YouTube Kids alternatives: what exists, and which problem each one solves
We are one of these options, so read this with that in mind. What we can do is turn the question around: not which alternative is best, but which problem you actually have. The answer depends entirely on that, and for a fair number of people reading this, we are not it.
If you want to keep using YouTube: approved content only
YouTube Kids has a mode called "approved content only", and it is the safest thing Google itself offers: you approve each video, channel or whole collection, and search is off. Your child can then only reach what you ticked.
Three things that still hold in that mode, because they rarely get mentioned:
- Ads still run — child-directed ones, but they are there
- The home screen is still assembled algorithmically, just from your own approved list
- You can only approve what is already in YouTube Kids' library; a channel that exists on main YouTube cannot simply be added
The work is in the ticking. Do it and you get the tightest control on this page.
If you are in a country with a public children's broadcaster: use it
This is the advice that travels worst and matters most. In the Netherlands it is NPO Zappelin — free, entirely ad-free, with a built-in timer that limits how long the app can be used, and downloads for offline. PBS Kids plays the same role in the US. Wherever you are, a publicly funded children's service is usually the best free option available and it is worth ten minutes to find out whether yours has one.
Note what that gives you that we do not: no advertising at all, and a working time limit.
If you already pay for a subscription: the kids profile
Netflix, Disney+ and the rest all have one: no ads, no comments, and everything in it was licensed by somebody. The drawback is the shape — mostly longer episodes and films, much less of the short-form a toddler asks for. And you are paying, which is fine if you already were.
If you want maximum control: a whitelist app
There is a whole category of apps where you choose the channels your child may see and nothing else gets through. That is the most control available, at the most effort: you are the editor, and you stay the editor.
Where we fit
KidsTube is a website rather than an app, so there is nothing to install and it works on any tablet or laptop with a browser. Every video was watched by a person before it went on. There are no comments, no recommendation sidebar, and the auto-advance stays inside one series. It is free and ad-supported — child-directed and never personalised, and none are running at the moment.
Two things that set us apart from the rest of this list. We carry material past the preschool ceiling most of these stop at — science and StoryBots go well beyond it. And you can add your own channels and playlists through My list, which then play in the same surroundings with no recommendations beside them.
Where we are not it
If you need a time limit, we are not it. If you need genuinely ad-free, we are not it. If you want a PIN in front of the grown-up parts, or separate profiles per child, we have neither. That is not modesty, it is the current state — we write it down elsewhere too.
The short version
- Toddler or preschooler — your public broadcaster's service first, if your country has one
- You want a hard time limit — that, or the tablet's own screen-time settings
- You want to approve everything yourself — YouTube Kids in approved mode, or a whitelist app
- You want no app to install, and breadth in one place — that is us. Start with the songs
How much screen time per age is in another post, since that is usually the question underneath this one.