Getting to 1,000 subscribers is no longer just a vanity milestone — it is the hard gate between hobbyist and monetised creator on the world's second-largest search engine. Creators who decide to buy YouTube subscribers are accelerating that crossing, but the gap between a service that delivers high-retention accounts and one that floods a channel with hollow bots is wide enough to trigger a count purge that wipes weeks of progress overnight. We spent six weeks and real money testing five of the most-recommended providers to cut through the noise.
Updated August 2026: Best Sites to Buy YouTube Subscribers in 2026
| Rank | Provider | Overall Score | Best For | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Promotid | 9.9/10 | High-retention monetisation push | $4.99 / 100 subscribers |
| 2 | Likes.io | 9.5/10 | Speed and value balance | $3.29 / 100 subscribers |
| 3 | Twicsy | 9.2/10 | Fast campaign delivery | $2.99 / 100 subscribers |
| 4 | SidesMedia | 8.8/10 | Bulk subscriber orders | $2.79 / 100 subscribers |
| 5 | Buzzoid | 8.4/10 | Tight-budget testing | $1.79 / 100 subscribers |
How We Tested and Ranked These Services
Every service on this list received a live test order placed between February and July 2026 against a dedicated channel with zero prior purchase history. We tracked six criteria: delivery speed (hours from payment confirmation to the first subscriber appearing), 30-day and 60-day retention rates, profile quality across a spot-audit of 30 delivered accounts, account safety (no password required, no channel strike triggered), price per subscriber across 100-, 500-, and 1,000-subscriber tiers, and support responsiveness under a standard pre-sales question and an escalated drop-off complaint — both tested on a Saturday night as well as during business hours.
Retention was logged by screenshot at days 7, 14, 30, and 60 post-delivery. A provider that delivered 500 subscribers and held 470 at day 30 earns a 94% retention figure. Anything below 75% at day 60 signals a bot-heavy pool that YouTube's periodic account reviews will continue to erode. According to YouTube's subscriber count and monetisation thresholds, only real, active accounts count toward the 1,000-subscriber requirement for the Partner Program — which makes long-term retention the single most important variable in this test.
Promotid Review — #1: Reliable
Promotid turned in the cleanest numbers of any service we tested. Our 500-subscriber order was delivered in a gradual drip across 52 hours — a pace that produced no visible spike in the channel's analytics graph. At day 30 we had retained 94% of those accounts; at day 60, that figure settled at 91%. The nearest competitor in this test hit 83% at 60 days. That eight-point gap is not cosmetic: on a 1,000-subscriber order it represents roughly 80 additional accounts still active and subscribing after two months versus the next-best option.
Profile quality was the other standout. A spot-check of 30 delivered accounts found 21 carrying a channel avatar, and 18 with some form of public engagement history — a video, a playlist, or at least one comment. That depth does not guarantee algorithmic invisibility, but it marks a real difference from the thin, no-history accounts lower-tier services ship. Delivery requires only your channel URL, with no password or account access at any point.
Support answered our live chat message in under nine minutes on both tested occasions, including the Saturday-night test. The escalated complaint about a subscriber drop was handled with a clear 30-day refill explanation — no deflection, no friction. The weakness is price: at $4.99 per 100 subscribers, Promotid runs about 50% above mid-tier providers and nearly three times Buzzoid's entry point. For creators on a tight budget, that gap is real. For creators within striking distance of monetisation who cannot afford count losses to a cleanup sweep, the retention premium earns its keep.
- Delivery time: 48–72 hours (gradual drip)
- 30-day retention: 94%
- 60-day retention: 91%
- Starting price: $4.99 / 100 subscribers
- Password required: No
- Refill policy: 30-day guarantee
- Support: 24/7 live chat, avg. 9-minute response
Likes.io Review — #2: Consistent
Likes.io is the most balanced runner-up on this list. Our 500-subscriber order arrived within 38 hours — faster than Promotid — with a 30-day retention rate of 88% and a 60-day rate of 83%. That is a meaningful step down from the top result but still comfortably above the point where YouTube's cleanup cycles become a serious concern. Around 60% of audited accounts carried avatars, and support responded within 22 minutes during our evening test. Pricing at $3.29 per 100 hits a reasonable middle ground between the premium and budget tiers.
The notable limitation: Likes.io's 30-day subscriber refill applies only to orders of 500 or more. If you place a 100-subscriber test order to evaluate delivery quality before committing to a larger purchase and see drop-off, you have no recourse. For a mid-sized order that qualifies for the refill protection, it is a strong alternative to Promotid at a lower per-subscriber cost.
- Delivery time: 24–48 hours
- 30-day retention: 88%
- 60-day retention: 83%
- Starting price: $3.29 / 100 subscribers
- Refill policy: 30 days on orders of 500+
- Support: Live chat, avg. 22-minute response
Twicsy Review — #3: Fast
Twicsy is the fastest service in this test. Our order began processing within two hours of payment and reached full delivery in under 18 hours — useful if you're working against a launch deadline or a collaboration that goes live tomorrow. That pace comes with a real tradeoff: a subscriber spike of that size in that timeframe is visible in YouTube Studio analytics, and on a channel that normally gains single-digit daily subscribers it reads as anomalous even to a casual reviewer.
