YouTube Vanced was ideal for blocking preroll and midroll advertisements on YouTube, clearing sponsored ad segments, and removed promotions/sponsorships. However, Vanced YouTube has been discontinued. Most alternatives to YouTube Vanced cannot properly block ads and provide a reliable user experience.
That’s why I have curated 8 best YouTube Vanced alternatives to block ads on YouTube for Android and iOS. These YouTube Ad Blockers will block ads, remove sponsored messages, customize UI, and provide an overall ideal experience. Keep reading till the end to read my final verdict.
As someone who loves watching YouTube, I am irritated by YouTube Ads. To me, they have gone past the point where they are bearable. I have tried YouTube Premium, but it’s not a good value. YouTube Vanced was a great free solution. However, after it shut down, I searched and found the below-mentioned best YouTube Vanced Alternatives.
YouTube Vanced Alternatives
| Vanced YouTube Competitor | Ad Blocking Support | Device Support | Additional Features | Link |
| 👍ReVanced | Sponsor Blocks, Mid/Pre Rolls, banners, popups, and more | All Android and AOSP devices | Returns YouTube dislikes, allows background video play, Custom Playback Speed, etc. | ReVanced |
| NewPipe | Mid-roll, preroll ads | Android 5.0+ | Complete privacy, allows downloading videos in preferred file format | NewPipe |
| SkyTube | Channel/Video Blocklisting, Video ad blocking, etc. | Android 4.4+ | import subscriptions, custom blocklist, Chromecast support, etc. | SkyTube |
| ReVanced Extended | Sponsor Block, ads block, merchandise block, banner block, etc. | All Android and AOSP devices | Video downloading, dislike support, and more. | ReVanced Extended |
| LibreTube | Google Tracker Block, ads block, banner block | Android 5.0+ | Privacy protection, blocklisting/allowlisting, and more. | LibreTube |
1) ReVanced
ReVanced Extended is best for pre-existing Vanced YouTube users. It is a project to keep the original YouTube video alive. The publicly available app for YouTube Vanced has been adopted by an entirely separate team that continues to maintain, update, and develop the app.
This is the best choice for those who miss the old, familiar Vanced. As the name suggests, it’s intended to be the same as the original Vanced with no significant differences. This app provides features like As blocking, Dark/Black theme, and more.
Features:
- App: Allows you to change the name and icon of the ReVanced app on your phone to make it look like something else.
- Tools: Customizable playback speed, set resolution, remove advertisements, and various other devices.
- Ad Blocking: It Removes Sponsor Blocks, Mid/Pre Rolls, banners, popups, and various other formats of ads
- Additional Features: You can use it to regain the YouTube dislikes, allow background video play, and set Custom Playback Speed.
| Pros | Cons |
| It also comes bundled with ReVanced Music, an alternative to Vanced Music. | Relatively buggy and the new team will take some time to settle down. |
| Works on the root as well as non-root devices. | |
| It can be used to return the YouTube Dislike counts. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
2) NewPipe
NewPipe is the best free and open-sourced app that blocks all ads on YouTube. It comes with many other features, like background streaming. You can also use it to download videos for offline use.
I enjoyed watching videos as a floating popup while using other apps on your smartphone. It can also be used without a Google Account, ensuring zero restrictions. Since it does not support Google Account, you can easily import your favorite videos and subscribe to YouTube channels.
Features:
- Downloads: Download videos in your preferred resolution and file format locally on your device and share them without restrictions.
- Privacy: Uses no proprietary APIs or codebases, ensuring maximum privacy and safety for you. All the code is open-source and thoroughly verified to be safe by independent developers.
- License: Licensed for public use under the standard GPL 3.0 license, making it easy to access and redistribute among friends and family.
- Cost: It is entirely free, as it works on donation funding, making sure there are no hidden costs for you.
| Pros | Cons |
| Works with various other services like PeerTube, SoundCloud, and more. | I cannot connect my Google Account with this app. |
| Maintains your privacy tracks only the details that are necessary for functionality. | |
| Available in more than 100 languages |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
3) SkyTube
SkyTube is the best alternatives of YouTube Vanced for managing your YouTube content. It has various additional features beyond the basic ad blocking. You can use it to block or allow specific channels. It can also help you automatically stop highly disliked videos from showing in your feeds.
