Nexlev vs Playboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Nexlev and Playboard share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan, and Nexlev starts cheaper, at about $11.21 a month against $29 a month.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Nexlev grades higher on value for money and platforms. Playboard grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Nexlev
Niche finder, Chrome extension and MCP data for faceless YouTube
Playboard
YouTube channel rankings, Super Chat stats and channel reports
Which one is for you
Pick Nexlev if
- Fits if you're starting a faceless channel and want to pick its niche from data
- Works for creators who want YouTube channel data inside Claude or ChatGPT
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if the Niche Finder is why you came, as it's Pro only at €39 a month on yearly billing
- Skip it if you use Brave or Firefox, as the extension is built for Chrome only
- Not for you if a team shares it, as there are no team plans and each person pays separately
- Tight if you're staying free, as the free account is the MCP alone at small daily limits
- Watch out: prices are in euros, even when the site is read from the US
Pick Playboard if
- Fits if you're a marketer or agency looking for YouTube channels to work with
- Works for following which channels and live streams are growing in one country
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your channel is small: ranking needs 1,000 subscribers and 1 million views, video data 23,000 or 10 million
- Tight if you're staying free, with ads and only a few reports a day
- Watch out: even unlimited history only goes back to August 5, 2019
- Watch out: refunds may be partial or refused once you've used the service after paying
- Not for you if you want an API on a plan, as it's a separate service arranged by email
How we grade them
| 2.4GPANexlevFair | 2.4GPAPlayboardFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BLite is €10 a month on yearly billing (€13 monthly), below the $15 that marks this category's cheaper quarter. The Niche Finder needs Pro at €39 a month yearly (€42 monthly), about four times as much. | CBasic is $29 a month for one user, billed monthly, above this category's dearer quarter of $24.92 but short of its dearest tenth at $49.99. Standard is $99 for 2 users and Business+ $199 for 5. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free account with no card, but it's the MCP alone, at small daily limits such as 10 channel searches a day. The extension and Niche Finder need a paid plan, with a trial the sign-up button gives as 5 days. | BFree with ads: charts up to 200 entries, 40 search results, and 5 basic channel, 3 advanced channel and 3 video reports a day. You could live on that for browsing charts. |
| Features | C40+ extension tools, revenue estimates, a Niche Finder with 21 filters on Pro, MCP, an API and a swipe file. It's built for picking a niche rather than ranking a video in search, and the Niche Finder is Pro only. | CCharts by country and topic, a search of 25.8 million channels, channel and video reports and Super Chat totals. It does rankings fully, but that's a smaller job, with no keyword research or upload help on record. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. There's an extension to install, an MCP to hook up to your AI assistant and 21 filters to learn in the Niche Finder. | BNo rating on record. Open a chart or search for a channel and the numbers are there, with nothing to connect. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Chrome extension, with MCP for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Windsurf and an API for n8n. No phone or desktop app, and no Brave or Firefox support yet. | CWeb only. Automated access needs a separate API service arranged by email, and no integrations are on record. |
| Best for | finding niches for faceless YouTube channels | YouTube channel rankings by country |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Nexlev and Playboard. How we grade
Price against what you get
Nexlev starts at about $11.21 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Playboard starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Nexlev starts $17.79 a month lower. Of the other YouTube SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Nexlev for less, and 1 scores higher than Playboard for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Playboard also covers reports.
At a glance
| Nexlev | Playboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €10 per month, billed yearly (€13 billed monthly) | $29 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | Free account: Nexlev MCP in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor with small daily limits per tool, such as 10 long-form channel searches a day. No card needed. | 1 user, charts up to 200 entries, 40 search results, 5 basic channel reports, 3 advanced channel reports and 3 video reports a day, with ads. |
| Free trial | Free trial of the paid packages; the sign-up button shown with euro prices says 5 days | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Nexlev Analytics LLP | DIFF., Inc. |
| Price read from | nexlev.io | playboard.co |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Nexlev
- Prices are in euros; the pricing data the site loads showed euros when read from the US.
- The Niche Finder is sold only in Pro; Lite covers the Chrome extension and the MCP.
- The extension is built for Chrome; Nexlev says Brave and Firefox are not supported yet.
