Question 1

Is the YouTube summarizer free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. SummarTube uses OpenRouter, which offers free models. Create a free key, pick a free model, and summarize away. Paid models are optional for longer or trickier videos.

Question 2

Which YouTube links work?

Accepted Answer

Standard youtube.com/watch links, youtu.be short links, Shorts, embeds, and live URLs — with or without a timestamp. You can also paste a bare 11-character video ID.

Question 3

Can it summarize any video?

Accepted Answer

Any public video that has captions or a transcript. The transcript is fetched automatically through the site's own server endpoint — no setup needed. Videos without captions, and age-restricted or private videos, can't be summarized.

Question 4

Where do my summaries and API key go?

Accepted Answer

Your key, settings, and recent summaries stay in your browser via localStorage. When you summarize, the video ID goes to the transcript endpoint to fetch the public captions, and the transcript text is sent to the AI model you selected via OpenRouter — nothing else leaves your browser.