TubeBuddy Review: Is It Worth It? How I Used it to Get My First 100k Views

In this TubeBuddy review, we’ll be looking at the main features, benefits, and possible drawbacks of this tool.

Is TubeBuddy worth it? Let’s find out. 

An Overview of TubeBuddy

YouTube is a fairly user-friendly platform for making videos. You don’t need any technical expertise to make videos with your smartphone or camera and upload them.

However, if you want to do any serious video marketing, it soon becomes challenging to manage your videos, stay on a schedule, and keep track of multiple channels.

TubeBuddy is a tool designed to simplify and automate many video marketing tasks. It can help you upscale your efforts in a short time and get better results. 

You can install TubeBuddy for free as a Chrome extension. There are also paid plans if you want more features or you have more videos and channels to manage. Here are a few of the benefits of TubeBuddy:

• Get ideas for new videos with low competition but high search volume
• Get more views to your videos by using the suggested video tags
• Increase productivity. Quickly embed your videos on multiple platforms.
• Manage comments for better engagement. Automate comments with canned responses. 
• Create custom thumbnails and use them with multiple videos. 
• Automate card copying for all your videos. 
• Run contests and pick random winners.
• Track information about your competitors’ videos. 

These are just a few of the features that make TubeBuddy such a valuable asset for anyone who makes videos. Of course, the features you get depend on the plan you choose.

Right now, I’d like to walk you through the process on how I find video ideas that get over 100k views.

How I Find Video Ideas That Have Got Over 100,000 Views With TubeBuddy

Tubebuddy offers an amazing tool called Keyword Explorer.

This tool helped get the idea for one video that catapulted my entire channel.

I had less than 1,000 subscribers before posting that video, but eventually that video got really close to 100k views, and my entire channel started getting a lot more attention. 

Later on, my best video got over 100k views when I had only around 5k subs:

My top 3 videos on my Spanish channel

And now, I’m going to teach you exactly how I did it with Tubebuddy.

The key (pun intended) is to find the right keywords for your videos. We need to find keywords to target that have low competition, but tons of people searching for it.

But first…

What is a Keyword?

As you may know, YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google.

This means that people go to YouTube to search for content they want.

For example, if I were looking for a nice Hiit workout, I’d go to YouTube and type that exact keyword: “Hiit workout”. Then, YouTube would throw some results of videos that match said keyword:

The higher a video is on the result page, the more views it will get — the reason the second video has more views in this example is probably that it ranks higher for other similar keywords.

It’s simple, most people prefer to click on the first result. Ask yourself: how many times have you gone to the second page of results on Google? Probably very rarely — probably as rare as the times I’ve been able to finish that entire HIIT workout.

So your objective is to get your videos to appear as the first result on the YouTube search result page.

And that’s where Tubebuddy’s keyword research tool comes in.

How to Use Tubebuddy’s Keyword Explorer to Find Low Competition Keywords

Once you install Tubebuddy for free, you’ll gain access to a bunch of tools. Click on the top right TB icon to access them:

Then, select the Keyword Explorer:

You’ll use it to measure how competitive a keyword you want to target is.

The trick to finding low competition keywords is to go for long-tail keywords.

These are keywords that are, well, long. They’re formed by 3 or more keywords.

For example, a plain keyword would be “Chocolate Cake“. This KW is way too general, broad, and thus has tons of competition.

And Tubebuddy will tell you that within the Keyword Explorer tool:

But if you targeted instead “Belgian Chocolate Cake“, you would find a lot fewer competitors because the keyword is way more specific:

Generally, the longer the keyword, the less competition it has.

Technically, there are also fewer people searching for these KWs. But when you’re a small YouTuber, 1000 people is still a lot. So it’s still extremely worth it to go for these long-tail keywords when you’re small (I still do it and I’m a medium-size content creator).

Also, to the right, you’ll find some related searches that you may want to explore to find less competitive keywords for your video.

You can also use these ideas as related tags when you upload your video so you can rank for those keyword variations too.

But that’s not all.

There’s a special section in this tool that I find incredibly useful, and it’s located in the Historical tab just below the keyword search box:

This will show you how popular a keyword has been in the past.

It tells you, with a score from 0 to 100, how popular the KW has been on YouTube in the past 12 months.

So, if September shows the number 10, and June shows a score of 50, it means the keyword was a lot more popular in June than in September.

And this is the data that I used to predict that my video was going to get thousands of views before creating it.

How?

I searched for a keyword idea related to a new video game that had been released a few weeks back called Auto Chess.

I noticed that the keyword was just starting to get really popular. It showed a score of 100 in the past few days:

But guess what? There were almost NO videos targeting it. And the few videos that had been uploaded, were pretty bad.

People needed to learn how to play this new game, but YouTubers weren’t making good tutorials about it.

So I created the best tutorial ever.

It took an entire week to plan, record and edit my video.And it worked.The video started getting thousands of views days after publishing it.And it was all because I found out that people were searching for it, but the few videos that were targeting it weren’t useful at all.This part of the tool on its own is enough reason to download the free Tubebuddy extension, but that’s not the only thing it offers.

