Best Free Streaming Services for Movies and Shows

The Roku Channel

Savvy consumers are dropping cable at a faster than predicted rate. Why would you not? With many free streaming services that available to watch movies and tv shows, it makes it easy. When you couple that with a low cost live TV streaming service like Sling or Philo, and supplement your video watching habits with Netflix or Hulu on-demand subscriptions and YouTube videos, you can definitely replace your cable bill with a cheaper option for your entertainment needs.

For the free streaming services, keep in mind that the movies catalog is slim and not exactly Oscar-award winning films. But you’d be surprise at how watchable some of the selections are. Service providers also rotate the movies and shows so you can come back to see what else you can catch for free. Most of the videos will include ads at the beginning and throughout the movie, which is expected, but it’s still a lot less advertising than watching it on a traditional TV network.

Vudu

Vudu is known as a video rental streaming service. It does have over 3000 movies and 250 TV shows for free in a section called Movies On Us. Their catalog is surprisingly well-known, making it the best free streaming service available. Vudu app is available on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS and Android devices. You can also watch it on Chrome.

Crackle

SONY’s Crackle service primarily streams SONY and Columbia pictures. Because it has exclusive rights to the SONY catalog, most of the movies and shows streamed on Crackle aren’t available on any other service. Crackle app is available on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Windows, iOS and Android devices.

Roku Channel

The Roku Channel is Roku’s own streaming service and it’s only available on Roku devices or via a browser. In addition to movies and tv shows like Batman 1966 TV Series, it also has several live TV channels, making it pretty unique to house on-demand content with live TV. The movies catalog is pretty thin and consists of titles you can find free elsewhere.

IMDB Freedive

Freedive is Amazon‘s free movie streaming service. Much like Roku Channel, it’s only available on Amazon’s own Fire TV devices. The library is pretty small at a little over 200. It’s unique in that it integrates well with IMDB so if you use IMDB to look up movies information, you can tell if that movie is available for free on Freedive.

Pluto TV

Pluto TV was designed as a live TV streaming service. You won’t find many standard cable subscription network on Pluto and it’s geared towards news, including CNBC, NBC and CBS news, and live sports, like Fox Spots and Stadium. It’s also the only service that offers on-demand content from Discovery, Animal Planet and TLC networks. Pluto app is available on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS and Android devices.

Tubi

Tubi, like so many other streaming services is totally free, ad-supported streaming video service that you can access on almost every device. The selection is hit-or-miss, but does contain 80’s cartoon favorites like Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and She-Ra.

YouTube Movies

Did you know YouTube actually has a library of free movies you can watch? There’s a little over 100 movies you can stream for free legally. They are hard to find and most of the movies are available on other free services so you’re not missing much by not catching them.