VIDIQ ALTERNATIVE
vidIQ is a YouTube growth suite whose AI thumbnails come with its plans: a few a month on Free, more on Boost at $19 a month. WThumb makes only the thumbnail, from $12 a month, in both formats at 2048 × 1152, where vidIQ's maker exports 1280 × 720.
vidIQ facts checked on
AT A GLANCE
| What is compared | WThumb | vidIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan with AI thumbnails | $12 a month for 30 credits (1 credit = 1 thumbnail), or $9 a month billed yearly | Boost, the first paid plan on its plans page: $19 a month ($16.58 billed yearly) for 2,000 AI credits and its growth tools; its help center also lists a Pro plan with 1,000 AI credits that the plans page does not show |
| Largest plan | $56 a month for 300 credits | Max: $49 a month ($39 billed yearly) for 6,000 AI credits; Enterprise on request |
| How use is counted | One finished thumbnail uses 1 credit, whatever it shows | 22 AI credits per thumbnail generation, regeneration or edit, from one balance its AI Coach, clipping, scripts and other AI tools share |
| Output size | 2048 × 1152 (16:9) or 1152 × 2048 (9:16), straight from generation | 1280 × 720 PNG, per its maker page |
| 16:9 and 9:16 | 16:9, 9:16 or both from one brief, each recomposed for its frame | 16:9 on its maker page; its Shorts guide mentions a 1080 × 1920 frame made in the maker; one brief making both is not stated |
| Faceless from a reference with a person | Yes: the person is taken out and the frame rebuilt without anyone | Not stated |
| Your face | Your photo goes in as the thumbnail is made, at no extra cost; save 1, 2 or 5 personas by plan | A photo added before generation (Likeness), or Face Swap after it as an edit |
| Library with outlier scores | Thousands of thumbnails from popular channels, each with its outlier score; free with an account, Recreate in one click | An Outliers search across YouTube: 8 results a search on Free, unlimited on Boost |
| Start from | A YouTube link, any image, or a plain description | A description, a YouTube link or your video file (up to 200 MB); reference images and photos in the full maker |
| Free to try | 2 free credits, no card | 150 AI credits a month on its free plan, 22 a thumbnail from a balance its other AI tools share; its help center says free plans include a limited number of thumbnails, and its maker page says the first few need no account |
| Changes after generation | Describe a change in plain words for a new version, 1 credit each | Prompt edits (Smart Commands) at 22 credits, and a text, image, sticker and Face Swap editor |
vidIQ prices and plans are from vidIQ's own pages (its plans page, thumbnail maker page and terms on vidiq.com, and its help center articles on thumbnails and credits), as read on September 30, 2026. The WThumb column comes from WThumb pricing and the product. If something here is out of date, tell us from the help button and we will correct it.
WHY WTHUMB
30 credits a month on the smallest plan: one thumbnail for every upload of a channel that posts daily. vidIQ's plans page starts its paid plans at $19 a month with Boost, where a thumbnail uses 22 of the 2,000 AI credits its other AI tools draw on too.
Every thumbnail comes out at 2048 × 1152 (1152 × 2048 for Shorts), sharper than 1080p, straight from generation. Nothing to upscale and nothing extra to pay. vidIQ's maker page says it downloads a 1280 × 720 PNG.
Ask for 16:9, 9:16 or both at once. WThumb recomposes the idea for each frame instead of cropping, so a landscape reference becomes a real Shorts thumbnail and the other way round. vidIQ's pages do not say one request makes both.
Skip the photo and WThumb takes the person out of the reference and rebuilds the frame without anyone. Any winning thumbnail can become a faceless one: made for faceless channels and for creators who automate their uploads. vidIQ's pages do not describe this.
Thousands of thumbnails from popular channels, each with its outlier score: the video's views over its channel's median. Sort by it, press Recreate, and the winner becomes your brief. Free with an account. vidIQ's Outliers search, 8 results a search on its free plan, finds video ideas across YouTube; its thumbnail maker takes a reference you bring.
you need the thumbnail itself, in both formats at 2048 × 1152, with your face or none, from a winner you picked, without paying for a growth suite.
Start freeyou want keyword research, outlier ideas and an AI Coach in one subscription, with thumbnails made from your own footage.
FAQ
For the thumbnail itself, yes. vidIQ is a YouTube growth suite whose thumbnail maker comes with its plans; on September 30, 2026 its Boost plan was $19 a month ($16.58 billed yearly) for 2,000 AI credits, and a thumbnail uses 22 of them. WThumb makes only thumbnails, from $12 a month for 30 credits, one thumbnail each, at 2048 × 1152 in 16:9 or 9:16.
To start, yes: $12 a month against $19 for Boost, the first paid plan on vidIQ's plans page. Per thumbnail it depends on what else the credits pay for: if Boost's 2,000 AI credits go to thumbnails alone they make up to 90, about $0.21 each, against $0.40 on WThumb's Starter plan, $0.23 on Creator and $0.19 on Studio. vidIQ's thumbnails are 1280 × 720, WThumb's 2048 × 1152.
vidIQ's maker page says it downloads a 1280 × 720 PNG. WThumb exports 2048 × 1152 for 16:9 and 1152 × 2048 for 9:16, straight from generation, with nothing to upscale.
Yes: its maker takes a video file up to 200 MB, or a YouTube link, and builds from what is in the video. WThumb does not read your video; it starts from a thumbnail reference (a YouTube link or an image) or a plain description, plus your title.
Its free plan includes 150 AI credits a month, shared by its AI tools, and a thumbnail uses 22 of them, so at most six if nothing else does; its help center says free plans include a limited number of thumbnails a month, and its maker page says the first few need no account. New WThumb accounts get 2 free credits, one thumbnail each, with no card.
Yes. Skip the photo and WThumb takes the person out of the reference and rebuilds the frame without anyone, which is what faceless channels need. vidIQ's pages do not describe this.
