Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
- Free
- Extensive library of movies and shows
- Live TV
- Modern apps and interfaces
- Supports watchlists
- Parental control features
- 720p streaming resolution cap
- Lacks an ad-free option
Tubi is a free video streaming service with approximately 50,000 movies and TV shows. Its catalog includes popular films such as Brightburn, The Matrix, and Rush Hour. Notable TV entries include Degrassi: The Next Generation, Everybody Hates Chris, Hell’s Kitchen, and Naruto.
Tubi is for people who want a free service that doesn’t feel cheap. The service’s web interface and mobile apps have clean designs that organize everything into descriptive categories. Tubi’s movie and TV catalogs are especially impressive—if you’re OK with ads.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
Best for Educational and Family Content
Kanopy
- Thousands of on-demand films and shows
- Free with a library card or university email address
- Lacks ads
- Unlimited access to Kanopy Kids content
- Can create and share/embed clips and playlists
- No limit on simultaneous streaming from a single account
- You can only stream a handful of Play Credit titles a month
- Does not support offline downloads on mobile devices
Kanopy offers free educational viewing materials to the groups who need it most. If you have a library card or a current university email address, you can access Kanopy without paying a cent. Kanopy also supports an unlimited number of simultaneous streams per account, and is ad-free.
Kanopy’s “thoughtful entertainment” appeals to people who want high-quality films and documentaries, for adults and children alike. Its partners include A24, Bleecker Street, HBO Documentary Films, Paramount, PBS, and Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
Best for Popular Movies and Family Titles
Amazon Prime Video
- Excellent original content
- 4K and HDR streaming
- Live Thursday Night Football and WNBA games
- Supports offline downloads, multiple viewer profiles, and audio descriptions
- Lets you rent or buy movies and TV shows
- Streams select movies currently in theaters
- Continues to lose third-party content to other services
- Not as many high-quality TV shows as competitors
Amazon no longer offers a standalone free streaming service in FreeVee, but Prime Video has a robust free library. You can watch ad-supported versions of popular shows and movies like Mad Men and Logan. Amazon’s free catalog also has original shows, including Bosch Legacy and other spin-offs of original premium Prime Video shows.
Prime Video’s free content is another reason to explore the Amazon ecosystem. When you aren’t buying products or enjoying the company’s other subscription services, such as Amazon Music Unlimited, you can watch movies and shows without forking over cash.
Starting Price
$8.99 per month
Concurrent Streams
3
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Best for Current Anime
Crunchyroll
- Expansive anime library, including Funimation dubs
- All tiers support HD streaming
- Many simulcast shows
- Some original series
- Manga and apparel store
- Offline downloads
- Free mobile games
- Some interface clutter
- Few subtitle options
Crunchyroll’s free offering isn’t quite as generous as it used to be, but you can still enjoy anime hits in the ad-supported tier without signing up for a paid account. Most notably, you can watch a rotating “seasonal sampler” that features the first three episodes of new titles.
After absorbing rivals Funimation and VRV, Crunchyroll is the undisputed king of major anime streaming services. Anyone interested in the latest top shows doesn’t have much choice. Fortunately, Crunchyroll is convenient and comprehensive enough to be worthy of its top status.
Starting Price
$7.99 per month
Concurrent Streams
6
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Best for Streaming Local Media Libraries
Plex
- Capable free version
- Intuitive apps on many platforms
- Easy setup
- Growing library of on-demand and preprogrammed video streaming content
- HTPC support only through forums
- Limited interface themes
- Removed features like gaming and podcasts
Plex now has a surprising amount of free on-demand streaming content. The catalog includes Crackle’s full library of movies and TV shows, as well as films from MGM, Warner Bros., and other major studios. Although you can’t download this content to your media server, you don’t need to reserve space for it, either.
Plex isn’t really a video streaming service. It’s software that helps you set up a personal media server so you can easily stream your own content through your own network. That’s very useful and cool, and Plex is great at it. However, make sure you know that’s what you’re getting.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
Best for On-Demand Purchases
Vudu
- Free streaming with ads
- Lets you rent and purchase movies
- Useful search filters
- Offline mobile downloads
- Select titles in 4K resolution
- Mediocre interface and video player
- Virtually no original programming
Vudu has a huge library of mainstream movies and TV shows, and a surprising amount are available to watch for free with minimal ads. If you’re willing to pay, you can also purchase and rent even more titles. Useful search features and offline mobile downloads sweeten the deal.
Vudu is for people who want the best of both worlds when it comes to video streaming pricing. It’s appealing as a free, ad-supported service, as well as a paid rental service. So you can switch back and forth between the two viewing options whenever you want.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
3
Best for Schlock
Midnight Pulp
- Hundreds of cult movies and shows
- Free tier
- Curated collections
- Few recognizable titles
- Inconsistent accessibility features
- Lackluster premium perks
Midnight Pulp offers an awesome and eclectic collection of cult movies and shows. You may not want to pay for any of this schlock, but the free, ad-supported tier gives you nearly everything you could ask for from this service.
