Get YouTube Transcripts in Claude for Free — No Card, No Trial

Free YouTube transcripts inside Claude

You want to paste a YouTube link into Claude and have it actually read the video. Claude can't watch videos — but connect the youtube2text.org MCP server once, and it pulls the real transcript itself. Here's the whole setup, and what "free" actually means here.

The two-minute setup (claude.ai)

Open claude.ai → Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
Paste the URL: https://youtube2text.org/mcp
A window opens: sign in with your Google account and click Allow.

That's the entire flow. No API keys to copy, no configuration files — the connector uses OAuth, so claude.ai wires everything up automatically.

Then just ask:

Summarize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... in five bullet points

Claude calls the transcribe_video tool, gets the transcript text, and works from what was actually said — instead of guessing from the title.

Claude Code

Same server, one command:

claude mcp add --transport http youtube2text https://youtube2text.org/mcp

Run /mcp inside a session to complete the sign-in. Now your coding agent can turn conference talks into notes, docs, or code.

What "free" means here (really)

No phone number. Ever. We don't ask, we don't want it.
No credit card. The free plan is not a trial that silently converts — there is nothing to convert.
No registration for the REST API. GET https://youtube2text.org/api/demo-key hands you a working key with zero account — 5 videos/month per IP.
The Claude connector uses your Google sign-in (that's what the Allow screen is) and puts you on the free plan: 5 videos/month, forever free.

If you outgrow 5 videos/month, paid plans start at $5.99 for 50 — but that's a choice you make, not a wall you hit mid-trial.

Prefer doing it yourself?

The same engine is a plain REST API — one curl for a key, one for the transcript: see Extract YouTube Transcripts with curl in 30 Seconds. Using Codex, the OpenAI API, or another MCP client? See the MCP integration guide. Full machine-readable reference: youtube2text.org/api.md.