VidIQ vs TubeBuddy (2024) – Battle Of Best YouTube Marketing Tool

If you are a YouTuber, you probably know the importance of SEO for ranking your content! Good SEO practices can boost your YouTube views, rankings, and ultimately your revenue!

VidIQ and TubeBuddy are two powerful YouTube SEO tools that I have reviewed in the past. I have personally been using these tools for a long time to optimize my videos. But which YouTube tool is better – VidIQ or TubeBuddy? 

We will answer that in today’s VidIQ vs TubeBuddy article. In this article, we will be comparing VidIQ and TubeBuddy on a range of factors including their pricing, ease of use, user interface, and unique features to reveal the ultimate champion!

By the end of this article, I hope you will be clear if you should invest in these tools, and which plan best serves your needs! Later in the article, I’ve also revealed how I use these tools to grow my YouTube channel. 

Curious to know more? Let’s jump right into our article!

VidIQ vs TubeBuddy (Quick Comparison)

Factors	VidIQ	TubeBuddy
Free Version	Used to analyse Views per Hour	Used to Sort Comments
Keyword Research	Shows search volume of target keyword and related keywords	Shows weighted and unweighted scores of target keyword
Video Optimization	40 video optimizations Comes with VidIQ Boost plan ($39/m)	Unlimited video optimizations Comes with TubeBuddy Pro plan ($7.20/m)
Ease of Use	Easy to use	Easy to use
Bulk Editing	Good	Fast and more efficient
Learning Curve	Easier	Harder
User Interface	Website is fast No lags seen Friendly UI	Website is slow Lags are seen Outdated UI
Unique Features	VPH Historical Analysis Trend Alerts	Thumbnail A/B Testing Comment Management Click Magnet
Pricing/month	VidIQ Pro: $7.50 VidIQ Boost: $39 VidIQ Boost+: $415	TubeBuddy Pro: $7.20 TubeBuddy Star: $15.20 TubeBuddy Legend: $39.20
Visit	Get VidIQ	Get TubeBuddy

Free Version – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Free Version – VidIQ

The free version of VidIQ offers some insightful features like:

1) Views Per Hour (VPH) 

It shows you the number of views a video receives per hour. This can help identify trending videos and the ranking potential of a topic on YouTube.

2) YouTube Tag Suggestions

It recommends relevant tags along with their search volume, so you can reach the right audience and improve your ranking.

3) Basic Keyword Research

The free plan of VidIQ lets you perform basic keyword research. For every search query, it displays 5 related keywords with their search volume, competition, and overall score.

4) Competitor Analysis

You can add up to 3 competitors and analyze their channel’s top 6 trending videos with their views per hour (VPH). This is great for identifying the type of content your audience desires and then creating videos around similar topics.

Free Version – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy’s free plan also offers some interesting features like:

1) Video Analytics

With Video Analytics, you get a summary of the total views, comments, and likes on the video. You can also view the number of tags used in the video, social views, and channel analytics.

2) Comment Filters

TubeBuddy lets you filter comments on your videos by the comments you haven’t replied to, comments with a question, links, hearted/not-hearted comments, comments comprising specific words, etc.

3) Keyword Explorer

It helps you identify popular and relevant keywords on YouTube. You can get the overall score, score analysis, keyword trends, and related searches for your keyword. However, related searches are limited to 3 results.

4) YouTube Keyword Suggestions

With the TubeBuddy free version, you can view up to 3 related tags for your target keyword.

Apart from these features, the free version of TubeBuddy also offers various other handy tools like comment formatting, random comment picker, canned responses, thumbnail generator, best time to publish, etc.

Winner – Best Free Version

Though TubeBuddy offers more features in its free plan, the features of VidIQ are more focused on optimizing your YouTube videos. So, VidIQ is the clear winner!

Keyword Research – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Keyword Research – VidIQ

When you enter a keyword, VidIQ shows you its overall score along with search volume, related score, and competition. You can tap on the search volume to sort your results by search volume.

This approach is similar to the traditional SEO tools like Ahrefs, UberSuggest, etc that display the keyword’s search volume, competition, overall score, etc. I found VidIQ to be a simple and convenient tool for YouTube keyword research.

Keyword Research – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy only displays the search volume of your main keyword. To find the search volume of the related keywords, you need to select them one by one, which is not a very convenient option.

