Review: Is vidIQ Pro Worth Using for a YouTube Channel?

There are a lot of tools on the Internet to help you succeed on YouTube. And vidIQ is quite a popular platform. But is vidIQ Pro worth using to build your YouTube channel? As long as you utilize everything for which you’re paying.

In the grand scheme of things, vidIQ Pro is probably among the most affordable tools for content creation. If you’re able to use it to boost watch time, the app may pay for itself once you’re in the YouTube Partner Program.

The trick is to make content people want to watch.

What is vidIQ Pro for YouTube?

vidIQ is a free app that you can use to help build your YouTube channel. You have access to search trends on YouTube, analysis of competing channels, and detailed monitoring of your channel as a whole.

What vidIQ Pro delivers is a huge step up from the free account.

This includes tracking up to six competitors instead of three, 10 daily ideas for videos, the keyword research tool, top trending videos, and more.

You can upgrade to the Pro version for either $10 per month or $90 for the entire year. The annual payment saves you $30 overall, which is the plan I normally use.

What Can You Expect from vidIQ Pro and YouTube?

The free version of vidIQ offers a bit of insight into how to start your YouTube channel. But is the Pro version worth paying for to get more bang for your buck?

That depends on how often you plan to use the tool.

Remember, any app is only as good as the effort you put into using it. If you don’t plan on keeping up on the stats and data or spend time creating a content strategy, no app is going to turn your channel into a success.

Free vidIQ Browser Extension

The browser extension for vidIQ is free to use and install. It adds a few new elements to your browser while accessing the YouTube website. Not only does it provide your channel statistics at the top, but you can see a few details of the video for which you’re currently viewing.

Perhaps the browser extension shines even more so when searching for videos on YouTube. It’ll provide quite a few details including search rank and performance.

This feature alone can help you find a slew of keywords to use as well as inspire relevant ideas for the term. And so far, the “Overall score” for the terms has been exceptionally helpful for video ideas.

The extension will also add a few elements to the YouTube Studio to help you in a variety of ways. For example, vidIQ will show recommended tags and let you save “Tag Templates” when you create similar content.

Essentially, it’s a time-saving tool that can cut down on trying to figure out the best tags for your video. But that’s just one of many features the extension provides.

A couple of other features that might pique your interest include an AI-generated title and description suggestion button.

Again, these features are merely to save you some time while basing the text on recorded data.

Quick Channel Stats

When you log into your vidIQ dashboard, you’re treated with your basic YouTube channel stats. This will show you things like views, subscribers, a Monetization tracker, subscriber overview, and other channel necessities.

Some of this information is available in the free version of vidIQ. However, you’ll notice a difference in available functionality with vidIQ Pro when analyzing your YouTube channel.

If you want deeper analytics, it’s better if you use YouTube Studio. Nonetheless, vidIQ Pro will display the basics of your viewer traffic while offering recommendations and opportunities based on your channel’s performance and data.

Daily Ideas

I’m not all that big of a fan of the Daily Ideas feature you get with vidIQ Pro for YouTube videos. From what I gather, they are essentially pulled from other channels that have current trending views on the platform.

Now, I can see how getting ideas could be helpful if you run into creator’s block. Perhaps you can get an idea from something that is already out there.

However, keep in mind that anyone else using vidIQ with a similar channel to your own is probably getting the same ideas.

It’s along the lines of using stock photo imagery. Sure, it’s fine to get ideas. But then you start saturating the landscape with the same content. Thus, it’s creating more and more competition as the platform grows in popularity.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use the Daily Ideas from vidIQ. I’m just personally not a fan of cookie-cutter content.

Top Keyword Opportunities

The Keywords screen is probably the one I use most on vidIQ Pro. Not only does it show the top search terms for your channel, but it will also provide keyword opportunities and show rising keywords on YouTube.

However, the “Rising keywords” segment only provides the top three. You’ll have to upgrade to vidIQ Boost to get a larger list.

If you need even more ideas or want to search for something unique, you can also use the search field for other terms.

Keep in mind that the keyword tool is probably better suited for those who are specifically targeting YouTube as a search engine. Given the nature of my writing channel, that’s what I tend to gravitate toward.

Tutorials are often harder to set for binge-worthy content.

Nonetheless, it might help you get some ideas if you’re not focusing purely on search engine optimization. I know a lot of people who do not, so it’s completely up to how you want to manage your channel.

