Youtube alternatives: the Premium experience without the Premium price
This page has been written free from financial incentive. I (the author), as of writing this article, have had no affiliation, investment, or stake in any of the services mentioned below, this is a purely unbiased review from a consumer standpoint.
If you believe that information or phrases in this article are incorrect or biased, let me know at web@marleybrown.net, and I'll remedy it if valid.
Sick of the bloat of Youtube?
If you've frequented YouTube over the last few years, you may have noticed a growing distain for the way that Google is handling the video sharing platform;
cramming ads and shorts into every aspect of the platform, and actively removing features so they can sell them back to you.
What if I told you, there were apps that could give you a far superior (at least, in my opinion) Youtube experience, for free?
Not only that, they were also open-source, free in cost, and free from YouTube's tracking?
This article covers 3 different Alternative Youtube Frontends (which I will refer to as AYFs from now on): Freetube, Libretube, and Newpipe.
I'll discuss the differences between AYFs against the vanilla Youtube experience, before comparing each one individually.
In Layman's terms, the algorithm is how YouTube reccomends new videos to you; it uses your watch and search history to determine your interests and serve similar content you'll likely enjoy.
While very convenient, the algorithm presents a glaring privacy issue- YouTube is invested in tracking and recording your history, and keeping you on their site so they can serve you advertisements.
AYFs, such as Freetube, Libretube and Newpipe, completely remove that algorithm. Instead opting to show you videos released by creators you've subscribed to on your homepage.
2. Subscriptions and Accounts
Subscriptions on AYFs aren't the same as subscriptions on Youtube; when you subscribe on these alternatives, YouTube does not recieve that information.
Instead, subscribing saves that channel to a file stored locally on you device, which the service uses to show you recent uploads from that channel.
This is part of a core difference in these alternative frontends- you don't use a Youtube account. While this allows users to save subscriptions and playlists without being tracked by Google, it also means you cannot like, or comment on videos and posts.
I get these differences may be a turn-off for some- not having the ability to interact with your favourite creators, or be reccomended content similar to them.
However, if you generally watch the same few channels, or use YouTube just to find specific videos, this will hardly impact you.
Keep in mind too, these AYFs will still reccommend videos similar to the one you are currently watching, which is a more privacy-respecting method of discovering new videos and creators.
3. The premium experience
These alternatives will provide you with an experience similar to that of YouTube Premium- no ads, the ability to download videos, and background play (switch between apps or turn the phone off without the video stopping).
AYFs could even be considered superior to YouTube Premium; for example, downloading videos will actually save a unique copy of the video onto your device, which you can access anytime, no strings attached!
Compare this to YouTube Premium, in which ending your subscription or being offline for too long will subsequently lock you out of your downloads.
4. What about creators?
Since AYFs are almost entirely disconnected from vanilla YouTube, and ad-free, your interactions on videos will unfortunately not support the content creators who made them.
Fret not, for there is a solution to this issue:
Actually pay for content you consume!
Showing support for a handful of creators you enjoy, perhaps through Patreon or by purchasing merchandise, is far more beneficial to creators than the pittance they make through YouTube ads.
You don't have to support EVERYONE you watch, but if you pick maybe 3 or so creators and give them even a fraction of what you would have payed for YouTube Premium, and if everyone else were to do that too, then we'd foster a healthier community where YouTubers don't have to worry about obeying YouTube's harsh monetization restrictions.
Hm? What's that?
Google doesn't get any money from this because nobody's watching ads?
Well, good! Google can go fuck themselves
Woah me, I talked for a fair while there, didn't I? Sorry about that, but we're not done!
FREETUBE
Freetube is the only AYF in this review built for desktop- the other two are mobile only. Not to say its the only AYF that exists for desktop, it's just the only one I've used.
One thing unique to Freetube is its ability to integrate with Invidious- when enabled, any videos you watch are channeled through an Invidious server. Because it's not provided directly from Youtube, they never recieve or collect your IP address, acting as a VPN/Proxy of sorts.
Although, in my experience, Invidious isn't always reliable, oftentimes encountering issues on the server end.
No problem, though, as not only does Freetube have the ability to change its Invidious instance upon reopening the app, you can also set the app to fallback to YouTube's standard API if all else fails.
Freetube can also integrate with Tor, a highly secure and private proxy network, but I've never been able to work out how to use it myself.
Some other neat features I'd like to quickly touch on include:
> Ability to download videos
> Access to channel community posts (can't currently access comments under these posts, unfortunately)
> Trending and Most popular tabs on the side
> Integration with sponsorblock (find options to turn it on under Settings)
All in all, Freetube is a solid alternative to YouTube, which I would highly reccommend you give a try- if its not to your liking, no worries! Just uninstall it and go back to regular YouTube.
Designed for mobile, Libretube offers an extra layer of privacy with its instances.
Libretube instances are external servers that manage any communication between the user and YouTube, meaning YouTube has no access to details about the user. It serves a similar purpose to Invidious, which I talked about in the Freetube segment.
Unfortunately, I've personally had trouble with Libretube's instance system for a while. They oftentimes throw vague errors or hang trying to load a video. As of now, I usually just enable direct access to YouTube in the settings.
Another issue I've had with Libretube relates to the background play feature. While it does still play videos, I've found that it doesn't seem to load them after exiting the app. Meaning that after some point the video will stop playing, or not be able to load the next video.
I know I've been a bit negative towards Libretube so far, but it does have some features I really like that none of the other AYFs in this review offer.
For example: Libretube brings back the dislike counter on videos, something I otherwise could only access on YouTube using the Return Dislike extension.
It also has the ability to play any video as audio only, saving bandwidth and battery, and a sleep timer that stops the app after a time you set- a great feature for people such as myself who sleep listening to music.
NewPipe is my personal go-to when it comes to YouTube on my phone.
Although it doesn't provide the privacy of Libretube, I've found it to provide a more stable experience than the former.
It also has a feature that, although I don't often use, I find really neat; Newpipe is also a frontend for YouTube Music, PeerTube, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and a handful of other niche services.
Aside from that, it pretty much provides the same services as Libretube, acting as a great alternative to the YouTube mobile app.
Thankfully, Youtube subscriptions can be fairly easily ported between services, using Google's takeout feature; here's how:
Following this link (https://takeout.google.com/takeout/custom/youtube) will present you with the option to export all your Youtube Data.
However, we only want the subscriptions, so press the "All Youtube data included", which should pop up with a list of checked items. Press "Deselct all" at the top of the list, then only tick the entry labelled "subscriptions"
From that point, you may press "OK" to confirm you choice to close the popup, then click the blue "Continue" button.
The second part of the process ("Choose file type") has all the options selected necessary for most people. You may read over the options if you'd like, but otherwise press the next "Continue".
Google will shortly send an email to the account you exported the subscriptions of. Open Gmail on the device you wish to use the AYF on (for Freetube, that's your computer, and for Libretube/Newpipe, that's your phone), and click the link in the email to download your subscription data.
From there, a .zip file containing a list of your Youtube subscriptions will be downloaded onto your device. Check the AYF of your choosing for an option in their Settings menu to import subscriptions, and follow the prompts they provide.
Best of luck! If you encounter any issues, there's a good chance someone on the internet will have the solution. Otherwise, feel free to email me and I may be able to give a hand.
