You've probably subscribed to a few channels already. Then YouTube has recommended a few others you might like based on that. But let's face it, these are often quite bad. So if you're sick of irrelevant YouTube recommendations for channels, you need to go away from its algorithm and find other ways to discover creators.
Some websites keep a directory of all channels on YouTube and offer ways to filter or search them. Others use crowdsourced recommendations to find similar channels. And you can always rely on curators who point you to the best YouTube creators.
1. FindAChannel (Web): YouTube Channels Directory With Advanced Search
YouTube has over 50 million channels, but as you might have guessed, most of them aren't worth subscribing to. The folks at Find A Channel (FAC) have indexed over 210,000 unique channels you need to know about.
The main page of the site lets you search, sort, or filter channels in creative ways. For example, you can set how many subscribers the channel should have, how many videos they have uploaded, how many times they have been viewed, and when it started. You can also set the "gravity" for low, medium, or high, which is FAC's estimation of how engaging a channel's content is.
In the Explore Channels section, you'll find great lists made with these creative filtering options. For example, "Rising Stars" lists 100 YouTube channels that were started in the last three years and already have between 1,000 and 25,000 subscribers. Or there are channels with many subscribers but very few videos uploaded.
Every list shows the channel's name, their "About" section description, and their total videos, subscribers, views, and estimated monthly earnings. And you can always use the "Random Channel" button to stumble upon a cool creator.
If you like FindAChannel, you should also check out Channel Crawler, which indexes over 5 million channels and offers advanced search and filter options. We've gone over it in more detail previously in our tools to discover new YouTube channels.
2. Similar Channels (Web): Find Similar YouTube Channels Recommended by People
Similar Channels is a website where you find channels similar to a popular YouTube creator, as the name suggests. But unlike the YouTube algorithm, all channel suggestions here come from regular people, and anyone can also upvote and downvote these suggestions to get the best ranking.
Search for a channel, and you'll find basic information about it (like subscribers, views, and number of videos posted) along with a list of similar channels added by other users. Again, this list shows the same basic information for each channel, ranked by user votes. If you sign up, you can choose to be notified when anyone adds new suggestions.
Similar Channels also lets users create collections of channels, and anyone can browse them. This is a cool way to discover YouTube creators around a particular theme, even though they might not appear as similar channels.
You can browse Similar Channels by categories such as technology, food, sport, knowledge, music, gaming, and several other popular genres on YouTube. There's also a button to take you to a random channel, to perhaps serendipitously discover a new favorite.
3. TubeFilter (Web): Find YouTube Millionaires, Weekly Top-Viewed Channels, and Awards
TubeFilter has been blogging about YouTube channels since 2007 and is one of the best resources for YouTube creators to find out more about the Creator Economy. While its primary purpose isn't to help you find new channels, it is a great way to discover creators.
In the weekly YouTube Millionaires section, TubeFilter profiles channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. Along with a brief description of why the videos are worth watching, they also interview the creator for more insights.
Another weekly post worth reading is the "Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide" update. While the Chart Toppers are usually consistent, it's the Top Gainers section where you'll find a fantastic new channel weekly.
Finally, TubeFilter also hosts the annual Streamy Awards to honor top creators. Go through the list of their past winners on the website to find a variety of channels worth subscribing to across several categories and genres.
4. YouTube Learn (Web): Handpicked Best Educational Channels on YouTube
Experts in various fields share their best advice and lessons on YouTube for free. YouTube Learn is a hand-picked curation of the best YouTube channels to learn new skills, but only in English.
You can use the search bar to find what you're looking for or browse by categories such as design, programming, science, mathematics, social studies, business, finance, startup, film, video editing, photography, music, fitness, yoga, and personal development. Some have sub-categories, like science being broken into astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, and "the best science channels on YouTube."
The final list is quick and easy to browse. You'll find the channel's name and link, along with a one-line description that perfectly sums up what you need to know. YouTube Learn is a truly nifty resource, and you can even request to add a skill that's not yet on the site.
5. Social Blade Charts (Web): Top 100 Rankings of YouTube Channels
Social Blade is an analytics firm that tracks user statistics on YouTube. You'll need a premium subscription for advanced analytics that are useful for marketing or sales, but for lay users, the free-to-view Social Blade "Top Lists" work as a Billboard Top 100 chart for YouTube channels.
By default, you can view the top 100 subscribed YouTube channels sorted by subscribers or video views. Social Blade also shows you the number of videos uploaded on the channel and gives it a grade to say how influential it is right now. You can expand this list to show up to the top 5,000 YouTube Creators right now.
Social Blade shows you the top 100 channels by country or categories like auto and vehicles, film, gaming, news and politics, music, how to and style, science and technology, sport, travel, and more. Finally, you can also see the top 500 gainers on YouTube in the past day, week, or month, to find new channels you might want to follow.
How to Download All Videos by a Channel
YouTube now lets you officially download videos through YouTube Premium, but it doesn't make it easy. Especially if you have discovered a new channel, you might want to download all their videos so you can watch them on a commute or while working out. Or you might want to simply download any new video the channel posts.
For some reason, YouTube doesn't have any easy option for this. It's annoying and frustrating. For now, the best workaround is to make a playlist of all the videos on a channel and then use one of the best YouTube playlist downloaders.