All you need is an internet connection and you can stream tons of great content -- much of it ad-supported, yes -- absolutely free. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
I love TV; I hate paying for it. (Same goes for ice cream, but as a grown man I can't get anyone to buy me cones anymore.) Thankfully, it's now possible to cut the cord on not only your cable subscription, but also pricey streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max and YouTube TV. No fewer than eight services will sling you movies, TV shows, news, original content and more, all completely free of charge. (OK, yes, you need an internet connection and some kind of device: phone, tablet, PC, TV, etc. But that's it!) What's the catch? Commercials, naturally — in most cases you'll have to sit through ad breaks, just as in the old antenna days. And there are limits as to what you can watch: Don't expect the latest blockbusters or hottest TV series.
Or sports. While there are some sports channels here and there, they're mostly dedicated to the likes of talk shows, highlights, game reruns and the more obscure pastimes. (Kickboxing and monster trucks, anyone?) As for news, many services offer headline- or recap-focused offshoots of both local and cable networks, which are a little different from the live channels you're accustomed to. (It's still news, though.)
Indeed, with the free services it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. A lot of the content is older, lesser-known or just not very good. And not all of it streams in high-definition. Nevertheless, if you're looking to watch an Oscar winner like Anora, a classic like The Godfather, a big-budget action film like Jurassic World, non-stop reruns of Cheers and Frasier or even the entirety of Mad Men, you can find all that and lots more.
That's why for each service I've included "Rick's Picks," a personally curated list of shows and movies I recommend. Note that these are current as of August, 2025, but many of these services have rotating selections, so there may be some titles that have disappeared by the time you read this. I'll do my best to keep the picks up to date.
What's offered: Live channels, on-demand movies and TV series | Account required: No | Downloads for offline viewing: No | Max. streaming resolution: 720p (live), 1080p (on-demand)
Pluto is my go-to when I want the sound of TV in the background, or I'm looking to relax with some "comfort" viewing. The service offers a mountain of ad-supported content spread out across live channels and on-demand libraries.
What kind of content? Pluto is owned by Paramount, which also owns CBS, so right off the bat you're getting a lot of stuff not found elsewhere. You can stream the latest season of 60 Minutes, the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and even select episodes of current series like NCIS and Tracker.
Meanwhile, Pluto's hundreds of live channels are divided into sections like Movies, Comedy, Classic TV, News, Reality, Kids and Sports. You can also find a good selection of on-demand movies (older titles, mostly, but some decidedly mainstream ones). I especially like the Kids Mode option, which strips away everything but the kid-friendly channels and movies.
Another Pluto strength: dozens of channels devoted to old shows and favorite genres. Trekkies, for example, can tune into multiple (!) Star Trek channels for round-the-clock movies and TV episodes, and there are others devoted to I Love Lucy, Baywatch, Matlock, Survivor and more.
The only downside is the program-guide interface, which is oddly designed and takes a little practice to master. In most other respects, Pluto wins my vote for best free streaming service (narrowly beating out Tubi).
Rick's Picks: 60 Minutes, Mission: Impossible (1, 3, 4 and 5), The Matrix, This is Spinal Tap, Star Trek: Voyager
What's offered: On-demand movies, TV series, documentaries | Account required: Yes | Downloads for offline viewing: No | Max. streaming resolution: 1080p
Libraries are awesome; Kanopy is the greatest proof yet. All you need is a library card (from a branch that offers the service) and you can stream movies, TV shows, documentaries and more, all free of charge and ad-free.
Yep, Kanopy is one of just two services here to offer no-commercials viewing. Just one catch: It's not unlimited viewing. My library, for example, issues me 15 "tickets" per month, and when they're gone, I have to wait for the next month to get another batch. (Unused tickets don't roll over.)
How much content does that net? The Oscar-winning Anora, a relatively new addition to Kanopy, costs four tickets. The comedy classic The Naked Gun (the original, not the reboot currently in theaters) is two tickets. TV series can be a little a tricky; you can get the hilarious BBC comedy The Outlaws, Season 1, for just four tickets, but you have only five days to watch all six episodes.
The exception to all this is Kanopy Kids; that content requires no tickets.
The Kanopy catalog spans over 30,000 titles. (Note that availability can vary between libraries; your branch may not have everything.) You'll find no shortage of classics, Oscar-winners, independent films, world cinema, documentaries, BBC television series, even instructional content like The Great Courses. Much like libraries themselves, Kanopy is the place to feed your brain — though there's some pop-culture goodness available here as well.
While I wish you weren't limited to just a handful of rentals per month, I do think Kanopy offers the best selection of quality films.
Rick's Picks: The Outlaws (complete series), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Some Like it Hot, Captain Fantastic
What's offered: On-demand movies and TV series | Account required: Yes | Downloads for offline viewing: Yes | Max. streaming resolution: 480p
Your library gone digital. That's Hoopla in a nutshell, a service stocked with e-books, audiobooks and — you guessed it — movies and TV shows. Assuming your local library offers the service and you've got a valid card, you can stream anything in the catalog ad-free — and even download some titles for offline viewing in the Hoopla app. That's one benefit unmatched by any other free service.
