The best YouTube summarizers in 2026, compared

By the Luminar team · Updated October 28, 2026

Short answer: for a quick free summary inside YouTube, Glasp is the simplest. If you want summaries you can check point by point, keep in a library, and also use on articles, PDFs and audio, Luminar fits. Eightify is good for short lists of key ideas, NoteGPT for notes and mind maps, and Recall for building a personal knowledge base. All five have a free plan.

This guide is written by the Luminar team, so we are one of the tools on the list. We tried to be fair: each tool below is good at something, and the right pick depends on how you watch and what you do with it after.

The quick comparison

Tool	Best for	Works on	Free plan
Luminar	Summaries you can check point by point, in 16 languages	YouTube, articles, PDFs, papers, audio	Yes, 5 summaries a month
Glasp	Quick summaries with ChatGPT or Claude	YouTube	Yes
Eightify	Short lists of key ideas	YouTube	Yes, with limits
NoteGPT	Notes, transcripts and mind maps	YouTube, PDFs, articles	Yes, with limits
Recall	A personal knowledge base	YouTube, articles, PDFs, podcasts	Yes, with limits

Free plans and prices change often, so check each tool's own site before you pay.

Luminar

Luminar adds a Summarise button under every YouTube video. You get a short summary with the minute each point was said, so you can jump back and check it. Pick Concise, Standard or Detailed, and read it in any of 16 languages. You can ask follow up questions, and every summary is saved to a library. The same app also summarizes articles, PDFs, research papers and audio files. The free plan gives you 5 summaries a month.

Glasp

Glasp is a free browser extension that shows a transcript and an AI summary next to the video. You choose the AI model, such as ChatGPT or Claude, and you can change the prompt it uses. It works on videos that have a transcript. It is a good pick if you already use ChatGPT or Claude and want something light.

Eightify

Eightify turns a video into a short list of key ideas. It is quick to read and works well for talks and explainers. The free plan has tight limits on how many videos you can summarize.

NoteGPT

NoteGPT focuses on notes. Along with summaries it offers transcripts, mind maps, and tools for PDFs and web articles, in many languages. It needs an account for most features, and the free plan has a monthly quota.

Recall

Recall is built around a personal knowledge base. You save videos, articles, podcasts and PDFs, get a summary of each, and the app links related ideas together. It suits people who want to build up their own library of notes over time.

How to choose

Want a fast, free summary and nothing else? Try Glasp.
Need to check what the video really said, or read it in another language? Try Luminar.
Prefer a short list of ideas? Try Eightify.
Study from videos and like mind maps? Try NoteGPT.
Building a second brain? Try Recall.

How we compared

We looked at what each tool does on a normal YouTube video, which other sources it can read, how you can check the summary, and what the free plan allows. We checked each tool's own pages in October 2026.

Related guides

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