Alternatives to Tartube
Desktop front end for youtube-dl that downloads and organizes videos from channels and playlists. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Tartube
Desktop front end for youtube-dl that downloads and organizes videos from channels and playlists.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Tartube.
Pinchflat
A self-hosted app that downloads YouTube channels and playlists into your media server library.
Pinchflat is a self-hosted app that automatically downloads new channel and playlist videos into Plex or Jellyfin, but only supports YouTube.
Parabolic
A desktop interface for yt-dlp with batch and concurrent downloads, subtitles, metadata and a choice of output formats.
Parabolic is an MIT-licensed yt-dlp desktop interface for Linux, Windows and macOS with concurrent downloads, but without channel-following features.
Stacher
A desktop GUI for yt-dlp that downloads online video and audio and organizes a library.
Stacher is a freemium closed-source yt-dlp interface with a searchable library that also runs on macOS.
4K Video Downloader Plus
A desktop app for saving videos, playlists and channels from YouTube and other video sites.
4K Video Downloader Plus saves entire channels and playlists up to 8K on Windows, macOS and Linux, but is closed source with paid Premium features.
MediaHuman YouTube Downloader
A desktop app that downloads videos, playlists and whole channels from YouTube and other sites.
MediaHuman YouTube Downloader downloads whole playlists and channels on macOS, Windows and Ubuntu, and is free but proprietary rather than open source.
youtube-dl-gui
A cross-platform graphical front end for yt-dlp and youtube-dl with a download queue.
youtube-dl-gui is an open-source front end for yt-dlp and youtube-dl with a download queue on all three desktops, without Tartube's channel library and tracking.
yt-dlp
A command line downloader that saves audio and video from thousands of sites, with precise control over formats.
yt-dlp is a command line downloader for thousands of sites with frequent fixes, but offers no graphical library or channel tracking.
MeTube
A self-hosted web interface for yt-dlp that downloads video and audio from YouTube and other sites.
MeTube is a self-hosted yt-dlp web interface usable from any device's browser, requiring a Docker server.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Tartube as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Media Downloader
Download supported online media through a desktop interface.
Tartube is an open-source youtube-dl front end for Windows and Linux that organizes channels and playlists and checks followed channels for new videos.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
JDownloader
A Java download manager that fetches files and videos from many hosting sites through plugins.
ytDownloader
Open-source desktop app for downloading video and audio from hundreds of websites.
Open Video Downloader
A cross-platform desktop interface for youtube-dl that downloads videos and playlists from many websites.
Seal
An Android app that downloads video and audio from websites, built on yt-dlp.
Channels DVR
A home DVR server that records live TV and streams recordings and personal media to your devices.
Stremio
A media center app that gathers video from add-on sources into one library and plays it.