Unfortunately, Hoopla isn't the most TV-friendly option here, for one key reason: It streams at 480p resolution, which is fine for phones and tablets but not good for the big screen. Video looks soft, washed-out.
But let's not overlook the potential value of that download option. On a recent vacation I rewatched the delightful Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise; it was available in the in-flight movie library. But the sequel, Before Sunset, was not. After consulting JustWatch, a great service that tells you where to find anything you want to stream, I discovered the film was available free from just one source: Hoopla. I downloaded it and watched it on the flight home (and fell even more madly in love with Julie Delpy).
Alas, that wouldn't have worked with, say, 2023's Past Lives; as with most free streamers, the content here is decidedly on the older side. I struggled to find a single recent movie in the catalog (which includes over 90,000 titles, according to Hoopla). The majority seemed like straight-to-video releases I'd never heard of.
On the TV side, it's a lot of Acorn, BBC and PBS content, with a smattering of AMC mixed in. Again, not a lot of mainstream stuff, but some real gold if you're into British series.
As with Kanopy, you're limited to fixed number of "borrows" per month. The good news is you can access both services from your same library card — assuming your branch offers both.
Rick's Picks: Arrival, Babylon Berlin (1 season), Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl, Saving Private Ryan
What's offered: Live channels, on-demand movies and TV series | Account required: No | Downloads for offline viewing: No | Max. streaming resolution: 720p (live), 1080p (on-demand)
If you're not familiar with Philo, it's one of the better-kept secrets of the streaming world (and our favorite budget streaming service, full stop). For just $28 monthly you get 70+ live cable channels, including AMC, Comedy Central, History, Hallmark and Nickelodeon.
Philo Free Channels is the freebie version, with even more channels (110+, though not the same ones) and a DVR option. That's a nice little perk, though as you'd expect, you'll need to create an account if you want to save shows for later viewing (up to 30 days). Doing so also lets you mark channels as favorites and maintain a watch history.
The challenge with Philo Free Channels is the same as with Philo proper: finding what you want to watch. The program guide is something of a mess, with no way to filter by channels or category or anything else. And if you're trying to find on-demand content, it's on a page labeled "Top" for some reason. (You can read my full review of Philo's paid service for a more detailed account of the interface issues.)
It's probably worth the effort, though, because while the on-demand movie selection isn't great, there's some notable TV content here — including a batch of renowned AMC and Showtime series (Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Weeds, etc.). Just note that some of them are incomplete; Mad Men, for example, locks you out of the final two seasons unless you have a paid Philo subscription.
The user interface makes Philo Free Channels tough to love, but as with all the services in this roundup, you can't argue with the price.
Rick's Picks: Boyhood, Halt and Catch Fire (2 seasons), Limitless, Mad Men (5 seasons),
What's offered: Live channels, on-demand movies and TV series | Account required: No | Downloads for offline viewing: No | Max. streaming resolution: 1080p
If you're looking for a cable-TV replacement without the monthly bill, Sling Freestream gets you pretty close — at least in terms of interface and features. You won't get the familiar cable channels afforded by a paid Sling subscription, but you will enjoy an attractive program guide, live-stream pausing and time-shifting (a rarity among the free streamers), even 10 hours' worth of free DVR.
Of course, content is king, and Freestream's is decidedly mixed. Although it offers 600-plus live channels, including a lot of city-specific ones for news, there's a pretty small selection of on-demand movies and TV series. Yes, there are a few gems mixed in among the latter, including all five seasons of Kim's Convenience and some current-season episodes of Rick and Morty. But many of the other freebie services here have much deeper on-demand catalogs.
However, none of them lets you rent movies; Freestream does, provided you've signed up for a free account. Doing so also lets you create user profiles, mark channels as favorites, create a watchlist and access the aforementioned DVR. Well worth the effort of maintaining another password.
Freestream's interface is generally excellent, one of the best in the group. No surprise here; it's virtually identical to the subscription Sling interface, which shows the full polish of a cable TV replacement. However, the live guide is definitely jumbled in places; when you browse by category, it's not uncommon to find some out-of-place channels mixed in. While scrolling through News & Opinion, for example, I noticed Law & Crime Rewind. The Comedy section contained MTV Biggest Pop for some reason; Movies is home to The Ed Sullivan Channel, which is decidedly bereft of movies.
What's more, a lot of the content I viewed seemed pretty low-resolution. Watching Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation on the Miramax channel, it was clear I wasn't getting a 1080p stream; I'm not sure it was even 720p. That's not ideal for big-screen viewing, less of an issue on mobile devices.
Flaws aside, Freestream is a solid pick for anyone missing that cable-TV experience.
