Come on! Let’s see the TubeBuddy vs VidIQ comparison in detail.
TubeBuddy and VidIQ are the top two most plugins for complete YouTube channel management.
TubeBuddy vs VidIQ is a never ending war that continues on Quora, Reddit and other social media platforms.TubeBuddy vs VidIQ reddit thread is an interesting read. Do check that out!
No worries. In this detailed blog post, I’ll compare the pros and cons of TubeBuddy vs VidIQ features for all plans and recommend the best plugin for the price you’re going to pay.
We are going to dive deep and analyze both plugins at the feature level and definitely gonna be an interesting read.
I’m managing multiple channels so I’m using both TubeBuddy and VidIQ higher level plans for almost two and a half years.
So, I’m aware of each and every feature on both TubeBuddy & VidIQ and how beneficial it is when it comes to optimizing and managing YouTube channels.
But it’s not the case for you, most likely you have 1 or 2 channels and are very choosy about TubeBuddy or VidIQ premium version.
Disclaimer: This TubeBuddy vs VidIQ feature comparisions going to be a long read but trust me it is definitely worth the time you spent reading this post before picking TubeBuddy or VidIQ paid license.
Table of Contents
TubeBuddy vs VidIQ : Platform Availability
In the platform war, TubeBuddy is a real winner. Because VidIQ is available only on Chrome & Firefox. TubeBuddy is an all-rounder here. It’s available on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
If you are not a Chrome or Firefox lover then TubeBuddy is the best option for its versatility.
Please be informed that both TubeBuddy and VidIQ have mobile apps on android.
Before we dive deep into features comparison make sure that you’ve installed both TubeBuddy and VidIQ free version on your browser so that you can easily follow me along while comparing the TubeBuddy vs VidIQ features.
TubeBuddy vs VidIQ : Free Features Comparision
Both TubeBuddy and VidIQ have free features, the real winner in the Free Features comparison is TubeBuddy.
TubeBuddy offers 32+ Free features which include comment formatting, upload checklist, quick link navigation, emoji picker, COPPA check, videos stats, pick a winner, etc.,
Here’s the complete list of TubeBuddy free features. if you want to check.
VidIQ has only 5 Free features such as competitor tracking up to 3, 1 trend alert, video scorecard, live stats bar, video analytics.
TubeBuddy vs VidIQ : Pricing Structure
Let’s look at the pricing structure of TubeBuddy vs VidIQ. When it comes to pricing, both have a transparent pricing model.
Tubebuddy has three premium plans
VidIQ has four premium plans
TubeBuddy starts at $4.5/month(if you have less than 1000 subscribers) whereas VidIQ starts at $7/month.
TubeBuddy’s higher-level plan is $49/month and the VidIQ higher level plan is $415/month.
Here’s a pricing structure of TubeBuddy
Here’s a VidIQ pricing table
TubeBuddy vs VidIQ : Features Comparision
Let’s compare the features offered by TubeBuddy vs VidIQ.
Keyword Research Tool
When you search for a keyword, TubeBuddy gives you two types of scores: Weighted and Unweighted.This is really an very impressive feature because the score is applicable only to your channel.
Weighed score is completely based on your channel analytics and previous videos keyword traffic.
Unweighted score is a generic one.
You’ll also get score analysis metrics such as Search volume, keyword difficulty, optimization strength, related video searches, web searches, interest over time with Google trends, recommended tags.
Checkout TubeBuddy Keyword research tool for more info
VidIQ is just a subset of TubeBuddy when it comes to Keyword research features.You can get related keywords, keyword research volume, competition score,trending videos and keyword trends as shown below
Video Analytics
Video analytics is all about getting granular metadata level details about all videos(not just yours) on YouTube. You just go to the video and you can see both analytics on the sidebar.
When it comes to video analytics, TubeBuddy and VidIQ are equally performing well .
TubeBuddy gives you video ranking on YouTube search for the tags but VidIQ doesn’t offer this feature on the analytics page.
VidIQ gives some extra details such as number of words in the description, words per minute in a video, number of end screens used and links count in the description.
TubeBuddy displays the number of shares on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit whereas VidIQ shows the share count only for Facebook.
VidIQ gives you the channel tags on the video page but TubeBuddy offers this feature when you visit any of the YouTube channel pages.
Here’s a snapshot of TubeBuddy vs VidIQ -Video Analytics
Brand Alert
Brand alert feature sends an email alert when the given brand name or keyword is trending or used by your competitor in new videos.
The best example is adding your channel name or related niche topic for brand alert. If someone talks about your brand name or niche, you’ll be instantly notified via email.
VidIQ offers this feature for free with a limited option and complete feature on Pro for 1 brand alert.
On TubeBuddy, you can add 1 brand alert starting from Star plan.
Spy On Competitor
Both VidIQ and TubeBuddy offer the same info about competitors but with different types of charts and looks. You can get the subscribers, avg daily views, avg video upload.
VidIQ is the winner because it’s offering this feature for free. You can add up to 3 competitors on Free plan.
