Getting started on YouTube can feel overwhelming — and honestly, that’s normal. Suddenly you’re worrying about everything at once. Will people actually watch your content? Is your audio good enough? Is the camera angle right? What about your channel artwork, banner, thumbnails… and then there’s the title. Oh, and the channel name — is that even right?
Once you start digging into the details, another question usually pops up pretty quickly: “How much is this all going to cost?”
Everywhere you look, someone is selling a service you “can’t do without”. There’s always a pro version, a tool that “every big creator uses”, or software that looks free until you realise you can’t really do anything useful without paying.
When I started my first YouTube channels just over five years ago, I ran straight into the same problems. Fast forward to now, and after a lot of trial, error, and unnecessary spending, I’ve put together a list of genuine gems — tools that are actually free, genuinely useful, and more than good enough to get you moving.
From video and audio to thumbnails and channel banners, you can absolutely build a solid YouTube setup without spending a penny. So let’s get into it.
OBS Studio
This one’s obvious to many creators — but if you’re brand new, there’s a good chance you’ve never even heard of it.
OBS Studio is a completely free tool used to record videos and go live on YouTube. At first glance, it does look intimidating. Lots of buttons, lots of options. But don’t let that put you off — there are loads of quick, beginner-friendly setup guides that’ll have you recording in no time, like this one below:
Despite what you might hear, you don’t need a supercomputer to run OBS either. It works well on modest setups, and yes — it’s Mac-friendly too.
Canva
Canva is another one that sounds obvious… but what you can actually do with the free version is massively underrated — and incredibly useful for YouTube.
Thumbnails
Canva has built-in YouTube thumbnail templates, including blank ones if you want to start from scratch. You can use free image upscalers to clean things up, tweak quality on export, and browse a huge library of templates to get inspiration for your channel’s style.
Just search “YouTube Thumbnail” in Canva and you’re off.
Channel Banners
Your channel banner matters more than most people realise. During Creator Compass threads work and support, we see loads of channels where a clean, correctly sized banner would instantly level things up.
Search “YouTube Channel Banner”, pick a template, customise it, and you’re sorted — no guessing sizes or safe areas.
YouTube Shorts
This one surprises a lot of people: Canva can handle video too. You can create, edit, and download short-form videos directly inside the platform.
It’s perfect for trimming long-form content into Shorts. You can cut clips, adjust volume, add text, and keep everything in one place. Search “YouTube Short Video” in Canva and choose a template that’s already in the right format.
Community Posts
As your channel grows, community posts become more important. They’re a great way to talk directly to your audience — and reach new ones — but image size matters here.
The easiest solution? Use Canva’s Instagram Post templates. They share the same ratio as YouTube community posts. Drop in your image, tweak the text, export, done.
Adobe (Free Tools)
We won’t go too deep into Adobe here. A lot of what you can do overlaps with Canva, and the paid versions definitely aren’t essential when you’re starting out.
That said, Adobe does offer some genuinely solid free tools, so it’s worth knowing they exist — especially if you want an alternative workflow later on.
Auphonic
If audio feels like your weak spot, Auphonic is a fantastic resource.
Think of it as an AI audio engineer on your screen. You upload your audio, tell it what you want fixed — levels, loudness, clarity — and it handles the rest. You’ll even get a clear breakdown showing exactly what it changed.
There’s a generous free allowance, and this is something I personally used a lot before investing in better audio gear. It’s an absolute lifesaver for early-stage creators.
eMastered
This one is paid, but it’s worth mentioning.
eMastered is especially useful for music-focused channels, where sound quality really matters. For a relatively low price, you get unlimited audio mastering with control over EQ, levels, and more.
If you’re running a YouTube music channel, it’s an easy recommendation. But even for general creators, it can help you get consistent, polished audio every time.
Clipchamp
Video editing is something most creators dread — especially at the beginning. Clipchamp makes that process much less painful.
It’s free to use, works in the browser or as a download, and is great for longer-form content. Editing is simple, with trim tools, basic effects, and some newer AI features that are worth experimenting with.
It also keeps everything close to the upload process, which helps reduce friction when you’re just trying to get videos out.
Windows Movie Maker (Pro)
This one surprises people — but Windows Movie Maker carried me through my first two years as a creator.
It’s incredibly simple, very user-friendly, and does everything you actually need when starting out. The free version is perfectly usable, but for around £18 as a one-off purchase, the Pro upgrade unlocks better export quality and a few genuinely useful extras. However, its not essential, the free version works and works well!
If you’re brand new and want the least painful learning curve possible, this is still one of the best places to start.
Creator Compass
And yeah — we had to include ourselves.
Creator Compass and our Threads content are built specifically to support creators who are just getting started. No hype, no selling you tools you don’t need — just practical advice from people who’ve already made the mistakes.
Bookmark the site, follow us on Threads, and let’s get your YouTube journey moving in the right direction.
