Best YouTube Shorts analytics tools in 2026 (compared)

YouTube Shorts are often an afterthought in analytics tools: most of the established tools were built for long-form video (title SEO, search keywords) and treat Shorts as a side feature. Yet Shorts performance works more like TikTok and Instagram Reels than like a classic YouTube video. This comparison covers the tools built for short-form video, along with the established YouTube tools that cover Shorts as an extra.

At a glance#

What to expect from a YouTube Shorts analytics tool#

Shorts handled separately from long-form. To track Shorts, including other channels’ Shorts, the usable metrics are views relative to the channel’s median, and engagement. Retention (watch time, completion rate) is only available to the channel owner, in YouTube Studio, so you can’t see it for a competitor’s channel. A tool built for long-form SEO tends to push these metrics into the background.

Comparison with competitors, not just your own stats. YouTube Studio only shows your own numbers. To judge whether your Short did well for your niche, you need an outside point of comparison.

A cross-platform view if you also post on TikTok and Instagram. Many creators repost the same content as a Short, a Reel and a TikTok. A tool that puts all three in one table saves you from cross-checking separate exports.

Relative outperformance detection, not an absolute number. A channel with 500,000 subscribers and a channel with 5,000 don’t get the same number of views on a typical video. What matters is the gap from the channel’s own norm.

How to read this comparison#

This comparison splits the tools into two families: those built for long-form YouTube that cover Shorts as an extra (vidIQ, TubeBuddy), and those designed from the start for short-form, cross-platform video (Creadar, Virlo, Sandcastles). Two complements round out the list: Social Blade, for a channel’s public growth history, and Metricool, for scheduling and analyzing your own posts. Prices shown are public prices as of October 2026. Creadar is our product: we rated it with the same criteria as the other tools, and its limits are listed in its card.

The best YouTube Shorts analytics tools#

01Creadar

Shorts treated on par with TikTok and Reels

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube Shorts
• Starting price €18/month

Creadar applies the same detection threshold to Shorts as to TikTok videos and Instagram Reels: a video is flagged when its views or its engagement reach 3 times the median of its creator’s last 20 eligible videos. That lets you compare a YouTube channel with TikTok and Instagram accounts in the same watchlist, each one tracked separately.

Best for Creators and social media managers who post the same content on several platforms and want to compare how their Shorts perform against other short-form formats

Strengths

• YouTube channels, TikTok accounts and Instagram accounts together in one watchlist
• Automatic outlier detection based on each creator’s own baseline
• Engagement rate, calculated as (likes + comments) ÷ views × 100, to compare the quality of interaction across platforms
• Daily collection, with no manual export

Limitations

• On YouTube, Creadar only covers Shorts: long-form videos are not tracked
• No title SEO or keyword research tools like vidIQ or TubeBuddy
• Only tracks the channels you add to a watchlist, with no open search to discover new ones
• New product

Pricing Starter at €18/month (10 tracked creators), Creator at €35/month (30 creators), Pro at €95/month (100 creators). One-time free preview of 3 accounts, no credit card required. Public pricing, October 2026

Reading both gaps together helps you avoid a common mistake. On views, this Short reached 13.8 times the median of @SolidMike’s last 20 videos: it was pushed well beyond the channel’s usual audience. On reactions, its engagement sits at 0.5 times the norm: it drew fewer reactions than usual. A format that pulls in views with little engagement doesn’t replicate the same way as a format that gets people reacting.

02vidIQ

YouTube SEO and niche keywords

• YouTube (incl. Shorts)
• Starting price Free / $19/month

vidIQ is a long-standing YouTube optimization tool (SEO, keywords, niche trends) that includes features built for Shorts, such as an idea generator and a clipping assistant.

Best for YouTube creators who work on their channel’s SEO alongside their Shorts

Strengths

• Keyword and niche trend research on YouTube
• AI assistant for content ideas and growth coaching
• MCP integration to connect your data to AI assistants, even on the free plan

Limitations

• Originally built around long-form SEO
• Shorts are one feature among many rather than the core of the product

Pricing Free plan (150 AI credits per month), Boost at $19/month ($16.58/month billed yearly, or $199/year), Max at $49/month ($39/month billed yearly, or $468/year). Public pricing, October 2026

03TubeBuddy

Bulk video editing and processing

• YouTube (incl. Shorts)
• Starting price $26.39/month billed yearly

TubeBuddy is the other long-standing YouTube channel management tool, with SEO, bulk editing and content strategy analysis features, including link management for Shorts.