Additionally, it also divides the overall score into weighted and unweighted scores which may be a little confusing for beginners.

I liked the keyword trend charts and the list of top-ranking videos displayed for each keyword on TubeBuddy. However, I found its monthly search estimate to be inaccurate.

Winner – Best Keyword Research

VidIQ is the winner because, in my personal experience, I found the results of VidIQ to be more accurate and straightforward.

Video Optimization – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Video Optimization – VidIQ

For optimizing your videos, you can find keyword suggestions in the Video Tags section of VidIQ. It also displays the overall score of the recommended tags to help you pick the better ones.

As you keep adding keywords, it automatically suggests relevant keywords that you can add in the description and the title to improve SEO. However, the suggestions are quite limited.

Video Optimization – TubeBuddy

While using TubeBuddy for YouTube optimization, it suggests a long list of keywords. You can sort these keywords by relevance, keyword score, or search traffic.

For additional functionality, like adding target keywords in titles and descriptions, you can make use of TubeBuddy SEO Studio.

Winner – Best Video Optimization

In my opinion, TubeBuddy wins for video optimization. This is because the number of tag suggestions offered by VidIQ are quite less compared to TubeBuddy. Additionally, TubeBuddy offers more relevant keywords.  

An important point to note here is that video tags are not that relevant in 2024. YouTube doesn’t consider them much for ranking your videos. But you can certainly save a lot of time by using recommended tags.

Competitor Analysis – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Competitor Analysis – VidIQ

With VidIQ, you get VPH (Views per hour) to keep track of the hourly views of any YouTube video. Additionally, you can also add your competitors and monitor their popular videos in a week, month, or past 48 hours.

With the Pro plan, you can even check out detailed performance graphs of your competitors for the number of views, subscribers, average daily views, subscribers, public videos, etc. Using all these tools, you can take inspiration from your competitors and improve your video content.

Competitor Analysis – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy’s Keyword Research tool displays the top-ranking videos for a particular keyword. This can help you get a basic idea of your competitors.

Additionally, you can also use Brand Alerts and Search Rank Tracking features to monitor your competitor’s performance.

Winner – Best Competitor Analysis

Without a doubt, VidIQ is better for competitor analysis with its insightful tools like VPH, competitor VPH, graphical representations, etc. So, if you want to research your competitors’ performance on YouTube, you can go with VidIQ.

Ease of Use – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Ease of Use – VidIQ

VidIQ is extremely easy to use. It has a simple and friendly UI and all the options are easily accessible. Its website and Chrome extension work smoothly as well.

Ease of Use – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy has recently updated its user interface, which has improved its ease of use.

It directly integrates into the YouTube dashboard, so you can access all the key features of TubeBuddy on your YouTube dashboard itself. Its website and Chrome extension work well too!

Winner – Best Ease of Use

For ease of use, it’s a tie between VidIQ and TubeBuddy. Both tools are easy to use and offer simplified account management. They don’t require any technical knowledge. In about 7 days, you’ll be able to work with them perfectly.

Brand Alerts – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Brand Alerts – VidIQ

VidIQ features Trend Alerts where you can specify your keyword and the minimum VPH. Once any videos around the keyword cross that threshold, you will be notified via email.

You can also specify additional factors like category, language, competitors, etc. Even though the reports generated are not always accurate, it’s still a pretty good option.

Brand Alerts – TubeBuddy

The Brand Alerts feature is available on the TubeBuddy Legend plan.

It lets you enter a search phrase and set an email frequency from daily or weekly. All the videos using that keyword will be mailed to you.

Winner – Best Brand Alerts

With lots of filtering options, VidIQ is the clear winner for identifying trending videos.

Bulk Editing – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Bulk Editing – VidIQ

VidIQ allows its users to copy and edit YouTube video cards, end screens, and descriptions in bulk by using its Mass Edit feature. 

This would save up a chunk of your time! To know more about it, you can check out my VidIQ Review.

Bulk Editing – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is packed with advanced functions to help you efficiently copy, delete, and update your video cards and end screens, find and replace text in your descriptions, and add thumbnail overlays to your videos in bulk.

Winner – Best Bulk Editing

TubeBuddy is the winner because it offers more advanced bulk processing tools for editing your videos efficiently.

Learning Curve – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

VidIQ is the clear winner. I found it easier to learn than TubeBuddy because its interface is modern and the arrangement of features is neat. 

