Best Free Streaming Service

[Dancast]

If the high price of streaming has got you feeling low, here’s a reason to rejoice: You don’t have to pay a single digital dime to get access to thousands of hours of movies and TV shows, served up on-demand or via virtual channels — free, ad-supported television. The only catch is, you’ll have to put up with some annoying commercials (but a lot fewer than you’ll find on regular TV).

[playboy901]

Definitely Pluto

[unberechenbar]

Tubi

[slimdude]

I like Pluto, but they cut in on the programs with too many ads. I can't complain because it's free, but it can get annoying. While you're watching a program, then all of a sudden it's cut off to show advertisements. Since they're all free, try them all and see which one you like the best.

[filmbuffTX]

I don't use these much since there's better programming on the paid services, but over the last couple of years we've been going through the classic Unsolved Mysteries seasons on IMDB TV, which runs off of the Amazon Prime platform.

Kanopy is great too if you're local library is a part of it. They have movies that aren't readily streaming anywhere else. I watched Scum last month.

[Starman22]

Wish it's should have both with Pluto TV and Tubi

So anyway... I'm with Pluto TV and I can watching Hell's Kitchen network on Pluto TV. Pluto TV and Tubi also my favorites

[tjritter79]

Having worked in cable for 5 years, I grew tired of ads. Everything I watch but a single service...is ad-free. The only one I bother with is Locast. It is a "free" service of locals but to end the every 15 min hawking for donations....is to donate! And $5 for a month free of the hawking to get 35+ (depending on markets) of local area OTA channels ...WITH included diginets not available on many other services. The main channels are HD (720p) much like their broadcast versions and the secondary channels are in SD (480).

In the Philly market, included as a primary is WDPN Ch 2, which is a Me TV affiliate and is in HD. Its also a secondary for primary WFMZ Ch 69 but that version is in SD.

So WHY the long explanation? Some consider Locast to be a "free" service but since like PBS they do "hawk" for donations to remove their messages and offset costs, I felt compelled to give them a shout-out for consideration if anyone is interested. They are in 33 markets across the USA.

https://www.locast.org/

[JayTL]

Tubi with Roku channel a very close second

[AFFanAttic]

Tubi is pretty great, even or especially for an ad-supported service. Their selection is surprisingly big, and I can pretty dependably find something interesting or obscure and new to me in their horror movies.

I actually tend to use Tubi as a first resource if I want to fall asleep to a movie on my iPad. Stuff like Rifftrax, kind of cheesy horror, or alien or bigfoot or paranormal documentaries. But more often lately when I check if a movie is streaming anywhere, it turns out it's on Tubi, so it's become more of a proper sit-down-and-watch service as well. (always easily mute the commercials)

I used to use Pluto a bit for their MST3k/Rifftrax and Unsolved Mysteries channels. I don't think I fully realized they had on demand selections.

[DW5x1]

Tubi is an excellent service, -quality selections and generally good picture quality.

I was there for the early days of the Roku, when the free movie channels mostly featured public domain titles.

[hagios]

I’m thinking of getting Brit-Box streaming services (it’s not free though) cause I enjoy crime drama series’ like A Touch of Frost, Wallander DCI: Banks, etc.... anyone who has this subscription is it worth my while (also would like to get the ACORN one sometime also! )?

[Fuggin Wright]

Kanopy.

The entire A24 filmography is on there. It made my final semesters as a college student worth it!! Everyone check it out. Akira Kurosawa’s classics are also on there.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Fuggin Wright

Kanopy.

The entire A24 filmography is on there. It made my final semesters as a college student worth it!! Everyone check it out. Akira Kurosawa’s classics are also on there.

Kanopy requires you not only have a library card but also your library supports Kanopy. I know the ABQ Library does not. So it's free for some people, but not all people like Tubi or Pluto or FilmRise are.

[tjritter79]

Originally Posted by Andreus

Are they free of charge?

It depends on the area and library. Reading Public Library charges a "fee" to use digital services (like Kanopy) if you live outside the city limits. My "local" library didn't cover/carry any digital services and recently burned down in a fire.

[benderal]

I like Pluto TV. It allowed me to reacquaint myself with Three's Company and The Carol Burnett Show. I finally got to watch Street Smart on there and I just noticed they have Sword of the Valiant with Sean Connery which I haven't seen before.

[erlinmeyer]

Watch Free is good as well, but only on Vizio TVs

[averagestudent]

Tubi

[StarDestroyer52]

Tubi. And if you are an anime fan then Retrocrush is also a godsend.

Originally Posted by tjritter79

It depends on the area and library. Reading Public Library charges a "fee" to use digital services (like Kanopy) if you live outside the city limits. My "local" library didn't cover/carry any digital services and recently burned down in a fire.

I'm in a rural area, but I still get free access to six films a month on Kanopy through Baltimore's Enoch Pratt library. Might want to look into if one of the cities public libraries in your area offers free membership which gets Kanopy, like Enoch Pratt does.

[Vesper33]

I checked out Kanopy again yesterday, after checking before and seeing my own library doesn't offer it. It was available in a library a few towns over from me. All I had to do was fill in an online application and email a pic of my driver's license, and boom, I got a library card number and I've now got access to Kanopy. There's a handful of Criterion's on there and a few gialli I haven't seen and even Suspiria w/no commercials.

[EPlay]

I like Kanopy a lot and there's no commercials. We had a couple of months with no limit when our library system was doing it as a trial. Now we get 3 free views a month. Haha, I have over 300 titles on my watchlist.

Even if free, I cannot sit through movies with commercial interruptions so I haven't tried many of the others mentioned.