The shortlist
4 things that do it.
Website and browser extension that turns a YouTube video into a summary using its transcript.
- Free
- A Free plan is listed; its limits are not spelled out on the pricing page.
- Paid
- from $9 per month billed yearly (Pro)
- Best at
- Batch work: it can summarise several videos at once.
- The catch
- Its summariser page says there are no restrictions, but its pricing page lists a Free plan alongside paid ones without spelling out the limits, so check before relying on it.
- web
- chrome
- edge
Google's AI assistant, which can find a YouTube video and answer questions about it.
- Free
- Free plan with a Google account, per Google's subscriptions page.
- Paid
- from £4.49 per month (Google AI Plus, optional)
- Best at
- Asking follow-up questions about a video, not just getting one summary.
- The catch
- You must be signed in with Activity turned on, and it uses public YouTube information; it is not available in Live chats. The help page does not state caption or length limits.
- web
- ios
- android
YouTube's own conversational AI tool for answering questions about the video you are watching.
- Free
- No charge is mentioned on the help page.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Being built into the watch page, so there is nothing to paste.
- The catch
- YouTube's help page describes it as answering questions about a video and suggesting related content, and does not say it produces summaries. It is limited to signed-in users aged 13 or over in supported regions and languages, and is unavailable on YouTube Kids.
- web
- ios
- android
Google's AI notebook tool that works from sources you give it.
- Free
- not verified
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Working from sources you add.
- The catch
- We could not read its page in detail on 2026-10-02, so its free limits, prices and YouTube support are not verified.
- web
The same shortlist, as a table
| Thing | Free tier | Paid from | Platforms | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NoteGPTrel="nofollow noopener" | A Free plan is listed; its limits are not spelled out on the pricing page. | $9 per month billed yearly (Pro) | web, chrome, edge | Its summariser page says there are no restrictions, but its pricing page lists a Free plan alongside paid ones without spelling out the limits, so check before relying on it. |
| Geminirel="nofollow noopener" | Free plan with a Google account, per Google's subscriptions page. | £4.49 per month (Google AI Plus, optional) | web, ios, android | You must be signed in with Activity turned on, and it uses public YouTube information; it is not available in Live chats. The help page does not state caption or length limits. |
| Ask on YouTuberel="nofollow noopener" | No charge is mentioned on the help page. | not checked | web, ios, android | YouTube's help page describes it as answering questions about a video and suggesting related content, and does not say it produces summaries. It is limited to signed-in users aged 13 or over in supported regions and languages, and is unavailable on YouTube Kids. |
| NotebookLMrel="nofollow noopener" | not verified | not checked | web | We could not read its page in detail on 2026-10-02, so its free limits, prices and YouTube support are not verified. |
How we checked
What we read, and what we haven't tested yet.
On 2026-10-02 we read NoteGPT's summariser and pricing pages, Google's Gemini subscriptions page, the Gemini help page on YouTube content and YouTube's help page on its conversational AI tool. NotebookLM's page gave us little detail, and Eightify's site blocked our fetch, so we left Eightify out. Nothing was tested hands-on.
If none of these fit
The manual way.
You can skip the tools altogether and read a video's transcript yourself in YouTube.