In my experience, this YouTube ad blocker has the widest range of tools including custom swipe controls to improve the YouTube-watching experience. These swipe gestures allow you to manage volume, brightness, and more.
Features:
- Import: You can import subscriptions from any YouTube account or other app, ensuring a seamless transition to SkyTube.
- Ad Blocking: It can be used to perform effortless channel/video Blocklisting and video ad blocking.
- Additional Features: You can easily Import subscriptions, create a custom blocklist, and mirror content using Chromecast.
- Translations: It has been translated into many of the popular languages across the globe for better ease of use.
| Pros | Cons |
| Locally backup and restore your YouTube subscriptions, bookmarks, etc. | Some features are available only for paid pricing plans. |
| Support for casting via Chromecast | |
| Does not require GApps or any Google Play service to work. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
4) ReVanced Extended
ReVanced Extended is best for enjoying additional features and customizations for greater control. This YouTube Ad Blocker adopted the original Vanced and made changes to improve user experience. You can customize the YouTube layout and add/remove components like YouTube Shorts.
It also brings back many additional features, including the return of dislikes and more. You can also allow specific channels to see their ads and support them financially. In addition, it supports download of high-resolution videos at 4k 60fps.
Features:
- Gesture Navigation: The swipe gestures allow you to alter your viewing experience using easy swipes on your screen.
- Customize UI: You can customize the user interface through the removal of video ads, ads on the home, suggestions, and searches.
- Ad Blocking: It can perform ad blocking for Sponsor Block, ads block, merchandise block, banner block, etc.
- Device Support: This alternative to YouTube Vanced works on all Android and AOSP devices
- Tools: It provides additional tools for video downloading, dislike support, and more.
| Pros | Cons |
| It is wholly open-source and free to use. | It is very similar to other apps in terms of UI. |
| Natively available in 5+ languages globally. | |
| The active developer community constantly maintains and updates it for maximum compatibility. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
5) LibreTube
LibreTube is the best open-source, privacy-friendly free YouTube Vanced alternative with various features for your needs. Licensed under GPL 3.0, you can easily download and use it without any restrictions. I was annoyed by its lack of support for YouTube accounts, but was able to import existing subscriptions easily.
It removes all ads and product placements to ensure a distraction-free experience. This is one of the best YouTube Vanced alternatives designed to be lightweight and compatible with various devices.
Features:
- Fundamental Features: It supports all standard YouTube features, like video chapters, custom resolution, and subtitles in the app.
- Gestures: Native support for player gestures to alter the viewing experience easily while watching the videos.
- Privacy: It provides additional tools for privacy protection, blocklisting/allowlisting, and keeping you safe online.
- Advertisements: This YouTube Vanced competition removed standard annoying advertisements, Google Tracker Block, in-video ads, and banner blocks.
| Pros | Cons |
| Bypasses Google’s data collection and keeps your activities secret. | There is no support for connecting to a Google Account. |
| It allows you to store subscriptions locally and restore them whenever you want. | |
| Allows you to fine-tune and control buttons as needed. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
6) GoTube
GoTube is best for trying unique themes on YouTube. It tries to look unique and unlike any other YouTube Vanced alternative. I really liked the blue accented UI that can be designed beautifully. It’s a great choice if you don’t like the old, boring UI of YouTube and YouTube Vanced.
This app is designed to be lightweight and high-performance to ensure maximum possible device compatibility. Many quality-of-life improvements include the ability to decrease brightness for a better viewing experience.
Features:
- Google Account: You can also connect your Google account with it, making it one of the best YouTube Vanced alternatives with a Google account.
- Download: You can easily download all the videos in your preferred resolutions.
- Customize UI: You can customize UI and add/remove features based on your preferences.
- Additional Tools: You get other tools like popup player, background playing, and performance improvement.
- Ad Blocking: It blocks and removes all Midroll preroll ads in your videos.
| Pros | Cons |
| Native support for adding and connecting Google accounts. | Lacks support for YouTube shorts. |
| Popup player allows you to watch videos as a popup while using another app. | |
| Native support for playing videos in the background. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
7) Brave Browser
Brave Browser is best browser for blocking ads on various sites including YouTube. I found it to be privacy-friendly and capable of blocking all ads and JavaScript trackers from websites like YouTube. It is a modified version of Chrome and can be used to have an ideal experience on all websites, not just YouTube.
