Social Blade vs vidIQ (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick vidIQ: it is first in our ranking of YouTube SEO tools, and they share a 2.8 GPA.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Social Blade grades higher on value for money and the free plan. vidIQ grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Social Blade
Daily follower and view statistics for YouTube and four other networks
vidIQ
YouTube keyword research, video ideas and AI coaching for creators
Which one is for you
Pick Social Blade if
- Fits if you check your own and rivals' daily subscriber and view counts
- Works for agencies shortlisting creators by country and category across five networks
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want keyword research or help with titles and tags, as it only reports numbers
- Watch out: a profile's history starts when Social Blade first added it, and YouTube history stops at three years
- Tight if you're staying free, with ads, 5 favorites per platform and only a short window of daily data
- Watch out: plans are listed billed yearly, and no monthly price was in the page text on record
- Pricey if you need the API, as credits are bought separately and the included ones don't roll over
Pick vidIQ if
- Fits if you want keyword scores and upload suggestions for one channel at under $20 a month
- Works for creators who turn the same ideas into YouTube videos and Instagram Reels
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you lean on the AI tools, since Free has 150 credits a month and every thumbnail, clip and MCP call spends them
- Watch out: bigger credit allowances on Boost and MAX, and the Chat Coaching plan, are offered with no price shown
- Skip it if you run more than 3 channels or share it with a team, as that means the custom-priced Enterprise plan
- Pricey if you want a coach: VIP Coaching is $3,830 a year, paid upfront, non-refundable and for one English-speaking channel
How we grade them
| 2.8GPASocial BladeGood | 2.8GPAvidIQGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ABronze is $59.99 a year, $5 a month, well under the $7.20 that's 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. Daily charts need Silver at $149.99 a year ($12.50 a month), just above that quarter's $12. | CBoost is $16.58 a month on yearly billing ($19 monthly) for one channel, just above the $15 that marks this category's cheaper quarter, so it sits in the ordinary middle. MAX is $39 a month yearly ($49 monthly). |
| Free plan and trial | BFree with ads: profile stats, live counts, projections, top lists of 100 and 5 favorites per platform. You could live on that for checking channels, but daily table data only covers a short window. | CFree for good, with niche trends, content ideas, AI Coach tips and MCP. But the main tools are only partly open, and 150 AI credits a month won't go far once thumbnails, clips and MCP calls start spending them. |
| Features | CDaily stats for about 171 million creators on five networks, top lists, a favorites dashboard, PDF report cards and an API. It does tracking fully, but that's a smaller job than this category's, and report cards cover YouTube only. | BKeyword research with volume and competition scores, daily ideas and outliers, title, tag and description suggestions inside the upload page, AI thumbnails, Shorts clipping, an AI Coach and Instagram tools. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record. You type a channel name and the numbers are there, with nothing to connect or set up first. | A4.8 from about 20,000 App Store ratings for its phone app. The extension puts its scores straight onto YouTube's own pages. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with no app or extension. The Business API is the one way to connect it to anything, and its credits are bought separately beyond the 5 to 50 a month on Silver and up. | BWeb, a browser extension, iPhone and Android, with MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, plus Slack and Perplexity. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A. |
| Best for | checking any creator's daily numbers | YouTube keyword research and video ideas |
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: Social Blade and vidIQ. How we grade
Price against what you get
Social Blade starts at $5 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. vidIQ starts at $16.58 a month and scores 3.3.
vidIQ scores higher, and starts $11.58 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other YouTube SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Social Blade for less, and none scores higher than vidIQ 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
- Social Blade also covers reports.
- vidIQ also covers keyword research, image generation and youTube SEO.
At a glance
| Social Blade | vidIQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $59.99 per year, billed annually ($5.00 a month) | $16.58 per month for 1 channel, billed annually ($19 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free account: profile statistics with ads, live counts, future projections, 5 favorites per platform, top lists of 100 and a short window of daily table data. | 150 AI credits a month, niche trends, data-backed content ideas, growth tips from the AI Coach and vidIQ MCP, with limited access to the main tools. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Social Blade, LLC | vidIQ |
| Price read from | web.archive.org (not the vendor's own page) | vidiq.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Social Blade
- Paid plans are shown billed yearly; the monthly-billing prices were not in the page text read.
- Data begins only when a profile was first added to Social Blade, and YouTube history stops at three years.
- Report cards cover YouTube channels only.
- Business API credits are bought separately; Silver and above include 5 to 50 a month, which are used first and do not roll over.
vidIQ
- Prices are for one channel; more than 3 channels or several team members need the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
- AI tools and MCP calls spend credits: 150 a month on Free. Larger credit allowances can be chosen on Boost and MAX, but the page shows no price for them.
