Best tools to grow your YouTube channel

It’s never been a better time to become a YouTuber.

Sure, the earliest creators had a head start building their channels and monetizing accounts is harder now. But there are more people watching YouTube videos now than ever before. 

The online video behemoth is the world’s second biggest search engine, trailing only its parent company, Google. More than 2 billion people visit the site each month and that’s only counting users logged into their YouTube account.

While covering YouTube for Mashable and managing channels myself, I’ve tested a number of third-party tools that can help creators run their channels. If you’re a YouTube creator or even thinking of starting a channel, here are some of the tools I think you should check out.

SocialBlade

Easily the most well known third-party YouTube tool is . Its free live sub count tool was rendered sort of useless for larger YouTube channels when the platform decided to round out subscriber numbers instead of giving an exact count. However, the tool’s top YouTuber lists, daily video view count, and estimated channel earnings still work great. To top it off, those features are free.

PocketTube

If you subscribe to a lot of YouTube channels, then your account is probably a bit of a mess. It’s crazy that there is no native feature to group or organize your subs. Enter for iOS and Android, as well as an extension for Google Chrome and Firefox that integrates right into the YouTube website’s layout. This free app allows you to organize your YouTube subscriptions into groups so you can easily follow and watch the latest videos from your favorite channels. For creators, it’s a great way to keep tabs on channels in your niche.

Bookmark It / Smart Bookmarks for YouTube

If you ever wish you could bookmark specific parts in a YouTube video, you’re in luck. and are two free web browser extensions that do just that. You can even add notes to each bookmarked spot, which is great for when you’re putting together a script for your next YouTube video. Bookmark It is a bit sleeker and has a more generous free tier. Both have pro versions for under $5.

TubeMiner

is a great new free tool that lets you search YouTube in a variety of ways that you can’t directly on the website. Creators can check out what YouTube videos are currently trending in each country around the world. You can also type in any topic and view videos pertaining to those keywords based on the year they were uploaded. But, perhaps the coolest TubeMiner feature is the ability to view what tags your favorite channels frequently use. Using this information, creators can get new content ideas and up their search engine game by learning what’s working for similar channels.

TubeBuddy

One of the most popular apps for creators is . This tool allows you to manage your channel and quickly add information (like video descriptions, titles, thumbnails, etc.) and metadata, to your video uploads. Along with streamlining the uploading process, TubeBuddy helps YouTubers test out which tags, titles, thumbnails, and descriptions get the best results.

Because it’s a web browser extension, it integrates directly with YouTube’s site. The extension works with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. There’s a free plan but even the paid options are affordable. TubeBuddy has a deal for new YouTubers as well that brings the price for its starter plan to around $4. Plus, if you do subscribe to a paid plan, TubeBuddy offers a number of bonuses such as free stock music for your videos.

VidIQ

Another major player in the game, VidIQ often gets compared to TubeBuddy. While there is some overlap in the channel management area, there are quite a few features VidIQ offers that it’s competitor doesn’t. VidIQ also comes as a browser extension, implemented right into the YouTube layout. However, the tool focuses much more on stats and analytics than TubeBuddy. For example, VidIQ offers helpful data like the ability to see how many subscribers each user who comments on your YouTube video has. Another popular feature offered by VidIQ is the like-to-dislike ratio it presents for every video. Like TubeBuddy, VidIQ has a free plan along with paid options starting at $7.50. 

SocialBook

is a platform for brands to find influencers to partner with. However, the company also has a product for creators called SocialBook YouTube Builder. While the free tier is rather limited, it does allow you to manage your channel, track a few competitors, and view top channel lists.

PicMaker

Thumbnails are an extremely important part of the YouTube video uploading process. A well-designed thumbnail will attract a viewer’s attention so they click on your video. If you’re a Photoshop wiz, stick with what you know. But, if not, Photoshop is probably overkill. was designed specifically for YouTube thumbnail creation. Best of all, it’s absolutely free.

ViralStat

Once you pick your YouTube niche, you’re going to want to check out what the competition is doing. With , you can closely monitor a list of videos and channels, as well as other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. You can see how a specific video is doing by tracking its views, likes/dislikes, comments and more over a specific time period. 

You can also see what videos and channels are trending and discover content that’s moving up in the ranks. The UI could use some work, but if you’re mostly into data, ViralStat has tons. Plans starts at $25 and has tiers like its Enterprise plan built for YouTube networks to track videos and profiles.

Repurpose.io

If you’re already podcasting and looking to get into YouTube, why not just repurpose the content you’re already creating to help build out your channel? Repurpose.io is a web app that will do just that. The tool takes any audio and automatically creates a nicely packaged video product for your YouTube channel. It’ll even add captions for a social media friendly visual podcast clip. Unfortunately, there’s no free tier, but the pricing isn’t too bad with tiers between $15-$25. This one is not for everybody, but if you’re a podcaster, it’s certainly a tool worth looking into.

Tubics

Once you get your YouTube channel really going, you’re going to want to focus more on the SEO aspects of the platform. After all, like I previously mentioned, it is the internet’s second most popular search engine. is a web app that completely focuses on your videos’ SEO rankings. Tubics doesn’t have a free tier and its starter plan, starting at $39 a month, is a little expensive for people just getting their YouTube channels started. But it can be an extremely useful tool. 

Softorino YouTube Converter

You never know when you’ll need to grab a clip or a soundbite from another channel for your video, which is OK to do as long as its fair use. Some browser-based YouTube converters are free, but I’m not a fan of those. Whether or not those tools work is hit or miss and many are full of ads. Out of all the apps, I prefer for Mac. It’s the quickest, sleekest, and most reliable of all the YouTube converters in my opinion. It will cost you, but the developer is usually running some sale where you can get the app for around $10-$20.