# CustomTube - Restore the Old YouTube Layout

> Choose your own YouTube layout, and more!

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/customtube](https://chrome-stats.com/d/customtube)

## Overview

- **ID:** `customtube`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** lightbeam
- **Category:** appearance,photos-music-videos
- **Daily users:** 2,533
- **Weekly downloads:** 231
- **Rating:** 4.12 / 5 (116 ratings)
- **Version:** 1.2.7.2
- **Last updated:** 2024-02-02
- **First published:** 2023-05-12
- **Size:** 841 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-10
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/customtube/)
- **Website:** [https://github.com/lightbeam24/CustomTube](https://github.com/lightbeam24/CustomTube)

## Description

CustomTube is a versatile Chrome extension that empowers you to personalize your YouTube experience by choosing among various classic YouTube layouts from 2008 to 2021 with just one click. It not only restores old interface designs but also offers additional powerful features to enhance your viewing pleasure.

Key features include the ability to loop videos by default (with an option to exclude playlist videos), customization of video player size, improved search by hiding irrelevant results, and the option to hide the "Shorts" button on the sidebar. With ongoing updates planned, CustomTube ensures an increasingly tailored and distraction-free YouTube environment.

## Rankings

- #1,878 — Overall
- #303 — Appearance
- #325 — Photos, Music & Videos
- #2 — layout
- #7 — gpt store
- #9 — web store

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `activeTab`
- `storage`

### Content script matches

- `*.youtube.com`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** Moderate risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Low risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Request access to the following domains: youtube.com
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

## Review summary

User reviews show strong praise for CustomTube's layout customization (including older YouTube styles) and thumbnail/grid density control. However, many complain about poor maintenance, frequent breaks with YouTube redesigns, non-working search features, and misrendered UI elements. Several note that settings may not apply and that the project appears deprecated, though a subset still finds it usable on older layouts.

### Pros

- Extensive layout customization including older YouTube layouts (years like 2005/2006, 2017, 2019)
- Thumbnail/grid density control: adjust thumbnail size and number per row to reduce clutter and improve the home page layout
- Perceived advantage over similar extensions or replacement scripts; considered a viable alternative by some users

### Cons

- Not maintained / deprecated / outdated; development appears inactive
- Frequent breakage with YouTube updates / incompatibility with newer redesigns
- Search bar features do not work (predictive search and previous searches not shown)
- UI rendering issues: buttons text missing, overlays, logo color changes
- Settings changes sometimes do not apply; only the default layout works

## Similar extensions and apps

- [YouTube Layout Master](https://chrome-stats.com/d/youtube-layout-master) — 1 users
- [LayoutMaster for YouTube](https://chrome-stats.com/d/layoutmaster-for-youtube)
- [Tube Layout Customizer](https://chrome-stats.com/d/tube-layout-customizer)
- [PersonalTube Customizer](https://chrome-stats.com/d/personaltube-customizer) — 1 users
- [TubeCustomizer New](https://chrome-stats.com/d/tubecustomizer-new) — 1 users
- [MyTubeLayout](https://chrome-stats.com/d/mytubelayout)
- [TubePersonalize](https://chrome-stats.com/d/tubepersonalize)
- [TubeLayout Customizer Toolkit](https://chrome-stats.com/d/tubelayout-customizer-toolkit)
- [MyTube Layout Editor](https://chrome-stats.com/d/mytube-layout-editor)
- [TubeLayout Selector](https://chrome-stats.com/d/tubelayout-selector)
- [YouTube Style Customizer](https://chrome-stats.com/d/youtube-style-customizer)
- [YouTube Design Selector](https://chrome-stats.com/d/youtube-design-selector) — 1 users

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/customtube)