutes

Every TranscriptFetch account starts with an API key already created for you and 50 free credits a month. No card is required to make your first request.

1. Get your API key

Sign in and open the dashboard at transcriptfetch.com/app. Your first key is generated automatically the first time you visit, and the full token is shown once — copy it then. Only a SHA-256 hash is stored, so a lost key cannot be recovered and has to be regenerated.

2. Make a request

Authenticate with a bearer token. The base URL is https://transcriptfetch.com.

curl -X POST https://transcriptfetch.com/api/v2/transcripts/video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTFETCH_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"video": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"}'

The same endpoint accepts YouTube, TikTok and Instagram links, plus direct media file URLs. You do not pick a platform — the source is detected from the link.

3. What you get back

A JSON response containing the transcript text, per-segment timestamps, the detected language, and a request_id you can quote in a support conversation.

The rest of the API

• POST /api/v2/transcripts/video - one video or media file
• POST /api/v2/transcripts/batch - many videos in one call
• POST /api/v2/transcripts/channel - a channel's or profile's videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram (on YouTube, also its Shorts, streams, playlists or podcasts)
• POST /api/v2/transcripts/playlist - a playlist's videos on YouTube and TikTok
• POST /api/v2/transcripts/search - find videos by keyword (on YouTube, also channels or playlists)
• GET /api/v2/transcripts/jobs/{jobId} - poll a long-running AI transcription job
• POST /api/v2/monitors - watch a channel, playlist or search and get each new video by webhook (monitors guide)
• GET /api/v2/me - your remaining credit balance
• GET /api/v2/health - service status

What a request costs

One credit per successful caption transcript, whatever the length: a four-hour lecture with a caption track costs the same single credit as a 30-second TikTok. When a video has no captions, the AI fallback transcribes the audio at one credit per started 5 minutes, so a short clip is still one credit and an hour is twelve. Failed requests are free. See "How credits and billing work" for plans and top-ups.

If your first request fails

• 401 Unauthorized — the header must be Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY. A bare key with no Bearer prefix is the most common cause.
• 404 / no transcript found — the video is private, region-locked, or removed. Check the link opens in a logged-out browser.
• Live streams — a stream that is still broadcasting has no finished transcript. Wait until it ends.
• No captions on the source — short-form video often has no caption track. AI transcription covers these; it returns a job you poll rather than an immediate transcript.

Still stuck? Start a conversation from the chat launcher and include your request_id.