How to Get Verified on YouTube

YouTube uses the word verified for two unrelated things. One is a phone check any channel can do today. The other is a badge you can't even request before 100,000 subscribers.

Updated October 2026

How many subscribers do you need to get verified on YouTube?

100,000. That's the threshold YouTube's help center sets for requesting the verification badge, as of October 2026. Below it, there's no way to apply.

The number is a requirement to ask, not a promise of approval. A channel above 100,000 still has to pass YouTube's review for authenticity and completeness.

It's also the same milestone as the Silver Creator Award, the plaque YouTube sends at 100,000 subscribers, but the two are separate programs with separate reviews. The YouTube Play Button covers how that one works.

How do you apply for the YouTube verification badge?

Once the channel has 100,000 subscribers:

1. Turn on 2-Step Verification for the Google account that owns the channel. YouTube requires it before you apply.

2. Complete the channel: a profile picture, a banner, a description, and recent uploads that show the channel is active.

3. Open the verification request through YouTube's help center or the link YouTube shows eligible channels in YouTube Studio.

4. Fill in the request and submit it.

5. Wait for YouTube's decision, which arrives by email or in Studio. Reviews are manual and can take weeks.

YouTube doesn't charge for verification, and no one outside YouTube can grant it. An offer to verify your channel for a fee is a scam, often one that asks for your login.

What does YouTube check besides the subscriber count?

Two things, according to its help page:

• Authenticity: the channel must represent the real creator, brand or entity it claims to be. A fan channel, a channel impersonating someone, or a channel that only re-uploads others' content won't qualify.
• Completeness: the channel must be public, with a description, a channel icon and content, and it must be active on YouTube.

What about music artists?

Musicians usually go a different way. YouTube's Official Artist Channel program merges an artist's channels and shows a music note instead of a check mark. It's based on having official music releases distributed through a label or distributor rather than on the 100,000-subscriber rule, and it's requested through the artist's distributor or label.

Is the verification badge the same as phone verification?

No, and this is the most common confusion around the word.

Phone verification is a feature check. In YouTube Studio under Settings, Channel, Feature eligibility, you confirm a phone number, and YouTube unlocks intermediate features: videos over 15 minutes, custom thumbnails and live streaming from a computer. Any channel can do it, at any size, and nothing changes on the channel page. How to start a YouTube channel walks through those feature levels.

The verification badge is an identity mark. It needs 100,000 subscribers and a review, and it shows publicly next to the channel name.

If Studio says your channel is verified and there's no check mark, you've done the first, not the second.

Why was my YouTube verification denied?

YouTube's decision usually doesn't spell out a reason. The common causes:

• The channel doesn't clearly represent a real person, brand or entity, for example a compilation, fan or topic channel.
• The channel isn't complete: missing an icon, description or recent content.
• Another channel already represents the same person or brand, and YouTube verifies the official one.
• The account doesn't have 2-Step Verification on, or the subscriber count dipped below 100,000 before the review.

What should you do after a denial?

Fix what's likely missing before trying again. For most channels that means making it unmistakable who the channel belongs to: a real name or brand in the channel name and description, links to the official website and other official profiles, and content that's clearly original.

Can you lose the verification badge?

Yes. The most common way is self-inflicted: changing the channel name removes the badge, and you have to apply again. YouTube's help page notes that changing your handle doesn't.

YouTube can also remove a badge from a channel that violates its Community Guidelines or stops meeting the criteria, for example by impersonating someone or no longer representing the creator or brand it was verified for.

Falling under 100,000 subscribers after verification isn't listed as a reason for removal, but the badge doesn't protect a channel from anything either. Verified channels get strikes under the same rules as everyone else.

Is a verified badge worth chasing?

For a channel that gets impersonated, yes. Scam accounts commonly copy a creator's name and picture to post in comments, and the badge is how viewers tell the real one apart. That's also the reason YouTube gave, in 2022, for removing the option to hide subscriber counts, as can you hide subscriber count on YouTube explains.

For reach and income, no. YouTube's help page says the badge gives no extra features, and monetization runs through the Partner Program, with its own thresholds. Recommendations don't favor verified channels by any rule YouTube publishes.

The work that gets a channel to 100,000 is the same work that gets it watched, and how to get more subscribers on YouTube covers what makes a viewer subscribe.

Where the subscriber count fits

On YouTube the count is public and permanent, and it's the first thing anyone judges a channel by, verified or not. That's the job YouTube subscribers do for a channel page, with no password asked and payment in crypto or PayPal.

What they don't do is earn a badge. YouTube reviews whether a channel is authentic and complete, not only whether it has crossed a number, and nobody can promise its decision. If a badge is the goal, the subscribers that count most are the ones who came for the videos. For individual videos, YouTube views and the rest of the catalog are on the YouTube page.

Questions people ask about YouTube verification