How to Organize YouTube Subscriptions with Groups (2026 Guide)

Published April 22, 2026 · 8 min read

Why Your YouTube Subscription Feed Is a Mess

If you subscribe to more than 50 YouTube channels, you already know the problem. Your subscription feed is a wall of unrelated videos: a coding tutorial next to a cooking video next to a gaming stream next to a news clip. You scroll endlessly, looking for the one topic you actually wanted to watch.

YouTube used to have a feature called Collections that let you group channels together. They removed it in 2023. Since then, there has been no built-in way to organize your subscriptions by topic.

The subscription page shows everything from every channel you follow, in reverse chronological order. No folders, no categories, no filters. If you subscribe to 200 channels, you get 200 channels of content mixed together in one feed.

There are two ways to fix this: use YouTube's limited built-in tools, or install a browser extension that adds the grouping feature YouTube removed.

Method 1: Use a Browser Extension (Recommended)

SubFlow is a lightweight Chrome and Edge extension that adds subscription groups to YouTube. It works like folders for your channels: create groups by topic, add channels to each group, then filter your feed to see only the videos you want.

SubFlow is free for up to 5 groups. That is enough for most users. If you need more, the Pro upgrade is $2.99 one-time — no subscription, no recurring charges.

Key advantages of the extension approach:

• Groups appear directly in YouTube's sidebar — no switching to a different app
• One-click feed filtering on both the subscriptions page and the homepage
• Auto-backup with 20 snapshots so your groups never disappear
• Works on both Chrome and Edge
• Lightweight — does not slow YouTube down

Method 2: YouTube's Built-in Solutions (Limited)

Before you install anything, here is what YouTube itself offers — and why it is not enough for most people.

Create playlists

You can create playlists and manually add individual videos. But playlists are for videos, not channels. You have to add each video one by one. There is no way to say "show me all new videos from these 15 channels." Playlists are great for saving specific videos to watch later, but they do not solve the subscription organization problem.

Use the subscription page search

On the subscriptions page, you can search within your subscriptions. The problem: it requires you to know and type the channel name every time. There are no saved filters, no groups, no one-click access. If you want to see videos from your 12 "Tech" channels, you would need to search for each one individually.

Unsubscribe from channels you don't watch

The nuclear option. If your feed is too messy, some people recommend unsubscribing from everything you do not watch weekly. This works, but you lose access to channels you might want to check occasionally. Groups solve this by letting you keep all your subscriptions but view them in organized categories.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up SubFlow

Step 1: Install from Chrome Web Store

Go to the SubFlow Chrome Web Store page (or the Edge Add-ons page) and click "Add to Chrome." The extension installs in about 10 seconds. No account, no sign-up, no credit card.

Step 2: Create your first group

Open YouTube. You will see a new "SubFlow" section in the left sidebar, below your subscriptions. Click "+ New Group" and type a name for your first group. Good starting groups: "Tech", "Music", "Learning", "Gaming", "News."

Step 3: Add channels to groups

Browse your subscriptions page or any YouTube page showing channel avatars. Hover over a channel avatar and you will see a small "+" button. Click it, then select the group you want to add the channel to. One channel can belong to multiple groups — for example, a channel like MKBHD could be in both "Tech" and "Reviews."

For bulk organization, open the SubFlow channel management page (accessible from the popup menu). It shows all your subscribed channels in a list with checkboxes for quick bulk assignment.

Step 4: Filter your feed

Now the magic happens. Click a group name in the sidebar, or click the group tab that appears at the top of your subscriptions page. Your feed instantly filters to show only videos from channels in that group.

Want to see all your Tech channels? Click "Tech." Want everything? Click "All." The filter tabs also appear on YouTube's homepage, so you can filter from the front page without navigating to the subscriptions page first.

Step 5: Export and backup your groups

SubFlow automatically saves a backup snapshot every time you change your groups, keeping the last 20 versions. If anything goes wrong, you can restore any previous snapshot from the Settings page.

You can also manually export your data:

• JSON export: Download all your groups and settings as a JSON file (for backup or transferring to another device)
• CSV export: Download your subscription list with channel names, URLs, and group assignments as a spreadsheet

Advanced Tips for Power Users

Choose a grouping strategy

There are three common approaches to organizing subscriptions:

• By topic: Tech, Music, Gaming, Cooking, News. The most popular approach. Works well if you watch different types of content at different times of day.
• By priority: Must-Watch, Casual, Background. Good if some channels are "appointment viewing" and others are "watch if bored."
• By language or region: English, Spanish, Japanese. Useful if you follow channels in multiple languages.

You can combine strategies since channels can belong to multiple groups. A Japanese tech channel could be in both "Tech" and "Japanese."

Hide watched videos and Shorts

SubFlow includes a toggle to hide already-watched videos and YouTube Shorts from your feed. Enable these in the popup Settings tab. This dramatically reduces visual clutter, especially if you check your subscriptions multiple times per day.

Adjust videos per row

By default YouTube shows 4 videos per row. SubFlow lets you adjust this from 1 to 8 columns. On a wide monitor, 6 columns lets you scan more content at once. On a laptop, 3 columns might be more comfortable. Find the setting in the popup under Settings.

Export and analyze your subscriptions

The CSV export feature is useful beyond just backup. Import the CSV into Google Sheets or Excel to see how your subscriptions break down by group, identify channels you have not grouped yet, or share a curated channel list with friends.

SubFlow Starter vs Pro: Which Do You Need?

Feature	Starter ($0)	Pro ($2.99)
Subscription groups	Up to 5	Unlimited
Filter feed by group	Yes	Yes
Sidebar navigation	Yes	Yes
Hide watched & Shorts	Yes	Yes
CSV & JSON export	Yes	Yes
Auto-backup (20 snapshots)	Yes	Yes
Adjustable layout (1-8 cols)	Yes	Yes
Deck mode (multi-column)	—	Coming soon
Batch unsubscribe	—	Coming soon
Advanced sorting	—	Coming soon
Google Drive sync	—	Coming soon

Most users with fewer than 100 subscriptions are comfortable with 5 groups. If you subscribe to 200+ channels across many topics, Pro's unlimited groups and upcoming features like Deck mode and batch unsubscribe will save you significant time.

Pro is a one-time $2.99 payment — no subscription, no recurring charges. Compare that to PocketTube, the most popular alternative, which charges $3.99/month ($48/year).

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