TubeBuddy is one of the most effective YouTube SEO tools in the market. It helps YouTube creators grow faster and more smarter while enabling them to reach a larger audience.

Well, now the question is: Is it still relevant, or is it outdated? Does it still really help creators in their journey to soar higher?

To answer these questions, we need to dive deep into it and understand its features because there are a lot of exciting features to explore.

Are you ready? If you are, then let’s gooo…!

Let’s understand it one by one.

Our content is impartial, but funded in part by affiliate commissions (at no extra cost to you). 

1. Introduction

Tubebuddy is a powerful YouTube SEO tool founded by Phil Starkovich in 2014, which is designed to enhance YouTube content creation by offering a lot of tools like keyword research, tag suggestions, bulk processing, advanced analytics, and many other AI-driven features like Title Generator, Thumbnail Analyzer, and much more, which we are about to explore in the blog.

If you are concerned about whether to trust Tubebuddy or not, no worries—you can trust it completely because it is certified by YouTube itself. To get started with this tool, all you need to do is:

• Install the TubeBuddy Chrome Extension.
• Sign up with the Google Account linked with your YouTube Channel.
• Open YouTube in a new tab and activate the TubeBuddy extension. 

After these steps, you can use TubeBuddy to boost your content. It helps you with keyword research, optimizing titles and descriptions, and tracking your channel’s performance.

2. TubeBuddy Features

There are a lot’s of features of tubebuddy, which makes it the best in the market. Lets understand each feature:

2.1 Keyword Explorer

If you want to come on top of YouTube search results, then the keyword explorer feature can help you with this.

It can be a game changer for you by improving your video rankings on YouTube and Google.

It helps you find high-traffic, low-competition keywords to optimize your titles, tags, and descriptions, which ensures your content reaches the right audience.

How It Works:

Firstly, search for a keyword. After searching for a specific keyword, it shows you the weighted and unweighted scores. The unweighted score is general, while the weighted score is calculated specifically for your channel.

Under the weighted score, you will be able to see the search volume, competition, and optimization strength for that keyword.

If the videos in the search results aren’t well optimized, you have a better chance to rank higher by optimizing your video properly.

It also shows you the estimated videos in the search results, and monthly searches, and then compares you with the top-ranked videos.

It tells you the average views for that keyword and the lowest view count of videos ranking for it.

And wait, it’s not over yet, finally, it calculates the average medium score of your last 10 videos, and if your score is better than the lowest-ranked video, then you have a good chance to rank higher for that keyword by optimizing well.

2.2 Tag Suggestion

The Tag Suggestion tool is like having a personal assistant for your YouTube SEO. Tags help YouTube understand what your videos are about, and after understanding this, YouTube shows your videos to the right audience.

You can simply access it from the TubeBuddy drop-down menu.

But now you might be thinking, “How can I know which tags to use?” No worries, because that’s where the Tag Suggestion tool helps you find the right tags.

It creates a list of tags that are most relevant to your video content. These keywords are carefully selected based on factors like search trends, keyword performance, and your target audience.

You can even save that tag list to use in another video on the same topic you created earlier.

In short, the Tag Suggestion tool ensures you’re not just guessing which tags will work—it gives you data-driven recommendations to help your videos perform better.

2.3 A/B Testing

A/B Testing tool is the best tool of TubeBuddy. It compares two different versions of the same element and then figures out which works best for your YouTube channel.

With the help of this feature, you can test two different thumbnails, titles, tags, and descriptions to see which one performs better.

To test this feature, you need to post alternatives between the two versions.

Over time, like in 4 days, 10 days, or a month (you can choose it accordingly), it collects data like clicks, watch time, and viewer engagement.

Based on this data, TubeBuddy shows you which version is more effective.

And that’s how you can increase your reach and click-through rate and grow your channel faster.

2.4 Thumbnail Generator

Creating thumbnails can be hard and time-consuming and requires graphic design skills.

But wait, it’s not hard anymore because TubeBuddy’s Thumbnail Generator is here to help you come up with good and eye-catching thumbnails without putting in a lot of time and effort.

Because if the thumbnail is not good, then users are not going to click on it, no matter how much value you are providing in the content.

To generate thumbnails with the help of this tool, you can choose from your existing video frames, upload custom photos, or even use the templates provided by TubeBuddy.

It even allows you to add text, shapes, and branding elements like your logo to make your thumbnail stand out.

2.5 Video SEO Tool

Imagine having a personal mentor with you, correcting every mistake you make. That’s what the Video SEO tool is like—it guides you step by step in optimizing your video.

This tool scans your title, description, tags, and thumbnail, then gives you recommendations on what needs to be improved.

