# Invidious

28 Hacker News commenters recommended Invidious and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Open-source YouTube front end that watches videos without ads, tracking or the official interface, and can be self-hosted. Caveat: public instances are often unreliable and get blocked.

## Why people recommend it

- Ad-free, untracked YouTube viewing (3 comments): "An accessible interface to YouTube content without tracking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770496)) "No ads, no suggested videos, no comments." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703514)) "there are anonymity proxies like Invidious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47050057))
- Better than stock YouTube interface (2 comments): "at least you don't have to deal with the atrocious normal YouTube frontend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45906112)) "better than the stock youtube interface" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46059798))
- Works with LibRedirect (3 comments): "I use libredirect to redirect to my own instances of Nitter, Redlib and Invidious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46525326)) "now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect to watch YT videos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47787337)) "using libredirect for invidious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301071))
- A way to watch YouTube (3 comments): "I'm so glad Invidious exists and public instances continue to work. I couldn't watch Youtube any other way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49006782)) "now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect to watch YT videos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47787337)) "I browse "youtube" by searching on Invidious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46333820))

## What people warn about

- Unreliable and breaks often (4 comments): "Invidious seems to be the least reliable of the bunch of frontends" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47771075)) "Invidous is much better but it's too unreliable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48020100)) "they are starting to have issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46927432))
- Needs upkeep and instance cycling (3 comments): "It was also always a hassle keeping up a local Invidious instance up and running in my homelab." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48441269)) "I have to babysit the setup and cycle through instances every so often." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46190278)) "Invidious' docs recommend restarting the service regularly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47773321))
- May get blocked or shut down (2 comments): "I've learned to avoid services that blatantly violate TOS for their existence, since they rarely last long" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47772373)) "Invidious is also getting blocked easily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47021966))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [XCancel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xcancel.md): 115 recommend
- [Nitter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nitter.md): 81 recommend
- [Redlib](https://hackerapproved.com/p/redlib.md): 33 recommend
- [Kittygram](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kittygram.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Invidious", https://hackerapproved.com/p/invidious/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).