Smarter YouTube learning
Know what’s worth watching. Before you press play.
Gistil reads an educational YouTube video before you do — your personal score, the key ideas and the most useful moments. Then it drops you straight at the part that matters.
Add to Chrome — Coming soonLaunching soon on the Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons.
Less searching · Less filler · More useful learning
How to learn anything Sample video · 69:41
Jump to 04:20
01The problem
A 45-minute video shouldn’t take 45 minutes to judge
Educational YouTube is full of real value — and of long run-ups, repetition and sponsor reads. You open four videos before one of them helps. The part you came for starts twenty minutes in. And a title with a thumbnail never tells you how deep, how practical or how new the thing actually is.
Here is the other way round: the read first, the hour second.
-
24:10Worth it
92
-
41:05Skim
68
-
55:10Skip
45
02Too much filler
This is what an hour of your evening looks like
Value density — how much of a video is actually worth your time. Here is the sample, second by second. Most of it sits under the line. The gold is what you came for.
- useful
- filler
- cutoff · 60 / 100
- 04:20 intro ends
- 12:45 first real point
- 33:12 the point
- 68:39 worth the wait
03Honesty
We ran it on ourselves
It’s fine, but you can skip the first minute.
YouTube is paid by the hour. We’re not.
04How it works
Know more before you watch
01 · FIND
Find it
In the app, videos come to you around the subjects you picked and the goal you set. In the browser, Gistil works on the video already in front of you.
02 · JUDGE
Judge it in one glance
A score and a call — worth it, skim or skip — plus the key points, before you commit the hour.
03 · JUMP
Jump to the value
Where a video has one, the verdict carries the timecode at which it stops warming up.
05Your score
The score is yours, not the crowd’s
The score in Gistil is personal: it is about how useful a video is likely to be for you, not for an average viewer. It follows the subjects you chose and the way you have been reacting — like, dislike, not relevant.
It is not a public rating, not a universal verdict on the quality of a video, and not the video’s rating on YouTube. Two people can see different scores for the same video, because they came for different things.
THE NUMBER
A score and a call
How much of the runtime carries substance rather than setup — and whether that makes it worth it, worth skimming, or worth skipping.
THE SUBSTANCE
The key ideas, up front
For an analysed video Gistil may show a short read and its key points, the topic and content type, and how deep, how practical and how new the material is.
THE MINUTE
Where it starts paying off
A recommended starting point, and the map of where the useful stretches sit across the runtime.
One glance is usually enough to save the wrong hour. Gistil does not alter, download or cut any part of a video — it helps you choose where to start, and the video plays on YouTube as it always did.
KNOW BEFORE YOU PLAY.
Stop paying for the intro
Add to Chrome — Coming soonLaunching soon on the Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons.
No account required · works only on YouTube video pages · what it sends is about the video, not your watch history.
Sign in
One account for the extension, the app and this site — your verdicts stay in one place.
06The extension
On the video page, in two browsers
The verdict reads next to the player, on the video you already opened. Nothing to set up first, and no account to make.
BESIDE THE PLAYER
The verdict, in place
For a video Gistil has analysed the panel may show the score, the call, the key points and the map of where the substance sits — with the timecodes clickable.
CHROME & FIREFOX
Both browsers, one product
There is a build for each. They behave the same way, and the verdict you see in one is the verdict you see in the other.
SIGNING IN
Optional, never required
Everything above works signed out. An account only carries your record across the extension, the app and this site.
Chrome Web Store — listing in preparation.
Firefox Add-ons — listing in preparation.
07The app
A feed that already knows what is worth it
The extension grades the video you are looking at. The app turns that around — pick the subjects you care about, say how much each one matters, and it offers what scored well among the videos available in Gistil, with the key points and the timecode already attached.
RECOMMENDED
Your feed
Built from your subjects, their priority, the amount of unfamiliar ground you asked for, and the feedback you have already given.
BROWSE
The wider shelf
The same library on your terms: filter by topic, content type, length, how soon a video gets to the point, and the lowest score you will accept.
GROWTH
New ground
Aimed at learning — material that takes you further rather than more of the same, and where your goal shows up. You choose which of the three feeds you keep open.
Like, dislike and not relevant teach your feed. Those reactions are used inside Gistil and do not change a video’s standing on YouTube. Mark a promising video saved and it waits in your record instead of being lost in a tab.
