YouTube Monetization Checker
Check your progress towards YouTube Partner Program eligibility. Calculate how close you are to monetization and estimate when you'll reach the requirements.
Requirement: 1,000
Requirement: 4,000 hours
Add your average monthly growth to estimate when you'll reach monetization
How to Use
- Enter your current subscriber count
- Choose between Watch Hours (traditional videos) or Shorts Views requirement
- Enter your watch hours (past 12 months) OR Shorts views (past 90 days)
- Optionally add monthly growth rates for time estimates
- Click Check Progress to see detailed breakdown
- Review tips tailored to your current progress level
What is the Best Free YouTube Monetization Checker?
A YouTube monetization checker is a progress tracking tool that calculates exactly how close you are to meeting YouTube Partner Program (YPP) requirements for earning revenue from your videos. To monetize, you need 1,000 subscribers AND either 4,000 watch hours (in the past 12 months) OR 10 million Shorts views (in the past 90 days). The best free monetization checkers don't just show raw numbers—they calculate your completion percentage for each requirement, estimate how many months until you're eligible based on current growth rates, and provide personalized tips tailored to your specific progress level. Our free tool tracks both traditional video watch hours and Shorts views, letting you see which monetization path makes more sense for your content strategy. Instead of manually calculating "I need 2,847 more watch hours, at 180 hours per month that's 15.8 months..."—the calculator does all the math instantly and updates as you input your latest stats. This removes guesswork and helps you set realistic goals with concrete timelines rather than hoping you'll "eventually" get monetized.
Why Tracking Monetization Progress Is Critical for Channel Growth
- Maintains Motivation Through the Hardest Phase: The path to 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours is the hardest part of building a YouTube channel—most creators quit before monetization. Seeing concrete progress ("You're 73% there!") and realistic timelines ("4 more months at current growth") keeps you motivated when motivation naturally dips. Tracking progress transforms an overwhelming goal into manageable milestones.
- Reveals Which Metric Needs More Focus: Many creators assume "I just need more subscribers" when actually they're at 950 subscribers (95% complete) but only 1,200 watch hours (30% complete). The checker instantly shows your weaker metric, letting you adjust strategy—create longer videos for watch hours or focus on subscriber conversion tactics. This targeted optimization is 3-5x faster than generic "grow your channel" advice.
- Validates (or Invalidates) Your Content Strategy: If you've uploaded 50 videos over 6 months and you're still under 20% progress on both metrics, something's fundamentally wrong with your content, niche, or approach. Early tracking reveals this brutal truth while you still have time to pivot. Conversely, if you're 60% there after 3 months, you're on track for success and should double down on what's working.
- Sets Realistic Expectations and Timelines: Without tracking, creators either underestimate ("I'll be monetized in 2 months!") or overestimate ("This will take 5 years") the timeline. Realistic data-based timelines help you plan: "I'll reach monetization in approximately 8 months, so I need to sustain effort and expenses until then." This prevents premature quitting and helps with practical planning.
- Helps Choose Between Watch Hours and Shorts Strategy: You can monetize through either 4,000 watch hours OR 10 million Shorts views—tracking both paths shows which you're progressing toward faster. If you have 800 watch hours but 3 million Shorts views, you're 20% toward watch hours but 30% toward Shorts monetization. This data-driven insight helps you double down on the faster path to monetization.
- Prevents "I'm Almost There" Burnout: The final 10-20% to monetization often takes as long as the first 80% due to slowing growth or YouTube's rolling 12-month window. Regular tracking manages expectations during this frustrating phase—you can see watch hours from 13 months ago rolling off even as you add new hours, requiring acceleration. Understanding this prevents false hope and burnout.
Best Practices for Using the Free YouTube Monetization Progress Tracker
1. Check Progress Weekly, Not Daily (Avoid Obsession)
YouTube's metrics update with a 2-3 day lag, and meaningful growth happens over weeks, not days. Checking daily leads to obsession, frustration, and burnout when numbers barely move. Set a weekly reminder (every Monday morning) to check your stats, update the calculator, and review your trajectory. Weekly tracking shows real progress without the emotional rollercoaster of daily fluctuations.
✓ Good: Check every Monday, track in a spreadsheet, look for weekly/monthly trends
✗ Bad: Checking 3-5 times daily, getting discouraged by minor day-to-day fluctuations
2. Track Your Monthly Growth Rate for Better Estimates
Our free calculator's time estimates are only as good as your growth rate inputs. Review your last 3 months: How many new subscribers did you gain each month? What were your monthly watch hours? Input these averages to get realistic timelines. Update these rates every month as your channel accelerates (or decelerates) to keep estimates accurate. Early channels grow slowly; successful channels accelerate exponentially.
✓ Good: Calculate actual 3-month average growth, update monthly
✗ Bad: Guessing optimistic growth rates or using first month's data only
3. Focus 80% on Your Weaker Metric
If you're at 900 subscribers (90% complete) but only 1,500 watch hours (37.5% complete), watch hours are your bottleneck—not subscribers. Allocate 80% of optimization effort to your weaker metric. Create longer videos (8-15 minutes), improve watch time with better hooks and pacing, or add chapters/timestamps. Don't waste time on subscriber growth when subscribers aren't your limiting factor.
✓ Good: "I'm 35% watch hours vs 85% subscribers—need longer videos"
✗ Bad: Focusing equally on all metrics regardless of which is furthest behind
4. Understand the Rolling Window (It's Not Cumulative)
Watch hours are calculated over the PAST 12 months (rolling window), and Shorts views over the PAST 90 days. This means old videos can "fall off" your total even as you add new content. If you got 500 watch hours 13 months ago, those don't count anymore. Many creators get frustrated seeing their totals plateau or drop—understanding the rolling window prevents this frustration and emphasizes consistent, ongoing content creation.
