The link is built on this page from what you paste. A video link is resolved to its channel by asking YouTube's public oEmbed endpoint from your browser; nothing goes to a server of ours, because there is none.
This YouTube subscribe link generator builds the link that opens your channel and asks the visitor to subscribe: your channel URL with ?sub_confirmation=1 on the end. Paste your channel URL, your @handle, your UC channel ID, or a link to any of your videos, and copy the result as a plain link, an HTML link or button, or a Markdown link. Put it in descriptions, pinned comments, bios, email signatures, and on your website, wherever a viewer is one click away from following you.
youtube.com/@handle, youtube.com/channel/UC..., the bare @handle, the bare channel ID, an older youtube.com/c/Name or youtube.com/user/Name URL, or a link to one of your videos. From a video link the generator looks up the channel through YouTube's public oEmbed endpoint and shows the channel name and the video's thumbnail so you can check it found the right one.?sub_confirmation=1 added. For a visitor who is signed in to YouTube it opens the channel page with a dialog that asks them to confirm the subscription; a signed-out visitor sees the channel page and is asked to sign in after clicking Subscribe.| Form | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Channel ID | youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?sub_confirmation=1 | The 24-character ID starting with UC never changes. Use it for anything printed, in a video you cannot edit, or anywhere you will not revisit. |
| Handle | youtube.com/@handle?sub_confirmation=1 | Short and readable. A handle can be changed by the channel owner, and the old link then stops pointing at the channel. |
| Legacy custom URL or username | youtube.com/c/Name?sub_confirmation=1, youtube.com/user/Name?sub_confirmation=1 | Older channels still have these and YouTube still resolves them. New channels get a handle instead; if you only have a handle, use it. |
The generator keeps whichever form you paste. To convert a handle into the permanent channel ID form, take the ID from YouTube Studio (Settings, Channel, Advanced settings) and paste that instead; a handle cannot be turned into a channel ID inside the browser without YouTube's API, which this site does not use.
Signed in to YouTube on the website, the visitor lands on your channel page with a small dialog already open: your channel name and a Subscribe button to confirm, or a way to close it. That is the whole trick behind the link: it removes the step of finding the button on a page the visitor has never seen. Signed out, the same link shows the plain channel page, and clicking Subscribe leads to the Google sign-in screen first. On a phone the link opens in the YouTube app or the mobile site, where the visitor sees the channel page and its Subscribe button; the confirmation dialog belongs to the website, so do not promise it to mobile viewers.
YouTube has never documented sub_confirmation=1. It has behaved this way for years and creators rely on it widely, but it is YouTube's to change; if the dialog ever stops appearing, the link still opens the channel page and still works as an ordinary channel link.
No link subscribes a visitor without their click, on any platform. What is sold or searched for as an auto subscribe link is this same sub_confirmation=1 link: it opens the confirmation dialog, and the visitor still confirms. Anything that claims to add subscribers without the viewer's own action falls under YouTube's fake engagement policy and puts the channel at risk. The generator gives you the legitimate version and nothing else.
In YouTube Studio, open Settings, then Channel, then Advanced settings: the channel ID is listed there. On your channel page, the About panel has a Share channel button whose menu includes Copy channel ID. Your handle is the @name shown under your channel name and in the address bar of your channel page. If you have none of that to hand, paste the link of any video you uploaded: the generator reads the channel from it.
YouTube publishes an oEmbed endpoint, youtube.com/oembed?url=..., that returns a public video's title, its channel name, and its channel URL. The generator calls it from your browser when you paste a video link, reads the channel URL from the answer, and appends ?sub_confirmation=1. Private videos return an error and cannot be resolved; unlisted videos work. The same video ID gives you the video's thumbnails through the thumbnail URL patterns, and the embed code generator turns it into an iframe.
Added to a channel URL, ?sub_confirmation=1 makes YouTube open the channel page with a dialog that asks the visitor to confirm a subscription, when the visitor is signed in. A signed-out visitor sees the normal channel page and is asked to sign in after clicking Subscribe. YouTube has never documented the parameter; it has worked for years and the generator relies on it as it is today.
No link subscribes anyone without a click. The ?sub_confirmation=1 link is what people usually mean by an auto subscribe link: it skips the step of finding the Subscribe button by opening the channel with the confirmation dialog already showing, and the visitor still has to confirm. Anything that promises subscriptions without the visitor's action is against YouTube's fake engagement policy.
Both work. The channel ID form (youtube.com/channel/UC...?sub_confirmation=1) never changes, so it is the safer choice for anything printed or hard to edit later. The handle form (youtube.com/@name?sub_confirmation=1) is shorter and readable, but a handle can be changed, and the old link then stops pointing at the channel.
In YouTube Studio open Settings, then Channel, then Advanced settings; the channel ID is listed there and starts with UC. On your channel page, the About panel has a Share channel button with a Copy channel ID option. Or paste any of your videos into this generator, which reads the channel from the video.
Yes. Paste any public or unlisted video link. The generator asks YouTube's public oEmbed endpoint for that video and reads the channel URL it returns, then adds ?sub_confirmation=1. The request goes from your browser to youtube.com; this site has no server and stores nothing.
The link opens the channel in the YouTube app or the mobile site. The confirmation dialog is a behavior of the YouTube website, so on a phone treat the link as a direct route to the channel page, where the Subscribe button is one tap, rather than promising the prompt.
Video descriptions, a pinned comment, your channel's about section and links, social media bios, an email signature, a website or blog, a newsletter, and a GitHub or project README. Inside a video, use YouTube's own subscribe element on the end screen rather than a link; end screens only accept external links for channels in the YouTube Partner Program.