In this post we analyze some alternatives to YouTube Premium, andThe popular Google service that will suffer strong increases in various countries around the world. By alternatives we mean how to watch the videos without supporting the ads. in another post we have already suggested alternative services.
One of the advantages of YouTube over other services is that It not only offers videos uploaded by users, it also has movies, TV series, video tutorials and audiobooks., But, on the other hand, the advertising in the free version is frankly unbearable.
Alternatives to Youtube Premium
Continue paying for the subscription
Although in Spain the amount of the increase is not known, I observe that the media in that country are scandalized by the 300% increase. I understand that it is impressive, but they do not take into account that the amount has not been updated since 2019 and that the accumulated inflation in these years is much more than that. Also that the current amounts are much less than what any of the streaming platforms or a movie ticket costs. In reality, there are very few things that can be paid for with 400 pesos.
Since it is two platforms, one for video and one for music, continuing to pay for it is not a bad idea.
Ad blockers
The publicity of the free version of YouTube makes the extensive publicity rounds of open TV strange. However, there are ways to bypass it. PWe can use browser extensions like Ublock Origin, widely recommended by readers of this blog.. You can find it in the Firefox or Chrome extension search engines.
Another alternative is Adblock for Youtube that is designated specifically for this site. It blocks ads, opening windows and banners and you don't have to give permissions to play the videos. Also available for Firefox and Chrome
A third option is to use a browser that includes its own ad blocker. He Brave browserIn addition to being open source, it is based on the same engine as Chrome and has an Android version.
Android ad blocker apps are short-lived in the Google store, and don't seem to exist on F-Droid, so I'm not going to recommend any.
Alternative viewers
Players like SMPlayer o VLC They allow you to watch YouTube videos without downloading them. They are in the repositories of almost all Linux distributions. Other alternatives are:
NewPipe
A great alternative if, in addition to hating ads, you want to maintain your privacy and your Android device does not meet Google's requirements. NewPipe It does not use proprietary Google components and does not require authentication. In addition, it is compatible with PeerTube, Bandcamp and Mediaccd.de
Free Tube
This is an app for the desktop with versions for Linux, Windows and Mac. The program allows us to subscribe to our favorite channels without Google registering our habits. We can also import our subscriptions from the service. FreeTube blocks ads, saves all data locally, and has a very easy to understand user interface.
Downloads
It is not a very comfortable solution since requires waiting for download and takes up storage space. Of course, that will depend on the size of the file and the speed of the connection. Some alternatives to download videos are.
jdownloader 2
A true all-rounder of downloads that works with most paid and free services. In the case of YouTube, it allows us to distinguish what we want to download.. We can choose:
- Download full playlist.
- Download video.
- Download audio.
- Download subtitle.
Another advantage is that we can suspend the download to continue it later.
Jdownloader is available for Windows, Linux and Mac and requires Java to be installed to work.
youtube-dl
We found This application in the repositories of the main Linux distributions. There is also a version for Windows. This program is used from the terminal and has several options such as downloading all or some videos from a playlist.
It is also possible to choose the language of the subtitle download and set download criteria based on a list or the number of views.
Freetube has caught my attention, but when viewing the videos through the application, does it count as viewing for the channel? Because it is important for the youtubers of the channels that I follow.
I have no idea, I guess views are not being recorded.
Youtube-dl has become very slow. I prefer Clipgrab or Jdownloader 2
Since I tried "uBlock Origin" my life changed. I highly recommend them, not only because it removes ads from Youtube but also from any web page. This not only improves browsing speed, the time we lose, but also improves security by preventing misleading banners from appearing. The best app/add-on/software I've tried in a long time.
Very good note, thank you.