I’ve tested pretty much every YouTube optimization tool out there — to save you time.
Today, I will share my opinion on VidIQ based on my experience and results.
Never Heard of VidIQ?
VidIQ helps you grow on YouTube by giving keyword insights, analytics, channel audits, and AI-powered recommendations.
It’s easy to use and works instantly on your channel.
But now, is it just hype or actually useful?
Let me walk you through what it offers and how it performs.
Disclaimer: This article is reader-supported. If you choose to pay for any of the tools mentioned here, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.
My Experience
Before I jump into my experience, I want to be clear about something:
Most of VidIQ’s “AI features” look exciting on the surface… but in reality, they’re not very useful.
Things like the AI title generator, thumbnail ideas, or “viral score” feel more like hype than practical tools. They sound great, but when you try to actually use them, they don’t add much value. I don’t rely on them at all.
But there are two features that do matter — and they’re the reason I use VidIQ every single day:
- Keyword Research — Simple, accurate, and the only part of VidIQ that consistently gives me real insights.
- Video Progress Tracking — This shows how views accumulate on a specific video over time.
This feature alone is incredibly valuable. It helps me spot topics that stay relevant, discover patterns, and identify ideas that smaller channels can actually rank for.
Because of these two features, VidIQ is still worth it for me.
Even if everything else disappeared, I’d keep using the tool just for these.
Here’s what I mean.
So let’s say you have a small channel and you want to find opportunities.
The best way to do it is by activating VidIQ on your channel and then opening up competing videos.
If the traffic continues to rise up like that, it’s a good sign.
Also, if you want to have a quick way to check this, just open up any channel and check the VPH number.
For example, on this channel we can see that some of the videos that are older than a year still get lots of views.
In other words, those topics get consistent traffic and make passive income.
That’s the ideal situation.
You want to end up with a video that gets a lot of passive views and income.
So this tool gives you a great idea on what’s working and which videos are thriving after time.
On the other hand, if you see that a video has just spiked in views and then it has died down, that’s a bad sign.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this type of graph.
However, it just tells that most of the views are “viral views”, and not organic.
The problem there is that those viral views don’t convert to paying customers. In other words, the ad revenue and affiliate revenue are usually much lower.
In fact, I’ve seen on my channel that viral views make me 10-20x less money than those organic views.
That’s because the organic viewers have a problem that they have searched solutions for.
The viral views just scroll and watch videos randomly.
But this video view chart is not the only useful feature.
The other one that I use every day is the keyword research feature.
This shows you how many times people are searching for a specific topic on YouTube.
It also shows you how competitive that topic is.
If you have a small channel, you should only go for low competition terms.
If you have a bigger channel, you can try those more competitive topics too!
Also, this tool gives you suggestions related to your main keyword.
If the main topic is too competitive, you can find less competitive sub-sub topics here.
These can be great new video ideas or even talking points to your video.
These are the two core features I love in VidIQ and that I actually use.
All the rest of it is useless to me.
Pros
- Great for beginners and pros — makes YouTube analytics understandable.
- AI tools save tons of time (especially for titles and ideas).
- Daily ideas feature is extremely useful when planning content.
- Chrome extension adds helpful insights directly inside YouTube.
- Quick setup — you get value within minutes.
Cons
- Free plan is limited — you’ll need at least the Pro plan to get real value.
- AI tool quality varies depending on your niche; not all title ideas are perfect.
- Some advanced analytics require the higher tiers, which can get expensive.
Pricing
Here’s VidIQ’s current pricing:
Free — Basic analytics + limited features
Pro: $10/month — Keyword tools, basic AI features, SEO score
Boost: $49/month — Full suite of AI tools, daily ideas, keyword engine, channel audit
Max: $79–$99/month — Personalized coaching, advanced analytics, creator support
(Prices may vary depending on yearly vs. monthly billing.)
You can start with the Free or Pro plan, then upgrade if you need deeper insights.
Main Features
Before I wrap this up, let me quickly show you the core features of VidIQ:
- Keyword Research Tool — Helps you find high-volume, low-competition keywords for titles, tags, and video ideas.
- AI Title & Description Tools — Generates optimized titles, descriptions, and ideas based on your topic.
- Daily Video Ideas — AI scans your channel and recommends new content ideas every day.
- Competitor Tracking — Lets you watch competing channels and see what’s working for them.
- Channel Audit — Gives weekly suggestions on what to improve, what’s performing best, and what’s hurting your growth.
- Real-Time SEO Score — Shows how optimized your video is while you’re uploading it.
- Trend Alerts — Notifies you about trending topics in your niche.
- Video Performance Analytics — Breaks down views, retention, click-through rate (CTR), and more.
- Chrome Extension — Adds powerful analytics directly on YouTube while browsing.
So that’s it for VidIQ!
To Take Home
VidIQ is a powerful YouTube growth tool that helps you understand:
- What videos to make
- What keywords to target
- How competitors are growing
- And what’s actually working on your channel
The AI features give a strong boost to your creative workflow, and the analytics help guide your decisions.
If you’re serious about growing on YouTube, VidIQ is definitely worth trying — even starting with the free version.
Let me know if you want me to write a version optimized for SEO, formatted for Medium, or turned into a YouTube script!