Frequently asked questions
Everything people actually ask us.
What is Nabby?
Nabby is a free, open-source, self-hostable web interface for yt-dlp. You paste a URL, pick a format, and download the file. It supports TikTok, Reddit, X (Twitter), Facebook, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Twitch, and most other sites yt-dlp handles.
Is Nabby free?
Yes. The hosted version at nabby.pro is free and funded by advertising. The source code is open-source and you can self-host your own instance for free on any Linux server.
Does Nabby work with YouTube?
No. Nabby deliberately does not support YouTube. Google actively enforces against YouTube downloaders (DMCA notices, lawsuits), while the other sites Nabby supports generally do not. If you need YouTube downloads, use yt-dlp directly from the command line.
Is Nabby legal to use?
Downloading media you have the right to download — your own content, public-domain works, Creative Commons material, or content you're using under fair-use provisions like journalism, research, criticism, or archival — is legal in most jurisdictions. Nabby does not bypass paywalls or DRM. You are responsible for how you use the files you download. See Terms.
How is Nabby different from yt-dlp?
yt-dlp is a command-line tool. Nabby is a browser-based front-end that uses yt-dlp under the hood, so non-technical users can grab media without touching a terminal. See Nabby vs yt-dlp CLI.
How is Nabby different from MeTube or youtubedl-material?
MeTube and youtubedl-material are self-hosted queue-based downloaders with persistent storage, aimed at building a local archive. Nabby is paste-and-grab: no queue, no database, no accounts, no retained files. Files are deleted from the server one hour after download. See Nabby vs MeTube and Nabby vs youtubedl-material.
How is Nabby different from cobalt.tools?
cobalt.tools is a hosted-only service with its own extractors. Nabby is both a hosted service (nabby.pro) and a self-hostable project you can run on your own server, built on top of yt-dlp. Nabby supports a different site list — notably no YouTube. See Nabby vs cobalt.tools.
Can I self-host Nabby?
Yes. Nabby is a small Python/Flask application. Clone the repository, run ./run.sh, and the UI is available at 127.0.0.1:5000. See the README on GitHub for production deployment with gunicorn behind nginx or Cloudflare Tunnel.
Does Nabby keep my downloads?
No. Files are stored in a temporary directory and deleted one hour after your job completes. Nabby does not log IP addresses tied to downloads and does not use analytics. See the Privacy Policy for exact retention periods.
What sites does Nabby support?
TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter), Reddit, Vimeo, SoundCloud, and Twitch are explicitly allow-listed on the hosted instance at nabby.pro. On a self-hosted instance you can extend the allowlist to any site yt-dlp supports — thousands of sites in total.