TubeBuddy Partners

When you join TubeBuddy, you can get free or discounted memberships to many related services.

These benefits depend on your level of membership (see a breakdown of free and paid plans below).

Many of these services can greatly enhance your video marketing efforts.

• Alexa Integration. If you have Amazon Alexa, you can use it to get video stats from TubeBuddy. It’s quite convenient to be able to ask Alexa about your current subscriber count or how many views your latest video has received. You have this benefit with all TubeBuddy plans, including free.
• TubeBuddy Mobile. A mobile app for iOS and Android that’s a convenient alternative to the browser extension that lets you operate many features on the go. Included with all paid plans. You can also purchase it separately for $2.99/month. 
• Jukedeck. Computer-generated audio tracks.  
• AudioHero. Give your videos a more professional sound with 250,000 royalty-free music and sound effects tracks. 
• Collabspace. A fast-growing collaboration community for YouTube and Instagram. Partnering with others can help your channel grow.
• TuberTools. Graphics and video effects to enhance your videos and thumbnails.
• Epidemic Sound. Licensing for a diverse collection of music.
• YouTube Stock. No copyright motion graphics. 4D and HD motion graphics make your videos more exciting and captivating. 
• 3PlayMedia. Professional transcription for closed captions, audio descriptions, and translations. 
• Awesome Creator Academy. YouTube Starter Kit provides over $1500 worth of downloads including thumbnails, live stream templates, fonts, artwork templates, card templates, and more.

TubeBuddy Community

TubeBuddy has an enormous number of features, which can seem a bit overwhelming at first.

However, you also have access to many training tools and support. There’s also a large community of fellow users to consult.

Keep in mind that you can access much of this even with a free membership. 

• Forums. The forums cover lots of topics, not only related directly to TubeBuddy but also about YouTube and video marketing in general. You can learn a great deal by reading and participating. 
• Podcasts. TubeBuddy runs two podcasts that help you stay up to date with the latest video marketing tips. TubeBuddy Express covers the latest YouTube news. The Women of YouTube podcast offers advice and inspiration to women video creators. 
• Discord Server. Discord is a free chat channel where you can find many TubeBuddy members.

TubeBuddy: Free Features

One nice thing about TubeBuddy is you can download the Chrome extension in seconds, no need to fill anything out or use your credit card.

Even if you stick with the free version and never upgrade, you’ll enjoy some valuable benefits.

• Upload Checklist. Lets you verify that you’ve included all essential elements such as the title, description, custom thumbnail, info cards, and more.
• Emoji Picker. Get more attention to your videos with emojis. Add relevant emojis to your titles, tags, and descriptions without having to visit another site. 
• Quick-edit Toolbar. Easily navigate and edit videos in a playlist.
• Notification Commenting. Makes replying to comments much faster. You can reply directly from the notification window rather than having to navigate to the comments section.
• Advanced Video Embed. Go beyond YouTube’s embed options and customize the appearance of your embedded videos. 
• VidtoVid Promotion. Quickly promote a new video in the descriptions of your old videos. 
• Share Tracker. Share your videos on all social media platforms and keep track of your sharing stats.
• Channel Valuation. Assess your channel’s value. This helps you monitor your brand’s worth over time and guides you for setting prices.
• Chanelytics. Lets you compare your channel with the competition.
• Comment Word Cloud. It provides you with an instant visual picture of your videos’ comments. 
• Subscriber Outreach. Lets you connect with your subscribers on many social media sites.
• Pick a Winner. Incentivize comments by picking a random winner among your commenters. 
• Social Monitor. Track social media shares for your videos. 
• Free and Discounted Memberships. Free Amazon Alexa stats. Discounts with TubeBuddy Mobile, AudioHero, Collabspace, TuberTools, Jukedeck, Epidemic, and 3PlayMedia. 
• Additional Features. The free version also provides limited support for Video Topic Planner, Canned Responses, Comment Filters, Default Upload Profiles, Playlist Actions, and Thumbnail Generator. 

TubeBuddy Paid Plans

TubeBuddy has 3 paid plans:

Pro: $4.50/mo if you have less than 1,000 subs, and $9 for bigger channels

Includes all free features and:

• Card Templates. YouTube cards are a powerful way to get viewers to click from your video to your website, a related video on your playlist, or a landing page. Cards are also good for creating polls. Now you can set up any video as a card template and use it with any future videos you upload. 
• End Screen Templates. If you want your viewers to take action after watching your video, one of the best tools is to add an end screen template urging them to subscribe to upvote your video, subscribe to your channel or visit your website. With TubeBuddy, you can upload these templates efficiently rather than having to add them manually to each video.
• Tag Lists. Manage lists of tags.
• Suggested Tags. Identify tags that will drive more viewers to your videos. Additionally, Insta-Suggest provides tag recommendations as you type.
• Keyword Explorer. Find keywords that people on YouTube are searching for.
• Health Report. Provides an overview of your channel’s health.
• Bulk Processing Tools. Includes demonetization double-check to identify any videos that YouTube has demonetized and bulk submit them for review. You can also bulk update playlists, bulk find, replace, & amend titles and descriptions, bulk update or remove cards, and more.
• Free and Discounted Memberships. Free: Amazon Alexa, TubeBuddy Mobile, CollabSpace (1 year), TuberTools, JukeDeck. Discounted: Epidemic, 3PlayMedia, YouTube Stock, YouTube Starter Kit.

