The best video downloaders in 2026

Something changed for video downloaders this year, and if you tried to grab a clip in January you probably felt it. YouTube pushed harder than ever to sell Premium, and a wave of popular tools broke on the same day. 4K Video Downloader Plus, a few smaller apps, and even yt-dlp started returning “403 Forbidden” errors. Most were patched within days. Some never came back.

That’s the thing to understand before you pick a tool in 2026: a downloader is only as good as its last update. Sites change their code constantly to break these apps, so the ones that survive are the ones that ship fixes fast. A slick interface means nothing if the project has been quiet for a year.

There’s a second thing worth knowing up front. Most video downloaders, including several you pay for, are wrappers around the same free open-source engine, yt-dlp. It does the hard part: reading the page, picking formats, merging audio and video, handling playlists. So the real differences between tools aren’t raw capability. They’re the interface, how often it’s maintained, whether it’s safe, whether it respects your privacy, and what it costs. Keep that in mind and the whole category gets easier to shop.

What actually matters when you pick one

A few things separate a good downloader from a liability:

• Site coverage. The best tools handle thousands of sites, not just YouTube. Anything built on yt-dlp reaches well over a thousand, so one app usually covers YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Reddit without you switching tools.
• Real quality. Some tools quietly cap you at 720p. You want one that pulls the highest resolution the source actually offers, up to 4K or 8K, and merges the separate audio and video streams so the file has sound.
• Audio and playlists. Pulling an MP3, or queuing a whole playlist without babysitting each link, are the two most common real uses.
• Privacy. This is a genuine fork in the road. A desktop app downloads straight from the source to your disk. A website parses your link on its own server, which means a stranger’s machine sees everything you paste.
• Price model. The engine underneath is free, so what you’re paying for is the app, the upkeep, and the convenience. That can be worth it. Just know whether you’re paying once or every month.
• Safety. Prefer open source, or established apps from their official site. This category attracts a lot of malware, and I’ll get to why.

One thing most tools on this list can’t do: download from Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, or Max. Those use DRM, and getting past it is a different and legally sharper matter. A couple of paid tools specialize in exactly that, and I’ve included one below with the caveats it deserves.

The quick comparison

Prices for the paid apps move around a lot with sales, so treat them as a rough guide and check before you buy.

The 10 best video downloaders

1. yt-dlp, the most capable, if you’ll use a terminal

Price: free · Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux · Best for: coverage and control

yt-dlp is the engine most of this list runs on, and using it directly gives you everything with nothing in the way. Roughly 1,800 site extractors. Every format up to 8K, HDR, and AV1. Playlists, channels, subtitles, live streams, even SponsorBlock to skip sponsor segments. It’s free, open source, and updated almost constantly, which is why it recovered from January’s YouTube changes faster than anything else.

The catch is right there in the description: it’s a command-line tool with no interface. If yt-dlp -f bestvideo+bestaudio reads like a foreign language, this isn’t your daily driver. It also needs ffmpeg installed to merge high-quality files. Everyone else on this list exists to put a friendly face on exactly this. Download it only from the official GitHub, since fakes are common.

2. Vidferry, private, on-device, and paid once

Price: $12 once · Platforms: macOS, Windows · Best for: keeping your downloads yours

Full disclosure, this is our app, so read the rest with that in mind. Vidferry is a desktop app with a plain interface anyone can use. Paste a link, pick a quality, keep the file. It covers 1,000+ sites, pulls audio, and handles playlists.

What makes it different is where the work happens. Everything runs on your machine. There’s no account to make, nothing gets uploaded to a server we run, and it doesn’t phone home with what you downloaded. The link you paste stays with you. It’s twelve dollars once, on Mac and PC, with no subscription and no free tier, so it’s a fit if you’d rather buy a tool and be done than rent one or dodge ads. If you already have a file on your disk and just need to change its format, Vidferry also runs a set of free in-browser converters that do the work entirely on your device, with nothing uploaded. If a free command-line tool matters more to you than a private, no-fuss app, the terminal options above will serve you better, and that’s a fair trade to make.

3. 4K Video Downloader+, the familiar name

Price: free tier, or from $25 once · Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux · Best for: people who’ve used it before

This is the one a lot of people already know. The interface is clean, it goes up to 8K, it can auto-download new uploads from channels you follow, and the paid license is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. All good.

Two caveats. The free tier got noticeably stingier, with tight daily download limits that push you toward paying. And it was one of the apps that broke during January’s YouTube crackdown, though it was patched. It covers mainstream social and video sites rather than the full thousand-site spread of the yt-dlp tools. Buy it only from 4kdownload.com, because the “cheap license key” resellers are shady.

