Synop
- Android app
- Not listed
- Free plan
- Yes
- Runs on
- self-hosted, Web
Summary
Synop is a self-hosted, web-based tool for turning YouTube videos, playlists, and channels into summaries and study materials. Its searchable library offers full-text search, a cross-video topic map, and questions across saved material. Study Mode can create flashcards and quizzes, support spaced-repetition review, and convert playlists into Anki decks. For individual videos, analysis includes topic clusters, a multi-speaker debate matrix, freshness checks, and bias critique. Users can follow channels so new uploads are summarized into their library. Summaries can be exported as Markdown or PDF, or synced to Obsidian and Notion with generated wiki-links. The project says videos can be summarized and discussed in over 12 languages, using OpenAI-compatible providers such as OpenAI, DeepSeek, Groq, OpenRouter, Gemini, or local Ollama. Notes and summaries are stored in a local SQLite database; there is no Synop server. Setup requires Node.js 18+ and an AI API key. The free plan has no subscription, but provider usage costs depend on the chosen service.
Who it is for
Synop suits students, researchers or analysts, and creators or writers who work with YouTube material. It also suits people comfortable with self-hosting and providing an AI API key.
What is good
- Searches saved material with full-text and topic-map tools.
- Creates flashcards, quizzes, and spaced-repetition reviews.
- Exports to Markdown and PDF, or syncs to Obsidian and Notion.
- Stores notes and summaries in a local SQLite database.
- Offers a free plan with no subscription.
What to know first
- Setup requires Node.js 18+ and an AI API key.
- AI provider usage costs depend on the chosen provider.
- Syncing across devices or multi-user use requires optional Postgres.
Verdict
Synop pairs YouTube summaries with study tools, searchable notes, and video analysis. Consider its self-hosting setup and provider-dependent usage costs before choosing it.
Synop plans and pricing
All plansCompared on AI video summarizers
- Free plan
- Yessynop-ai.vercel.app
- YouTube support
- Yessynop-ai.vercel.app
- Transcript output
- Yessynop-ai.vercel.app
- Chapter generation
- Yessynop-ai.vercel.app
- Input sources
- YouTube videos, YouTube playlists, YouTube channelssynop-ai.vercel.app
Facts
- Purpose
- Synop turns long YouTube videos into short, high-signal summaries tailored to students, researchers, or creators.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Library
- Its searchable library includes a cross-video topic map, full-text search, and a feature to ask questions across the library.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Study tools
- Study Mode creates flashcards and quizzes, supports spaced-repetition review, and can turn a playlist into an Anki deck.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Video analysis
- Per-video analysis includes semantic topic clusters, a multi-speaker debate matrix, freshness checks, and bias critique.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Channel watchlist
- Users can follow channels and have new uploads automatically summarized into their library.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- AI providers
- Synop accepts OpenAI-compatible providers and lists OpenAI, DeepSeek, Groq, OpenRouter, Gemini, and local Ollama among its provider options.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Exports
- Summaries can be exported as Markdown or PDF, or synced to Obsidian and Notion with generated wiki-links.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Languages
- The official site says users can summarize and chat with videos in over 12 languages.synop-ai.vercel.app · 4 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- The project says summaries and notes are stored in a local SQLite database, there is no Synop server, and AI keys are stored in browser local storage and sent to the selected provider per request.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Local provider guard
- Custom provider URLs are checked against private, metadata, and localhost addresses; self-hosters can opt in to local providers with ALLOW_LOCAL_PROVIDERS=true.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Setup requirements
- The README lists Node.js 18+ and an AI API key as requirements for setup.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Self-hosting
- Synop can run wherever Node.js runs, including a home server, Raspberry Pi, or VPS, and supports optional Postgres for syncing across devices or multi-user use.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- License
- The project is distributed under the MIT License.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The README describes persona-specific workflows for students, researchers or analysts, and creators or writers.github.com · 4 Oct 2026
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Where it ranks on Everything Xiaomi
- Best AI Video Summarizers in 2026#11 of 24
Is Synop yours?
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Sources
- github.com/sharadvc/synop· checked 4 Oct 2026
- synop-ai.vercel.app· checked 4 Oct 2026