Introduction to TubeBuddy vs. vidIQ
Tubebuddy and vidIQ are two software that share a primary aim – optimizing YouTube content for better results. Each platform has unique features and tools, but they share the same basics, which is boosting productivity, SEO, and engagement. But as a creator, it is important to research properly before choosing between Tubebuddy vs vidIQ, so that you can match with the right tool without regrets.
When comparing software for content, your best bet is a comprehensive review. Between our Tubebuddy review and vidIQ review, you’ll see real feedback from someone who has actually used the software. This is essential for matchmaking purposes because you can even find the right pricing tier in a detailed Tubebuddy guide. But even after checking out comprehensive reviews, you’d still need a skeptical comparison to see the similarities and contrasts between your two biggest contenders.
Read on as we explore the much sought Tubebuddy vs vidIQ comparison, where we’ll outline the perks of each software and honestly review their strengths and weaknesses. Plus, later in the article I reveal my personal experience with each tool.
First Off, What is Tubebuddy?
Tubebuddy is a popular YouTube optimization software used by nearly 500k people. It is available as a web extension for creators to merge with their YouTube channels. It has a built-in search engine that allows you to search out trending topics, and an extensive SEO feature to help you optimize them.
Tubebuddy also offers channelytics for monitoring your channel’s progress over different time frames and productivity enhancers like comment export, A/B testing, and bulk features.
What About vidIQ?
vidIQ is a YouTube automation software creators use to streamline their content. It aims to support YouTube content creators with analytics, insights, and recommendations, so that even beginners can skyrocket their channel’s progress. It also features a free but limited plan for creators who aren’t yet ready to subscribe but need some decent features.
vidIQ offers daily suggestions to help creators strategize their topics. These ideas are tailored to your niche and keyword-specific, so that creators can cover topics their audience like to see. It also provides analytics, subscriber statistics, and competitor trackers to help creators compare and improve their content.
Toe-to-Toe: vidIQ vs Tubebuddy Pricing
Tubebuddy Pricing
When placed side by side, you’ll see that vidIQ costs more than Tubebuddy – Tubebuddy starts at $4.50 and vidIQ starts at $7.50. But later in this guide, you’ll see that there’s more to vidIQ than its pricing, and in some areas,it is actually more extensive than Tubebuddy.
Meanwhile here’s a chart to compare between vidIQ and Tubebuddy’s pricing:
| Tubebuddy plans | Monthly plans | Annual plans | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | $0 | ● Tag suggestions ● Video topic planners ● Best practice checks |
| Pro | $4.50 | $3.60 | ● A limited title generator to help with title creation ● Analytics spanning across search insights, videolytics and channelytics ● A keyword explorer and tag sorter to help you rank for the most important tags ● SEO studio feature to help optimize your video to show up in search and related ● A thumbnail generator and analyzer to enhance your productivity during creation |
| Legend | $28.99 | $23.19 | ● Click magnet and demonetization double-check ● A/B testing and Vid4Vid promotion ● Unlimited access to all AI features Bulk features like Find, Replace, and Append and Bulk Delete Comments ● The ability to export comments ● Channel valuation and a more flexible backup than Pro |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | ● 1:1 training sessions Channel reviews ● White glove onboarding with custom plans ● Advanced AI analytics ● Real-time coaching from YouTube professionals ● Quarterly strategy sessions from the Pros ● 24/7 premium customer support |
By contrast, here are the plans sold by vidIQ:
| vidIQ plans | Monthly plans | Annual plans | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | $0 | ● Access to three daily ideas and competitor tracking ● Access to the vidlQ academy ● Basic video analytics and the ability to compare views ● Access to video scorecard and live stats bar |
| Pro | $10 | $90 ($7.50/mo) | ● Access to up to 10 daily ideas and 1 trend alert ● Email and chat support ●Access to keyword research tool and limited most viewed videos feature ● The ability to view top trending videos ●Access to an advanced keyword research tool ● Access to Best Time of the Day feature to improve engagement |
| Boost | $49 | $468 ($39/mo) | ● Up to 50 daily ideas and access to the vidlQ keyword engine ●The ability to access 5, 10, or 15 trend alerts ●Advanced feature for ●Most Viewed Videos ●Access to dedicated SEO analysis and channel-wide tags |
| Max | $99 | $948 ($79/mo) | ● Access to priority email and chat support ●Access to a live coaching group ●The ability to retrieve previously recorded coaching sessions ●Access to a premium community for exclusive creators |
You know how some platforms offer 7-day trials before billing for a subscription? Both Tubebuddy and vidIQ don’t offer those, so you’ll be charged immediately if you want to upgrade your subscription.