However, if you dedicate about a week to these tools, you’ll learn how to work with both them efficiently!

Best Time to Publish – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Though it’s available in both VidIQ and TubeBuddy, I don’t feel it was required. 

YouTube itself tells you the best time to publish your videos. So, this feature adds no extra value.

Mobile Apps – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Well, if you want to use these tools on your mobile, I suggest you to not purchase them at all! 

Their apps are not that well designed and do not work well either. It’s better to work with their web version.

User Interface – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

User Interface – VidIQ 

I have been using the VidIQ tool for a long time. It has a clean interface, easy for even beginners to get going with it. 

Its website is fast, and I did not experience any lags while working with it.

User Interface – TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy has loads of options crammed into different tabs, which makes it look complex for a newbie. Its interface is quite outdated in terms of design and user friendliness.

Not only that, I also get to face lags while working on it because its website is quite slow.

Winner – Best User Interface 

VidIQ wins because TubeBuddy’s interface feels quite slow. I experienced lags while using it, and it also felt somewhat old in terms of design.

Unique Features – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Unique Features – VidIQ

VidIQ is loaded with some highly beneficial features that would help you give the essential boost to your YouTube channel. Some of them are:

Views Per Hour (VPH)

It shows you the number of views a YouTube video is receiving per hour. It’s a remarkable feature to analyze which videos are trending on a creator’s channel.

Historical Analysis

It compares and shows you detailed analytics of the VPH of a YouTube channel in the past week/month/year and displays detailed graphs.

Trend Alerts

It helps you stay updated with the latest trends on a particular topic. 

You can specify a keyword of your choice, and if a video on that keyword is trending on YouTube, you will receive a notification.

Unique Features – TubeBuddy

Thumbnail A/B Testing

CTR is an important metric for your videos to rank higher. A good thumbnail can increase your CTR to a large extent. 

TubeBuddy’s A/B Testing tool is the most intriguing feature I’ve ever seen in an SEO tool. 

It helps you test out different variations of your thumbnails and analyse which generates better results.

Exceptional Comment Management Tool

TubeBuddy has one of the best comment management tools out there. 

It helps you filter your comments section by 

• Comments you haven’t responded to
• Comments with a question or link
• Hearted/unhearted comments
• Recent/Patreon Subscribers

You can also hide unwanted comments or reply to repetitive questions with pre-defined responses!

Click Magnet

It offers you helpful insights into what type of videos you should create based on certain factors.

• Power Ranking shows you your top performing videos
• Element Inspector uses AI to analyse if your videos performed better with/without face, emojis, text in titles, etc.
• CTR Opportunities show you videos performing well, but with low CTR. So, you can improve thumbnails and video titles to improve CTR.

This feature is currently in Beta mode, but I loved using it. If you want to check out more of its features, read my TubeBuddy Review article!

Winner – Best Unique Features

It is a tie, because both VidIQ and TubeBuddy offer distinct features which are not comparable. 

Both these tools have their own strengths, so you can pick a winner as per the features you prefer.

Pricing – VidIQ vs TubeBuddy

Both VidIQ and TubeBuddy have free plans comprising some decent features. If you’re an absolute beginner, you can start with the free plans right now.

Moving on, if you are a budding YouTube creator or an established one, let’s see which plan would be the most beneficial for you. 

1. VidIQ Pro vs TubeBuddy Pro 

Both VidIQ Pro and TubeBuddy Pro offer decent keyword research tools. But, the keyword research tool of VidIQ is much better and accurate as per my experience. 

Along with that, you also get the Historical Analysis of VPH to track the number of views of any channel in the past week/month/year!

So, if you need a tool primarily for keyword research, then you can go with VidIQ Pro plan priced at $7.50/month.

However, if you need an efficient tool for conducting on-page SEO, like keyword suggestions while adding tags in your YouTube video descriptions, the TubeBuddy Pro plan, priced at $7.20 would be a superb choice!

2. TubeBuddy Star 

The TubeBuddy Star plan comes at a price point of $15.20. If you have hundreds of videos on your channel and you frequently need to update them, then this plan would be perfect for you. 

With TubeBuddy Star plan, you can edit or update your video descriptions, add or remove cards and end screen templates in bulk and save up a lot of your time and effort. 

3. VidIQ Boost vs TubeBuddy Legend

The pricing of both the plans might be similar, but they differ in their features and use cases.