Best for Creators running a YouTube channel with lots of videos to optimize and process in bulk

Strengths

• Bulk video editing and processing tools
• Content strategy analysis over time
• Feature for linking Shorts to the rest of the channel

Limitations

• Like vidIQ, designed for long-form first
• Shorts-specific features remain limited compared with a dedicated cross-platform tool

Pricing Legend at $32.99/month ($26.39/month billed yearly, or $316.68/year), the only plan with a listed price on the pricing page; the Pro plan no longer shows a public price; Enterprise pricing on request. Public pricing, October 2026

04Social Blade

Free public growth history

• YouTube
• TikTok
• Twitch
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Starting price Free / $5/month

Social Blade provides public growth stats (subscribers, views) for any YouTube channel, including Shorts-focused channels, with projections and rankings.

Best for Tracking a Shorts channel’s overall growth over time, alongside a video-by-video analytics tool

Strengths

• Free to view public growth stats
• History going back several years
• Also covers TikTok, Twitch, Facebook and Instagram, so you can compare a creator’s growth across platforms

Limitations

• Gives an overall growth view, with no Short-by-Short analysis
• No automatic detection of the Short that outperformed

Pricing Free with ads, Bronze at $5.99/month ($5/month billed yearly), Silver at $14.99/month ($12.50/month billed yearly), Gold at $59.99/month ($50/month billed yearly), Platinum at $149.99/month ($120/month billed yearly). Public pricing, October 2026

05Virlo

Keyword search for outlier Shorts

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Starting price $49/month ($34/month billed yearly)

Virlo indexes outlier videos on YouTube as well as TikTok and Instagram, and lets you search for Shorts that outperformed in a given niche.

Best for Agencies researching Shorts ideas across several niches, alongside TikTok and Instagram

Strengths

• Keyword search across a ready-made cross-platform database
• Automated agents that keep searching YouTube in the background
• Script generation from a Short you spotted

Limitations

• YouTube is one platform among others in the tool rather than the core of its offer
• No refunds after the 7-day trial

Pricing Starter at $49/month ($34/month billed yearly), Pro at $199/month ($139/month billed yearly), Enterprise from $499/month. Public pricing, October 2026

06Sandcastles

Outliers + generated scripts for Shorts

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Starting price $49/month ($39/month billed yearly)

Sandcastles includes YouTube, alongside TikTok and Instagram, in its outlier detection and script generation.

Best for Cross-platform creators who want to turn a Short they spotted into a script, with the same tool they use for TikTok and Instagram

Strengths

• Cross-platform outlier detection that includes YouTube
• Script generation from a Short you spotted
• Channel search by niche

Limitations

• Monthly credits capped depending on the plan
• No title SEO features like vidIQ or TubeBuddy

Pricing Pro at $49/month ($39/month billed yearly), Visionary at $99/month ($79/month billed yearly), Titan at $499/month ($399/month billed yearly). Public pricing, October 2026

07Metricool

Scheduling + cross-platform analytics

• Multi-platform
• Starting price Free / $20/month

Metricool schedules and analyzes posts on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other networks in a single dashboard, with competitor tracking on top.

Best for Creators who want to schedule and analyze their Shorts in the same tool as their other social networks

Strengths

• Free-forever plan
• Schedule Shorts directly from the tool
• PDF and PowerPoint reports on paid plans

Limitations

• No outlier detection against a channel’s median
• Competitor tracking takes a back seat to scheduling

Pricing Free (1 brand), Starter from $20/month billed yearly ($25/month billed monthly), Advanced from $53/month billed yearly ($67/month billed monthly), Custom pricing on request. Prices exclude VAT. Public pricing, October 2026

How to choose#

You post the same content as TikToks, Reels and Shorts and want to compare how they perform: Creadar, which applies the same detection threshold to all three platforms.

You mostly work on YouTube SEO and keyword research: vidIQ or TubeBuddy, keeping in mind that Shorts remain secondary in both.

You just want to follow a Shorts channel’s public growth for free: Social Blade.

You manage several YouTube clients or niches at the same time: Virlo or Sandcastles, if the higher cost works for you.

You already schedule your posts in another tool and want everything in one place: Metricool.

To judge whether a Short truly outperformed instead of relying on an absolute number, our article on how many views it takes for a video to go viral explains the logic of a relative threshold, which applies to Shorts too. See also our comparison of creator performance tracking tools if you manage several channels for clients.