Comparing Your Channel to Competitors

Another one of my favorite features is the list of competitors. vidIQ Pro allows up to six YouTube channels to pit against your own. it can be quite useful for gaining a few of the same audience members.

Keeping an eye on your competitors can give you an idea about how your channel should be performing in the grand scheme of things. When you see how others are producing content similar to your own, you can get an idea of what changes you’ll need to make.

Granted, you don’t want to create the exact same content as someone else. Rehashing the same thing someone else produced usually doesn’t go over that well. But your competitors can still provide you with ideas that you can put your own personal spin on for the channel.

Personal AI Coach?

I’m not a fan of AI-generated content. With that being said, I don’t see anything wrong with having a conversation with a tool that bases its answers on the videos you have uploaded to your own channel.

And the vidIQ AI Coach can help you discover new video ideas as well as provide insights into how your channel performs.

Like any artificial intelligence, though, it’s limited by what it can scan from your channel’s data. So, if you don’t have a lot of videos or have a lot of data for the AI to collect, it won’t be as efficient.

Yet, the Personal AI Coach can offer quite a few ideas for what kinds of videos you should upload next. It’s a bit of a fun tool if you want to get an inside view of how a bot views your channel.

vidIQ Monetization Tracker is Behind YouTube?

One of the things I noticed today is how the “Monetization tracker” is off by several hundred watch hours and a handful of subscribers. Now, vidIQ says that data is 72 hours behind because of how YouTube posts information.

However, I know for a fact these numbers were much higher 72 hours ago on YouTube itself.

I’m currently working with their tech people to figure out what is going wrong. But in the meantime, I am pointing it out in case anyone else sees a massive difference between both platforms.

To put it into perspective, my channel was at around 1,618 hours of watch time 72 hours ago. I know this because I’m a dork and keep track of everything in my own spreadsheet.

UPDATE: So, the web app version of vidIQ doesn’t record live streams like the Chrome extension does for your YouTube channel. And because I do a lot of live streams, they are currently not being shown on the website. But like I said, the Chrome extension does and that’s what I normally go by anyway.

Informative YouTube Channel

I’ve been a fan of the vidIQ channel since 2018. Not only do I like the personality of the creators, but the videos they put out are quite informative. Perhaps one of their key elements is how they base everything on collected data.

Much like myself, they often run case studies to see what works and what doesn’t for the YouTube channel. Then, they report their findings quite openly.

Luckily, you don’t need vidIQ Pro to watch their YouTube videos. And when it comes to channel-success content, I’d have to easily put them in the top 10 of who to watch.

Would I Recommend Using vidIQ Pro?

There are a lot of features of vidIQ Pro that side more with convenience than anything. Virtually everything I talked about above can be done by yourself with a spreadsheet. Especially since YouTube provides all the actionable data you’ll need.

Though, I have to admit that the AI Coach section is kind of neat as it’ll scan your channel’s data in less than a minute to provide a decent answer.

So, is the Pro version of vidIQ ideal for a new YouTube channel? That will ultimately depend on your commitment to get as much out of the tool as possible.

Not everyone can afford the $10 per month or $90 per year, especially when they’re just starting out on YouTube. But if you do invest the money, you’ll want to use as much as possible to reduce how long it’ll take you to get that money back.

It’s all about the return-on-investment factor. If you’re dumping cash into a tool for YouTube but don’t really do much with your channel, it then becomes an expensive hobby.

So far, I’ve had a bit of luck with the suggestions from vidIQ on YouTube. And I am considering upgrading to the Boost version at some point. However, I am going to wait until the channel can pay for that upgrade on its own.

The chat support is great, and I do enjoy Rob’s videos on the vidIQ channel.

The only thing I would add is that perhaps use the free version of the app for a few months to get the feel of how it works and whether it’s right for your needs. In my case, I used vidIQ for the YouTube channel for nearly two years before upgrading to the Pro version.

What is Your Favorite YouTube Creator App?

There are quite a few apps that I like to use when it comes to maintaining my YouTube channel. vidIQ Pro is among the top, despite the weird issue with the web app not recording live streams.

At one point, I was even running Tube Buddy and vidIQ at the same time. Not that they were much different back in the day. I guess I stuck with vidIQ on YouTube because of how personable and interactive their channel was when I started.

In any case, you can try vidIQ for free to see if it’s something you’d be interested in upgrading for your channel. You don’t really lose anything and might come up with a few awesome video ideas in the process.