The feed covers subjects people watch to get somewhere — technology, science, business, health, languages and their neighbours. Music, comedy, gaming, travel and crafts are not part of it yet.
The Android app is on Google Play. There is no iPhone version yet — when there is, it will be here.
08Goals
Turn watching into progress
Name what you are trying to learn and how much time you want to put into it. From then on your goal has a say in what Gistil offers you — and the hours you spend stop evaporating.
SET IT
Say it in your own words
“Get interview-ready on system design.” You can keep more than one goal running; each one gets its own say.
IN THE FEED
The best match, or nothing
Gistil pulls the single closest video for each active goal into Recommended and Growth, and reaches past your chosen subjects to find it. When nothing in the library is close enough, it stays quiet rather than padding your feed with near-misses.
PROGRESS
Finished counts, once
Mark a finished video as completed against a goal and its runtime is added to your progress. The same video cannot be counted twice, and when you reach the target Gistil closes the goal out for you.
From your profile you can see the progress on each goal, change the target time, archive or delete a goal, look back at the ones you finished, and start the next one. Gistil counts the time you completed toward a goal — it does not pretend to measure what you now know.
09Who it is for
Built for people who use YouTube to learn
PROFESSIONALS
Keep up without watching everything
Stay current in your field on the two videos that were worth it, not the eleven that were recommended.
STUDENTS & LIFELONG LEARNERS
Deeper, and less of it repeated
Find the material that actually goes further, and stop re-watching the same introduction in four different voices.
FOUNDERS & MAKERS
Straight to the useful part
Examples, frameworks and the practical stretch — reached in a minute rather than in an afternoon.
THE CURIOUS
Better hours on the things you like
Follow a subject wherever it goes, on the videos that earn the time you give them.
10FAQ
Straight answers
Is the score the same for everyone?
No. The score in Gistil is personal — it says how relevant and how valuable a video is likely to be for you, based on the subjects you chose and the way you have been reacting. It is not a public rating and it is not the video’s rating on YouTube, so someone else can see a different score for the same video.
Is this YouTube video worth watching — how does Gistil decide?
Gistil measures the video’s value density: how much of the runtime carries new information versus setup, repetition and self-promotion. That ratio becomes the score. The first sustained stretch above the cutoff becomes the value-start timecode, and the cutoff sits at 60 out of 100.
Does Gistil host YouTube videos?
No. The videos stay on YouTube and play through YouTube. Gistil does not download them, does not host them and does not own them — it adds the reading beside them.
Does Gistil remove YouTube ads?
No. Advertising, whether a video can be played at all, and YouTube Premium features are controlled by YouTube. Gistil does not alter or cut any part of a video either — it helps you choose the moment to start, and playback stays YouTube’s.
Is Gistil a YouTube summarizer?
No. A summary tells you what a video said; Gistil tells you whether it is worth playing and which minute to start on. It never stands in for watching — it points at the part that earns your time and gets out of the way.
Does it work on every YouTube video?
It works on videos that have spoken content. Videos with nothing said in them — music, ambience, gameplay without commentary — are marked unscorable rather than guessed at, and some videos cannot be evaluated at all. The app’s feed covers the learning subjects; music, comedy, gaming, travel and crafts are not part of it yet.
Can I keep a video for later?
Yes. Mark it saved and it stays in your record, waiting for you on your Gistil dashboard when you have the time for it.
Is my watch history private?
Gistil scores the video, not you. The extension needs no account, and what it sends is about the video you have open — not your watch history. Verdicts are cached by video ID, which is public information anyone can read from the URL. The full detail is in our privacy policy.
Can I delete my account and my data?
Yes, and you do not have to ask us. Deletion is available inside the app and on this site — see delete your account for the whole process.
Is it really free?
Yes — free to install, free to use, no card, and no account required. A paid Pro plan is planned for later; there is nothing to buy today, and the verdict itself stays free.
Content and rights
The videos belong to YouTube and their creators
Gistil does not host or own any of the videos it points you at. Titles, thumbnails, channel information, whether a video can be played at all, advertising and YouTube Premium features are controlled by YouTube and the respective rights holders. Playing a video happens on YouTube, under the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.
What Gistil adds is the reading: a score, the key points and the map of where the value sits. Reactions you give here stay here — they do not change a video’s standing, its counts, or anything else on YouTube.