Midnight Pulp is for genre explorers. Without worrying about potentially wasting money, the service encourages you to hop around its macabre library of exploitation, sci-fi, and horror. You may accidentally wind up watching something that probably shouldn’t exist.
Starting Price
$4.99 per month
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
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Best for Entertainment and Lifestyle Channels
Philo
- Inexpensive
- More than 70 channels
- Free channels
- Good mobile apps
- Easy-to-use DVR
- No major sports coverage
- Few news channels
- Lacks parental control options
- Some saved and on-demand content has ads
Why We Picked It
Most live TV subscriptions cost more than the typical streaming video service. However, Philo has 100 free channels featuring Bloomberg Television, Gusto TV, and Revry.
Who It’s For
Anyone who wants to stream engaging content without spending a dime. Plus, upgrading to a premium plan ($28 per month) and various add-ons opens the door to AMC, Animal Planet, BBC America, BET, Cooking Channel, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, IFC, Lifetime, Logo, and The Travel Channel.
Starting Price
$28 per month
Concurrent Streams
3
Best for Retro Anime
RetroCrush
- Excellent free tier
- Exclusive retro anime shows and movies
- 24/7 “live” feed
- Surprisingly infrequent ads
- Small library, even at premium tier
- Lacks community and accessibility features
RetroCrush is a completely free anime streaming service. You can watch everything in its library, and don’t have to endure many ads. The flip side is that the small library is limited to older shows and movies, not contemporary content.
Classic anime should be seen as a genre unto itself. Even if you don’t like or keep up with what the kids are into now, anime from twenty or thirty years ago provides a curated nostalgia blast. RetroCrush is for fans who care more about Golgo 13 and Urusei Yatsura than Attack on Titan.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
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Best for Roku Users
The Roku Channel
- Free
- Original shows
- Live TV
- Premium channel options
- Mobile app doubles as a TV remote
- No ad-free option
- Library feels random
- No offline downloads
- Limited control over video quality
The Roku Channel delivers free, ad-supported shows, movies, and original material. This includes live TV and the ability to purchase premium paid channels. On mobile, it even turns your phone into a Roku remote.
Countless viewers already use Roku, either as a separate media streaming device or as software built directly into the TV. So why not check out the free content Roku has to offer? The Roku Channel is also for anyone who’s wondering where Quibi’s shows ended up, since Roku bought the library from the ill-fated short-form video platform.
Starting Price
Free
Concurrent Streams
Unlimited
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Buying Guide: The Best Free Video Streaming Services for 2024
What Can You Stream for Free?
As with paid services, there are two main types of free video streaming services: on-demand and live. Some free options, like PBS Video, offer both content types.
Crackle, Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Tubi all have on-demand movies. Amazon Prime Video has the most popular movies, while Kanopy and PBS Video distinguish themselves with top-notch documentaries. Serious cinephiles should check out dedicated movie streaming services like The Criterion Channel or Mubi. You may be surprised that Crackle and Tubi’s movie libraries are larger than many paid services, but paid services have higher-quality titles. Anecdotally, many of the free services share the same movies, too. Crackle, PBS Video, Pluto TV, and Tubi all offer on-demand TV shows.
Paid video streaming services, such as Max and Paramount+, use popular current and classic shows to build up their catalogs (often with exclusives), so it makes sense that there aren’t many marquee titles for free services to grab. Still, free streaming is becoming an increasingly important part of the streaming landscape.
Amazon and Crackle are unique among free options in that they produce original series. Don’t expect the production value or quality storytelling of Amazon Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Netflix’s Stranger Things, or Paramount+’s Star Trek: Picard. The Roku Channel also has a surprising amount of original shows acquired from the defunct Quibi.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
PBS Video is the closest thing to a free live TV service of everything we’ve reviewed here, as it lets you watch a live feed of your local PBS station. Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Xumo occupy a weird hybrid space. These services primarily offer continuous streaming channels of preprogrammed clips and commentary, but they do have a select few live news and sports commentary feeds. Meanwhile, free “live TV” offerings on Screambox and Shout Factory TV are basically 24/7 marathons of existing content.
For streaming services that can replace cable, check out our top picks for the category, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. You aren’t likely to find live coverage of popular sports leagues on the free services, either, so sports fans should consider a paid sports streaming service.
Speaking of YouTube, the popular video platform lets you watch full seasons of select, ad-supported TV shows. Enjoy more than 4,000 episodes of Andromeda, Heartland, and Hell’s Kitchen. YouTube has free movies, too, such as Gone in 60 Seconds and Legally Blonde.
Anime streaming services are another subset of free video streaming services. Crunchyroll offers a robust free tier, while RetroCrush is totally free.
Media server applications, such as Kodi and Plex, are free and enable you to stream your content from a personal or shared server. Plex now includes an on-demand streaming library of movies and shows you don’t need to host (largely because it integrates Crackle’s whole library).
Of course, you can always fill your time by watching videos on Vimeo and YouTube. And who could forget about video game live streaming services, such as Twitch?
Is Free Video Streaming Actually Free?
Nothing in life is truly free. Although free video streaming services may not cost money, you are almost certainly paying with the personal data that the services collect. In the case of most free video streaming services, your ad views are what matter. Kanopy is an exception; it doesn’t show ads.
