Do I need a YouTube Data API key to use StreamStash?

No. Downloading YouTube videos, Shorts and Live VODs works without any key. The API key is optional and only affects analytics: with a key, the likes and comments on already-downloaded videos refresh over time. Without one, view counts still refresh on every scan, but likes and comments stay at the value captured when the video was first downloaded.

Does the YouTube Data API cost anything?

No. The free quota is 10,000 units per day. StreamStash refreshes stats in batches of 50 videos per request at 1 unit each, so the free tier covers refreshing hundreds of thousands of videos a day, far more than any normal library needs. There is no card required to create the key.

Is it safe to paste my API key into StreamStash?

Yes. The key is stored locally on your own machine, never sent anywhere except directly to Google's API. A YouTube Data API key only reads public video statistics; it cannot access your Google account, your videos, or anything private. You can delete or regenerate it from the Google Cloud Console at any time.

Why does StreamStash use the official API instead of just scraping the stats?

Repeatedly scraping per-video stats at scale is exactly the pattern that triggers YouTube's bot-detection and gets the downloader blocked. The official Data API is purpose-built for reading statistics, costs effectively nothing at this volume, and runs entirely separately from the download path, so refreshing analytics can never put your downloads at risk.

Integrations

YouTube Data API Key

Last updated 7 June 2026

Optional. Add a free YouTube Data API key to keep likes and comments up to date on your downloaded YouTube videos over time: the official, rate-limit-safe way to refresh engagement stats.

You don't need this to download. YouTube videos, Shorts and Live VODs download fine without a key. This only enriches analytics. Skip it if you don't use the per-channel analytics charts.

What the Key Does

StreamStash records an engagement snapshot (views, likes, comments) for each YouTube video so the per-channel Analytics page can chart growth over time. Refreshing those numbers afterwards works in two ways:

	Views over time	Likes & comments over time
Without a key (default)	✓ Refreshes every scan	Frozen at download value
With a key	✓ Refreshes every scan	✓ Refreshes every scan

View counts come from the channel listing for free, so they always update. Likes and comments aren't in that listing; fetching them efficiently is exactly what the Data API key unlocks.

Why the Official API?

Repeatedly scraping per-video stats at scale is the pattern that trips YouTube's bot-detection and gets the downloader blocked. The official YouTube Data API v3 is built for reading statistics: it fetches 50 videos per request, runs completely separately from the download path, and the free quota (10,000 units/day) covers refreshing hundreds of thousands of videos a day. So analytics can never put your downloads at risk, and it costs nothing.

Creating Your API Key

The whole thing takes about two minutes and needs a Google account. No card, no billing.

Go to the Google Cloud Console and sign in with your Google account.
Create a new project (top bar → project dropdown → New Project). Name it anything, e.g. "StreamStash", and click Create.
With the project selected, open APIs & Services → Library, search for YouTube Data API v3, open it, and click Enable.
Go to APIs & Services → Credentials, click + Create Credentials, and choose API key. The Create API key dialog opens.
In that dialog, set Select API restrictions to YouTube Data API v3 (the console requires this), and leave Application restrictions on None. Then click Create.
Copy the key it generates, a string starting with AIza…. That's everything you need.

Why "None" for application restrictions? Restricting by website or IP would block StreamStash, which calls the API from your own machine. Leaving it on None while restricting the API to YouTube Data API v3 is the right balance: the key is locked to YouTube but works from wherever StreamStash runs.

Adding the Key to StreamStash

Open StreamStash and go to Settings in the sidebar.
Select YouTube under "Platforms".
Paste your key into the YouTube Data API Key field and click Save.

That's it. On the next channel scan, StreamStash will start refreshing likes and comments alongside views for your downloaded videos, and the per-channel Analytics charts will fill in over time.

Cost & Quota

The default free quota is 10,000 units per day. StreamStash uses the videos.list endpoint, which returns up to 50 videos per request for 1 unit. In practice that means you can refresh stats for roughly 500,000 videos a day for free, so unless you're tracking an enormous number of channels, you'll never come close to the limit.

Privacy. The key only reads public video statistics. It has no access to your Google account, your own videos, your subscriptions, or anything private. It's stored locally on your machine and only ever sent directly to Google.

Troubleshooting

Likes and comments still aren't updating

Confirm the key is saved in Settings → YouTube (the field should show your key after saving).
Refreshes happen on the channel's normal scan cycle: give it until the next scheduled check, or trigger one manually from the feed's Manage → Download Now.
Some creators hide their like counts; those will stay blank because the API returns no value for them.
Check the StreamStash Logs page for any "YouTube Data API" messages.

"API key not valid" or HTTP 400 in the logs

The key was mistyped or the wrong string was pasted. Re-copy it from Credentials in the Google Cloud Console and paste it again.

"Quota exceeded" or HTTP 403 in the logs

Either the YouTube Data API v3 isn't enabled on the project (enable it under APIs & Services → Library), or you've genuinely hit the daily quota, which resets every 24 hours. Views continue refreshing from the listing regardless, so analytics keep working in the meantime.