It provides you suggestions like adding more keywords or making title and description more engaging, can improve your ranking. Which ensures you meet best SEO practices.

It also offers a rank tracking feature, which monitors how your videos are performing for a specific keyword and gives you a score based on that.

Doing all these things can improve your video rankings in search results, helping you come to the top of the search results.

This means more people can discover your videos, leading to more views, subscribers, and engagement on your channel.

2.6 Competitor Analysis

What if you could install a camera in your competitor’s room and track everything they are doing—the strategies they are using and the actions they are taking?

You can do the same with the help of the competitor analysis tool. Isn’t it interesting?

This tool can help you by showing what’s working for your competitors in your niche. You can track their strategies, learn from their success, and can avoid their mistakes.

You can get insights into their titles, tags, descriptions, and even thumbnails. You can see recent uploads, their top videos, how many views they are getting in a day, and much more.

By doing this, you can learn from success, not mistakes, and apply those success-driven tips to your YouTube channel.

2.7 Bulk Processing Tools

Sometimes it can be frustrating to manage a YouTube channel, and it can be time-consuming, but wait—it’s not anymore because the bulk processing tool simplifies it by automating repetitive tasks.

Instead of editing videos one by one, you can update tags, descriptions, or cards across multiple videos within a few clicks.

Wow, it’s interesting, right? You can save a lot of your time with the help of this and reduce your stress as well.

It can even delete bulk spammy or negative comments. By doing this, you can maintain a healthy and welcoming environment for your audience.

It can add or remove graphic overlays to your YouTube thumbnails in bulk. If it can do this many tasks, then what else do you need?

2.8 Canned Responses

Engaging with your audience’s comments and replying to them can increase your authenticity and their trust in you.

But replying to each and every comment, ohhh… god, I can’t think of it! It requires a lot of time and can be frustrating.

But no worries, the canned response tool can help you with all of this. This tool allows you to save and reuse pre-written responses for common questions or comments.

And I think most of the comments only need a “thank you” from you, so by doing this, you can automatically reply to your audience.

You can even customize your comments according to the audience’s needs, which can reflect your channel’s tone and personality, and you can build strong connections with your viewers.

2.9 Best Time to Publish

With the help of this tool, you can track what time your audience is most active or which time is best to publish a video, so you can get more views and engagement.

This tool tracks your audience’s behavior and engagement over time and then finalizes the results for you.

For example, if your audience is most active between 4 AM and 6 AM, then TubeBuddy will highlight this as your prime publishing time.

Doing this can help you grow faster and smarter.

2.10 Retention Analyzer

With the help of this tool, you can analyze whether the audience is interested in your videos or not.

You can see until what point your audience is taking interest in your videos. It identifies the exact moments when they lose interest and stop watching.

This tool analyzes your audience retention graph and shows the percentage of viewers still watching.

It highlights where significant drops occur, so you can pinpoint what might be causing them—whether it’s a dull intro, a long explanation, or an unclear transition.

This way, you can improve your video or intro next time to engage your audience and see significant growth in your content.

2.11 Demonetization Audit

Sometimes you may use sensitive topics or controversial keywords, which can lead to demonetization of your video, which can be frustrating.

But it’s not anymore, because TubeBuddy’s demonetization audit tool helps you avoid publishing this type of content.

This tool scans your video titles, descriptions, tags, and even the content itself and then suggests the keywords that can lead to demonetization of your video.

This tool provides you with a list of risky keywords and tags for your video.

To avoid demonetization, you can address these flagged issues, ensuring your content stays in line with YouTube’s advertiser-friendly guidelines.

2.12 Channel Health Report

Health is the most important factor in our life; without it, we wouldn’t be effective.

Likewise, your YouTube channel’s health should also be fine. Without good health, it wouldn’t be able to drive results.

To check its health, the channel health report tool helps you best. It analyzes key metrics such as views, watch time, subscriber growth, traffic sources and audience engagement.

Additionally, it also shows insights into your overall SEO performance, video rankings, and click-through rates.

So, you can take a look at it and improve your channel’s health to drive more results.

2.13 Milestone Tracker

Achieving big milestones in life gives us a sense of motivation and discipline.

Seeing our achievements brings us a joy of happiness, which then sets big targets for us and keeps pushing us to achieve them.

That’s what the milestone tracker tool does—it shows us our own achievements. It tracks the channel’s progress and shows how far we are from reaching our target.

It can even show us our competitors’ achievements and our upcoming milestones as well.

After accomplishing that target, it gives us a certificate and a shareable graphic that we can post on social media to celebrate with the audience.

2.14 Social Media Tools

With the help of this tool, you can share your YouTube videos directly to platforms like Facebook, X(twitter), Pinterest, and a lot more without leaving TubeBuddy.

