Comparison
Hadzy vs YouTube Studio AI comment search
If the video is on your own channel and you are at a desktop, use YouTube Studio first. Its AI comment search shipped on June 26, 2026, it is free and native, and it understands intent rather than exact words — you can ask for “excited comments” and get them, along with auto-generated Suggested Topics and a Find Similar Comments action. Nothing to install, nothing to paste.
Hadzy exists for the cases Studio deliberately does not cover: videos you do not own, comment sections you want to search from a phone, exact-phrase and author lookups, exports, statistics, and giveaway draws. These two tools complement each other. Hadzy is not trying to replace Studio for your own channel, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
At a glance
| Feature | Hadzy | YouTube Studio AI search |
|---|---|---|
| Which videos | Any public YouTube video, including Shorts and live stream replays | Your own channel only |
| How you search | Exact keyword search plus author filter, across comments and replies | Natural-language semantic search, e.g. “find excited comments” |
| Where it runs | Any browser, any device, including phones | Desktop YouTube Studio only - not the Studio mobile app |
| Comments covered | All public comments and replies returned by the YouTube Data API | Published-tab comments only; comments held for review are not included |
| Extra analysis | Word cloud, top commenters, timeline stats | Auto Suggested Topics and Find Similar Comments |
| Sorting | Sort by likes, date, or reply count | Driven by the AI search and suggested topics |
| Export | CSV free, no signup, up to 250 rows; up to 500,000 rows plus JSON for supporters | None - read-only |
| Giveaway draws | Yes, with a public proof page | Not offered |
| Setup | Paste a video URL; no account needed | Built in; nothing to set up if you have a channel |
| Price | Free; optional supporter tier $5/month | Free |
Where each tool wins
YouTube Studio is the better choice for
- Reading your own channel’s comments at a desktop - it is free, native, and already signed in
- Semantic questions: “which comments sound frustrated?” is something keyword search cannot answer
- Suggested Topics, which surface themes you did not think to search for
- Find Similar Comments, for expanding from one comment to the pattern around it
Hadzy is the better choice for
- Any video that is not yours - competitor research, market research, a video you just watched
- Working from a phone, where Studio’s AI search is not available
- Exact-phrase matching and filtering by a specific commenter
- Getting the comments out: CSV free, up to 500,000 rows plus JSON for supporters
- Word cloud, top commenters, and timeline statistics
- Running a giveaway draw with a verifiable public proof page
The four limits worth knowing about Studio
None of these are flaws exactly — they follow from Studio being a creator dashboard rather than a public research tool — but they decide when you need something else:
- Your own channel only. There is no way to point it at a video you do not own.
- Desktop only. The AI search is not in the YouTube Studio mobile app.
- Published comments only. Comments held for review are outside the search, so results are not the complete picture.
- Read-only. You can find comments but not export them for a spreadsheet, a report, or a giveaway draw.
Two different kinds of search
It is worth being precise about what “search” means in each tool, because they are not the same operation. Studio’s AI search is semantic: you describe the kind of comment you want and it interprets that, which is powerful for reading the mood of an audience and hopeless when you need every comment containing an exact string.
Hadzy’s search is literal: it matches the words you type across comments, replies, and author names, and lets you sort the matches by likes, date, or reply count. That is what you want when you are looking for one specific comment, checking whether anyone mentioned a product name, or collecting every entry containing your giveaway phrase.
Which should you use?
Use YouTube Studiofor understanding your own channel’s comments at a desktop. It is free, built in, and its semantic search does something Hadzy genuinely cannot.
Use Hadzy for any video that is not yours, for searching from a phone, for exact matches and author lookups, for exporting comments, and for giveaway draws.
Most creators will end up using both: Studio to read the room on their own uploads, Hadzy to research everything else and to get data out.
Frequently asked questions
Is YouTube Studio’s AI comment search free?
Yes. It shipped on June 26, 2026 and is built into YouTube Studio on desktop at no cost. There is nothing to install or configure - if you have a channel, it is already there.
Can I use YouTube Studio to search comments on someone else’s video?
No. Studio only shows comments on your own channel. To search comments on a video you do not own - a competitor’s upload, a video you are researching, or anything you simply watched - you need a tool that reads public comments, such as Hadzy.
Does the AI comment search work in the YouTube Studio mobile app?
No. It is available in desktop YouTube Studio only. Hadzy is a website and works in any mobile browser, which is the practical difference when you want to check comments away from your desk.
Does Studio’s AI search include comments held for review?
No. It searches comments in the Published tab. Anything held for review or filtered out of that tab will not appear in the results, so it is not a complete view of everything people wrote.
Can I export comments from YouTube Studio?
No, the AI comment search is read-only. Hadzy exports a video’s comments as CSV on the free tier - no signup, no watermark, up to 250 rows, and it exports whatever your current search and author filter are showing. Supporters can export up to 500,000 rows, and JSON as well as CSV.
Search a video Studio cannot reach
Paste any public YouTube video URL on the Hadzy home page— yours or anyone else’s — and search its comments for free, without signing in.
- YouTube comment finderSearch every comment and reply on a video by keyword or author.
- Export YouTube commentsDownload a video’s comments as CSV, or JSON for supporters.
- YouTube giveaway pickerDraw a random comment winner and share a public proof page.
- Support Hadzy$5 a month raises the export cap to 500,000 rows and adds date filters and batch draws.