Unhook vs Remedy: switch off parts of YouTube, or filter what’s in them

The short version

• What it removes. Unhook: whole parts of YouTube, one switch at a time. Remedy: individual videos and comments, by what they’re about.
• Where it works. Unhook: YouTube only, in Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Remedy: YouTube, X, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and TikTok, plus any site you add, in Chrome.
• Price. Unhook is free. Remedy has a free plan that checks text on one site, and paid plans: your first day checks everything, and Plus has a 5-day free trial.

What Unhook does

Unhook is a free extension with over a million users. It gives you a long list of switches for YouTube, and each one hides a part of the site:

• Recommendations: the Home feed, the sidebar of related videos, and the video wall and cards at the end of a video.
• Shorts.
• Comments and live chat.
• Other distractions: the Explore and Trending tabs, playlists, mixes, merch and ticket offers, and search suggestions that have nothing to do with your search.
• Autoplay, which it can switch off.

You pick the switches you want, so you can hide as much or as little of YouTube as you like.

Where Unhook is the better choice

• You want YouTube as a tool. You search, watch, and leave. Hiding recommendations entirely is the most reliable way to stop rabbit holes, and no filter does that better than not having a feed.
• You want Shorts gone as a format. Unhook removes the Shorts shelf. Remedy filters Shorts by topic but leaves the shelf there.
• You want it free, or you use Firefox or Edge.

Where Remedy is the better choice

• You like your recommendations, mostly. YouTube’s Home page is how a lot of people find good videos. Remedy keeps it, and takes out the topics you’re done with: “no true crime”, “no drama channels”, “nothing about the election”.
• You want comments, without the worst of them. Unhook hides comments all or nothing. Remedy filters them by topic and tone, so you can switch on Rage-bait or Political and keep the rest.
• You want it beyond YouTube. The same filter works on X, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and TikTok.
• The problem is in the pictures. On Plus, Remedy checks thumbnails and video frames, not just titles.

Using both

They work well together. Use Unhook to switch off the parts you never want, like Shorts, end screens or autoplay, and let Remedy filter what’s left. Just note that anything Unhook hides, Remedy has nothing left to filter there: hide the Home feed, and Remedy works on the rest, like search results and comments.

For more options, see the best Chrome extensions to clean up your feed, and for YouTube’s own setting for Shorts, how to turn off YouTube Shorts.

Questions