If you need the 

• On-page SEO functionality of VidIQ for optimizing your videos, 
• Trend Alerts to get notified on latest trending videos, and
• Bulk SEO Optimization feature to save time

Then you can get the VidIQ Boost plan for $39/month.

But if you want to A/B test your video thumbnails and titles to improve CTR, then you can go with the TubeBuddy Legend plan priced at $39.20/month!

TubeBuddy Coupon Code

If you’re looking for some exciting discounts on TubeBuddy plans, you’re at the right place! As of now, you can get a 25% discount on your first paid TubeBuddy subscription by using the coupon code 25SPRINGBUDDY.

This coupon code is valid till 30th June 2023. So, make sure you avail it as soon as possible!

When Should You Use VidIQ?

VidIQ can help you with a variety of tasks. If you need an SEO tool to:

• Create videos on trending topics
• Research keywords along with their search volume  
• Analyze your competitor’s VPH and trending videos

Then, VidIQ would be the perfect choice for you!

When Should You Use TubeBuddy?

TubeBuddy has very specific use cases. So, if you need a tool for accomplishing any of the following tasks like:

• Interlinking hundreds of videos present on your channel
• Bulk processing your videos like adding, updating or removing end screens, cards, descriptions, etc.
• A/B testing thumbnails to identify which performs best

Then, you can use TubeBuddy.

VidIQ Vs TubeBuddy Video Review

If you are more of a video person, here’s the video review of VidIQ vs TubeBuddy. In this video, I’ve compared these two popular YouTube SEO tools on many factors and picked the winner! It’s in the Hindi language, but English subtitles are available. I hope you enjoy watching!

Which Tool do I Use?

I have been using the top-tier plans of both VidIQ and TubeBuddy for my YouTube SEO, and have noted a considerable growth in my reach in the past few years. 

Though I use them both for different purposes, VidIQ is surely used more frequently.

For the major part of SEO, I use VidIQ for its keyword tool and tags suggestions. For the remaining parts like A/B testing and Bulk video editing, I use TubeBuddy. However these features are not needed on a regular basis. 

VidIQ vs TubeBuddy – Which One Would I Buy?

I would prefer VidIQ over TubeBuddy any day. I agree no SEO tool can give you the perfect estimates, but for YouTube SEO, VidIQ outshines all other tools in my experience!

Though the Bulk Editing feature of VidIQ is not as smooth compared to TubeBuddy, it gets the job done! 

If in some rare situation, I need a quick and efficient bulk optimization, I might opt for TubeBuddy’s 1-month free trial and enjoy the best of both worlds! 😛 (You can do that too!)

However, the website of TubeBuddy is slow and laggy. This is also a major reason I won’t prefer TubeBuddy.

VidIQ vs TubeBuddy – Which one Should You Buy?

Well, if you are just starting out with your YouTube journey, you can use the free plans of VidIQ and TubeBuddy. 

But if you have a growing YouTube channel and are doubtful about investing into SEO tools right now, here’s a special offer! You can use my links and get 30-days free trials of both VidIQ and TubeBuddy. 

Use their powerful features and track your channel analytics for a month. Note down the results, and let me know if you found any improvements in your channel’s performance. 

In case if there are no fruitful outcomes, you can always cancel the subscription after your free trial is up, right? So, it’s a win-win situation for you! 

Who Should Not Use These Tools?

No SEO tools can rank your videos if your content isn’t good enough. I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s the truth! Your videos won’t magically start ranking on YouTube if your content is of poor quality. 

VidIQ and TubeBuddy are just tools to help you optimize your videos. They can’t assist you in creating impactful content! Thus, they are not recommended when your content quality is below par.

You should start by comparing your videos with other creators and analyze their way of presentation, clarity, content gaps, etc. Then you can create videos that provide more value to your audience and move on to SEO tools for improved results.

Conclusion

I hope this article helped you identify which YouTube SEO tool best suits your needs. Unsure about investing right away? 

You can use my links and get a 30-days free trial on both TubeBuddy and VidIQ. 

I hope the free trial would help you clarify if these tools serve your purpose or if you don’t have a need for them just yet! 

Anyway, if you have any doubts regarding these tools, leave them in the comments section below. I would be glad to help you out!

And if you enjoy reading my content, consider subscribing to my Newsletter to never miss out on the latest updates. 

This is Kripesh signing off! Take care, stay home, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon in another article. 🙂