YouTube Competitive Intelligence, Programmatically
The OutlierKit API is now live for Pro and Max plans. Outlier video search, semantic channel similarity, AI-enhanced channel and video lookups, live uploads, transcripts, comments, and keyword research — all behind a single bearer token.
Already on Pro or Max? Generate your key from the dashboard and start calling.
Get Started
Three steps to your first API call
Upgrade to Pro or Max
API access is included on both Pro ($49/mo) and Max ($199/mo). Already on one of these? Skip to step 2.
View pricing →Generate your API key
Spin up a key from your OutlierKit dashboard. Rotate or revoke any time.
Go to dashboard →Read the live docs
Endpoints, parameters, response shapes, and error handling — all maintained at outlierkit.com/app/api-docs. That's where you'll actually wire it up.
Open the API docs →Capabilities
Nine capabilities. One credit each. JSON in, JSON out.
Not raw YouTube metrics — processed intelligence. The same data that powers Competitor Studio, available programmatically.
This page is the marketing overview. The live docs are how you use it.
For the canonical endpoint reference — request parameters, response shapes, error envelopes, authentication, and rate limits — always go to outlierkit.com/app/api-docs.
Outlier video search
Surface videos performing well above their channel baseline, ranked by composite outlier scores. Pulls from our index — no YouTube wait.
- Composite scores: multiplier, channel ratio, vs. channel avg, vs. recent avg
- Full channel attribution attached to every video
- Filter by minimum outlier score; sort by similarity, recency, or views
Outlier channel search
Semantic search across indexed outlier channels. Each result carries its top outlier videos so you can read reach and topical fit in one call.
- Find channels by intent, not just keyword overlap
- Top outlier videos embedded with every channel result
- Sort by similarity, subscribers, or recency
Channel similarity
From a seed channel, find the most semantically similar channels. Optional size-proximity rerank keeps results in the same operational weight class as the seed.
- Semantic similarity from one seed channel
- Optional size-proximity rerank (subscribers, with avg-views fallback)
- Useful for building competitor sets and look-alike audiences
Channel lookup
Full channel profile with AI-enhanced metadata. Returns cached when fresh, refreshes from YouTube on staleness.
- Gist, content tags, focus classification, channel type
- Audience age and region, content language and originality
- Growth stats, average views, recent-video benchmarks
Video lookup
Full video metadata including outlier metrics. For newly-discovered videos, scoring runs in the background and appears on subsequent calls.
- Composite outlier metrics on every known video
- Keywords, category, and channel summary attached
- Cache-aware: source field tells you fresh vs. just-refreshed
Channel videos (recent uploads)
Live feed of a channel's recent uploads, pulled from YouTube on every call — see new videos within minutes of publish.
- Always live — no waiting on a daily refresh cycle
- Light video objects ready for monitoring pipelines
- Perfect for new-upload alerts and competitor watchlists
Video transcript
Full transcript with timed segments, cached on first fetch. Pull once, reuse across scripting, summarisation, and RAG.
- Full text plus segment-level timing
- Cached forever (transcripts don't change)
- Fuel for AI scripts, summarisers, and search indexes
Video comments
Live comments from YouTube. Sort by top or newest. Pair with transcripts to mine audience signal.
- Top or newest sort, configurable limit
- Author, likes, replies, creator/verified flags
- Best paired with transcripts for audience-signal extraction
Keyword research
Expand seed keywords into a ranked list of related YouTube search keywords with monthly volumes. Deduplicated, sorted by volume.
- Multiple seeds merged and deduplicated in one call
- Volume + competition signal per keyword
- Floor with minVolume to drop low-traffic candidates
Ready to wire it in? The full request/response reference lives in the live docs.
Read the live API docs →The Data Behind the API
The Same Intelligence That Powers the OutlierKit Dashboard
The API exposes the exact data surfaced in OutlierKit's web app — no watered-down feed, no scraped approximations. See what you're pulling programmatically.
POST /api/v1/outliers/search
Semantic outlier video search across the index
Pass a query, get the most relevant outlier videos plus their parent channel context. Filter by minOutlierScore, sort by similarity / recency / views. Cached — does not call YouTube.
POST /api/v1/channels/search
Semantic channel search — the real Competitor Studio entry point
Find channels by intent, not just keyword overlap. Each result carries its top outlier videos embedded, so you read reach and topical fit in one call. Sort by similarity, subscribers, or recency.
POST /api/v1/channels/similar
Channel similarity with sizeSimilarity rerank
Seed one channel, return the most semantically similar channels from the index. Pass sizeSimilarity: true to additionally sort by size proximity (subscribers, with avgViewsPerVideo fallback) — every result gains a sizeScore in [0,1]. The endpoint look-alike audiences and competitor sets are actually built on.
POST /api/v1/keywords/research
Seed expansion with volume and competition
Pass seed keywords, get ranked related YouTube search keywords with monthly volume and competition. Multiple seeds merged and deduplicated. Floor with minVolume to drop low-traffic candidates.