4. Downie, the Mac favorite

Price: $19.99 once (or via Setapp) · Platforms: macOS only · Best for: Mac users who want something native

If you’re on a Mac, Downie is the one to look at first. It’s a polished native app from a well-regarded indie developer, it reaches over a thousand sites, and it updates every week or two to keep pace with changes. It pulls full 4K from YouTube, converts files for your iPhone automatically, and has browser extensions so you can send a video to it in one click.

There’s a neat trick for stubborn sites: a built-in browser that lets you play a video and grab it even when there’s no dedicated extractor. The obvious limitation is that it’s Mac only, and it tops out around 4K rather than 8K. For most Mac users, neither will matter.

5. SnapDownloader, for 8K and trimming

Price: from $39.99 once · Platforms: Windows, macOS · Best for: high-resolution grabs you want to trim

SnapDownloader is a paid app that does two things especially well. It pulls genuine 8K, along with 360-degree and HDR video, from YouTube and Vimeo. And it has a built-in trimmer, so you can cut a clip out of a long video without downloading the whole thing first. It covers 1,100-plus sites and a 2026 update added multi-threading that sped up those big 4K and 8K files.

It’s paid only, with a lifetime license that’s cheaper than a year of some subscriptions, and there’s no Linux build. If you regularly want the absolute highest resolution or you clip a lot, it earns its price.

6. SurFast, the cheapest paid option

Price: from $19 once, or about $9 a month · Platforms: Windows, macOS · Best for: paying a little for a clean, no-limits app

SurFast (from Nabla Mind) is the value pick. A lifetime license often goes for less than twenty dollars on sale, which is cheaper than most rivals here, and you get a genuinely full-featured tool: 1,000-plus sites, up to 8K in more than fifteen formats, playlists and whole-channel batch downloads, and a clip tool that grabs just the part of a video you want. There’s a Chrome helper extension and a free trial to test it first.

It’s newer and less of a household name than 4K Video Downloader or Downie, so it doesn’t have the same long track record. But it’s actively maintained, ad-free, and the price is hard to argue with. If you want the convenience of a paid app without paying suite money, start here.

7. Allavsoft, for courses, music, and odd sources

Price: from about $20 a month, or a one-time license · Platforms: Windows, macOS · Best for: sites the mainstream apps skip

Allavsoft earns its spot by reaching places the tidier apps don’t. Alongside the usual YouTube and social sites, it pulls from learning platforms like Udemy and music services like Spotify, converts to a long list of formats, and handles big batches. If your problem is “the popular downloaders don’t support the site I need,” this is worth a look.

The trade-offs are real: the interface looks dated, the free trial is capped at a handful of downloads, and the advertised site count is more generous than what’s actually documented. Buy from allavsoft.com rather than the coupon sites that push it. It’s a specialist, not a first choice for everyone.

8. VideoProc Converter AI, the all-in-one suite

Price: from about $55 once · Platforms: Windows, macOS · Best for: people who want more than a downloader

VideoProc is a full media toolkit where downloading is one feature among many. You also get format conversion, screen recording, DVD ripping, compression, and AI extras like upscaling and frame interpolation. It handles 4K and 8K, and if you were going to buy a converter anyway, getting the downloader in the same app is convenient.

The flip side is that you’re paying for the whole suite even if you only want to save videos, the AI features are hit or miss, and the marketing leans hard on countdown-timer discounts. If you just want a downloader, one of the focused tools above is a cleaner buy. If you want the Swiss Army knife, this is a solid one.

9. StreamFab, for paid streaming services (with a caveat)

Price: from about $99 once per module, or roughly $300 for the all-in-one · Platforms: Windows, macOS · Best for: saving from services the other tools can’t touch

StreamFab is the odd one out here, and I’m including it because it does something nothing else on this list does. Through a set of per-service modules that DVDFab updates weekly, it saves video from paid streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Max, up to 1080p. If that’s specifically what you’re after, it’s the best-known option.

Read the caveat before you buy. Those services are wrapped in DRM, and downloading them means getting past that protection, which is the legally sharper area I cover below, not the ordinary “save a public clip” case. It’s also expensive: the per-service pricing adds up quickly, and the all-in-one bundle runs into the hundreds. Go in knowing exactly what you’re paying for and where it sits.

10. cobalt, the one online tool I’d use

Price: free · Platforms: web, or self-hosted · Best for: a quick grab with no install

Nearly every “paste a link” website is a trap, which I’ll cover below. cobalt is the exception. It’s open source, runs no ads, no trackers, and no accounts, and it doesn’t try to trick you into clicking a fake button. It handles Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, SoundCloud, and around thirty other services, up to 8K, with clean audio options. You can also self-host it in about fifteen minutes.