TubeBuddy provides an additional option to export the data to CSV or print it as PDF.
Here’s a snapshot of VidIQ
Here’s a snapshot of TubeBuddy
Health Report (or) Channel Audit
TubeBuddy says “Health report” and VidIQ says “Channel Audit”.
Both VidIQ and TubeBudd give you almost the same level of info for Channel Audit Feature.
You can get details such as views, subscribers, performance, engagement rate,traffic sources keywords, related videos
But VidIQ is the real winner since it went ahead and shed out an extra information such as list of videos not working well, videos that bring more subscribers, views per hour(VPH) video ranking, etc.,
Here’s a snapshot of VidIQ
Here’s a snapshot of TubeBuddy
Competitor Channel Analytics
TubeBuddy gives you the detailed stats about the channel when you visit any of the YouTube channel home pages.
Also, you can compare the view count and subscribers count against your channel on the same page.
TubeBuddy reveals the channel keywords, last 30 days views & videos uploaded and lifetime views & videos uploaded.
Here’s the snapshot of TubeBuddy competitor channel analytics:
VidIQ adds a custom tab called “Stats” on the channel page next to the About section to reveal the channel analytics that you can see in the below image.
VidIQ shows the same info that TubeBuddy shows but it doesn’t show the comparison graph against your channel.
Milestones & Achievements
All YouTubers need motivation to move forward in their YouTube career. And YouTube gives you a silver play button award only when you have crossed 100000 subscribers.
For those who just started off, they need some kind of achievements when they accomplish smaller milestones like 100, 1000 views, 500 subscribers or even 100 subscribers.
TubeBuddy and VidIQ give such awards that they can share it on social media and get applause from friends and family. You can use it for self motivation by sticking it on the workplace wall!
For TubeBuddy, click on the TubeBuddy icon and tap the “Milestones” tab.
You can find the completed and upcoming Milestones.
You can also download the milestone certificate for any channel by entering the channel name and download it from TubeBuddy milestone certificate page.
With TubeBuddy YouTube milestone feature, you can get the achievements image for your friends/peer channels as well.
So, you can greet them by sharing their achievement on social media and tag them!
On other hand, VidIQ gives achievement awards for subscribers, views, likes, comments, hours watched and uploads.
On VidIQ, you don’t have the option to download the achievements for other channels.
YouTube Coaching
As a YouTuber, you must know in and out about YouTube to succeed in your YouTube career. Just uploading videos to YouTube isn’t enough.
You must know about the COPPA, copyright strikes, fair usage policy, monetization rules, type of ads, organic SEO for videos, bringing organic traffic to your channel and much more.
YouTube is a very vast area and that’s why YouTube has its own Creator academy but that does not suffice for Pro.
As a Pro YouTuber, you must be ahead of other YouTubers when it comes to YouTube updates and features.
Also, YouTube brings new changes frequently and regularly updates their monetization rule and regulations.
So, you need some extra coaching to stay up to date.
TubeBuddy makes frequent one on one videos with well-known YouTubers and they do live discussion about YouTube updates frequently in Podcasts or in TubeBuddy channel.
You can find those on the Tubebuddy “Industry news” section as well.
VidIQ also has a dedicated YouTube channel and has its own academy for YouTubers.
Click here to enroll VidIQ Academy for Free
Both VidIQ and TubeBuddy play a great role in keeping their users educating regularly about YouTube updates.
Thumbnail Generator
Both have an in-built thumbnail editor on the YouTube dashboard. Go to YouTube dashboard videos, click on the Tubebuddy or VidIQ icon to launch the respective thumbnail editor.
You can take a frame or upload your own image for a YouTube thumbnail. Both have an option to add layers, text, shape, image.
You can save the thumbnail as a template on TubeBuddy and VidIQ and repurpose it for future videos.
TubeBuddy Thumbnail generator interface looks very attractive and easy to use compared to VidIQ.
Here’s VidIQ thumbnail generator screenshot:
Here’s a TubeBuddy thumbnail generator screenshot:
Also, TubeBuddy offers a special feature called bulk thumbnail overlay from star level onwards.
With Bulk thumbnail overlay, you can easily upload your brand image or any text for all the uploaded videos in a single click. It’s a very useful feature when you rebrand your channel name or want to append any brand image/text to all video thumbnails.
Bulk thumbnail overlay feature is not available on VidIQ.
Bulk Update Cards and End Screens
If you want to update your end screen/cards in bulk for 10,20, 30 videos or entire videos you uploaded, you need either TubeBuddy or VidIQ for bulk edit.
Though VidIQ offers this feature for free, it looks buggy when I try to bulk edit videos end screen and cards. VidIQ fails to provide an intuitive interface and confuses the users.
Whereas TubeBuddy breaks those features into 6 child features which make more sense and users clearly know what they’re doing.
So, I highly recommend TubeBuddy pro plan rather than free VidIQ for all kinds of bulk operations.
