AutoDub vs LivDub
AutoDub translates YouTube captions on desktop. LivDub translates captured audio and also offers mobile use. Your choice depends on where you watch, whether captions exist, and whether you need exports.
We make AutoDub. This is a feature comparison, not a controlled performance test. Details checked on against LivDub’s website and Google’s API pricing.
Which one should you use?
For captioned YouTube videos on desktop, consider AutoDub. It's free with no daily cap, there's no API key to set up, you get bilingual subtitles, you pick the voice, and it runs in Firefox as well as Chrome, Edge and Brave.
For live audio, mobile use or videos without captions, consider LivDub. It works from audio rather than a subtitle track. That makes it relevant to streams and other websites, as well as captionless YouTube videos. Check its supported device and capture mode before installing. You need your own Gemini API key.
Side-by-side comparison
| AutoDub | LivDub | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it works | YouTube only, as a button inside the YouTube player | Any Chrome tab that is playing sound: news, streams, webinars, YouTube |
| How the dub is made | Reads the video's captions, translates them, and speaks them with an AI voice in sync with the video | Records the tab's audio, streams it to Google Gemini, plays back Gemini's spoken translation |
| Delay | Uses caption timestamps for playback; initial loading and timing depend on the video and connection | LivDub advertises about 2 seconds of delay; not independently measured here |
| Setup | Install and press play. No account, no API key | Install, create a Google Gemini API key, paste it into the extension |
| Price | Free for personal use, no daily limit | Chrome: 45 minutes/day free. Plus: $5/month or $50/year, excluding tax, after a one-month trial. Google API usage is separate. |
| Languages and voices | 42 target languages, 90+ voices, you pick the voice | 75+ target languages, voiced by Gemini |
| Subtitles | Bilingual subtitles included, free | Plus includes translated or bilingual captions and styling |
| Devices | Desktop Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox; no mobile app | Chrome extension; Android app. Website lists iOS as coming soon. |
| Exports | No dubbed-video or audio-file export | Plus: MP3 audio and VTT captions |
| Needs | The video must have captions (auto-generated captions count) | Audio to capture, plus your own Gemini key; captions are not required |
| Where your data goes | Captions are processed on AutoDub servers; results are cached per video, not per user | Audio goes to Google Gemini under your own key; LivDub says it never sees your key or audio |
Captions and captured audio
LivDub is speech-to-speech. It records whatever the tab is playing, sends the audio to Gemini under your key, and plays Gemini's spoken translation over the top. Because it works from sound, it doesn't care what site you're on. LivDub advertises a typical offset of about two seconds; this page does not independently verify that figure.
AutoDub is caption-to-speech. It pulls the YouTube video's caption track, translates it, and speaks each line at the timestamp where it belongs. AutoDub is built specifically for YouTube caption tracks. It uses those timestamps to follow playback and show original and translated lines together as bilingual subtitles. The limit is obvious: no captions, no dub. Auto-generated captions are enough.
What it costs
Both are free to install. Where they part ways is the hours you actually spend watching.
Treat the LivDub subscription and your Google API account as two separate charges. Plus removes LivDub’s usage cap; it does not turn your Google key into an unlimited free API key. Free-tier quotas and paid usage depend on the model and your Google billing setup. Reaching a free-tier limit is not itself a promise of automatic paid access.
AutoDub is free with no daily limit and does not require an API key. For LivDub, check the current plan terms and Google’s model pricing. As a pricing example only, Google lists about $0.0368 per minute for Gemini 3.5 Live Translate when combining input and output audio. At those assumptions, 60 minutes is about $2.21 before any LivDub subscription or tax. This is not a measured LivDub session cost, and a different model or audio usage changes the result.
Privacy
LivDub says your API key stays on your device and captured audio goes to Google, rather than LivDub servers. AutoDub never touches your audio at all. We send the video's caption text (not your mic, not your tab) to our servers to build the dub, cache results per video for reuse, and never ask you to sign in. The full version is in our privacy policy.
If the YouTube half of this is what you need, AutoDub is a one-click install. The AutoDub button shows up in the player the next time you open a video.
Add AutoDub to Chrome — FreeCompare on a video you already understand
Choose a short passage with a name or technical term, then use the same target language in each tool. Run one tool at a time so neither captures the other’s output.
- Check whether the meaning and names survive the translation. Compare against the original, not just how natural the voice sounds.
- Pause and jump forward. Listen for missed speech, overlap and recovery after the jump.
- Try the captions or export feature you actually need. Record the device, plan and settings when comparing results.
These are suggested checks, not results from tests we have performed. AutoDub needs a caption track and does not support live streams; choose a sample appropriate to both tools for a direct comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is LivDub free?
There is a free allowance: 45 minutes a day on Chrome, or 90 on Android in three ad-supported sessions. Plus is $5/month or $50/year after a one-month trial, excluding tax. Google API usage is separate and depends on your model and billing tier. Check the linked official plans before subscribing.
Is AutoDub free?
Yes. No daily limit, no account, no API key. Install it, open a YouTube video, pick a language, press play.
Does AutoDub work outside YouTube?
No. It's built for YouTube only. If you want to dub a news site, a live stream or a webinar in another tab, LivDub is the one to use.
Which one sounds better?
We have not run a controlled listening comparison, so we do not rank their voice quality here. Try the same passage and language in both. Check names, technical terms, pauses and whether you can follow the translation comfortably.
Can I use both?
Yes, and it's a reasonable setup: AutoDub for YouTube, LivDub for everything else. Just don't run both on the same tab. LivDub records the tab's audio, so it would pick up AutoDub's dub and re-dub that.
If you're new to all this, our explainer on what "auto-dubbed" means on YouTube is the place to start, and the dubbing extension page goes into what AutoDub does in more depth.