The specifics of ad behavior vary across services. For instance Crackle and Xumo include markers on the playback interface to show you exactly where to expect ads to play. It’s a safe bet that you’ll sit through ads about every 10 minutes or so, at least for on-demand content. Plex does not insert ads into streams, though Crunchyroll, RetroCrush, and Tubi all include ads.
In our experience, it’s sometimes possible to get around ads on the services’ web versions by using a combination of ad-blocking and privacy-enhancing extensions. However, we’ve had less luck blocking commercials when using Hulu’s ad-supported base tiers. To get rid of ads, you need to pay for a higher tier. Services that don’t include ads at all are becoming increasingly rare. Disney+, Max, Netflix, and Prime Video all now have ad-supported tiers.
Some of the services in this roundup are offered only at the free level, with no option to pay for an upgraded experience. Among those are Crackle, Pluto TV, RetroCrush, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Xumo. You can still set up an account with those services, but doing so does not grant you extra content or remove ads. Instead, accounts generally let you track what you watch and customize other aspects of the experience.
Other free services are more like free samples that lock their full library and features behind a paywall. Crunchyroll and PBS Video offer paid plans that unlock ad-free streams, premium content, and other perks. Plex, too, has a premium tier option, called Plex Pass. This upgraded plan gives you extra library management features but doesn’t expand the available on-demand content.
Common Limitations of Free Video Streaming
Don’t expect free services to include all the top features that you’d associate with paid services. The most apparent limitation may be the maximum streaming resolution available, with few services supporting full-HD streams. Crunchyroll and Kanopy are the only services that support 1080p streaming at their free tiers. Most other on-demand content on the other services is capped at 720p or lower. For example, many of the popular movies on Tubi are available to stream at about 540p, which is disappointing. That said, the base Netflix plan caps the streaming resolution to SD quality, so subscribers to that plan will see an improvement with free services. Still, most paid services generally provide a better viewing experience. Apple TV+, for example, supports high-end Dolby audio and video standards, plus 4K streaming.
Most free on-demand services don’t support offline downloads on mobile devices, though the paid options of some anime streaming services have this capability. You can sync media offline from your Plex server, with a Plex Pass, but if you already own that media, you can skip Plex altogether and transfer files to your device’s local storage.
Kanopy has a limitation that no other streaming service does: It caps the number of titles you can watch each month. Every other streaming service offers unlimited access. Kanopy’s restriction at least does not apply to its kid-friendly content.
Free live TV options don’t include DVR recording capabilities or storage. You don’t have to pay much for these features. Inexpensive options, such as Philo and Sling TV, have DVR and storage capabilities.
Recommended by Our Editors
Video Streaming Parental Control and Accessibility
A few free services include parental control options, though most are extremely limited in functionality. Tubi is unique in that it lets you specify what is allowed by content rating. Others use a simple on or off toggle, or in the case of many anime streaming services, provide an option to filter mature or explicit content. Kanopy includes a dedicated section for kid-friendly content. However, most free services have an implementation problem; there’s nothing to prevent your kid from signing up for the service on their own or not using an account at all.
All the free services we’ve reviewed include Closed Caption (CC) options for most of their content. Amazon Prime Video, Crackle, Kanopy, PBS Video, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Xumo let you customize their subtitles’ appearances. We won’t get into the heated anime sub vs. dub argument here, but after acquiring Funimation’s dubbed content, Crunchyroll is now the best of all worlds. Amazon provides limited support for audio descriptions and is the only free service we reviewed that offers this accessibility feature.
Should You Use a Free Streaming Video Service?
If there’s something on any of these services that you want to watch, you should take advantage of the fact that they are free. The limited resolution options and ads may diminish the experience, but if you weren’t going to pay for the content anyway, that’s a fine compromise. You won’t find any of the latest releases, either, so ensuring you have the best viewing experience is likely not important.
You won’t find many worthwhile series if you seek new shows to binge-watch. As mentioned, originals and popular classic shows are unlikely to leave their content holders’ services. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for (or don’t pay for, in this case).
The cord-cutting audience won’t likely find a suitable replacement in the free category either, as most live content on the free options is from a handful of news networks. Still, if cable’s appeal was just to have something on in the background as an audial or visual distraction, then these might fit the bill. For live cable channels and sports, you need to pay up.
Free vs. Paid Video Streaming
You don’t have to exclusively use paid or free services. Nor do you have to use the same services every month. You may find that you can get by just fine with one or two paid options, and a free live TV option to fill the void left by cable. Even if you pay for a full-fledged, live TV streaming service (which likely includes a significant amount of on-demand content), you may find that free offerings fill an occasional gap.
For more on streaming, check out five reasons to ditch your video subscription and keep cable. In addition, you should read how streaming has ushered in a new trash TV golden age. If you don’t know what you want to watch, these apps will help you figure it out. Learn why we must preserve streaming video before it’s too late. And if you want to stream video while staying secure online, check out the best VPNs for video streaming.
Kim Key contributed to this article.