Here’s a screenshot of VidIQ bulk edit
Here’s a screenshot of TubeBuddy bulk copy cards
YouTube Video De-Monetization
YouTube regularly updates its monetization rules which affect your old videos as well. Also, YouTube bot regularly checks already uploaded videos and ensures that it meets the current terms and conditions.
Sometimes YouTube bot mistakenly de-monetize your old videos and updates the status as “Limited or No Ads” and it happened for me twice.
I came to know this only after I noticed my revenue drop by almost 20%.
If any of your video has “Limited or No Ads”, you should request a manual review.
Before requesting a review, make sure that your video satisfies the YouTube advertiser friendly guidelines
Manual reviews take 2-4 days and if your video satisfies the Advertising guidelines they’ll enable the monetization for that video.
If you have 100+ videos uploaded it’s not possible to scroll down all videos everyday. TubeBuddy automated the check with a single click and it can request a review on behalf of you.
If your channel depends on YouTube monetization then you must have this feature because you really don’t know when YouTube puts restrictions on your videos.
The worst part is you don’t get any email or YouTube notification if any of your video is restricted.
YouTube Video Tags Optimization
YouTube tags play a major role in optimizing and ranking videos on YouTube search results.
So,it’s very essential that you pick right and traffic generating tags for all your videos to increase the channel traffic.
Both TubeBuddy and VidIQ are really competitive on tag features.
But TubeBuddy has more tag related features than VidIQ such as sort tags by rank on YouTube, import tags from other videos, sort tags by keyword score,store tags in a list for later use and find tags with specific keywords.
So for video tags I recommend TubeBuddy rather than VidIQ.
Here’s a snapshot of VidIQ tags on video edit page
Here’s a screenshot of TubeBuddy tags features
AB Testing
Do you know which thumbnail attracts viewers, which title or description increase the CTR?
Well this AB testing feature allows you to have two variants for thumbnail, title, description and tags and shuffle those metadata every single day automatically and save the metrics for you. This AB testing runs for given days.
Tip: Step by step for thumbnail AB test
TubeBuddy recommends to run this AB test for at least 14 days to come up with more accurate data.
At the end of the AB test, you’ll be provided with detailed analytics in this page as shown below
Share Tracker
To increase channel views, you should share your videos across all social media. But you easily lose the track of which video you shared and on what platform you shared.
With this TubeBuddy in-built share tracker, you can check share status against each video on YouTube dashboard.
Multiple YouTube Upload Default
YouTube has one upload default feature where you can enter the predefined template for title, description and tags.
This feature is mostly used to add Social media profile, website link, contact link on the description.
The same will be shown when you upload the new video and it saves a lot of time for you when publishing video.
Because you just need to write the description for the new video and the rest of the template will be auto-populated.
Here’s Derral Eves description template and I’m sure he’s using TubeBuddy because he has different templates for different topics.
When you make videos on multiple niches, having one upload default won’t help. You need multiple upload default for multiple niches.
TubeBuddy allows you to create multiple default upload profiles and you can pick the appropriate profile during video upload as shown below
Freebies and Perks
To reward loyal customers both TubeBuddy and VidIQ offer some perks for loyalty free audio, video, graphics.
VidIQ partnered with a third party and came up with discounts ranging from 10% to 40%. On other hand TubeBuddy offers most of the perks for Free of cost to customers.
Checkout TubeBuddy Member Perks
Checkout VidIQ Rewards
Like/Dislike Ratio & Subscribers Count
VidIQ provides a Likes/Dislikes ratio % and subscribers count on the YouTube search results along with other metadata displayed by YouTube.
As a viewer, it helps to filter video further on the search results by looking at the like ratio and subscribers count.
Customer Support
TubeBuddy has a dedicated community to discuss the latest features, TubeBuddy related questions and Youtube updates.
Also, it has a ticket based customer support with SLA of 1 business day.
You can keep a track of your queries here.
VidIQ has a knowledge base article and automated chat bot. You can also chat with a person but they’re not available round the clock.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes you can use both TubeBuddy and VidIQ at the same time. Only place where both TubeBuddy and VidIQ overlap is Tag suggestion and the rest of the places look good.
VidIQ doesn’t have a lifetime access plan whereas TubeBuddy randomly gives such offers to limited users for Pro license. Check your eligibility here
Checkout Morning Fame and Tubics are alternatives.
In my personal opinion, I would say TubeBuddy is better than VidIQ.
Final Verdict 🧑⚖️
So we almost covered most of the features on TubeBuddy vs VidIQ. You can check out the complete list of latest TubeBuddy features and VidIQ features.
So, What do I recommend TubeBuddy vs VidIQ?
For young YouTubers having less than 1000 subs
For Pro YouTubers
For advanced YouTubers
Please do let me know if you have any questions. I would like to know what feature you liked the most on TubeBuddy and VidIQ.
PS: I almost took 10 days to write this detailed TubeBuddy vs VidIQ features comparison blog post. So, if you spend 10 seconds to share this article I would be super happy.
Also tell me which one you like the most?