It reduces your data consumption, thus saving your bandwidth and improving your battery life at the same time. You can manually allow or block specific websites for additional control. In my experience there tracker blockers helped me better protect privacy and avoid getting tracked.
Features:
- Protection: Proper malware and phishing protection to maintain your privacy online. The anonymous network routing ensures other websites cannot track you.
- Additional Tools: It provides various tools for complete privacy protection, data saving, and battery saving,
- Ads: It blocks advertisements on all sites, including YouTube.
- Device Support: You can use this YouTube Vanced alternative for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux,
| Pros | Cons |
| It has a built-in VPN for masking your IP address. | No specific additional features for YouTube. |
| Available in 160+ languages worldwide. | |
| Optional, non-evasive, privacy-friendly ads. |
Pricing: Lifetime Free
8) YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium is the best YouTube Vanced Alternative for iOS & Android. This paid service is the official solution from YouTube and is the most straightforward and easy to use. It unlocks all features like YouTube Music, Ad-free viewing, background play, and more.
YouTube offers multiple pricing plans for your needs. It also has lucrative discounts for students, annual, and family plans. I enjoyed the simplicity, convenience, and the exclusive content offered by YouTube Premium, thought the pricing was a bummer.
Features:
- Ad Free: Completely ad-free viewing experience on the entire platform.
- Music: The YouTube Music unlocks a massive library of music you can enjoy on any device.
- Creator Support: Your subscription to YouTube Premium also helps support actual creators and adequately rewards them for their work.
- Tools: YouTube Premium also provides additional features like background video playing, video downloads, YouTube Music, etc.
| Pros | Cons |
| Requires no app sideloading and works in the native YouTube app. | No sponsor block |
| Ensures reliable and consistent user experience | Relatively expensive pricing |
| Works on all smartphones, desktops, TVs, and other devices |
Pricing: Plans start at $13.99s per month
How to remove ads from YouTube for free?
There are many ways to get an ad-free YouTube-watching experience. Most notably, you can purchase a paid YouTube Premium subscription for your account. Choose from some popular YouTube Ad Blockers if that doesn’t excite you.
Some of the best YouTube AdBlockers tweak YouTube’s functionality to remove ads, skip sponsor segments, and introduce additional features. Some of the best YouTube Ad Blockers are:
- Brave Browser
- NewPipe
- Vanced Extended
How to get YouTube Premium Subscription for free?
YouTube Premium subscription is quite expensive, and there is no direct way of getting it for free. YouTube Premium offers annual plans that can save you 15-20%. Moreover, they provide family plans, allowing five accounts to share one cost-effective method.
Apart from that, you can get all the features of YouTube Premium using 3rd party solutions, primarily YouTube Ad Blockers. The most popular YouTube Ad Blocker was YouTube Vanced. It has been discontinued now.
What are the benefits of YouTube Ad Blockers?
Some of the benefits of YouTube Ad Blockers are:
- No Ads: YouTube Ad Blockers block all preroll and midroll ads on YouTube. This ensures you get an ideal experience while watching YouTube videos.
- Background Playing: Most YouTube Ad Blockers allow you to play YouTube videos in the backend, enabling you to use another app while playing a video in the background.
- Downloading: You can easily download YouTube videos for offline storage and direct sharing on other platforms.
FAQs
The Verdict
If you want to watch YouTube ad-free, then it is best to choose some of the best YouTube ad blockers for your needs. We’ve shown you 8 of the best YouTube Vanced alternatives. If you are still confused about choosing any 1, then our final verdict will help you.
The extensive YouTube ad blockers will probably eat up your revenue if you are a YouTuber or a digital creator. That’s why it is best to shift to some of the best platforms to get paid to write about anything.
| Alternative For YouTube Vanced | Use Case |
| New Pipe | Best YouTube Ad Blockers |
| ReVanced Extended | Additional features to enhance the YouTube experience |
| ReVanced | Overall Best Vanced Alternative |
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