- Coaching covers one English-speaking channel, and annual coaching plans are paid upfront and non-refundable.
- The Chat Coaching plan's price is not shown in the coaching page's text; only VIP Coaching's is.
Key features
Social Blade
- Daily statistics on five networks
- Tracks daily growth for about 171 million creators across YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Facebook and Instagram, with live counts and future projections.
- Top lists
- Ranks the most followed or subscribed profiles globally, by country or by category, or by Social Blade's own SB Rank. Paid plans show longer lists.
- Favorites dashboard
- Favorited profiles appear in a sidebar and on a personal dashboard that compares their past month: 5 per platform free, up to 500 on Platinum.
- Historical data and charts
- Free users get a short window of daily figures plus weekly and monthly charts; memberships add longer daily tables, up to a year or more, and daily-level charts.
- YouTube report cards
- Downloadable PDF summaries of a YouTube channel's performance, for sharing with brands or clients. From 1 to 100 a month depending on plan.
- Custom reports and Business API
- Filtered lists of creators that export to Excel, open to anyone, and a paid API for pulling Social Blade data into other systems.
vidIQ
- Keyword research
- Look up YouTube keywords with search volume and competition scores, alongside AI-suggested keywords for a channel.
- Video ideas and outliers
- Daily ideas tuned to a channel and niche, trend alerts, and outlier videos that are doing far better than their channel's usual.
- Upload optimization
- Suggested titles, descriptions and tags, a video score, and a best time to post, shown inside the YouTube upload flow by the extension.
- Thumbnails and clipping
- An AI thumbnail maker, and a clipping tool that cuts long videos into Shorts and TikToks. Both draw on the plan's AI credits.
- AI Coach and vidIQ MCP
- An AI Coach reads a channel and suggests a growth plan; vidIQ MCP brings vidIQ data into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor on every plan, Free included.
- Instagram tools
- The same subscription covers Reel ideas, hook and hashtag analysis on any public Reel, and clips cut for Reels.
Plans
Social Blade
Free (Logged In)$0
Profile statistics with ads, 5 favorites per platform and top lists of 100.
Bronze$59.99
per year, billed annually ($5.00 a month)
No ads, 15 favorites per platform, top 250 lists, 1 YouTube report card a month and up to 30 days of table data.
Silver$149.99
per year, billed annually ($12.50 a month)
25 favorites, top 500 lists, 10 report cards a month, 60 days of table data, weekly and daily charts, and 5 Business API credits a month.
Gold$599.99
per year, billed annually ($50.00 a month)
100 favorites, top 1,000 lists, 50 report cards a month, 180 days of table data and 20 Business API credits a month.
Platinum$1,439.99
per year, billed annually ($120.00 a month)
500 favorites, top 5,000 lists, 100 report cards a month, 365 days of table data and 50 Business API credits a month.
vidIQ
Free$0
150 AI credits a month, niche trends, content ideas, AI Coach tips and vidIQ MCP for Claude or ChatGPT.
Boost$16.58
per month for 1 channel, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)
2,000 AI credits a month (2,500 or 3,000 can be chosen), AI thumbnails, unlimited trends research and subscriber insights, and masterclasses.
MAX$39
per month for 1 channel, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
Everything in Boost with 6,000 AI credits a month (up to 10,000), up to 3x the AI Coach conversations and up to 11 hours of clipping.
VIP Coaching$319
per month, billed annually ($3,830 a year)
A dedicated 1-on-1 coach with recurring live calls and unlimited messaging, plus vidIQ Max and 6,000 AI credits a month, for one channel.
EnterpriseCustom
For brands, agencies and networks: every channel, roles and permissions, cross-channel reporting and priority onboarding. Sold after a demo.
Ways to pay less
Social Blade
- Annual discount
Save up to 20% with yearly billing
Social Blade's plan page lists a 17% saving on Bronze, Silver and Gold and 20% on Platinum when billed yearly instead of monthly.
vidIQ
- Annual discount
Save up to 20% with yearly billing
vidIQ lists Boost at $199 a year instead of $19 a month ($228), and MAX at $468 a year instead of $49 a month ($588).
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Social Blade or vidIQ?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Social Blade is cheaper to start with: $5 a month when paid by the year, against $16.58 a month for vidIQ. Social Blade starts at $59.99 per year, billed annually ($5.00 a month), and vidIQ starts at $16.58 per month for 1 channel, billed annually ($19 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Social Blade or vidIQ?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Social Blade and vidIQ have a free plan.
Which platforms do Social Blade and vidIQ run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only vidIQ lists iOS and Android apps and 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.