Published 21 February 2026
You’ve got a YouTube channel with videos, thumbnails, descriptions, and a growing audience. Turning all of that into an actual website used to mean hiring a developer or spending weekends fighting with WordPress. Not anymore.
This guide walks through the entire process of turning your YouTube channel into a live website — from signup to going live. The whole thing takes about five minutes.
What You’ll End Up With
Before we get into the steps, here’s what the finished product looks like. Your website will have:
- A homepage with your channel branding, featured videos, and latest uploads
- Individual video pages with embedded players, descriptions, and view counts
- A videos archive with search and sorting
- An about page, contact form, and link-in-bio page
- A blog with email subscribers for long-form content alongside your videos
- A live stream page that auto-detects when you’re live on YouTube
- Optional merch integration via Fourthwall
- Built-in analytics — page views, top content, referrers, countries — no cookies
Everything syncs with your YouTube channel automatically. Upload a new video and it appears on your site without you touching anything.
Want to see one in action? Here’s a live demo site.
Step 1: Sign Up with YouTube
The quickest way to get started is to click Sign up with YouTube. You’ll go through Google’s standard OAuth flow and grant read-only access — TubeCMS can never upload, edit, or delete anything on your channel.
Once you authorise, TubeCMS pulls in your channel name, avatar, handle, and subscriber count. Your videos start importing immediately. No passwords to create — TubeCMS uses magic links, so you sign in via email every time.
Prefer not to connect YouTube straight away? You can also sign up with just your email address and connect your channel later.
Step 2: Choose Your URL
The setup wizard at setup.tubecms.app walks you through getting your site ready. First up: pick a subdomain. This will be your address: yourchannel.tubecms.app.
If you signed up with YouTube, your URL is pre-filled from your channel’s @handle — just confirm and continue. You can also set your site name here.
You can connect a custom domain later (like www.yourchannel.com) if you want to go fully branded. But the subdomain works perfectly fine and is included on all plans.
Step 3: Pick a Template
Next, the wizard asks you to choose a template and colour preset. There are 8 site templates — each with a distinct nav style, hero layout, card design, and footer. Then pick from 15 colour presets to set your palette in one click.
You’re not locked in — every colour is customisable from the admin panel on Starter+. Pick whichever feels closest to your channel’s vibe. Dark and moody? Bright and clean? Earthy and warm? There’s a preset for it.
That’s the setup wizard done. You’re taken straight into your admin dashboard.
Step 4: Follow the Site Guide
When you land in the dashboard, a site guide opens as an overlay — a step-by-step wizard that walks you through configuring every part of your site. It covers:
- Identity & branding — logo, favicon, typography
- Pages & content — choose which pages to enable, write your about page, set up your FAQ, configure your contact form
- Hero banner — upload an image or pull your YouTube channel banner with one click
- Homepage layout — grid columns, featured videos, section order
- Social links — Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, Discord, and more
- SEO — meta descriptions, Google Search Console verification, sitemap
Every step has a live preview so you can see your changes as you make them. You can close the guide at any point and come back to it later from the sidebar — it remembers where you left off.
None of this is required before going live. You can launch with just your videos and work through the guide over time.
Step 5: Go Live
Your site starts in maintenance mode — visible only to you. When you’re happy with how it looks, hit the Go Live button in the admin dashboard. Your site is now public at yourchannel.tubecms.app.
From this point, everything stays in sync. Upload a video to YouTube and it appears on your site automatically. New uploads are detected instantly via push notifications — no polling, no delays. You don’t need to touch your website unless you want to write a blog post or tweak something.
What About a Custom Domain?
If you own a domain (or want to buy one), you can connect it from the admin panel under Settings → Custom Domain. Point your DNS to TubeCMS, verify it, and your site is live at your own address. SSL is handled automatically.
This is optional. Plenty of creators run happily on the .tubecms.app subdomain. But if you’re building a brand, your own domain looks more professional and is better for SEO.
What It Costs
The Free plan is genuinely free — no trial. You only pay if you choose to upgrade:
- Starter at £2.99/month (~$4/mo) — blog, email subscribers, link-in-bio, live stream page
- Pro at £6.99/month (~$9/mo) — custom domain, unlimited blog posts, team members, full analytics, and more
Full comparison on the pricing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can TubeCMS post to my YouTube channel?
No. We only request read-only access. TubeCMS cannot upload, edit, delete, or interact with your channel in any way.
What if I disconnect YouTube?
All YouTube data is removed from your site immediately. Your blog posts, about page, and other content stay. You can reconnect anytime.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Everything is done through the admin panel. Point and click.
Can I move to a different platform later?
Yes. You can export all your data (uploads, content, analytics) as a zip file from your account settings. No lock-in.
100% free to start · extra features from £2.99/mo (~$4)