Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover seo & discovery and analytics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| TubeBuddy | vidIQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $12 | From $16.58 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Some of it | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Covers | SEO & Discovery, Analytics, Thumbnails & Cover Art | SEO & Discovery, Analytics, Research & Trends |
| Works with | YouTube | YouTube |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Bulk YouTube edits and thumbnail A/B testing
TubeBuddy is the older of the two big YouTube extensions and is stronger on the boring half: changing end screens on two hundred videos, finding and replacing a line in every description, sorting tags. Its A/B thumbnail test is the feature people cite most. There is no free plan on the pricing page.
Only on this side
YouTube research, and a coach that reads your channel
vidIQ is a browser extension and an app that puts keyword, competitor and thumbnail data next to the video you are about to publish. The part people stay for is the AI coach, which reads your own channel rather than giving general advice. Its suggestions are worth arguing with rather than following.
Our note
vidIQ and TubeBuddy overlap enough that paying for both is waste. vidIQ is the better research and ideas tool; TubeBuddy is the better bulk-editing one. Pick by which job you actually have.
Only on this side
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.