I tried a $6/month YouTube Premium alternative, and there’s one reason why I can’t switch

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I have a love-hate relationship with YouTube. I love many of the creators on the platform, and the way it has made so many topics accessible. However, I hate how aggressively Google monetizes it , inundating users with ads unless they pay for YouTube Premium .

So, when I saw some creators I watch promoting another platform — Nebula — I decided to give it a try. Nebula is quite a bit cheaper than YouTube Premium at just $6/month, but could it fully replace it? That’s what I decided to find out.

Ironically, I first came across Nebula when watching YouTube videos. Certain creators had mentioned the platform as a place where they release their videos early. At $6 per month, Nebula is ad-free and offers perks like offline downloads.

It also notably has exclusive content, from limited series to creator videos available only on Nebula. I’ve long been a fan of Lindsay Ellis’ video essays and saw that she had released several exclusives on the website. Meanwhile, another one of my favorite creators, Princess Weekes, also releases many of her videos on Nebula first.

Some of the other content on Nebula also intrigued me, especially since I enjoy deep dives into pop culture and media. At the same time, I was finding the YouTube experience overwhelming. The platform’s algorithm constantly curates new suggestions and sponsored content, and it’s difficult to sort through the noise.

If I watch one video on bonsai trees, I get countless recommendations that cover the same topic. It became extremely difficult to sort helpful content from videos that just wasted my time.

Considering YouTube Premium Lite wasn’t available in my country at the time, and Nebula was only $6 a month, I decided to give it a try to see if it offered the video streaming experience I craved.