Free YouTube tool
Free YouTube channel audit
Paste any YouTube channel into this free channel checker. In a few seconds you get its real public numbers, its latest uploads and the three things most worth knowing about it.
Free, no sign-up·Public data only·Any public channel
Your channel
—Subscribers
—Total views
—Videos
—Uploads, 90 days
Get the full strategy for your channel
Written in about 10 minutes from public data
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Paste your channel to see its preview.
What the audit checks
Five checks. Three findings.
Every finding restates your channel's public numbers. You see the three that matter most for your channel, in priority order.
Upload cadence
How many videos you posted in the last 90 days, how steady that is, and how long since your last upload.
Shorts vs long-form
Median views on your recent Shorts against your recent long-form videos, and how much of your output goes to each.
Breakout videos
The recent upload that beat your usual views by the widest margin, so you know which topic or packaging to follow up.
Recent vs lifetime
Whether your latest long-form videos are pulling more or less than your channel's lifetime average per video.
Title length
How long your titles run, and how many go past 70 characters, the length this audit treats as long: search results and phone feeds cut long titles off, at a point that depends on the screen.
Public data onlyNo login or analytics accessNo invented scores or retention graphsFree, no sign-up
Want the full picture?
Turn the audit into a written strategy.
The Strategy Generator reads your videos and up to three rivals', then writes the plan: what's holding you back, how to package your next videos, and what to make for the next 30 days, in about ten minutes.
The full strategy adds
- Your channel next to up to 3 competitors
- A PASS / FIX / URGENT audit of titles, thumbnails and descriptions
- Hook templates and a title swipe file
- 30 days of video topics and a next-steps plan
Do it yourself
How to do a full YouTube channel audit
The free audit covers what anyone can see. A full audit adds the numbers only the channel owner can open in YouTube Studio. Work through it in this order: the first layer that fails is usually the one to fix first.
Start with the public numbers.
Run the free audit above: upload cadence over 90 days, Shorts against long-form, your breakout video, recent views against your lifetime average and title length. It takes seconds and needs no login.
Check packaging: impressions click-through rate.
In YouTube Studio, open Analytics and compare each video's impressions CTR with your own channel's recent median, not an industry number. YouTube says half of all channels and videos sit between 2% and 10% (more figures in our thumbnail and CTR statistics). The gap between your best and worst packaged videos is what better titles and thumbnails can win back; preview thumbnails at phone size with the free thumbnail checker.
Check retention: do viewers stay?
Look at average view duration and the audience retention graph on your ten latest videos and note where the first steep drop lands. A drop in the opening means the video doesn't deliver what the title and thumbnail promised.
Check discovery: where views come from.
The traffic source report splits views between Browse features, Suggested videos, YouTube search and the rest. Compare your five best and five worst videos. If search sends almost nothing, your titles and descriptions don't match what people type; the free upload checker shows where a title gets cut off.
Check the catalog.
Tag each video by format and compare median views per format, then list the videos still earning views six months after they went up. Those are the topics to make more of, and the ones to link together with playlists and end screens.
Check operations.
Count the hours each finished video takes and look for gaps of three weeks or more in your upload history. A channel that can't keep its schedule usually has a workflow problem, not a content problem.
Pick one layer to fix, not all six. Our 12-point YouTube channel audit walks through every check, with a two-hour version you can run in an afternoon. Rather hand it off? Our YouTube channel management services run a channel audit every quarter, editing included.
Questions
Is the channel audit really free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no card and no login. Paste a channel and the audit runs in a few seconds.
Do you need access to my YouTube account?
No. The audit reads public data only: the subscribers, views, videos and recent uploads anyone can see on your channel. It never sees your analytics, so it does not guess at retention or click-through rate.
What does the audit check?
Five things: how often you upload, whether Shorts or long-form earns you more views, which recent video beat your usual numbers, how your recent views compare with your lifetime average, and how long your titles run. You get the three findings that matter most for your channel.
How do you do a YouTube channel audit?
Start with the public numbers: upload cadence, Shorts against long-form, breakout videos and title length. This free tool checks those in seconds. Then open YouTube Studio for the rest: impressions click-through rate against your own median, audience retention on your latest videos, traffic sources, which formats earn the most views, and how many hours each video takes. Fix the first layer that fails before moving to the next.
What is a good click-through rate on YouTube?
YouTube says half of all channels and videos have an impressions click-through rate between 2% and 10%, and that new videos and channels under a week old can vary even more. CTR also runs lower when a video gets lots of impressions from places like the home page, so compare each video with your own channel's recent median rather than one benchmark.
How often should you audit a YouTube channel?
Once a quarter suits most channels, plus a quick check after a sudden drop in views. The public checks here take seconds, so running them every month costs nothing; the YouTube Studio checks take about two hours the first time.
Can I audit a competitor's channel?
Yes. Any public YouTube channel works: yours, a rival's or a client's.
How many audits can I run?
Up to 20 an hour from one connection. Results for the same channel are cached for a few hours, so running it again straight away shows the same numbers.
How is this different from a full strategy?
The audit restates your public numbers and flags three things worth knowing. The Strategy Generator goes much further: a competitor and gap analysis, a PASS / FIX / URGENT channel and SEO audit, hook templates and 30 days of video topics, delivered in about 10 minutes.
Audit another channel.
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