Rick's Picks: Kim's Convenience (complete series), Rick and Morty (limited episodes), The Commitments
What's offered: Live channels, on-demand movies and TV series, original programming | Account required: No | Downloads for offline viewing: No | Max. streaming resolution: 720p
Fox-owned Tubi has been around for years, but it was only in 2025 that it gained serious national attention. That's because it streamed a little event called Super Bowl LIX (in 4K, no less). Indeed, what was once a service with little notable content has evolved to include live channels, original programming and some pretty solid movies and TV shows.
To put it another way: I used to think Tubi was junk, but things have changed.
For starters, there are some actual blockbusters here, including both Aquaman movies, Jurassic World and at least one Fast and Furious. Also on tap: Oscar nominees The Worst Person in the World and The Master. On the TV front, I was delighted to find the likes of Community (though only two seasons' worth, alas) and The Shield, one of the all-time great cop shows (in its entirety).
Tubi also has one of the nicer mobile apps I've seen, with a polished UI and nifty TikTok-style feed called Scenes. This plunks you into an exciting moment from a movie or TV show and plays a clip that lasts a minute or two. Not interested? Swipe up to start the next one. Want to watch the whole thing from the beginning? Tap the bright yellow Play button. This is a really engaging way to explore Tubi's library and find something to watch, rather than just perusing endless thumbnail images.
There are lots of live channels, many of them thematic like Pluto's, but to me the selection here wasn't as interesting. For the moment, Tubi's strength is definitely its on-demand catalog.
Rick's Picks: Baby Driver, Chef, Community (2 seasons), Loudermilk (complete series), Mr. Robot (complete series), North by Northwest, The Shield (complete series)
Related:
Amazon Freevee: Don't get too attached to the name; Amazon's standalone free streaming service is shutting down in August, when it will merge into Prime Video. Although you'll still be able to access some great content, it may be challenging to find it amidst all the locked, requires-an-Amazon-Prime-subscription stuff. We're waiting for the Freevee dust to settle before giving it a proper review, but even if there are interface hassles and constant up-sells to contend with, you'll probably want to keep Freevee — sorry, "Prime Video free with ads" — in the rotation.
The Roku Channel: Home to lots of live channels, on-demand movies and TV and some noteworthy original content (including Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which made me laugh out loud repeatedly), the Roku Channel is nonetheless one of the more frustrating services. That's because its user interface mixes lots of premium (read: not free) content in with the free stuff — and most of the latter is pretty low-grade. We're holding off our full review pending Roku's acquisition of Frndly TV, which may impact (and hopefully improve) what's available from the Roku Channel. The immediate good news is that the service isn't limited to Roku devices; there's a Roku Channel app available for most major TV and mobile platforms.
After installing the app for each service on a Roku Plus Series, I watched a lot of TV. (It's a sacrifice, but someone has to do it.) Along the way, I evaluated the user interface — was it logically designed and easy to navigate? — and checked video quality, which often varied from one channel to another.
Of course, I was primarily interested in the content: How often did I find something I was eager to watch (or, more likely, rewatch, given the generally older nature of the movies and TV shows)? Obviously this is fairly subjective, because you might have more interest in, say, reality and true-crime shows than I do. But I'm partial to quality content, and I can tell when I'm being served mostly junk.
For the record, Sling Freestream and Tubi had the best interfaces; Pluto had the best content overall, followed very closely by Tubi.
All the services here are available on all major platforms. That means they have apps for Android, iOS, Google TV, Roku and so on; you can watch on your phone, tablet or smart TV.
They do not. In fact, as a general rule you're going to find older content
Philo, Pluto, The Roku Channel, Sling Freestream and Tubi all have news channels, but there's a catch. Pluto, for example, has over a dozen of them, including CBS, CNN and NBC, but they're not the same ones you'd get on cable; instead, they replicate the free streaming versions you'd find online at cbsnews.com or nbcnews.com. In other cases, you're getting the same programming from, say, The Today Show, but on a time delay.
All of which is to say: Yes, you can watch the news on free streaming services; it just might be a little different than what you're accustomed to.
With very rare exception (see Tubi, above), they do not. While some on-demand content streams at 1080p, most of it arrives at 720p — which is fine for mobile devices and smaller TVs, but you'll definitely notice a softer, grainier picture on larger screens. The real issue is that a lot of live channels stream at just 480p, which is what we used to call "standard definition." It's flat-out not great.
Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.
Yahoo Streaming Guides: Best streaming services | Best live TV streaming services | Best streaming services for sports | Best streaming deals | Best free TV streaming services | Best VPN for Streaming
Yahoo Streaming Reviews: Amazon Prime Video review | Apple TV+ review | DirecTV Stream review | Disney Plus review | ESPN vs. ESPN+ review | Fubo TV review | Hulu review | Hulu + Live TV review | Max Streaming review | Netflix review | Paramount Plus review | Peacock Review | Philo Review | Sling TV review | YouTube TV review
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