How the draw works

Comments are read through YouTube’s official API, filtered according to your settings, then shuffled with a Fisher-Yates shuffle and the first few taken. Every eligible entry has exactly the same chance. Nothing is weighted, and the result is not stored — running it again gives a fresh draw.

The options

One entry per person

On by default. It keeps only each person’s most recent comment, so someone who commented forty times does not get forty chances. Turn it off only if your rules deliberately reward repeat entries.

Must contain

Restricts the pool to comments containing a particular word or phrase — a hashtag, a keyword you asked entrants to include, or an answer to a question. Matching ignores capitalisation.

Winners

Up to twenty at once, all drawn in the same pass so nobody can win twice.

Limits worth knowing

The tool reads up to 1,000 top-level comments, newest first. On a video with more than that, older comments fall outside the pool, and you will be told the cap was reached.

Replies to comments are not included — only top-level comments count as entries. If comments are turned off for the video, nothing can be read.

Running a draw people trust

Say the rules before you draw, not after: how many winners, whether repeat comments count, any keyword required, and the closing time. Screen-record the draw or take a screenshot of the result. If a winner does not respond within a stated window, redraw publicly rather than quietly.

Also worth checking: giveaways are regulated differently across countries, and platforms have their own promotion rules. If you are running something substantial, read YouTube’s contest policies first.

Frequently asked questions

Is it genuinely random?

It uses your browser’s random number generator with a Fisher-Yates shuffle, which does not favour any position in the list. It is not cryptographically secure randomness, which matters for encryption but not for a prize draw.

Can I exclude my own comments?

Not automatically yet. For now, check the result and redraw if your own account comes up.

Does it see deleted comments?

No. Only comments visible on the video at the moment you run the draw.

Why did it find fewer comments than the video shows?

The count under a video includes replies, which are not eligible entries here. Held-for-review and spam-filtered comments are also excluded by YouTube itself.