Until September 19, 2026, you can hit 50 requests per hour per IP on FreeTranscriptAPI without an API key. The usual cap is 20. We bumped it for the next two weeks while more people try the API.
What changed
- Before: 20 anonymous transcript requests per hour per IP
- Now through September 19, 2026: 20 requests per hour per IP
- After that: back to 20 unless we say otherwise
Same endpoints, same JSON. No signup, no credit card. When you hit the limit you get a 429 with rate_limit_exceeded. Response headers still include X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset.
Try it
Example request
curl "https://api.freetranscriptapi.com/v1/transcript?video_url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"Need more than 20 lookups an hour? Create a free account for an API key and 1,000 signup credits, or see the API docs.