YouTube Engagement Rate Calculator
Paste a video → likes plus comments over views, with the like rate and comment rate split out and a benchmark to read them against. No signup.
The formula, and why we split it
Engagement rate is (likes + comments) ÷ views. We show the two halves separately because they mean different things. A like is a reflex — cheap to give, cheap to buy. A comment costs someone twenty seconds and a thought. A video with a healthy like rate and almost no comments is being watched passively; one with an unusually high comment rate has either struck a nerve or asked for entries to a giveaway.
Benchmarks, held loosely
Under 1% is low, 1–2% average, 2–4% healthy, above 4% strong. But engagement rate falls as reach grows — a video the algorithm pushed to two million casual viewers will lose to a niche video watched by 5,000 devotees, and the second creator may well be the better buy. Compare a channel to its own back catalogue and to peers its own size.
If you're vetting a creator for a placement
This ratio is a screening step, not a decision. Views, likes and subscribers are all purchasable; a comment section that reads like real people who watched the video is not. So use the number to shortlist, then read the comments — the comment downloader classifies a video's comments free, and the full report does it across a whole channel so you can see whether the audience is consistently invested or just showed up for one hit.
Worth knowing about dislikes
YouTube removed public dislike counts in 2021, so no tool can factor them in any more. A controversial video and a beloved one can look identical here. That's another reason the comments, not the counters, are where the real signal is.
FAQ
How do you calculate YouTube engagement rate?
Likes plus comments, divided by views. This page reads all three from the video and does the arithmetic, then shows the like rate and comment rate separately, because a video can look engaged on likes alone while nobody is actually talking about it.
What's a good YouTube engagement rate?
As rough public benchmarks: under 1% is low, 1–2% is average, 2–4% is healthy, and above 4% is strong. Treat those as orientation rather than a grading scale. Rates fall as channels grow, and a small niche channel routinely beats a huge one.
Can engagement be faked?
Likes and views can be bought cheaply, and giveaway videos inflate everything. Comments are much harder to fake convincingly, which is why reading them matters more than any ratio when you're vetting a creator for a paid placement.
Why does the rate seem low on a big channel?
That's normal. Engagement rate falls as reach grows. A video pushed to millions of casual viewers by the algorithm will always have a lower ratio than one watched by a small, invested audience. Compare a channel to its own history and to peers of similar size, not to the whole platform.
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