TubeBuddy Review- Do You Need A YouTube SEO And Growth Tool?

If you’ve been paying attention to marketing trends over the last few years, you’ll have hopefully noticed just how much YouTube has grown in popularity. YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine. Marketing there can both improve your SEO and your overall digital presence. 

But YouTube marketing can be a little intimidating, especially to small businesses. Enter TubeBuddy. While TubeBuddy doesn’t make the process of video creation any easier, it does help with everything else, including promotion, analytics, brand management, and more. 

Additionally, with it, you will actually get access to several video editing, audio track, and other services at either a discount or for free. 

If you’ve been considering taking the plunge into YouTube but weren’t sure how or where to start, then TubeBuddy might just be the tool for you. 

Unlock everything you need to know in this ultimate TubeBuddy review. 

What Is TubeBuddy? 

TubeBuddy is a powerful YouTube browser extension for Chrome and mobile apps. Since 2014, TubeBuddy has worked with 3+ million YouTube creators. Some of the biggest clients include Pepsi, AllState, CBS Sports, and FanDuel. 

Don’t let the fact that it’s a browser extension fool you into thinking it’s not robust and flexible software. Once you click on it, you enter a world of different features to enhance your marketing. 

This also helps you get much more out of your Creator Studio, including new drop-down features, shortcuts links, and advanced analytics. 

Everything TubeBuddy offers is designed around one goal—maximizing your videos’ visibility. TubeBuddy even offers a limited free version of their software so you can get a taste of what it can do. But it’s definitely worth it to check out the Star Plan for $19/month to unlock the most effective features. 

TubeBuddy Features

• Advanced Analytics
• Brand Overlay
• Bulk Uploading
• Social Sharing
• Video Looping
• Canned Responses
• Comment filter 
• Keyword research
• Best time to Post
• Demonetization Audit tool
• Video Streaming
• Closed Captions
• Mobile Screen Support
• Privacy Options

Getting Started With TubeBuddy

While TubeBuddy is pretty easy to use, getting started is not so intuitive. If you want to check out a paid plan, it’s much easier to pay for it first, then set up your account because upgrading from within the app is a little confusing. 

Otherwise, you just install the extension from the homepage, sign in with Google, and start browsing the limited free features. Regardless of whether you opt for a free or paid plan, you will need to link a YouTube channel. 

Once you do so, take advantage of the video onboarding series to learn more about the app and what it can do. Even if you know you were around these types of tools, it’s still really helpful. Don’t forget that a lot of what TubeBuddy can do isn’t just in the extension but directly in your Creator’s Studio. 

TubeBuddy Pricing

One of the only downsides of TubeBuddy is you only get one channel per license. So, if you have two related channels, you’ll likely need two separate plans—though discounts are available if you have under 1,000 subscribers. 

The free plan gives you a handful of features, including analytics and a few marketing tools, but you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to see what it can do. 

Pro – $9/month: Good choice for newbies. It’s cheap and gets a good selection of features, including keyword research, thumbnail generators, and productivity tools. 

Star – $19/month: Best all-around. All-Pro features plus bulk content, monetization, scheduling, templates. 

Legend – $49/month: Worth it if you’re going all-in on YouTube marketing. Includes split testing, competitor analysis, and retention analysis. 

Although TubeBuddy doesn’t offer a free trial, they do have an annual discount on all plans. 

In terms of pricing, TubeBuddy is often compared to rival VidIQ. It sits perfectly in the middle of VidIQ’s Basic and Boost plans making it a good fit for those in the middle. 

But let’s contextualize these prices. Video production isn’t cheap. Even if you plan to do all of this yourself, it takes hours to put together a good video. Even the most expensive TubeBuddy plans are a fraction of that cost and can help you get much more ROI, so keep that in mind when selecting a plan. 

TubeBuddy Features

TubeBuddy packs quite a punch. It has basically everything you need to optimize your YouTube marketing efforts. Here are some of the great things you’ll find super useful: 

1. Comment Moderation 

It doesn’t matter whether you have the best channel globally, and YouTube commenters will require you to grow some thicker skin. As you get more and more comments, you will want to remove those containing illicit language and other issues automatically. 

