Entertainment · alternatives
Alternatives to YouTube
23 entertainment tools sit alongside YouTube in this directory. Below is what separates each from YouTube on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 13
- Cheaper to start
- 11
- YouTube starts at
- Free, then $11.99/month
Why people look past YouTube
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. YouTube has a free tier, and starts at $11.99/month against a category median of $10.99/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Music for everyone
- Starts $5 a month cheaper, at $6.99/month.
- 5 tiers to YouTube's 2.
Make Your Day
- Starts $11.99 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a free model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to YouTube's 2.
Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- No free tier, where YouTube has one.
- Starts $3 a month cheaper, at $8.99/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
All the ways you love music. All in one place.
- No free tier, where YouTube has one.
- Starts $1 a month cheaper, at $10.99/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Ticket resale marketplace charging both buyers and sellers, with combined fees often a large share of face value
- Sold on a Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers model rather than freemium.
Free ad-supported streaming from Roku, with an optional paid live TV add-on layer
- Sold on a Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons model rather than freemium.
Every YouTube alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube (this page) | Free, then $11.99/month | Freemium | 2 | |
| SpotifyMusic for everyone | Free, then $6.99/month | Freemium | 5 | vs YouTube |
| TikTokMake Your Day | Free | Free | 1 | vs YouTube |
| Amazon Prime VideoWatch anywhere. Cancel anytime | $8.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Apple MusicAll the ways you love music. All in one place | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| StubHub | Free | Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers | 2 | vs YouTube |
| The Roku Channel | Free | Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons | 2 | vs YouTube |
| mpv | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs YouTube |
| Infuse | Free, then $1.99/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs YouTube |
| IINA | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs YouTube |
| Castro | Free, then $24.99/year | - | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Castbox | Free | - | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Emby | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Apple TV+ | Free, then $12.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Crunchyroll | Free, then $7.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs YouTube |
| Dailymotion | Free | Free | 1 | vs YouTube |
| Philo | $33/month | Per household per month, single plan | 1 | vs YouTube |
| fuboTV | $73.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs YouTube |
| DirecTV Stream | $89.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs YouTube |
| Disney+ | $7.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| ESPN+ | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Discovery+ | $4.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube |
| Final Cut Pro | $12.99/month | - | 3 | vs YouTube |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | $22.99/month | - | 4 | vs YouTube |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the YouTube badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than YouTube (11)
Entry price under YouTube's $11.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Spotify , Free, then $6.99/month
- TikTok , Free
- Amazon Prime Video , $8.99/month
- Apple Music , $10.99/month
- Infuse , Free, then $1.99/month
- Emby , Free, then $4.99/month
- Crunchyroll , Free, then $7.99/month
- Dailymotion , Free
What you would be giving up
YouTube is most often brought in for video sharing, content marketing, education, entertainment, live streaming. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If YouTube is broadly right and the question is cost, the YouTube pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Entertainment category lists everything the directory holds, and best entertainment tools ranks them.
YouTube runs on web, ios, android, smart-tv, gaming-consoles. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about YouTube alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to YouTube?
- 23 other entertainment tools are listed in this directory, led by Spotify, TikTok, Amazon Prime Video, Apple Music. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to YouTube?
- 13 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Spotify, TikTok, StubHub, The Roku Channel, mpv.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to YouTube?
- Yes. 11 of the alternatives below start under YouTube's $11.99/month: Spotify at Free, then $6.99/month, TikTok at Free, Amazon Prime Video at $8.99/month, Apple Music at $10.99/month.
- Is there a reason to switch away from YouTube?
- Nothing in the data flags one. YouTube has a free tier, and starts at $11.99/month against a category median of $10.99/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from YouTube?
- YouTube is most often brought in for video sharing, content marketing, education, entertainment, live streaming. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to YouTube?
- None of the entertainment tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these YouTube alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Entertainment, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare YouTube against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against YouTube covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every entertainment tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Entertainment category, 23 tools beside YouTube. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.