You earn subscribers. You should keep the list.
Busker turns subscribers into contacts you own — subscriber-verified giveaways, a mailing list that exports anytime, and new-video alerts that don't wait on the algorithm. Your fans never leave YouTube.
Free forever on Starter.
Renting reach from an algorithm isn't a business.
Every serious creator eventually hits the same wall: the audience you built lives on a platform you don't control.
YouTube stands between you and your fans
100,000 subscribers, zero email addresses. YouTube holds the relationship — you can't message the very people who chose to follow you.
The bell doesn't ring
An ever-changing algorithm decides which subscribers see each upload. Even fans who clicked the bell routinely never hear about new videos.
The workarounds leak your audience
Patreon, Substack, and Mailchimp pull viewers off YouTube and scatter them across five dashboards — exactly where the algorithm stops rewarding you.
The duct-tape stack, retired
Every channel engagement turns viewers into contacts you own.
Run giveaways only subscribers can enter
Busker checks each entrant's YouTube subscription before they're in. Giveaways and surveys grow your channel and your list at the same time.
verified-sub gating · only on BuskerEvery entry lands on your mailing list
Name and email go straight onto a list that belongs to you — the one YouTube never shares. Export it anytime. We don't hold your audience hostage.
yours, exportable, foreverReach all of them, every upload
Fans opt in to new-video alerts. When you publish, they hear about it — no algorithm, no luck — and every link points straight back to your channel.
fans stay on YouTubeThen run the business on it
Own the list and keep fans on YouTube. Nobody else does both.
| Feature | Busker | YouTube alone | Patreon / Substack | Mailchimp + Gleam + … |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You own subscriber contacts | Yesevery entry, exportable | NoYouTube keeps them | Partlypaying members only | Partlyif you can capture them |
| Verified subscriber gating | Yesgiveaways, surveys, perks | No | No | Nohonor system at best |
| New-video alerts reach your whole list | Yesoptional, per-fan | Noalgorithm decides | Manualand off-platform | Manualper tool, per send |
| Fans stay on YouTube | Yesevery link routes back | Yes | Nobuilt to pull them away | No |
| What it costs you | 6% + $0.60 flatevery tier, Stripe included | 30% cutmemberships & Super Thanks | 10% + processingboth platforms' standard rate | $50–200/moin stacked subscriptions |
Wherever the channel is, Busker grows with it.
A free tier for your first true fans, an unlimited tier for the millionth — the same fan list the whole way, nothing to migrate.
Start owning early
Your first giveaway builds your list on the free tier — long before AdSense pays rent, you'll have fans you can reach directly, every upload.
Scale without replatforming
Add memberships, merch, and newsletters as the audience compounds — all feeding the same fan list, at the same flat 6% + $0.60. Nothing to rebuild, ever.
Straightforward. No gotchas.
Start free, upgrade when the list outgrows the plan. One transaction fee everywhere: 6% + $0.60, Stripe included.
Starter
Start owning your audience today. A complete, genuinely free toolkit at $0.
- 2,500 sendable fan contacts — export anytime
- Membership tiers — 1 free + 2 paid
- Merch store — 1 product
- Tip Jar
- Newsletter — 4 sends/mo
- Unlimited giveaways — verified subscriber entries
- Link page — every link in your bio, feeding your list
Studio
Publish and sell on the list you own — newsletters at scale, a full merch store, surveys, your branding.
Everything in Starter, plus
- 25,000 sendable fan contacts
- Merch store — up to 25 products
- Newsletter — 30 sends/mo
- Newsletter feed — issues live on as commentable posts
- Gated pages
- Custom branding
- Surveys — standard analytics
- Video-sync — launch with a video
Pro
Unlimited reach. YouTube Post Alerts, unlimited contacts and sends, API access, your own domain.
Everything in Studio, plus
- YouTube Post Alerts — only on Busker
- Unlimited fan contacts & sends
- Unlimited merch products
- Custom domain
- Advanced survey analytics
- API access
- Priority support
One fee on every plan: 6% + $0.60 per transaction — Stripe processing included, and fans can choose to cover it in your Tip Jar. Compare that to the 30% YouTube keeps on memberships and Super Thanks. Your data is always exportable; we don't hold your audience hostage.
Asked before signing up.
How does subscriber verification actually work?
Through YouTube's official API, with each fan's permission. The integration went through Google's API review — a process that included scrutiny of Busker's source code — before approval. No scraping, no honor system.
Can I run giveaways for paying members only?
No, and the block is deliberate. When someone must pay for a chance to win, the giveaway legally becomes a lottery in most jurisdictions. Busker gates entries on free actions — like a verified YouTube subscription — never on payment.
What happens to my list if I cancel?
It leaves with you. Contacts export as CSV on every tier, before, during, and after a downgrade. We don't hold your audience hostage — that would make us the thing this page complains about.
Do my fans need a Busker account?
No. Entering is one click of Google sign-in (fine — two or three, counting Google's own screens). Their email comes from that sign-in, so Busker never asks them to type it, and there's no new account, password, or platform for them to manage.
What do you do with my data — or my fans'?
Nothing beyond providing the features on this page. It isn't sold, shared, or rented to anyone. Your list exists so you can use it — not so we can.
What does 6% + $0.60 actually cover?
Everything that touches money: Stripe processing and the platform, on every tier. No payout fees, no monthly minimums, no fee tiers to decode. On Tip Jar payments, fans can choose to cover it.
Is the free tier actually free?
Starter is $0 for as long as you want — giveaways, Tip Jar, memberships, merch store, newsletter, 2,500 contacts. The only cost is the per-transaction fee when money moves. If nothing sells, nothing's owed.
Your audience is already yours. Claim the list.
Run your first subscriber-verified giveaway this week — free — and start building the mailing list YouTube never gave you.
Get Started FreeFree forever on Starter.
Want to feel it from the inside first?
Join Busker Insider — Busker's own free membership. You'll get our newsletter and see exactly what your fans will, from the other side of the platform.
Join Busker Insider — freeFree, powered by Busker itself. Leave anytime.