How It Works
Paste a channel handle, channel ID, or channel URL above. We read the same public channel page YouTube shows to any visitor, then check two things: whether a channel membership ("Join") button is present, and the channel's public subscriber count against YouTube's own published Partner Program thresholds.
We do not use the official YouTube Data API. That API does not expose monetization status, and Google's developer policy explicitly prohibits using API data to estimate or infer a channel's monetization status. Everything shown here comes from data that is already public on the channel's own page — not a guess, and not a paid third-party service.
What You Can Check — and What Nobody Can
Certain: if we detect a channel membership button, that channel is confirmed to be in the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube requires YPP membership before channel memberships can be enabled, so this signal is a hard confirmation, not an estimate.
Comparable: a channel's public subscriber count against YouTube's two published thresholds — 500 subscribers for the fan-funding tier, 1,000 for the ad-revenue tier. Meeting a threshold only means the subscriber requirement is met; it is not the same as being approved.
Unknowable to anyone outside YouTube: whether a channel is actually earning ad revenue right now. YouTube does not disclose this to the public, to competitors, or to us — no tool, including this one, can answer that question honestly with a yes or a no.
A channel's Store shelf (the shopping tab some channels show) is one more thing we can see on the public page, but we do not currently treat it as confirmation of anything. YouTube's shopping affiliate program requires YPP membership, but we have not independently confirmed that every channel showing a Store tab got there through that program. Until that is confirmed, a Store tab with no membership button is reported as no public signal, not as a confirmed one.
YouTube Partner Program Requirements
YPP has two tiers, and clearing one does not mean a channel has cleared the other.
- Fan-funding tier — 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in the last 90 days, and 3,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months (or 3 million Shorts views in 90 days). Unlocks channel memberships, Super Thanks, and the Store shelf.
- Ad-revenue tier — 1,000 subscribers and, for applications submitted before 2027-02-01, 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months (or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days). For applications submitted on or after 2027-02-01, the watch-hour requirement changes to 8,000 hours over 365 days (or 20 million Shorts views in 90 days). Unlocks ad revenue and Premium revenue sharing.
The 2027 change only affects new applicants. A channel already approved for the ad-revenue tier does not lose that status if its subscriber count later drops below 1,000 — the higher bar only applies to channels applying for the first time after the change takes effect.
Why Channels Get Rejected
Subscriber count is the only part of YPP eligibility this tool can see. In practice, channels get turned down — or never apply — for reasons that are invisible from the outside:
- Not enough watch hours in the qualifying window, even with enough subscribers.
- No public uploads in the last 90 days.
- Content that does not pass YouTube's manual policy review.
- Regional or platform restrictions that hide membership features even for approved channels.
Watch hours and review outcomes are the two biggest blind spots. A channel can clear both subscriber thresholds and still be turned down because its accumulated watch time falls short, and there is no public field anywhere on a channel page that shows watch hours — not to us, not to competitors, only to the channel owner inside YouTube Studio. The same is true of the manual review outcome: it either happens quietly in the background, or the channel owner sees a rejection reason in their own dashboard that never becomes public.
None of this means a channel that fails today's public subscriber threshold was never approved — channels approved under an earlier, lower bar keep their status even if requirements change later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the official YouTube tool for checking monetization?
No. YouTube does not publish a monetization-status lookup tool, and this site is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. We read the same public channel page anyone can see and report what it shows.
Why can't you just tell me if a channel is monetized?
Because YouTube does not make that information public to anyone, including us. The only thing we can confirm directly is whether a channel has enabled memberships, which requires YouTube Partner Program membership. Actual ad-revenue status stays private.
The tool says "Not detected" — does that mean the channel isn't monetized?
No. Many monetized channels never turn on memberships, and the membership button can be hidden depending on region or platform. "Not detected" only means we found no public signal, not that one doesn't exist.
Why does the tool split subscriber count into two thresholds?
Because YouTube Partner Program has two tiers with different subscriber requirements — 500 for fan-funding features like memberships and Super Thanks, and 1,000 for the ad-revenue and Premium-revenue tier. A channel can clear one threshold and not the other, so showing a single yes/no answer would misrepresent channels in between.
Does meeting the subscriber threshold mean a channel is eligible?
No. Subscriber count is only one requirement. YouTube also requires recent public uploads, a minimum amount of watch time, and passing a manual review — none of which is publicly visible, so this tool cannot check them.
Do you store the channels I search?
Results are cached for up to 24 hours so repeat lookups of the same channel are fast, but this cache is keyed by the channel, not by you. See our Privacy Policy for details.
What about a channel's Store shelf — doesn't that prove monetization too?
Not on its own, at least not yet. YouTube's shopping affiliate program does require Partner Program membership, but we haven't independently confirmed that every channel showing a Store tab got there through that specific program. Until we have, a Store tab by itself is treated the same as no public signal — only a membership button counts as confirmation.
Does this work for channel URLs with a video link instead of a channel link?
No — paste a channel handle, channel ID, or channel URL (like youtube.com/@name), not a link to a specific video. Video links are rejected as invalid input.
More YouTube Tools
More free YouTube tools are coming to this site. Check back soon.