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YouTube engagement rate calculator

Likes plus comments, divided by views. The formula is the easy part. The useful part is the comparison: how your number sits against thousands of real videos from faceless channels with similar reach.

Numbers from the video page or YouTube Studio. One video, or a channel total; the rate works either way.

Engagement rate (likes + comments) ÷ views

Like rate

Comment rate

Is that good? Compared with real faceless channels

31,749 videos from 521 curated channels, updated 2026-09-21. Benchmark: all faceless channels.

Engagement rate

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median 3.12% · top quarter from 4.77% · top 10% from 6.79%

Like rate

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median 2.86% · top quarter from 4.37% · top 10% from 6.15%

Comment rate

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median 0.20% · top quarter from 0.38% · top 10% from 0.66%

Engagement rate by views10th25th50th75th90th
1k–10k (21296)1.09%2.01%3.42%5.15%7.29%
10k–100k (10318)1.18%1.83%2.86%4.27%6.07%
100k–1M (1540)0.94%1.33%1.92%2.83%3.95%
1M+ (63)0.85%1.06%1.61%2.14%3.01%

Reading the number honestly

Compare like with like

Engagement falls as views rise. A 2% rate on a million views can be healthier than 6% on five thousand. The calculator picks the right view band for you.

Likes and comments are different signals

Likes are cheap and track satisfaction. Comments track how much the video provoked a reaction, and for a faceless channel they are the rarer, more telling signal.

One video is noise

Use a channel total, or the last ten videos, before drawing a conclusion. One outlier in either direction says nothing about the channel.

Frequently asked questions

How is YouTube engagement rate calculated?

The common definition, and the one sponsors use, is (likes + comments) ÷ views × 100. Some tools divide by subscribers instead; that punishes channels whose videos travel beyond their subscribers, which on YouTube is most of them. This calculator shows the per-view rate and also the like rate and comment rate on their own.

What is a good engagement rate on YouTube?

Across 31,749 recent videos from curated faceless channels the median is 3.12%, the top quarter starts at 4.77% and the top 10% at 6.79%. It falls as views rise, which is why the calculator compares you with videos of similar reach rather than with one global number.

Where do the benchmarks come from?

From Elevate's Niche Finder, which tracks daily stats for a curated list of faceless YouTube channels. We take each video's latest views, likes and comments, keep videos from the last year with at least 1,000 views, drop videos with hidden like counts, and compute percentiles overall, by view band and by niche. The date on the page is when that was last refreshed. No number on this page is estimated.

Why does engagement drop as a video gets more views?

Early viewers are subscribers and people who searched for the topic; they like and comment. Later viewers arrive from browse and suggested, watch more passively, and many leave before the end. So the denominator grows faster than the numerator. Judge a viral video against other viral videos.

Do sponsors care about engagement rate?

Yes, as a filter. A healthy rate says the audience is real and paying attention; a very low one on a high-view channel suggests bought or passive traffic. Beyond the filter they care about your niche, your audience's country and age, and average view duration, none of which this number shows.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The three numbers you type stay in your browser. We keep nothing.

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Built by Elevate — a community for people building faceless YouTube channels; the benchmarks come from its Niche Finder.