Is Eightify Free? Free Tier Limits and Free Alternatives (2026)
Eightify's free tier explained — how many summaries you get, how often it resets, and what happens when you hit the cap. Plus genuinely free alternatives for YouTube summaries.
Quick answer: Eightify is free to try but not free to use regularly. The free tier provides a small number of YouTube summaries per week, then stops until the weekly reset. It is a trial allowance rather than a permanently free tool, and there is no one-time purchase — continued use means a subscription.
What happens when you hit the limit
This trips people up: rather than a clear "you have used your free summaries this week" message, the tool frequently just fails to produce output. Users reasonably conclude it is broken and start reinstalling the extension. If Eightify worked yesterday and not today, the weekly cap is the first thing to check — details in Eightify not working: 7 causes and fixes.
Genuinely free alternatives
| Tool | How free | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Summarize.tech | Fully free, no account | Basic paragraph output |
| NotebookLM | Free | Setup per video; research-oriented |
| YouTube transcript + ChatGPT | Free | 4–6 minutes of manual work per video |
| Glasp | Free tier | Daily cap; desktop extension only |
If free is not enough but a subscription is too much
This is the gap most people in this search are actually in: the free caps are too tight, but $8 every month for occasional use feels wrong. One-time credits sit between the two — YT Summarizer gives 5 free summaries, then packs from $19 with credits that never expire and no renewal. Use them across a year if that is your pace; nothing resets and nothing lapses.
More: Eightify alternatives without a subscription and what is genuinely free vs free trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Eightify free?
Eightify is free to try but not free to use regularly. The free tier allows a small number of YouTube summaries per week, then stops until the weekly reset. Continued use requires a subscription; there is no one-time purchase.
What happens when I hit Eightify's free limit?
It often simply stops producing output rather than showing a clear limit message, which leads people to assume the extension is broken and start reinstalling it. If it worked yesterday and not today, check the weekly cap first.
How many free summaries does Eightify give per week?
A small weekly allowance intended for evaluation. Exact numbers change with their plans, so check Eightify's current pricing page — but it is not enough for daily use.
What is a free alternative to Eightify?
Summarize.tech is fully free with no account, and NotebookLM is free with more depth. Copying a YouTube transcript into ChatGPT also works free, at a cost of 4–6 minutes of manual work per video.
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