However, you can always preview the software with the freemium plan, since you can preview the features (even though limited). But if you want the good stuff straight away, it is best to know the package of features you’ll be paying for.
Which is Better Tubebuddy or vidIQ?
I’ll give it to you straight – I prefer Tubebuddy. The cost and selection of features makes every tier robust, and in my opinion, the value to cost ratio is unmatched. However, many creators stand with vidIQ because its revenue and competitor tracking and analytics go deeper than Tubebuddy’s. But even though I agree, Tubebuddy’s SEO and recommendations are hard to pass.
This side by side comparison will help you decide which team your on – vidIQ or Tubebuddy:
Side by Side Comparison
Overall Star Rating
User Interface
Analytics and Data
Bulk Editing
Competitor Research
Monetization
App Integrations
Demonetization Prevention
Chapter Editor
Member Perks
Search Engine Optimization
Topics Suggestions
TubeBuddy vs vidIQ: Detail Comparison
I. User Interface
Tubebuddy’s user interface employs a more intuitive and user friendly approach. I found the color schemes, layout, and typography really easy to digest, even as the platform remains efficient and responsive. Don’t get me wrong – vidIQ isn’t necessarily a brain racker, but it is certainly more tricky for creators to use than Tubebuddy.
II. Analytics and Data
Analytics and data form the foundation of any optimization software because you can only improve your strategy when you have stats. Tubebuddy’s channelytics were pretty straightforward, but vidIQ did it better with its in-depth and user-friendly analytic tool.
I found it easier to identify patterns of engagement with vidIQ, allowing me to make precise improvements in my YouTube strategy. vidIQ also provides more detailed insights than Tubebuddy, making it monumental in my productivity. The score card is packed full of information with helpful tool sets that pop to to explain these data points.
Another things I like about vidIQ scorecard was that key data points are color coded to indicate weather its a positive or negative statistic.
III. Bulk Editing
Tubebuddy easily wins the bulk editing feature because of the advanced nature of its bulk processing tools. The features allowed me to export and delete comments and delete, copy, and update video cards without tediously performing those tasks one after the other. I can also thumbnail overlays and find and replace text in bulk.
IV. Competitor Research
Competitor research and tracking is so much easier with vidIQ than it is with Tubebuddy. vidIQ allowed me to list out my competitors and provided insights on their performances, so I could compare and rank up to them. It also has a feature that showed me the top channels my subscribers were viewing, which opened a whole new opportunity to find and compare with my competition.
I used this chance, along with vidIQ’s trending video section to generate more topics I could post, and see how well my competition did with them. I was also able to place competitors side by side and draw up a pattern to improve my strategy.
V. Monetization
vidIQ’s monetization tracker is an in-depth tool that helped me track my journey to monetizing my channel while providing a subscriber stats overview. Here, I found the ideal time to post content so it could properly reach my audience and I used it to improve my engagement optimization strategy.
As my subscribers grew, I was able to track what I did right and if my analytics dropped, I could spot the area in my strategy that required weeding out.
VI. App Integrations
Tubebuddy wins again with its impressively diverse range of app integrations. With Tubebuddy, I could connect to Social Bluebook, Magic Links, Patreon, Amazon Alexa, Facebook and Twitter. This made it incredibly easy for me to connect to these platforms when I needed to share content.
vidIQ only connects to Facebook, which can be limiting if, for instance, you’d like to connect vidIQ to your Patreon or Twitter account. Especially in a time like today, where Facebook is increasingly getting swapped out for Twitter.