GET /api/v1/channels/:channelId
AI-extracted audience and focus, not just YouTube fields
Full channel profile with channelGist, focusClassification, audienceAge, content tags, region, channel type, and growth stats — pre-extracted so your agents and dashboards don't have to derive them. Cached when fresh, refreshed from YouTube on staleness.
Content Ideation Pipeline
From Raw Research to Greenlit Scripts — Automated
Wire the OutlierKit API into the tools your team already uses. Here's what an automated competitive research pipeline looks like end-to-end.
Schedule the pull
Fire a weekly or daily job from n8n, Zapier, or a cron worker. Pass in the list of tracked competitor channels.
Pull competitive intelligence
Hit /outliers/search, /channels/search, /channels/:channelId/videos, and /keywords/research. Get composite outlier scores, channel metadata, and ranked keywords as JSON.
Let AI rank & draft
Feed the JSON and transcripts into Claude or GPT. Rank ideas by outlier score, generate title variants, and draft hooks aligned to audience signals.
Populate the ideation board
Push enriched ideas into Notion, Google Sheets, or Airtable. Your writers start every week with validated, ranked angles.
Where teams plug it in
📝 Solo creator, Notion-first
n8n → OutlierKit API → Claude ranker → Notion ideation database
🏢 Agency, multi-client
Client list → OutlierKit API (per channel) → Airtable → Looker → client PDF
⚙️ Faceless automation
OutlierKit API → GPT script writer → ElevenLabs → render → upload
Use Cases
Built for Creators, Agencies & Content Teams
Whether you're a pro YouTuber automating your research, an agency serving multiple channels, or a product team shipping AI tools — the API fits your stack.
Automated Client Reporting
Stop running manual competitor audits for every client. Pull outlier feeds, channel intelligence, and keyword data on a schedule and deliver branded reports.
- Auto-pull outliers, channel metadata, and recent uploads per client channel
- Push into Notion databases or Google Sheets for client-facing dashboards
- Generate weekly or monthly branded PDF briefs via templated workflows
- Flag channels falling behind their niche benchmark before the client asks
Content Ideation at Scale
Every planning session starts with validated angles, not guesswork. Feed outlier videos, transcripts, and keyword data directly into your ideation pipeline.
- Weekly dump of new outlier videos from your top 20 competitors
- Low-competition keywords surfaced into your Notion ideation queue
- Transcripts + comment signals attached so scripts speak to real audience drivers
- Ideas ranked by composite outlier score before they reach your writers
Niche Monitoring & Alerts
Track competitor movements across dozens of niches. Get notified the moment a new outlier emerges or a competitor ships a new upload.
- Daily checks against tracked channels for newly-surfacing outliers
- Slack or email alerts when a competitor video crosses outlier thresholds
- Live uploads feed so you see new competitor videos within minutes of publish
- Audience-sentiment shifts flagged from live comment fetches
Custom Dashboards & AI Agents
Build YouTube competitive intelligence into your own tool, SaaS, or AI agent. Skip building data infrastructure from scratch.
- Layer OutlierKit data into Looker, Tableau, BigQuery, or Snowflake
- Feed structured JSON into LLM agents for research, scripting, or strategy
- Embed outlier scores and channel intelligence into your own creator-facing product
- Replace duct-taped YouTube Data API + scrapers with structured intelligence
Faceless & Automation Channels
Spin up and scale faceless channels with proven angles. Use outlier patterns and transcripts to validate topics before investing in production.
- Score niches by outlier density before committing a channel to them
- Validate every video idea against real performance data from the niche
- Pull transcripts from top outliers straight into your script prompts
- Track channel health against niche benchmarks as you scale output
Market & Trend Analysis
Analyse YouTube as a market — topic velocity, channel similarity clusters, comment sentiment — across hundreds of channels programmatically.
- Semantic channel clustering across any niche at bulk scale
- Transcript + comment corpora for any video, ready for downstream NLP
- Export to CSV, BigQuery, or Jupyter for custom modelling
- Track topic and format velocity across tracked channels over time
Who It's For
Three Teams. One Intelligence Layer.
YouTube Agencies
Managing 5+ client channels and tired of running manual competitor audits for each one. Automate channel intelligence across your entire portfolio.
Content Ops Teams
Building n8n, Make, or custom automation pipelines for content production. Replace your duct-taped YouTube Data API + Apify setup with real intelligence.
Product Builders
Developing tools, dashboards, or AI agents that need YouTube competitive data. Integrate outlier scores, channel intelligence, and transcripts into your product.
Influencer Marketing API · YouTube Intelligence Layer
The YouTube creator intelligence API that Modash, Aspire, and CreatorIQ don't ship
Influencer marketing platforms handle creator discovery and audience verification. OutlierKit adds the YouTube-specific performance layer underneath — outlier scoring, channel similarity, and AI-extracted audience signals as JSON.
Influencer marketing platforms
Discovery, vetting, outreach, measurement
Modash, Aspire, CreatorIQ, Upfluence and similar tools own the programme workflow — and do it well.
- ✓Cross-platform creator discovery (IG, TikTok, YouTube)
- ✓Audience demographic verification & fake-follower checks
- ✓Outreach, contracts, payments, FTC compliance
- ✓Campaign tracking, CRM, ROI reporting
OutlierKit API
YouTube performance & content intelligence
The YouTube-specific signals you need to qualify a creator on content fit and performance ceiling — not just reach and demographics.
