YouTube without the noise.
Install once. Done.
YouTube Comments Off removes the comments section, like counts and live chat from every YouTube video. It runs in the background from the moment you install it and never asks for your attention again, unless you want one channel left alone or the like counter shown, which are single switches in the popup.
Free forever · No account · No data collected · Open source · Privacy policy · Changelog
What changes the moment you install it
- Comments section loads under every video
- Bots and agitators are the first thing you read
- Like counts tell you what to think before you decide
- One accidental scroll and you've already been triggered
- Provocative takes compete for your attention every watch
- Comments section is gone. Completely invisible.
- Like and dislike counts are gone, unless you decide you want them back
- You watch the video and form your own view
- No crowd opinion loaded before yours exists
- YouTube becomes a library, not a comment board
Why this exists
I run a YouTube channel. I watch YouTube constantly for research. And I noticed a pattern: the comment section was changing how I watched videos before I had finished watching them.
It is not a coincidence. YouTube's algorithm surfaces the most engaging comments, and the most engaging comments are the ones that provoke a reaction. Outrage. Contempt. Tribal takes. The section is not a conversation. It is a coordination point for people who want to be seen being angry.
The like count has the same problem. You load a video, see 4,200 likes and 180 dislikes, and your brain has already filed it as "good" or "controversial" before you have heard the first sentence. That is social proof engineering, and it works on everyone, including you.
The fix is not willpower. It is architecture. Remove the input. The problem disappears.
I built this for myself. Took twenty minutes. It works perfectly. So I packaged it.
How to install
Add to Chrome
Click the button above. The Chrome Web Store page opens. Click "Add to Chrome". Confirm. Done.
Go to YouTube
Open any YouTube video. Comments and like counts are already gone. No restart needed. No configuration. Want the like counter back? Open the popup and flip one switch.
Forget it exists
The extension runs silently on every video from here on. There is nothing to configure, it sends no data anywhere, and it does not get in your way. It just works.
For manual install: download the zip above, unzip it, go to chrome://extensions/, enable Developer Mode, click "Load unpacked", and select the unzipped folder.
Exactly what it removes
- The comments section, the entire block below the video description. Gone on every video, channel page, and Shorts.
- The like and dislike count buttons, the row of social engagement buttons below the video title, and the like icon in the Shorts rail. You can still use YouTube normally without them. If you want the number back, the popup has a Block likes switch: turn it off and the counter returns while the comments stay hidden.
- Live chat on streams and premieres.
- The comment icon. Because YouTube is a single-page app, the extension watches for navigation and reapplies the rules every time you move to a new video. Nothing comes back.
- Nothing, for a channel you allow. The toolbar popup has an "Except this channel" switch. Turn it on and that one channel keeps its comments. Every other channel stays blocked.
The video itself, the title, the description, the channel, the related videos, the search: all of it works normally. The only things missing are the ones designed to provoke you.
How it works (technical)
There are no backend requests. No analytics. No trackers. The extension asks for two things: permission to run on YouTube pages, and Chrome's own storage area to remember your settings.
Every rule in the stylesheet is gated behind a class on the page, and the content script owns those classes:
html.ycoff-block #comments, html.ycoff-block ytd-comments { display: none !important; }
A MutationObserver watches YouTube's single-page navigation and re-evaluates the classes on every move, so nothing comes back. Allowing a channel simply removes the class for that channel. The like counter runs on its own classes, html.ycoff-block-likes and html.ycoff-show-likes, so its switch never touches the comments.
It is open source. The full source is in the zip. Read it before you install it if you want to. That is the right thing to do with any browser extension.
Who this is for
You watch YouTube to learn or to be entertained, not to participate in comment threads. The comments are a tax you did not agree to pay.
You have noticed the comments changing how you feel before the video has made its case. Someone called the creator an idiot in the first top comment. Now you are watching with that frame.
You want to protect your own thinking. Forming your own view on a video without 4,000 people front-loading their opinions is not being naïve. It is being deliberate about what gets into your head.
You do not need to be a mindfulness person or a digital minimalist to want this. You just need to have noticed the problem.
Frequently asked questions
Does it slow down YouTube?
No. The extension injects a small set of CSS rules and one MutationObserver. The performance overhead is negligible, lighter than most ad blockers by a significant margin. YouTube loads at normal speed.
What if I want to see comments on a specific video?
Open the popup while that video is playing and flip "Except this video". The block lifts for that video only, and every other video stays blocked. You can also disable the extension from chrome://extensions/ for that session. The extension does not modify YouTube's data, so the comments are still there, just hidden.
Does it work on YouTube Shorts?
Yes. The extension runs on all youtube.com pages and the MutationObserver catches YouTube's SPA navigation, so Shorts, regular videos, and channel pages are all covered. On a Short the comment icon and the like icon both disappear, exactly as they do on a long video.
Does it collect any data?
No. The extension has no backend, no analytics, no tracking, and no network requests of any kind. It reads nothing about your watch history or behaviour. It injects CSS. That is the entire scope of what it does.
Why hide the like count?
The like count is a social proof signal. Seeing it before you watch the video, or before you have formed a view, influences your perception. Hiding it means you watch the content and decide for yourself. You can always look it up separately if you want the number after, and if you would rather see it right there, turn off Block likes in the popup.
Can I keep the like count but still lose the comments?
Yes. That is exactly what Block likes does. Turn it off and the counts come back on videos and on Shorts, while the comments, the live chat and the comment button stay hidden. The two switches never touch each other.
The exceptions you can make
Some channels are worth keeping comments for: a creator whose community is actually useful, a language-learning channel where the corrections are the point, a friend's uploads. Blocking everything is the default, not the religion.
Open the extension's popup while you are on that video or channel page and flip "Except this channel" or "Except this video". The block lifts for exactly that channel or video, and stays lifted everywhere else on YouTube. Flip the switch back and the comments go dark again.
The same popup has a second switch, "Block likes". It answers for the like count and nothing else, so the two never fight each other: you can keep the comments hidden and still see how many people liked the video, or leave the counter hidden while you read a channel you trust. Flipping one leaves the other exactly as it was.
The exception lives in Chrome's own sync storage inside your browser, alongside the master switch. It is never sent anywhere. And if the popup cannot read the page, for instance right after an update, when an open tab still runs the old copy, it says so instead of hiding the option.
If it helped you, that's the whole ask.
No ads, no pro version, no upsell. The extension stays free and open source either way, but if the quiet was worth a coffee, you can leave one.
Install it once.
Watch without the noise.
About 40 KB of code, no frameworks, one job. It runs silently on every YouTube video from the moment you install it.
Free forever · No account required · Open source · Privacy policy · Changelog · Built by Dario Cositore
Privacy policy · Changelog · More tools: All tools · Revid review · Webpage to Markdown
Stay in the loop.
Technical breakdowns, new system builds, and lessons from deploying autonomous AI. One email a week, direct to your inbox.
Weekly architectural updates. Unsubscribe anytime.