Invidious
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 6 alternative frontends by recommenders
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.
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.
34 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Ad-free, untracked YouTube viewing
“An accessible interface to YouTube content without tracking”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney” “No ads, no suggested videos, no comments.”
Comment from 28 Jun 2026 in “Streaming services' obnoxiously loud ads become illegal on July 1 in California” “there are anonymity proxies like Invidious”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple” Better than stock YouTube interface
“at least you don't have to deal with the atrocious normal YouTube frontend”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Yt-dlp: External JavaScript runtime now required for full YouTube support” “better than the stock youtube interface”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled” Works with LibRedirect
“I use libredirect to redirect to my own instances of Nitter, Redlib and Invidious”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Firefox extension to redirect x.com to xcancel.com” “now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect to watch YT videos”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts” “using libredirect for invidious”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “YouTube to automatically label AI-generated videos” A way to watch YouTube
“I'm so glad Invidious exists and public instances continue to work. I couldn't watch Youtube any other way.”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe” “now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect to watch YT videos”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts” “I browse "youtube" by searching on Invidious”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: The internet is getting worse every day. How do we fix this?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Unreliable and breaks often
“Invidious seems to be the least reliable of the bunch of frontends”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney” “Invidous is much better but it's too unreliable.”
Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent” “they are starting to have issues”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” - Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts”
Needs upkeep and instance cycling
“It was also always a hassle keeping up a local Invidious instance up and running in my homelab.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 on Hacker News “I have to babysit the setup and cycle through instances every so often.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “How I block all online ads” “Invidious' docs recommend restarting the service regularly”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney” May get blocked or shut down
“I've learned to avoid services that blatantly violate TOS for their existence, since they rarely last long”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney” “Invidious is also getting blocked easily.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “NewPipe: YouTube client without vertical videos and algorithmic feed”
Other alternative frontends people recommend
The four most recommended other alternative frontends, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XCancel | 115 | 40 | 74% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Nitter | 81 | 36 | 69% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Redlib | 33 | 1 | 97% | 8 | — | Approved |
| InvidiousThis page | 28 | 6 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| SafeReddit | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
34 of the 37 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“still low risk in absolute terms”
“I treat these as disposable and can spin them up again from daily backups if needed.”
“I use invidious as backend. Absolutely fabulous.”
“you get these benefits everywhere - mobile, desk/lap/${whatever}top instead of just on a single device”
“That's another project that could use some love.”
“I'm so glad Invidious exists and public instances continue to work. I couldn't watch Youtube any other way.”
“No ads, no suggested videos, no comments.”
“It was also always a hassle keeping up a local Invidious instance up and running in my homelab.”
“using libredirect for invidious”
“NewPipe or Invidious are all good-enough alternatives”
“Invidous is much better but it's too unreliable.”
“now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect to watch YT videos”
“Invidious' docs recommend restarting the service regularly”
“I've learned to avoid services that blatantly violate TOS for their existence, since they rarely last long”
“Invidious seems to be the least reliable of the bunch of frontends”
“An accessible interface to YouTube content without tracking”
“I can use stuff as Newpipe or self host Invidious, but technically it is still YouTube.”
“there are anonymity proxies like Invidious”
“I know I won't be sucked into doom-scrolling”
“Both have different advantages and drawbacks that come mostly from the nature of one being an app and the other being a server+web”
“Invidious is also getting blocked easily.”
“it was breaking too often”
“I've had more success hosting an invidious instance”
“they are starting to have issues”
“They don't work quite as well in my experience, but you don't have Daddy Google breathing down your neck.”
“Over time, all of this has slowly helped me regain my freedom, and it actually feels liberating.”
“I use libredirect to redirect to my own instances of Nitter, Redlib and Invidious”
“I browse "youtube" by searching on Invidious”
“I have to babysit the setup and cycle through instances every so often.”
“better than the stock youtube interface”
“It's a little light on features, but otherwise very customizable.”
“she loves them even if they are slower and not entirely reliable”
“at least you don't have to deal with the atrocious normal YouTube frontend”
“You can replace the frontent yt-dlp invidious mpv etc”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.