✓ Good: Understand you need sustained growth, not just one viral video
✗ Bad: Expecting totals to only go up, getting confused when they plateau
5. Use Progress Milestones as Celebration Points
The journey to monetization takes months or years—if you only celebrate at 100%, you'll burn out. Create milestone celebrations: 25% complete (treat yourself), 50% complete (share progress with your community), 75% complete (plan your monetization strategy). These milestones maintain motivation and acknowledge the massive effort required to reach each threshold.
✓ Good: Celebrate 250 subscribers, 1000 watch hours, 75% overall progress
✗ Bad: Grinding with no acknowledgment of progress until 100% complete
6. Compare Progress with Realistic Creator Benchmarks
Average time to monetization is 12-18 months for consistent creators uploading 2-4 videos per month. If you're 6 months in and 40-50% complete, you're on track. If you're 6 months in and under 15% complete, you need to seriously reevaluate your content strategy, niche, or approach. Use our free tool's estimates to benchmark: "Am I ahead, behind, or on pace compared to typical creators?"
✓ Good: 6 months → 45% progress = on track; keep consistent effort
✗ Bad: 12 months → 20% progress = need major strategy changes, not just more time
Common YouTube Monetization Mistakes That Delay Eligibility
❌ Focusing Only on Subscribers, Ignoring Watch Hours
70% of creators hit 1,000 subscribers before they reach 4,000 watch hours. Subscriber count is somewhat "easier" to game (sub-for-sub, shorts virality), but watch hours require genuinely engaging, longer-form content. Many creators get stuck at 1,000+ subscribers with only 1,500 watch hours, frustrated and confused. Track both metrics equally from day one and optimize for whichever is lagging.
✓ Better: Create 10-15 minute engaging videos that accumulate watch time, not just subs
❌ Not Understanding That Shorts Views Require 10 MILLION
Shorts can get views quickly, leading creators to think "I'll just use Shorts to monetize!" But you need 10 million Shorts views in 90 days—an incredibly high bar. Even successful Shorts creators often struggle to hit this consistently. Most creators find the 4,000 watch hours path more achievable. Use Shorts for discovery and growth, but rely on traditional videos for watch hours unless you're consistently getting 100K+ Shorts views per video.
✓ Better: Use Shorts to grow subs, traditional videos (10+ min) to build watch hours
❌ Giving Up Right Before Monetization (The 80-90% Quit Zone)
Many creators quit when they're 80-90% complete, frustrated that "the last 10% is taking forever." This happens because growth often slows as you approach monetization, and the rolling 12-month window means old content drops off. Tracking progress helps you see you're still moving forward even when it feels stuck. The difference between giving up at 85% and pushing to 100% is literally the difference between $0 and potential full-time income.
✓ Better: Track progress weekly to see you're still advancing, even if slowly
❌ Thinking Monetization Approval Is Automatic Once You Hit Requirements
Reaching 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours doesn't automatically enable monetization. You must apply to YPP in YouTube Studio, link an AdSense account, and pass a manual channel review (1-4 weeks). YouTube checks for policy violations, reused content, and genuine original content. Some channels get rejected even after meeting thresholds. Prepare for the application process before you hit 100%.
✓ Better: At 80-90%, set up AdSense, review policies, ensure all content is original
❌ Creating Only Short Videos (Under 8 Minutes) and Wondering Why Watch Hours Are Low
If all your videos are 3-5 minutes long, you need massive view counts to accumulate 4,000 watch hours. A 3-minute video needs 80,000 views to generate 4,000 watch hours (assuming 100% watch time). A 15-minute video needs only 16,000 views. Strategic creators make 10-15 minute videos specifically to accelerate watch hour accumulation while providing more value and ad revenue potential.
✓ Better: Create 10-15 minute videos with strong retention to maximize watch hours
When to Use the Best Free YouTube Monetization Checker
- •Every Week on a Consistent Schedule: Set a recurring weekly reminder (Monday mornings work well) to check YouTube Studio analytics and update the best free monetization calculator. This regular cadence helps you spot trends, adjust strategy, and maintain motivation without obsessive daily checking. Track your progress in a simple spreadsheet to visualize growth over time.
- •When Setting Realistic Content Goals and Timelines: Before committing to "I'll post 3 videos per week for the next 6 months," use the free calculator to see if that pace will actually get you monetized in your target timeframe. If the calculator shows 18 months at your current pace, you know you need to either accelerate content production or improve view/engagement rates.
- •After Uploading Every 5-10 Videos: Significant progress usually shows after 5-10 new uploads. Check the calculator after these batches to see if your recent content is moving metrics faster or slower than before. If your last 10 videos generated more watch hours per video than your first 10, you're improving—double down on that content style.
- •When Deciding Between Watch Hours vs Shorts Strategy: If you're creating both traditional videos and Shorts, use the free checker monthly to compare progress on both paths. If Shorts views are accelerating faster toward 10 million than watch hours toward 4,000, you might pivot to a Shorts-focused strategy. Let the data guide your content mix decisions.
- •When You're Feeling Discouraged or Thinking About Quitting: Burnout and discouragement are common before monetization. When you feel like giving up, check the calculator. Seeing "You're 78% complete" or "Only 4 more months at current pace" can reignite motivation by showing concrete progress toward a concrete goal. You're closer than you think—tracking proves it.
Pro Tip: While tracking progress toward monetization, use our other best free tools to accelerate your growth: Title Generator for higher CTR, Thumbnail Text Generator for better thumbnails, and Description Generator for SEO-optimized descriptions. Optimizing these elements can increase views by 30-50%, directly accelerating your subscriber and watch hour growth. The fastest path to monetization combines consistent content creation with strategic optimization of every video element—all completely free with UTubeKit's suite of tools.