Star: $19/month

Includes all features of Pro and:

• Scheduling Options. You can schedule an edit to your titles, tags, descriptions, or thumbnails. Schedule to make videos private or add or remove them from playlists whenever you want. 
• Publish to Facebook. You can publish your video as a native Facebook video. The Facebook algorithm favors native videos, giving you a better chance for engagement than uploading them as YouTube videos. 
• Keyword Rank Tracking (limited). See how you rank for keywords compared to your competitors.
• Brand Alerts (limited). Track videos about you or your competitors. 

Legend: $49/month

All the features of Star and:

• Video A/B Tests. Conduct split tests on titles, tags, descriptions, and thumbnails for better results. 
• Auto Translator. Translate video titles and descriptions into other languages to reach a global audience.
• Competitor Upload Alerts (for 10 competitors). Find out when a competitor uploads a new video.
• Competitor Scorecard (for 10 competitors). See how your channel compares to the competition.
• Channel Access. Provide access to partners or employees.

Coupons, Discounts, and Free Trials

You can use the free version of TubeBuddy for as long as you want. In addition, there are other ways to save money on memberships.

• Discounts for paying yearly.
• If you have fewer than 1,000 subscribers, you can get the Pro version for $4.50/month instead of $9. 
• Discounts if you manage multiple channels, partner with an MCN (Multi-channel Network), or represent a non-profit. 

How to Use TubeBuddy for Best Results

TubeBuddy is not a single tool but an entire suite of tools for video marketing. Beyond this, it connects you with many related products and service that improves and optimizes your videos and channels. With a platform such as TubeBuddy, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

What Are My Goals?

TubeBuddy can help you accomplish many things. Before you decide on a course of action, though, it’s best to identify your video marketing goals. 

• Grow your YouTube channel.
• Manage multiple channels.
• Optimize your videos for better engagement. 
• Increase conversions.
• Engage better with viewers.
• Create an efficient system for uploading videos and sharing them on social media. 

You may want to achieve one or more of these objectives with your videos. TubeBuddy has many features to support these and other video marketing goals. The clearer you are about your goals, the easier it will be to form the best strategy to reach them. 

Which TubeBuddy Version is Right For Me?

The free version is suitable for beginners just starting out with YouTube marketing.

It’s also an appropriate option for anyone who just wants to try out the platform.

The paid plans provide greater capabilities to help you with video SEO, channel management, access to resources (with the many free and discounted partners), viewer engagement, and other aspects of video creation and management.

You can always start with the free or Pro version and upgrade as your channel grows. 

Do I Understand the Basics of Video Marketing? 

A tool or platform is only helpful to the extent that you know how to apply it.

TubeBuddy has useful resources for learning how all the features work.

At the same time, you’ll get more out of it if you have at least a basic understanding of some YouTube and Video Marketing fundamentals such as:

• A general understanding of how YouTube works, such as uploading videos, managing a channel, choosing the best topics for your videos, and optimizing titles, tags, and descriptions. 
• Appropriate equipment and production values. Your videos don’t need to be perfect or Hollywood studio quality. However, you do want them to look professional. Most importantly, you want to provide viewers with decent audio and visual quality. If you’re new, do some research on the best vlogging equipment so you make a strong start. 
• The need to engage with viewers. Don’t get so enthusiastic about marketing tools that you only think about promoting. It’s important to tell a thought-provoking story, provide helpful information, make people laugh, or otherwise provide value in your videos. How you do this depends on your brand voice. The point is that people watch videos for self-serving reasons. If you connect with them, they’re far more likely to click on your links at the end. 
• A strong call-to-action (CTA). No matter how good your videos are, you need a place to send viewers. If you have a compelling landing page, for example, then you’ll get more out of TubeBuddy features such as card templates, which make it simpler for people to click on your external links. 

Is TubeBuddy Worth It? 

TubeBuddy is one of the most powerful and versatile video marketing tools (or suite of tools) you can find.

Since you can start out for free, there’s really no reason to doubt that it’s worth trying.

And for $9/month (or $4.50 if you have a smaller channel), you can access a large number of features.

TubeBuddy is equally useful for new and experienced vloggers and video marketers.

Regardless of how many subscribers and views you currently get, the features can help you build your audience and create better-optimized videos.

Finally, even if it’s only for the free version, TubeBuddy is definitely worth having.

Just try it out for free by clicking on the button below.

Or, check our comparison with its main competitor, Vidiq, here.