- ✓Composite outlier scoring against each channel's own baseline
- ✓Semantic
channels/similarwith size-proximity rerank — 50k-sub channels return look-alikes in the same weight class - ✓AI-extracted
channelGist,focusClassification,audienceAgeper channel - ✓Cached transcripts + live comments for brand-safety & content-fit checks
Plays well together — not a replacement
How influencer platforms + OutlierKit fit in one stack
01 · Source
Discover & verify
Use Modash, Aspire, or your existing platform to shortlist YouTube creators and verify audience demographics.
02 · Enrich
Score with OutlierKit API
Pipe channel IDs into channels/:channelId, outliers/search, and channels/similar for YouTube performance & content signals.
03 · Decide
Greenlight with confidence
Brief, contract, and measure inside your existing tool — with structurally similar shortlists and outlier-validated creators behind every decision.
Pricing
API access on Pro and Max plans
Both plans share API credits with the web app. Every call is 1 credit. Choose based on how many calls you make per month.
Pro Plan
$49/month
or $24.9/mo billed annually ($299/year)
- ✓500 monthly research credits (shared with web app)
- ✓Full API access — every endpoint, 1 credit per call
- ✓Competitor Studio — up to 10 analyses/month
- ✓Outlier detection, keywords, Deep Research
- ✓Script analysis (5 credits)
Great for individual creators and small teams automating their workflow.
Max Plan
$199/month
or $83/mo billed annually ($999/year)
- ✓2,000 monthly research credits (shared with web app)
- ✓Full API access — every endpoint, 1 credit per call
- ✓Competitor Studio — up to 40 analyses/month
- ✓Integrate 50+ YouTube channels
- ✓Advanced Competitor ID & Research
- ✓Update data on demand
Built for agencies and teams managing multiple client channels at scale.
Additional credits available at $10 per 100. API calls consume the same credits as web app actions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the OutlierKit API.
Is the OutlierKit API live?+
Yes. The OutlierKit API is live for Pro and Max plan users as of May 2026. The endpoints listed on this page are stable in v1. We're still tuning rate limits and expanding coverage based on what early users actually build — if something feels off or you need a capability that isn't there, email Aditi at hello@outlierkit.com.
How much does each API call cost?+
Every call is 1 credit. Credits are shared with the OutlierKit web app — the same pool powers your dashboard actions and your API calls. Pro includes 500 credits/month, Max includes 2,000 credits/month, and additional credits are available at $10 per 100.
How does authentication work?+
Bearer-token authentication. Generate an API key from your OutlierKit dashboard, then pass it as Authorization: Bearer <your-key> on every request. Keys can be rotated or revoked at any time from the dashboard.
What can I pull?+
Nine capabilities: outlier video search, outlier channel search, channel similarity (with optional size-proximity rerank), channel lookup with AI metadata, video lookup with outlier metrics, recent channel uploads (live from YouTube), cached transcripts with timed segments, live comments, and keyword research with monthly volumes. For exact endpoints, request parameters, and response shapes, see the live docs at outlierkit.com/app/api-docs.
Where's the technical reference?+
This page is the marketing overview. For request parameters, response shapes, error handling, authentication, rate limits, and the standard response envelope, go to outlierkit.com/app/api-docs. The live docs are always the canonical source — endpoints listed here are stable in v1, but anything schema-level should be read off the docs.
Which OutlierKit plans include API access?+
API access is available on both the Pro Plan ($49/month or $24.9/month billed annually) and the Max Plan ($199/month or $83/month billed annually). Both plans share credits between the web app and API.
Can I use the OutlierKit API to build my own product or service?+
Yes. API access permits integration into internal tools, client dashboards, and your own products. Specific usage terms and rate limits are documented in the API reference.
How stable is the API?+
The endpoints listed above are stable in v1 — we won't break them out from under you. The API is still in alpha state overall, which means we're actively tuning rate limits and adding coverage. We treat early-user feedback as the primary signal for what ships next.
What You Can Build
The OutlierKit API powers integrations across AI agents, automation platforms, and custom workflows.
Live API Demo Apps
Four mini-apps showing realistic sample responses for outlier search, look-alikes, keywords, and video inspection — with copy-paste fetch snippets.
OutlierKit MCP Server
Connect OutlierKit to Claude Desktop, Cursor, and MCP-compatible AI agents for real-time competitive intelligence.
n8n Automation Workflows
Scheduled competitor reports, outlier alerts, and keyword monitoring via automated n8n pipelines.
Claude Integration Guide
Prompt templates and AI-assisted competitive analysis using Claude with OutlierKit data.
Build on the OutlierKit API
How SaaS teams wire the API into influencer, agency, and creator-intelligence products.
Influencer Platform APIs Compared
Modash, Aspire, Upfluence, GRIN, CreatorIQ — what each ships and where OutlierKit fits underneath.
Ready to start building?
Read the docs, upgrade to Pro or Max if you're not already, then generate your API key from the dashboard. First call takes five minutes.
