Comparison
Hadzy vs the YCS Chrome extension
YCS — YouTube Comment Search is a Chrome extension that adds a search box to the YouTube page you are already watching. It searches comments and replies, and also the video’s transcript and its live chat replay — two things Hadzy does not do at all. Hadzy is a website: you paste a video URL, it fetches and indexes the full comment thread server-side, and you search it from any browser on any device.
The short version: YCS is better when you want search right there on the video page on a desktop Chrome browser, or when you need to search a transcript or chat replay. Hadzy is better when you are on a phone, when the comment section is enormous, or when you want statistics, exports, and giveaway draws alongside the search.
At a glance
| Feature | Hadzy | YCS extension |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A website - paste a video URL | A Chrome extension that adds search to the YouTube page you are on |
| Install required | No | Yes, from the Chrome Web Store |
| Where it runs | Any browser, any device, including phones and tablets | Chrome on desktop only |
| Searches comments and replies | Yes | Yes |
| Searches video transcript | No | Yes |
| Searches live chat replay | No | Yes |
| Very large comment sections | Indexed server-side, so size is not the bottleneck | Works within the browser tab you have open |
| Author filter and sorting | Author filter; sort by likes, date, or reply count | Search within the page you are viewing |
| Statistics | Word cloud, top commenters, timeline stats | Not offered |
| Giveaway picker | Yes, with a public proof page | Not offered |
| Export | CSV free, no signup, up to 250 rows; up to 500,000 rows plus JSON for supporters | Yes |
| Last updated | Actively developed in 2026 | October 4, 2024 |
| Price | Free; optional supporter tier $5/month | Free |
Where each tool wins
YCS is the better choice for
- Searching without leaving the video - the results appear on the page you are already watching
- Searching the video transcript, which Hadzy cannot do
- Searching live chat replay on stream VODs, which Hadzy cannot do
- Desktop Chrome users who want one keystroke rather than a second tab
Hadzy is the better choice for
- Phones, tablets, Safari, Firefox - anywhere a Chrome extension cannot go
- Comment sections with tens or hundreds of thousands of comments, indexed server-side
- Author filtering and sorting by likes, date, or reply count
- Statistics: word cloud, top commenters, comment timeline
- Giveaway draws with a public proof page
- Something still under active development, with no dependency on Chrome extension APIs staying the same
The maintenance question
YCS was last updated on October 4, 2024. That is a fact about the listing, not a verdict on the code — plenty of small tools are finished and keep working for years. But an extension lives inside someone else’s browser, and browsers change: extension APIs get deprecated, YouTube’s page markup shifts, permissions models tighten. An unmaintained extension has nobody to react when that happens.
A website has a different failure mode: if it breaks, it breaks for everyone at once and gets fixed centrally, and there is nothing installed on your machine to go stale. That is the structural difference, and it is worth weighing before you make either tool part of a routine.
Using both is reasonable
These are not mutually exclusive. If you spend your day at a desktop watching videos and occasionally want to find a phrase in the transcript, YCS earns its place. When you hit a video with 80,000 comments, need to filter by author, want a CSV, or want to draw a giveaway winner, that is where Hadzy takes over.
Install YCS if in-page search on desktop Chrome is what you want, and especially if you need transcript or chat-replay search.
Use Hadzy if you want nothing installed, need it to work on a phone, are dealing with a very large comment section, or want statistics, export, and giveaway draws on top of search.
Frequently asked questions
Is the YCS YouTube Comment Search extension still maintained?
Its Chrome Web Store listing shows a last update of October 4, 2024. It has around 40,000 users and a 3.3 out of 5 rating, and it still works for many people - but it has had no updates since that date, which is worth knowing before you build a workflow around it.
Does Hadzy search video transcripts or live chat replay?
No. Hadzy searches comments, replies, and author names. Transcript search and live chat replay search are genuinely useful things YCS does that Hadzy does not - if that is what you need, install YCS.
Do I have to install anything to use Hadzy?
No. Hadzy runs in the browser at hadzy.com. You paste a YouTube video URL and it loads the comments - no extension, no account, no permissions to grant.
Which one works on a phone?
Hadzy. It is a website and works in any mobile browser. YCS is a Chrome desktop extension, so it cannot run on the YouTube mobile app or on mobile browsers.
Which one handles a video with hundreds of thousands of comments?
Hadzy. It fetches and indexes the comment thread on the server through the official YouTube Data API, so searching a very large comment section is a query rather than something your browser tab has to hold open.
Try it without installing anything
Paste a video URL on the Hadzy home pageand the comment thread loads in seconds — free, no account, on whatever device you are holding.
- 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.