---
title: 'Vid Kraken: YouTube download API for developers'
description: Vid Kraken is a managed YouTube download API. Send a YouTube URL and get back a direct download link to the finished MP4 or audio file. Bot detection, proxies, cookies and retries are handled server-side, so there is no yt-dlp, cookie or proxy setup to maintain.
url: https://vidkraken.com
updated: '2026-10-22'
---

# Vid Kraken: YouTube download API for developers

> Vid Kraken is a managed YouTube download API. Send a YouTube URL and get back a direct download link to the finished MP4 or audio file. Bot detection, proxies, cookies and retries are handled server-side, so there is no yt-dlp, cookie or proxy setup to maintain.

Vid Kraken completed 99.995% of downloads over the last 30 days, counted per video ([live figures](https://vidkraken.com/reliability)).

## Quickstart

1. Get an API key at https://vidkraken.com/login (free to start, no credit card).
2. Submit a download:

```bash
curl -X POST https://vidkraken.com/api/v2/download \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://youtu.be/...","format":"1080"}'

# → { "jobId": "...", "title": "...", "duration": 213, "status": "IN_QUEUE" }
```

3. Poll until the file is ready (or pass a `webhookUrl` instead):

```bash
curl https://vidkraken.com/api/v2/download/JOB_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

# → { "status": "COMPLETED", "downloadUrl": "https://proxy.vidkraken.com/...", "fileSize": 32240544 }
```

## Features

- **Video:** MP4 (H.264 by default) at 360p, 480p, 720p or 1080p through `format`, and 4K on request.
- **Audio:** `audio-mp3` (real MP3, 320 kbps CBR), `audio-aac` (YouTube's AAC stream in M4A) or `audio` (the original stream, not re-encoded).
- **Trim and clip:** `startTime` and `endTime` in seconds deliver only a section.
- **Multi-language audio:** pick a dubbed audio track by language.
- **Metadata:** `POST /api/v2/info` returns title, duration and region restrictions.
- **Clear errors:** failed jobs carry a machine-readable `errorCode` such as `AGE_RESTRICTED`, `GEO_RESTRICTED`, `PRIVATE_VIDEO` or `MEMBERS_ONLY`.

## Pricing

You pay for bandwidth only: each download counts its delivered file size against your plan's allowance, with a 20 MB minimum per download. There are no per-download fees. Failed downloads, polling and metadata lookups are free. Start free with no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | Included bandwidth | Effective rate | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $99/month | 400 GB | $0.25 per GB | $0.50 per extra GB |
| Growth | $399/month | 2 TB | $0.20 per GB | $0.40 per extra GB |
| Scale | $1,499/month | 10 TB | $0.15 per GB | $0.30 per extra GB |
| Custom | Contact us | 15 TB+ | as low as $0.06 per GB | Negotiated |

- **Larger sizes:** each plan scales up at the same per-GB rate. Starter: 600 GB $149, 800 GB $199, 1 TB $249, 1.2 TB $299. Growth: 3 TB $599, 4 TB $799, 5 TB $999, 6 TB $1,199. Scale: 12 TB $1,799, 14 TB $2,099.
- **Pay as you go:** no subscription. A one-time $49 to start, then top up as you need.
- **Limits:** one URL per request, and up to 100 downloads queued or running per account.
- **Custom plans:** committed volume, custom formats and negotiated rates. Email hello@vidkraken.com.

Sign up and get an API key at https://vidkraken.com/login.

## For AI agents

- [MCP server](https://vidkraken.com/docs/mcp): remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP, OAuth) at `https://vidkraken.com/api/mcp/mcp`
- [OpenAPI spec](https://vidkraken.com/openapi.json): machine-readable API definition
- [llms.txt](https://vidkraken.com/llms.txt): key facts and an index of the docs
- [AI catalog](https://vidkraken.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json): every agent-facing resource
- SDKs and CLI: `npm install vidkraken` ([npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/vidkraken)) or `pip install vidkraken` ([PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/vidkraken/)); source at https://github.com/vidkraken/vidkraken

## Links

- [API documentation](https://vidkraken.com/docs)
- [Reliability](https://vidkraken.com/reliability)
- [YouTube to MP3 API](https://vidkraken.com/youtube-to-mp3-api)
- [Blog](https://vidkraken.com/blog)
- Contact: hello@vidkraken.com

Downloading copyrighted material is not allowed. You are responsible for having the right to download any content you access.

Last updated October 22, 2026.