But Comment Moderation goes beyond that and helps you sort comments, reply instantly with a canned response, and highlight key comments from new subscribers. Overall, it’s a much better way to engage your audience. 

2. Keyword Explorer 

YouTube marketing is just like SEO; you need your video to show up for the right keyword search; otherwise, nobody will ever find you. TubeBuddy helps you track trending keywords, see search volume, related searches, and more. 

You can also see the top results, where your videos stand, and plan your next videos. This is one of the TubeBuddy features that really make it worth it. 

3. Bulk Processing 

As your channel grows, managing all your videos one-by-one will take ages. WIth bulk processing, you can bulk change cards, descriptions, and end screens. 

Let’s say you’re offering a new product and want to highlight it for your 100+ videos. You can do this at once across your entire video library, and can even help you find new partnership opportunities. 

4. Social Publishing 

YouTube marketing should definitely connect your social accounts. You can directly share to Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and a handful of other places. 

What’s really cool is since you can directly upload to Facebook, you can convert your content to a Facebook video and take advantage of the autoplay feature to get even more views. 

5. Best Time To Publish 

If you use SMM tools like Later or Crowdfire, then you know just how helpful optimal post times can be. TubeBuddy now extends this functionality to enhance your YouTube posting. Using their deep analytics, TubeBuddy helps get your video out at the perfect time for the largest number of views and engagement. 

Who Should Use TubeBuddy?

TubeBuddy is an essential tool for YouTube creators. If you’re launching any kind of content, this is what you need to not only track how well it’s doing but help it perform better and get more value from old and new posts. 

In addition, TubeBuddy is a good fit for any marketers who are looking to help creators get more out of their platforms. Just as you would use an SEO or SMM tool, so too does this have immense value for YouTube. 

It’s also a very minimal commitment. At $19/month for the Silver plan, you can test drive it for a month and see if it helps you or not. 

Is TubeBuddy Worth It? 

Yes. Video production is expensive. Even if you’re putting together simple explainer videos with a few PowerPoint type cue cards, all of this takes time. 

And while the Creator’s Studio has gotten better, it still doesn’t have the deep analytics or other features you need to truly track performance. 

Aside from all the great YouTube features, it also has ways for you to get more out of your web platform. You can use the keyword suggestions for your blog posts and find other ways to drive more value from there as well. 

Finally, it’s a really low bar for entry. If you’re going to spend a few hundred dollars to put out some videos, then spend $20 to get a better idea of how well they are working.

Pros

• Tons of features 
• Great competitor tracking tool
• Plenty of monetization features 
• Somewhat easy to sue 
• Affordably priced 
• Extension and mobile app
• Free basic plan
• Social share
• Deep video analytics 
• YouTube certified
• Discounts if you have less than 1,000 subscribers 

Cons

• Only 1 channel per plan
• A little confusing to get started with
• Customer service could be a little better
• UI inside extension could use a refresh 

TubeBuddy Alternatives

While there are tons of SEO tools out there for things like keywords, such as Keyword Tool, or for rankings, like AccuRanker, there aren’t many other options that can do everything TubeBuddy can do for YouTube. We only explore five of its 65 features! 

As mentioned, however, TubeBuddy is often compared to VidIQ. 

What Is VidIQ? 

VidIQ is the only real alternative out there to TubeBuddy. They share many overlapping features, including keyword research, analytics, bulk upload, and more. 

They each do have unique aspects, too, which is why some creators actually use both. However, the most interesting thing about VidIQ is the $39.99/month boost plan, which claims you can get 2X views on new videos. It also has the advantage of 1,3, or 5 channel support instead of just 1 with TubeBuddy. 

Ultimately both VidIQ and TubeBuddy are great, so check out the plan and compare them to find the best fit for you. 

TubeBuddy: The Verdict

If you’re a YouTube creator or marketer, TubeBuddy packs a ton of useful features that can help you get more out of your platform. Try out the affordable Star plan and see just how much it can do for you.