Hey PH! I'm Joe, solo dev behind Vidgest. I built this because I was spending too much time watching YouTube videos for research. I'd watch a 40-minute talk, realize the 3 things I needed were at minutes 12, 28, and 35, and wish I could've just searched the text. The existing options were either browser extensions (I wanted something that felt like a real app), web services with monthly fees for basic transcripts, or tools that did transcription but not YouTube. So I built what I wanted: paste a URL, get the text, run AI on it if needed. The free tier is genuinely useful — unlimited transcripts, 3 AI analyses per day, no account. I think most casual users won't need to pay at all, and that's fine. A few things I'm proud of: → Batch processing handles hundreds of videos reliably (stress-tested up to 1,000 URLs) → On-device Whisper means videos without captions still work — and your audio never leaves your Mac → The BYOK option at $49.99 one-time means power users never pay a subscription I'd love to hear what you think. Happy to answer questions about the technical side, pricing decisions, or anything else.

Vidgest

YouTube transcripts + AI analysis, native on your Mac

YouTube transcripts + AI analysis, native on your Mac