VII. Demonetization Prevention
Tubebuddy and vidIQ have demonetization features that helped steer me clear of potentially sensitive language and practices to avoid setting back my YouTube progress. But I find that Tubebuddy covers that aspect better than vidIQ.
Any words that YouTube might flag as dangerous or inciting violence will be automatically audited by Tubebudy to avoid any penalties. For instance, a topic like “How to Kill Your Next Interview”, might flagged as inciting violence because of the term “kill”. Tubebuddy also showed me my channel’s demonetized videos, which I manually submitted for review by Tubebuddy’s double-check demonetization tool.
VIII. Chapter Editor
Have you ever watched a YouTube video that was broken down into segments? Those are chapters and Tubebuddy has a chapter editor that allows you to add and edit chapters in your video without switching between the description box and video.
This makes it easier to lengthen or shorten chapters without affecting the overall video arrangement. I noticed that vidIQ doesn’t offer this feature at all.
IX. Member Perks
Tubebuddy allows its paying users to access discounts from deals from graphics, audio, and video companies. While these allowances may depend on the user’s plan, I learned that I can win sweet prizes and even free upgrades by simply being active in the creator community.
vidIQ also gives its users such exclusive deals, only that I found it much harder to qualify or even access them altogether.
X. Search Engine Optimization
I found Tubebuddy’s SEO optimization features to be far more extensive than vidIQ. If you aren’t using the Legend plan, much of the SEO features are hidden from you (which was a bummer), but since I upgraded, I can’t deny how helpful its deep keyword and tag research feature were.
For one, I didn’t need to do any SEO research outside the platform since it recommended all the right keywords, but it’s optimized tag recommendations were all I needed to cement the weak areas in my channel’s SEO.
XI. Topics Suggestions
vidIQ has a feature called Daily Ideas, where you receive a specific number of optimized topic suggestions. It used a predictive and analytic AI that recommended topics based on my keywords selection and niche, ensuring that my videos didn’t flop.
I initially registered as a Pro user, which meant I only got 3 daily ideas but I found it too limiting. So, I made the switch to the highly recommended Boost plan (which I recommend you use), which increased my limit to 50 daily ideas and the extra features were certainly worth the cost increase. I can say boldly that vidIQ’s SEO-optimized daily ideas certainly beat Tubebuddy’s topic suggestions
5 Key Differences Between vidIQ and Tubebuddy
- vidIQ features more straightforward and detailed insights
- Tubebuddy’s features and interface are easier to navigate than vidIQ
- vidIQ’s competitor tracker outshines Tubebuddy due to its share extensiveness plus its trending video section
- Tubebuddy is cheaper than vidIQ at every plan level
- Tubebuddy has a broader and more extensive set of SEO features
Tubebuddy AND vidIQ instead of Tubebuddy vs vidIQ
When I heard that some creators were using Tubebuddy and vidIQ simultaneously. I just had to give it a go.
I honestly found the interface to be very rowdy, even though the blend of features was interesting. To fix that, some creators have learned to turn off specific features, especially ones that the other software does better. But if you ask me, I’d rather stick to one software and a not-so-claustrophobic interface.
My Final Verdict on the Tubebuddy vs vidIQ Rivalry
After using both platforms to optimize my YouTube strategy, I resolved to side with Tubebuddy. This isn’t to say that vidIQ isn’t worth it, because it trumps Tubebuddy in competitor research and overall analytics. But I favor Tubebuddy’s entire package because of its recommendations, SEO, price to ratio value, and easy learning curve.
Does this mean Tubebuddy is better for you than vidIQ? Not at all. Our content goals differ as much as our software needs, so the only person who can determine the right software for you is you. If, however, you’ve picked a side and need more information about vidIQ or Tubebuddy pricing, I’ve reviewed each of them in a separate article.
I always advise creators to test run a new software with the free plan. This helps you get some firsthand experience without any commitment. Stay creative!
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