Smarter YouTube learning
Know what’s worth watching. Before you press play.
Gistil reads an educational YouTube video before you do — the score, the key ideas and the most useful moments. Then it drops you straight at the part that matters.
Browser extension
Phone app
Less searching · Less filler · More useful learning
How to learn anything Study Hall · Sample video · 69:41
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.
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How DNS actually works, step by stepByte Lab
Worth it92
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Sourdough from scratch: the whole weekendCrumb & Crust
Skim68
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10 productivity hacks that changed my lifeDaily Upgrade
Skip38
02Too much filler
This is what an hour of your evening looks like
Value density is how much of a video is actually worth your time. Here is the sample, minute by minute: tall gold bars are value, low matte ones are filler.
- value · higher is brighter
- filler
- value starts
- 04:20 intro ends
- 12:45 first real point
- 33:12 the point
- 68:39 worth the wait
03Honesty
We scored our own video too
No discount for ourselves — the first minute is a warm-up, skip it.
Nobody pays us for your time on YouTube. So we have no reason to stretch it.
04How it works
Know more before you watch
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1
Open a video
In the browser Gistil scores the video in front of you. In the app it brings you videos on your topics.
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2
Read the number
A score from 0 to 100 and a call: worth your time, skim or skip.
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3
Play only the value
The value map shows where the substance is. One button plays just those parts and skips the rest.
68:39 · worth the wait — Gistil shows you this minute before you press Play
05The score
One number, and three receipts behind it
The score in Gistil is not a rating and not the crowd’s opinion. It is a measurement: how much of the runtime carries substance, how honest the title is, and the minute the value starts. The same number for everyone — in the extension, on this site and in the app.
It is not a public rating and not the video’s rating on YouTube. It is Gistil’s own measurement of how much of the runtime delivers.
What is personal in the app is the selection: the feed follows your subjects, goals and reactions. A personal score for each video is the next step, and we will say so when it lands.
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.
Demo
See it on a real video
KNOW BEFORE YOU PLAY.
Stop paying with your time for what doesn't matter
Browser extension
Phone app
Works only on YouTube video pages · what it sends is about the video, not your browsing history.
Sign in
One account for the extension, the app and this site — your verdicts stay in one place.
06The extension
The verdict, right beside the player
You open a video on YouTube — the Gistil panel is already there.
- Panel
- Score, call, key points and a value map with clickable timecodes.
- Chrome & Firefox
- A build for each browser. The same verdict in both.
- One account
- The extension, the app and this site share it. Sign in with Google — no extra password.
How databases scale: indexes, replicas and sharding
GISTIL
130Watch 13 of 19 min
- How much of this video is worth your time.
- Plays only the useful parts and skips the rest.
- Gold is substance, grey is filler. ▲ marks where the value starts.
07The app
A feed that already knows what is worth it
Pick your topics and say how much each one matters. The app offers videos that scored well — key points and the start timecode already attached.
- Recommended
- Built from your topics, their priority and your reactions.
- Browse
- The whole library on your terms: topic, type, length, lowest score.
- Growth
- Material that takes you further, not more of the same.
Technology, science, business, health and languages for now. Music, comedy, gaming, travel and crafts are not in the feed yet. Your reactions stay inside Gistil and change nothing on YouTube.
08Goals
Turn watching into progress
Name what you are learning and how much time you want to give it. From then on the goal has a say in your feed.
- In your own words
- “Get interview-ready on system design.” Several goals can run at once.
- Best match, or nothing
- One closest video per goal. When nothing is close enough, Gistil stays quiet.
- Counted once
- A finished video adds its runtime to the goal. When you reach the target, the goal closes itself.
Gistil counts the time you put into a goal — it does not pretend to measure what you now know.
09Who it is for
Built for people who use YouTube to learn
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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.
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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.
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FOUNDERS & MAKERS
Straight to the useful part
Examples, frameworks and the practical stretch — reached in a minute rather than in an afternoon.
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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?
Yes — one measured score per video, the same in the extension, on the site and in the app. What is personal in the app is the feed: it follows the subjects you picked and how you react. It is not a public rating and not the video’s rating on YouTube.
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. You sign in with Google so your credits and saved videos follow you to any device; the extension sends only what concerns the video you have open — not your browsing history. Verdicts are stored by video ID, which anyone can already see in 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?
Reading is free: every video Gistil has already judged opens at no cost with a free account. To judge a new video, sign in with Google — the free plan gives you 5 credits, once. After that, there are plans and extra credits.
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.