The “share tracker” tool in TubeBuddy helps you do this. It can even generate captions and descriptions on its own.

This tool also includes a GIF Generator, which allows you to create short, engaging clips from your videos.

Additionally, it offers an auto-publish option, so your videos can be shared automatically, and you can save tons of your time. Right?

3. Tools Accessibility Across Plans

4. TubeBuddy Dashboard

Its dashboard is clear and decent; you can manage all the things from a single place. It’s responsive and easy to understand.

The dashboard is user-friendly, which is easy to understand for both new and experienced users. It has a black (navy blue) and white theme, which makes it easy to understand.

By the way, TubeBuddy has gone through several changes, but the dashboard still doesn’t have a modern look. It doesn’t give you the premium look, which can sometimes feel outdated.

Otherwise, the dashboard is fine and responsive.

5. TubeBuddy Pricing

When it comes to pricing, TubeBuddy offers 4 different plans: Free, Pro, Legend, and Enterprise.

Let’s see what each plan offers:

1.Free Plan: It provides basic features that you can use to understand the tool and is mainly for beginners.

2. Pro Plan: This plan is priced at $4.50 monthly and $2.25 per month when billed annually, offering a 50% discount when purchased on an annual basis. This plan is for those starting their YouTube journey and wanting to get access to new tools for growth.

3. Legend Plan: It’s priced at $28.99 monthly and $14.50 per month when billed annually, also offering a 50% discount when purchased on an annual basis. This plan is for creators looking for the maximum competitive edge to make data-driven decisions and expand their reach.

4. Enterprise Plan: It’s designed for brands and agencies that manage multiple channels. This plan offers all features from the Pro and Legend plans, along with custom plans, dedicated support, and advanced analytics. The pricing is customized based on specific needs.

Refund Policy

TubeBuddy offers a 30-day refund policy. If you are not satisfied with your purchase and their service, you can request a full refund within 30 days of the purchase date. To get a refund, you can contact TubeBuddy’s support team.

Please note that this refund policy applies only to your first order. Subsequent purchases are not eligible for refunds.

6. Creator Resources

Well, you might be thinking that you are not familiar with these tools, how you can use them and achieve success, but wait, no need to worry because TubeBuddy’s creator resources help you become perfect in using these tools.

It helps you succeed. It has an active and engaged community of users where creators share tips, tricks, and advice to grow your channel.

You can also connect with other creators, ask questions, and exchange ideas.

7. TubeBuddy Pros & Cons

Pros:

1. YouTube Certification: TubeBuddy is officially certified by YouTube, which ensures compliance with YouTube’s terms of service.

2. User-Friendly Interface: The dashboard is simple & clean, which makes it easy for both beginners and experienced users to navigate.

3. Free Basic Features: It offers a lot of free basic features like Demonetization Audit, milestone tracker, thumbnail generator, and much more, which you can use to improve your presence on YouTube.

4. Creator Resources: Creator Resources are excellent for beginners. Those who are not familiar with TubeBuddy and don’t know much about it can learn from here. It helps you become perfect.

Cons:

1. Single License Limitation: Each TubeBuddy license is limited to one YouTube channel only, which can be a drawback for users who manage multiple channels.

2. Overlap with YouTube Analytics: Some features offered by TubeBuddy are also available in YouTube’s native analytics, which potentially reduces the perceived value of the extension.

3. Performance Issues: Some users have reported that TubeBuddy sometimes slows down their browser or causes performance issues, which impacts the user experience.

8. TubeBuddy Alternatives

1. VidIQ:

VidIQ is one of the strongest competitors of TubeBuddy. Like TubeBuddy, VidIQ also offers a lot of free features and has affordable pricing plans.

In comparison to TubeBuddy, VidIQ’s dashboard is modern and has a clean UI, which gives a sense of premiumness and doesn’t look outdated.

The pricing plans of VidIQ start from $5.98/month.

If you want to know more about vidIQ, you can click here.

Conclusion

In the end, I just want to say that TubeBuddy is one of the best tools in the market.

If you have an established channel and a larger video library, then you should definitely consider the paid plans, which offer advanced tools that can manage and grow your channel faster.

If you are a beginner, then the free plan can work well for you. After using its free plans and getting a subscriber base and views, you should definitely switch to paid plans, which can skyrocket your channel with its variety of features.

And yes, TubeBuddy is definitely worth the investment.

Have you enjoyed reading this TubeBuddy review? Have you started your YouTube channel? If yes, then which YouTube SEO tool are you currently using or going to use? Let me know in the comments.

FAQs

Image Credits: All images used in this blog are sourced from TubeBuddy and are used with their permission.