- There are no team plans: each team member needs a separate subscription. Refunds are offered within 14 days.
Playboard
- Only channels with 1,000 subscribers and 1 million total views are ranked; video data needs 23,000 subscribers or 10 million views.
- The free plan shows ads and allows only a few reports a day; even unlimited history reaches back only to August 5, 2019.
- Plans renew monthly by card, and a refund may be partial or refused once the service has been used after payment.
- Automated access to the data needs Playboard's separate API service, arranged by email; custom plans are also by request.
Key features
Nexlev
- Chrome extension
- Over 40 tools on YouTube pages: channel and Shorts analytics, revenue estimates, similar channels and videos, a homepage filter and a title and thumbnail tester.
- Niche Finder
- Pro only. Ranks long- and short-form channels and niches with 21 filters, revenue predictions, outlier channels and viral videos from small channels.
- Nexlev MCP
- More than 60 tools that let Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients query channel, outlier and niche data, with daily limits per tool by plan.
- API and n8n workflows
- Pro includes 200 API requests a month for n8n YouTube automations; the N8N Pro package raises that to 5,000.
- Multi-channel analytics
- Add the channels you run to see their combined analytics, their top videos in one view and a forecast of their growth.
- Swipe file
- Save videos, thumbnails, Shorts and channels from YouTube to a swipe file and share it with a team.
Playboard
- YouTube charts
- Rankings of channels, videos, Shorts, live streams and artists by country and topic, for most popular, subscribed, viewed, Super Chatted, growth and decline.
- Channel search
- Search 25.8 million channels worldwide with filters; the free plan shows 40 results and paid plans 100 to 5,000.
- Channel analysis reports
- Subscriber and view trends for any ranked channel, plus advanced reports with live viewer and Super Chat trends; history grows with the plan.
- Video analysis reports
- Reports on single videos: 3 a day on the free plan, and 100 to 5,500 a month on paid plans.
- Super Chat and Trending Live
- Super Chat and Super Sticker totals by channel, and a list of trending live streams worldwide updated in real time.
- Export and teams
- Paid plans export chart lists and historical data to Excel, and Standard and above share the plan with a team of 2 to 15 users.
Plans
Nexlev
Free€0
Nexlev MCP at the free daily quota, for example 10 channel searches and 5 similar-channel lookups a day.
Nexlev Lite€10
per month, billed yearly (€13 billed monthly)
The Chrome extension's 40+ tools, AI thumbnail generator, sponsorship analysis, channel tracker and MCP at the Lite quota. €120 a year.
Nexlev Pro€39
per month, billed yearly (€42 billed monthly)
Everything in Lite plus the Niche Finder, RPM predictor, faceless outliers, up to 5x the MCP quota and 200 API requests a month.
N8N Pro€49.99
per month, billed monthly
Nexlev API access with 5,000 requests a month, for running YouTube workflows in n8n.
Playboard
Free$0
Charts, 40 search results and a few reports a day, with 1 year of subscriber trends and 30 days of live and Super Chat trends.
Basic$29
per month for 1 user, billed monthly
150 channel and 100 video analysis reports a month, 100 search results, data export and no ads.
Standard$99
per month for up to 2 users, billed monthly
1,000 channel and 500 video reports a month, charts up to 500 entries, 500 search results and 90 days of live trends.
Business+$199
per month for up to 5 users, billed monthly
2,500 channel and 1,500 video reports a month, 2 years of subscriber and view history, charts up to 2,500 entries.
Enterprise$599
per month for up to 15 users, billed monthly
10,000 channel and 5,500 video reports a month, unlimited history and charts up to 5,000 entries. For agencies and MCNs.
Ways to pay less
Nexlev
- Annual discount
Save up to 23% with yearly billing
Nexlev Lite is €10 a month billed yearly (€120) instead of €13 monthly; Pro is €39 a month yearly instead of €42.
Playboard
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Nexlev or Playboard?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Nexlev is cheaper to start with: about $11.21 a month, against $29 a month for Playboard. Nexlev starts at €10 per month, billed yearly (€13 billed monthly), and Playboard starts at $29 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Nexlev or Playboard?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Nexlev and Playboard have a free plan.
Which platforms do Nexlev and Playboard run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Nexlev lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.