Retention at 30 days came in at 84%, dropping to 79% at day 60 — the speed-to-quality exchange is evident in the numbers. Starting at $2.99 per 100 subscribers, Twicsy is fairly priced for its tier. The shorter-than-average 15-day refill window limits the safety net if drop-off appears late in the first month, which is when slower-burning cleanup cycles tend to hit.
- Delivery time: 12–24 hours
- 30-day retention: 84%
- 60-day retention: 79%
- Starting price: $2.99 / 100 subscribers
- Refill policy: 15-day window only
- Support: Live chat, avg. 31-minute response
SidesMedia Review — #4: Scalable
SidesMedia earns its position primarily for bulk buyers. The per-unit price drops meaningfully at the 1,000-subscriber tier, and delivery on larger orders was spread across four to six days — gradual enough that no analytics anomaly appeared on the test channel. Retention came in at 82% at day 30 and 76% at day 60, sitting just above the threshold where YouTube's account sweeps become a tangible risk to the order's net value.
The significant limitation is support. SidesMedia operates on email only, and our standard inquiry took 17 hours to receive a response — unacceptable by the standards of every other provider on this list, all of which offer live chat. For a large order placed before a campaign weekend, a 17-hour support gap is an operational risk, not just a minor inconvenience.
- Delivery time: 48–96 hours
- 30-day retention: 82%
- 60-day retention: 76%
- Starting price: $2.79 / 100 subscribers
- Refill policy: 30 days on bulk orders
- Support: Email only, avg. 17-hour response
Buzzoid Review — #5: Budget
Buzzoid is the cheapest option here at $1.79 per 100 subscribers, and the numbers reflect exactly what that price buys. Delivery was fast — under 12 hours — but 60-day retention came in at 66%, the lowest result in the entire test by eight points. That means one in three delivered subscribers had dropped off within two months, which on a 1,000-subscriber order represents 340 lost accounts after the fact. No refill policy is listed for the standard tier, and support — also email-only — took more than 24 hours to respond to our test message. Buzzoid is workable for building surface-level social proof on a low-stakes channel; for anything close to a monetisation milestone, the drop-off exposure is too high to recommend it.
- Delivery time: 6–12 hours
- 30-day retention: 74%
- 60-day retention: 66%
- Starting price: $1.79 / 100 subscribers
- Refill policy: None listed
- Support: Email only, avg. 24+ hour response
What to Check Before You Buy
- Never share your password. No credible subscriber service requires your YouTube or Google account credentials. If a provider asks for your password at checkout or during onboarding, close the tab. All legitimate delivery is handled externally — your login should never leave you under any framing.
- Insist on gradual delivery. A channel that gains 1,000 subscribers in three hours with no corresponding view or watch-time spike creates a signal ratio that YouTube's systems are built to flag. Drip-paced delivery spread across 48 to 96 hours keeps your subscriber-to-view ratio from triggering automated scrutiny.
- Read the refill policy on the order page, not the homepage. Several providers advertise a guarantee in their marketing copy but restrict it to minimum order sizes or a short window buried in their FAQ. The actual terms live on the product page — find them before paying, not after you see drop-off.
- Test support before a large order. Send a pre-sales question and time the response. A service that takes 20 hours to answer something basic before you are a customer will take longer when something goes wrong with a bulk order. A Saturday-night reply time tells you more about operational reliability than any testimonial on their homepage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does buying YouTube subscribers violate the platform's terms of service?
YouTube's terms of service prohibit artificially inflating metrics through fake accounts and automated bot systems. Services that deliver thin, zero-activity accounts carry real risk of count removal during YouTube's periodic purges — some channels have seen thousands of subscribers erased in a single algorithm sweep. High-retention services that use real or near-real accounts with genuine profile depth operate in a grayer space where the risk is lower but never zero. Every creator weighing this decision should understand that exposure clearly before placing an order.
Will purchased subscribers help me reach monetisation faster?
Subscriber count alone does not unlock the YouTube Partner Program — you also need 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months, and purchased subscribers rarely contribute meaningful watch time. What a larger subscriber base does affect is notification reach: when you publish a new video, more subscribers receive a push, which drives stronger early view velocity and can help organic content gain algorithmic traction. YouTube is consistently one of the most-used platforms globally, as documented in YouTube's ranking among global social platforms (Statista), which makes standing out in the notification queue an increasingly competitive advantage.
How long does delivery typically take, and does speed matter?
Across our six-week test period, delivery times ranged from under 12 hours (Buzzoid) to four to six days on large orders (SidesMedia). Speed matters because an unnatural pattern — a steep overnight subscriber spike with no corresponding engagement increase — creates a red-flag ratio in YouTube Studio that can invite closer scrutiny. For most channels, a 48-to-72-hour drip delivery is the right balance between timely results and a pattern that does not stand out in the analytics graph.
Final Verdict
Promotid is the clearest recommendation for any creator serious about reaching or protecting a monetisation milestone — 91% retention at 60 days, no password requirement, responsive 24/7 support, and a genuine refill policy put it in a category of its own among the five services we tested. When budget is the overriding constraint and the order size qualifies for refill protection, Likes.io delivers 83% 60-day retention at $3.29 per 100 and represents a legitimate trade-off rather than a gamble. The budget tier — Buzzoid in particular, with a 66% 60-day retention rate and no stated refill policy — carries enough post-delivery account drop-off risk that you may end a campaign with fewer subscribers than you paid for once the next cleanup cycle runs.