The honest caveat: its YouTube support broke in mid-2025 when YouTube’s blocking defeated cobalt’s approach, and as of now it’s still unreliable there, even on self-hosted copies. So it’s the trustworthy choice for everything except the one site most people want. For that, an installed app is the better tool.

Online downloaders, and the ones to avoid

Outside of cobalt, I’d stay away from the “free online video downloader” websites, and it’s worth explaining why rather than just waving you off.

Two problems are baked into the model. First, privacy: when you paste a link into a website, its server fetches the video, which means the operator sees every URL you submit, your IP, and often where you came from. A local app never exposes that. Second, money: these sites are funded by the lowest tier of ad networks, so fake “Download” buttons, pop-ups that start unwanted downloads, redirects, and browser-notification hijacks are the norm, not the exception. One wrong click installs something you didn’t want.

The big names here have earned their reputations. SaveFrom.net runs deceptive ad networks and its browser extension is flagged as adware. y2mate was so notorious that in October 2025 the music industry group IFPI shut down y2mate.com and eleven related sites. A swarm of copycats now impersonate the brand, and in testing they behave worse than the original did. 9xbuddy and SSYouTube fire off background redirects on nearly every click. Browser extensions used to be an alternative, but Chrome’s 2026 changes broke about half of them.

If you must use one, use cobalt, keep a real ad blocker like uBlock Origin running, never click an in-page “Download” button, and never grant notification permissions. Better still, install something that keeps the whole transaction on your own machine.

How to choose in about thirty seconds

• You want it private and simple, and you’ll pay once: Vidferry.
• You live in the terminal and want maximum power for free: yt-dlp.
• You’re on a Mac and want something native: Downie.
• You want to spend as little as possible on a paid app: SurFast.
• You need real 8K or you clip a lot: SnapDownloader or SurFast.
• You need a site the mainstream apps skip, like a course platform: Allavsoft.
• You want a converter and editor in the same app: VideoProc.
• You specifically need paid streaming services, and you’ve read the caveat: StreamFab.
• You just need one quick grab and it isn’t YouTube: cobalt.

Is downloading videos legal?

Short version, and this isn’t legal advice: it depends on what you download and why, not on the tool. The apps are neutral. The content and the use decide.

You’re on solid ground with videos you made and uploaded, works in the public domain, Creative Commons videos used within their license, and anything a platform explicitly lets you save, like YouTube Premium’s own offline feature. The gray and darker areas are copyrighted work saved without permission, and especially re-uploading someone else’s video, which is where clear infringement usually happens. Personal, offline viewing of a single clip sits in a softer spot in practice, but “how it’s usually enforced” is a description, not a guarantee.

Separately, most platforms’ terms of service restrict downloading through third-party tools. Breaking those terms is generally a contract issue with the platform, not a crime. The genuinely different line is DRM: circumventing the protection on Netflix and similar services is its own offense under laws like the US DMCA, even when your intended use would otherwise be fine. That’s exactly why most of the tools here don’t touch those services, and why the one that does, StreamFab, sits in a different legal category. When in doubt, check the rules in your country and the terms of the site you’re using.

Are these tools safe?

For most people the real danger isn’t a lawyer’s letter. It’s malware.

This category is a favorite disguise for bad software. Through 2025, researchers tracked thousands of videos and pages pushing malware dressed up as free “downloader” tools, including trojans and info-stealers hidden in fake installers. The tells are consistent: a “converter” that wants you to install a codec or media player first, a site that begs for browser notification permission, anything that tells you to disable your antivirus, or an unexpected .exe you didn’t ask for.

Staying safe isn’t complicated. Prefer open-source tools or established apps, and download them from the official source rather than a search-ad clone. Favor an installed app over a website that runs your links through its servers. Some free tools bundle extra software in their installers, with JDownloader and ClipGrab the usual examples, so grab their clean or portable builds if you go that route. Keep your antivirus on. None of this is paranoia; it’s just the price of shopping in a neighborhood that attracts crooks.

The bottom line

There’s no single best video downloader, because “best” depends on whether you’re optimizing for power, for price, or for privacy.

If you want the most capable tool and you’re happy in a terminal, it’s yt-dlp, and it isn’t close. On a Mac, Downie is a joy. If you want a paid app but don’t want to overpay, SurFast is the value pick. And if what you want is the best video downloader for PC and Mac that keeps every link and file on your own machine, with a plain interface and a one-time price, that’s the case we built Vidferry to make. Whatever you land on, pick something that’s actively maintained, install it from the real source, and skip the ad-choked websites. Your files, and your computer, will thank you.