TubeBuddy YouTube Shorts and its Suggested Shorts tool: what it does and what to use instead

What TubeBuddy Suggested Shorts actually does

TubeBuddy is a YouTube optimisation toolkit: SEO and keyword research, thumbnail and title testing, analytics and bulk editing. It runs as a browser extension, a mobile app and a web dashboard, and it works on videos that already sit on a YouTube channel you have connected. TubeBuddy's own FAQ says Suggested Shorts is not an editing tool.

The Suggested Shorts feature reads the audience retention data of one of your public long-form videos and recommends moments that would work as a Short. The help-centre FAQ is direct about the limit: the tool does not create the Shorts video for you. You still cut, crop to vertical, caption and export the clip somewhere else. The video also needs to have been public for at least 3 days before suggestions appear.

So when people search for TubeBuddy Shorts, they often expect a clip maker and find a recommendation engine. That is not a flaw. It is a different job, and it matters when you are deciding what to pay for.

• Input: a public video on a connected YouTube channel, live for at least 3 days.
• Output: a list of suggested moments. No video file is produced.
• Pro licences see two recommendations at a time. Legend sees all of them.
• Starter (free) licences: the help-centre FAQ says the tool is not available, while the tool page marks Free as limited access. Treat free access as unconfirmed.

TubeBuddy plans and limits, checked 11 October 2026

There is no minutes or credits meter, because TubeBuddy does not process your video. The limits are about who can buy: Pro and Legend are creator licences for individuals, and each licence covers one YouTube channel. TubeBuddy lists multiple channels on the account, 50,000 or more subscribers, three or more channel managers, or 50 or more employees as reasons a user is not eligible for those plans.

Where TubeBuddy is better

• It uses how real viewers watched your video. A clipper that works on a file has no retention graph for a video you have not published yet, so TubeBuddy's pick is grounded in actual audience behaviour.
• It can be much cheaper. Pro is $3 a month and Legend $15 a month on the pricing page we read, against $12 and $29 for KeyMo, although TubeBuddy's own blog quotes higher figures. It also comes with a wider YouTube toolkit: keyword research, title and thumbnail testing, bulk editing.
• It has a free licence for every channel, so you can open the dashboard and look around. KeyMo has no free plan and no trial.
• It suits creators who already clip by hand or hire an editor and only want help choosing which moments to cut.
• Its Suggested Shorts page says the feature works for every type of content, in every language, in every country where YouTube is available.

Where KeyMo is better

KeyMo makes the clips. You give it an MP4 or MOV from 5 minutes to 3 hours (up to 10 GB), or paste a YouTube link on a paid plan, and it returns up to 15 vertical 9:16 clips at 1080x1920, 30 fps. Each clip has a score out of 10 with a one-line reason, and only clips scoring 7 or higher are kept, so a weak episode returns fewer clips instead of filler.

• No waiting period. A file you recorded this morning can be clipped today. TubeBuddy needs the video public for 3 days first.
• Finished files, not a to-do list. Face-tracking 9:16 reframe, trimmed silences and word-by-word captions in 12 styles are done for you, and you can ask the chat editor for changes.
• No watermark on any plan, and a ZIP export of all clips.
• Works on footage that never went to YouTube, such as a raw podcast recording or a webinar.
• Usage is counted in source minutes: Starter is $12 a month for 300 minutes and Pro is $29 a month for 900, so you can work out the cost of an episode before you start.

A worked example: a 60-minute podcast uses 60 of the 300 minutes on Starter, which is five episodes a month. KeyMo's built-in target for an hour of video is 8 to 12 clips. That is a target, not a promise, because the 7-out-of-10 cut-off can return fewer. Details are on the pricing page and in the podcast clip generator overview.

Other things to weigh

• The two tools answer different questions. TubeBuddy says which moments held viewers. KeyMo turns a long recording into finished vertical clips. Some creators will use both.
• YouTube link import on KeyMo only fetches up to 1080p, and you must confirm you own the video or have permission. The YouTube to Shorts page covers that flow.
• This page makes no claim about which languages KeyMo supports, so check before you pay. With no trial, that is a real consideration if your content is not in English.
• KeyMo keeps source files for 7 days and clips for 30 days, so download what you need.
• TubeBuddy's acquisition by GameSquare was announced on 24 February 2026. TubeBuddy's announcement says current plans and pricing were not changing.

Who should pick which

• Pick TubeBuddy if your long videos are already on YouTube, you are happy to cut Shorts yourself or pay someone to, and you want retention data and SEO tools at a low monthly price.
• Pick KeyMo if you want the clips themselves, vertical and captioned, from a podcast, interview or stream recording, including files that are not on YouTube.
• Use both if you want TubeBuddy to point at the best moments and a separate clipper to do the cutting. Compare KeyMo with other clippers in the Opus Clip alternative page.