Best video downloaders in 2026: 6 options compared
Web tools, desktop apps, a command-line tool, a browser extension and YouTube's own offline option — compared on what they actually do, including where our own tool falls short.
5 min read · Updated
Disclosure first: we make Fast Video Download, and it's first on this list. To keep that honest, every comparison below uses what each tool says about itself on its own website, checked on 17 September 2026, and we say plainly where another option is the better choice. Features and prices change, so check each tool's site before relying on a detail.
How we compared them
We looked at what matters to someone who wants a video file quickly and safely, in roughly this order of weight:
- Nothing to install — no app, extension or command line.
- No account, and no request for your social media login.
- Honest quality information — seeing what versions exist, and their sizes, before downloading.
- Complete files — video and audio merged, nothing upscaled.
- Useful extras — choosing videos from a playlist, downloading part of a video.
- Breadth — how many sites are supported.
That weighting favours browser tools for everyday use, which is also what we build — keep that in mind. Someone who downloads hundreds of videos a week would weight breadth and automation far higher, and would rank these differently.
At a glance
A dash means the tool's own site doesn't say, not that the feature is missing. “Sizes first” means seeing file sizes before downloading. On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
| Tool | Type | Install | Price | Sites | Sizes first | Playlists | Part of a video | Subtitles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Video Download | Web tool | No | Free | 6 platforms | Yes | Yes — pick videos, one zip | Yes, no re-encode | No |
| cobalt | Web tool (open source) | No | Free, no ads | Many, incl. TikTok, X, Reddit | — | — | — | — |
| 4K Video Downloader Plus | Desktop app | Yes | Free plan with limits; paid from €18/yr | YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, Twitch and more | — | Yes, plus channels | — | Yes |
| yt-dlp | Command line | Yes, plus ffmpeg | Free (open source) | Thousands | Via format list | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video DownloadHelper | Browser extension | Yes (extension) | Free; paid upgrade | 1,000+ claimed | — | — | — | Paid upgrade |
| YouTube Premium | Official subscription | YouTube app | Paid | YouTube only | No | Yes, in YouTube | No | — |
1. Fast Video Download — best for paste-and-download with no install
A browser tool for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Dailymotion and Loom. Paste a link and it lists every version that genuinely exists, each with its file size, then hands you a single file with the audio merged in. It works the same on a phone as on a computer.
It's first for the everyday case because of what it adds beyond a download button: ticking which videos you want from a playlist and getting one zip, and downloading only part of a video, cut without re-encoding, with YouTube's most-replayed graph to find the moment.
- Good: nothing to install, no account, no social media login ever requested.
- Good: sizes shown before you download; nothing upscaled; vertical videos keep their frame.
- Good: finished files deleted from storage after about an hour.
- Limit: six platforms today — no TikTok, X, Reddit or Vimeo yet.
- Limit: public content only, no subtitle downloads, and very large playlists are refused.
2. cobalt — best open-source web tool with wide site support
cobalt is a free, open-source web downloader that describes itself as having no ads, trackers or paywalls, and a zero-log policy. It supports more services than we do, including TikTok, X, Reddit, SoundCloud and Vimeo, and technically minded users can run their own instance.
- Good: no install, no ads, open source and self-hostable.
- Good: broad service support, including platforms we don't cover yet.
- Limit: its site doesn't describe showing file sizes, choosing playlist videos or downloading part of a video.
3. 4K Video Downloader Plus — best desktop app for playlists and channels
4K Video Downloader Plus is an installable app for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. It downloads whole playlists and channels, extracts subtitles in more than 50 languages, and offers resolutions up to 8K where they exist.
- Good: built for bulk — playlists, channels and search results.
- Good: subtitles, and a choice of video and audio formats.
- Limit: needs installing, and the free Starter plan has download limits; paid plans start at €18 a year or €30 one-off at the time of writing.
4. yt-dlp — best for power users and automation
yt-dlp is a free, open-source command-line downloader supporting thousands of sites. It can download playlists, subtitles and specific sections of videos, select exact formats, and be scripted for archiving. It's the engine many other tools are built on.
- Good: the broadest site support and the most control of anything here.
- Good: free, open source, scriptable.
- Limit: command line only, and merging separate video and audio streams needs ffmpeg installed too.
5. Video DownloadHelper — best if you want downloads inside your browser
Video DownloadHelper is a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge that detects videos on the pages you visit, including streaming formats, and claims support for over 1,000 sites. The core is free, with a one-time premium upgrade that adds features such as subtitles.
- Good: works on many sites a dedicated tool doesn't list.
- Good: detects videos as you browse, without copying links.
- Limit: it's an extension, which needs broad access to the pages you visit — a trade-off we explain in our safety guide.
6. YouTube Premium — best official way to watch YouTube offline
Not a downloader in the usual sense, but the option YouTube itself offers: with a Premium subscription, videos and playlists download inside the YouTube app for offline viewing. It's the right choice if you already pay for Premium and only want to watch later.
- Good: official, and covered by YouTube's terms.
- Limit: downloads stay inside YouTube — you can't move, edit or keep them as files, and they need reconnecting periodically. How YouTube's offline downloads work has the details.
Which should you choose?
Match the tool to the job:
- One video from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Dailymotion or Loom, on any device → Fast Video Download.
- Some videos from a YouTube playlist, as one zip → our playlist downloader.
- Just a section of a long video → download part of a YouTube video.
- TikTok, X, Reddit or SoundCloud → cobalt.
- Whole channels, scheduled archiving, or hundreds of videos → yt-dlp, or 4K Video Downloader Plus if you prefer an app.
- Watching YouTube offline with a subscription you already have → YouTube Premium.
Whichever you use
Two things apply to every tool on this list. First, watch for the warning signs of risky downloader sites — fake download buttons, notification prompts, requests for your password — covered in are online video downloaders safe?. Second, a tool being able to download a video doesn't make it yours to reuse: is it legal to download YouTube videos? explains the lines, and Creative Commons videos are the easy way to stay on the right side of them.