Whether you’re launching your first YouTube channel or choosing the right niche for your second, third, or fourth, 2025 makes this process easier than ever. There are not plenty of AI tools that can help you make the right choice, but there are some, and here we unpack all of them.
The New Era of Niche Discovery
The old advice to just ‘follow your passion’ still works. You’ll be creating in this niche every day, so it better be something you actually enjoy. But if you have more than one passion, that’s when it’s time to get analytical.
That’s why you use AI niche discovery tools. They analyze audience behavior, keyword volume, engagement metrics, and monetization potential: all through the lens of content categories, viewer psychology, and competitive gaps. These platforms won’t say ‘start a tech channel’, they will show which micro-niches inside tech are growing, and why viewers keep coming back.
So, let’s break down the most promising AI tools that help creators find and refine their perfect content niche.
1. NexLev AI
Starting strong with the tool that many creators love. NexLev AI maps growth opportunities across entire topic ecosystems. It uses audience behavior data from YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to identify where content demand outpaces supply (essentially, where the next wave of creator success is about to hit).
You start by entering your core themes (e.g., ‘travel’, ‘gaming’, ‘cooking’, etc). The AI runs through thousands of content clusters, analyzing CTR, AVD, engagement rate, CPM, and competition levels.
Then, it delivers actionable insights like ‘tech minimalism channels with under 100k subs are outperforming by 42%.’ or ‘productivity + AI tutorials are high-CTR, low-competition for creators with a male 25-34 audience.’ You can even simulate how well your existing audience would respond if you were to change niches.
Pros:
- Cross-platform analytics (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram)
- Predictive scoring system for potential growth
- Personalized niche suggestions based on your content history
- Data-backed insight into audience overlaps and burnout risks
Cons:
- Steep learning curve, the product is not very intuitive in navigation
- Doesn’t yet integrate smaller regional platforms
- Custom reports are locked behind the Pro tier
NexLev’ Features
NexLev’ pricing starts at €13/mo for Lite, with Pro at €42/mo and YouTube Course at €550 one-time payment. NexLev offers 14 days of free trials, where you get access to all the features until payment.
Lite version for €13/mo will allow you to:
- Get access to 28+ growth-focused features
- Automate your workflow
- Access to the Discord community
The Pro bundle (€42/mo) will allow you to get everything the Lite bundle offers, plus you will gain access to Niche Finder and the Chrome Extension.
The YouTube Course will grant you lifetime access to the Faceless YouTube course, 22+ modules of course material, and access to the private Discord community.
Source: Software Scope
2. Glimpse AI
Glimpse began as a Chrome extension for trend tracking, but it’s evolved into a full-scale platform that surfaces fast-growing subcultures and emerging search spikes. It connects with Google Trends, Reddit, and TikTok data to forecast what audiences will care about next month.
You can plug in a broad term like ‘anime’ or ‘outdoor living’ and Glimpse shows you micro-trends that could define your next content wave.
Pros:
- Tracks how fast a topic is trending
- Finds “hidden” subtopics before mainstream saturation
- Ideal for fast-moving niches like tech or lifestyle
- Offers Chrome integration for real-time keyword overlays
Cons:
- Less useful for evergreen creators (e.g., education, storytelling)
- Doesn’t factor in retention metrics or creator fit
- Focuses on short-term opportunity
Glimpse’s Features
Glimpse offers a free plan with 10 searches per month, and paid plans start at $99/month, depending on which product you’re using. Cancellations are possible with no penalty.
3. VidIQ
While not built purely for AI-powered niche discovery, VidIQ still belongs in this conversation because of how the AI features have integrated its main features recently.
It uses machine learning to recommend keywords, titles, and topic clusters that align with your channel’s past success and audience interests. It can help you compare what your competitors do, analyze their performance, and determine what works best. It can help you with video ideas, see and analyze your audience behavior, and see whether or not you should stay in the niche or move in some other direction.
Pros:
- VidIQ has plenty of other features to play with (title generator, video ideas suggestion, and keywords search)
- Performance prediction models for new topics
- Uses insights from the high-performing videos within your niche
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Limited customization
- Limited cross-platform insight
- Heavy reliance on YouTube’s own API
VidIQ’s Features
VidIQ’s prices start at $16.58/mo, with Coaching at $99/mo available. There is a free trial available with some fair limitations. But if you get a paid version, you’d be able to get feedback from professionals, which is always great (with the addition of other really cool features to explore).
Note: AIR partners can use VidIQ Pro free of charge.
Source: Joseph Martin
4. Nichely AI
Nichely AI is a powerful tool designed to help creators quickly identify untapped and high-potential niches within their industry. It specializes in analyzing market trends, audience behavior, and how saturated the content is across multiple platforms.
It uses advanced algorithms to analyze data from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms. By entering a core topic (e.g., ‘fitness’, ‘technology’, ‘mental health’), Nichely AI dives deep into existing content trends, search volumes, competition levels, and audience preferences.
Pros:
- Gets data from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms
- Predicts trends before they’re too saturated
- Finds audience preferences and content gaps, which makes it easy for you to adjust your strategy
- User-friendly
Cons:
- Limited data for smaller, regional platforms
- Advanced features are locked behind the Pro tier
- Bad integration with other platforms
Nichely’ Features
Nichely’ pricing model is credit-based pay-as-you-go. You get free 100 credits that don’t expire. But if you want to delve into the full capabilities of this platform, 1000 credits will cost you $10, 5000 credits - $40, 15,000 credits - $100.
You get access to all the features, even with the free version.
Source: AI SEO Wizard
5. Human-Led, Tech-Powered Niche Discovery
AI tools are great for scanning trends, but nothing beats human expertise backed by real ecosystem data. At AIR, our experts work inside a dataset you can’t get anywhere else: 3,000+ partner channels across every major niche and 50+ languages, analyzed daily.
When partners ask us to help choose the right niche for their next channel, we dive into the system:
- What’s growing right now
- What’s slowing down
- Which formats are oversaturated
- Which niches are exploding in specific regions
- Where CPM is rising (or tanking)
- Which subtopics have strong AVD but weak competition
Our team literally gets the whole data room upside-down, pulling fresh numbers, cross-checking patterns, and reviewing performance across kids' content, gaming, finance, lifestyle, DIY, educational verticals, emerging markets, and more.
This is the advantage of working with thousands of creators every day: we see what works, what fails, and what’s about to take off before it hits mainstream tools.
If you need help choosing a niche for your next YouTube channel, just request it. We’ll run the analysis and give you real, grounded advice.
Buyer’s Guide: How to Find a Perfect Tool
Given that there are so many choices when it comes to AI tools, how do you pick one that works for you? Well, here’s a checklist to follow:
- Is it intuitive? If the tool looks too complicated for you, skip.
- Does it work for your niche? If it gives you generic, trendy results, skip.
- How well does it work? Does it show you all you need to know? If not, skip.
- Keywords? An important part of the tool. If it doesn’t have a keyword search, better skip.
- Can you understand the results? If it’s too complex to understand, you know the drill.
AI tools won’t magically tell you who you are as a creator. They reflect the data, show you which ideas the market rewards, and where your creative strengths might intersect with demand. It’s best to use AI insights as starting points.
When you merge human intuition with the analytical precision of AI, you stop chasing trends that might pass before you’ve even created a video. You just use data to your advantage.
