Best AI YouTube Video Summarizers (2026)

Seven ways to get an AI summary of a YouTube video: YouTube's own Ask feature, NotebookLM, NoteGPT, Eightify, Glasp, GetYouTubeTranscript, and pasting a transcript into a chatbot. Real free limits and prices, checked against each tool's own site.

BY GETYOUTUBETRANSCRIPT · PUBLISHED OCTOBER 9, 2026

Quick answer

For a quick summary with a chat follow-up, use NoteGPT or Glasp, and check their free limits first: NoteGPT lists 15 free quotas per month and Glasp 3 basic summaries per day. For working across many videos with citations, use NotebookLM. If you want a summary and the full transcript from one tool, GetYouTubeTranscript gives free transcripts and 100 free credits for summaries and chat.

Facts below come from each tool's own site or store listing, checked October 9, 2026. We make GetYouTubeTranscript, so it is marked and described by the same criteria as the rest. Where a price or limit is not published, we say so.

NoteGPT

Glasp

Best for choosing the AI model

Timestamped summaries where clicking a key point jumps the player, chat with the video that cites transcript timestamps, and a choice of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Mistral. Highlights export to Notion, Obsidian and Roam, or download as Markdown, HTML, CSV or JSON.

Pricing: Free: 3 basic summaries per day, 3 advanced summaries per 7 days, 20 chat credits per month. Pro: $15/month or $150/year. Unlimited: $30/month or $360/year. 40% off Pro for students and educators.

Limitation: The free tier is tight, and the summarizer is one feature inside a broader highlighter and notes product. Basic summaries hand the transcript to an external AI tab you choose.

Visit Glasp

NotebookLM

Best for many videos in one place

Google's source-based research notebook. Add a YouTube video as a source, then chat with it, get overviews, and combine it with other videos or documents. Only the transcript text is imported.

Pricing: The Standard plan is free (50 sources per notebook). Paid plans raise the limit to 100 to 600 sources. Google's help pages do not publish paid prices.

Limitation: Public videos with captions only, nothing under about 72 hours old, and it is a notebook workflow rather than a one-click summary on the YouTube page.

Visit NotebookLM

Eightify

Best for long videos

Chrome extension (about 200,000 users, 4.0 stars from 860 ratings) that produces key-insight summaries for videos up to 10 hours, with timestamped navigation, adjustable focus, format and length, and a top-comments overview.

Pricing: The Chrome listing offers a 7-day free trial with no charge until it ends. Its live pricing page blocked our checks, so we are not quoting a price.

Limitation: Subscription-first after the trial. The Chrome listing was last updated in November 2025.

Visit Eightify

GetYouTubeTranscript

Best for transcript plus summary · our tool

Paste a link to get the full transcript free, then generate a summary (insightful, actionable, funny or controversial tone; list or Q&A format; short, auto or detailed length) or ask follow-up questions. Also available as a Chrome extension, a REST API and an MCP server.

Pricing: Transcripts are free. Summaries and chat use credits: 100 free on signup with no card, then $5/month for 1,000 credits.

Limitation: Summaries and chat need a sign-in and credits, and it only works on videos that have captions. It does not state timestamped summaries or summary export, so do not expect them.

Try GetYouTubeTranscript

YouTube Ask

Best built-in option

An "Ask" button under the video on YouTube itself. You ask questions about the video or pick suggested prompts. It is Q&A, not a summarizer: Google's help page does not describe a summary feature.

Pricing: Free, no price published.

Limitation: Only appears on select videos, in select languages and regions, for signed-in users aged 13 and over. No export or saved answers are mentioned, and YouTube warns answers may be inaccurate.

Visit YouTube Ask

Paste the transcript into ChatGPT or Claude

Best for custom prompts

Copy the transcript from YouTube or any transcript tool, paste it into a chatbot, and write your own summary prompt. You control the format and can ask any follow-up.

Pricing: Free plans exist. For example, Claude is free, Pro is $20/month or $17/month billed annually.

Limitation: Manual copy and paste, long videos can exceed a free message or context limit, and there is no jump-to-timestamp. Auto-generated captions can misrepresent speech.

Visit Paste the transcript into ChatGPT or Claude

Frequently asked questions

Does YouTube have a built-in AI video summary?

YouTube has an "Ask" feature that answers questions about a video, available on select videos in select languages and regions. Its help page does not describe a summary feature, so for a written summary you still need a separate tool.

What is the best free YouTube summarizer?

It depends on your volume. Glasp's free plan allows 3 basic summaries per day, NoteGPT's Chrome listing says 15 free quotas per month, and NotebookLM is free with a 50-source limit per notebook. A chatbot with a pasted transcript is free for occasional use.

Why does a summarizer fail on some YouTube videos?

Most tools work from the video's transcript, so a video without captions, with no speech, or that was uploaded in the last day or so may not work. Some tools can transcribe the audio themselves, which usually costs extra quota.

Can I get the transcript and the summary from the same tool?

Yes. NoteGPT, Glasp and GetYouTubeTranscript all show the transcript alongside the summary. Only some let you download it: NoteGPT lists TXT and SRT, and GetYouTubeTranscript offers free transcript copy and download.