Free and legal ways to watch TV without another subscription
Before you add yet another paid service, know this: a huge amount of television and film is available completely free and completely legal. If you are trying to cut your streaming bill, these are the services that let you cancel a paid app without giving up your evenings.
Free ad-supported streaming, explained
A whole category of services now gives you movies and shows at no cost, paid for by a few commercial breaks, the same way broadcast television always worked. The libraries are deep, the apps are on almost every device, and you never enter a credit card. For a lot of casual watching, they are more than enough to replace a subscription you rarely use.
The major free services worth installing
- Tubi. One of the largest free libraries of movies and shows, with a surprising number of recognizable titles.
- Pluto TV. Free on-demand plus hundreds of live channels laid out like old-school cable, which is great when you just want something on.
- The Roku Channel. Free movies, shows, and live channels, and you do not need a Roku device to use it.
- Amazon's free tier. Amazon offers a free, ad-supported catalog that anyone can watch without a Prime membership.
Availability and branding for these services change over time, so if one is not in your app store under the name you remember, search for it by category. There is almost always a free option on your device.
Before renewing a paid service you rarely open, check whether the handful of things you actually watch on it are available free elsewhere. Often they are, and that paid subscription becomes an easy cancel.
Your library card is a streaming service
This is the most overlooked free option of all. Most public libraries give cardholders access to streaming apps at no cost. Two of the most common are Kanopy, which carries films, documentaries, and classics, and Hoopla, which lends movies, shows, audiobooks, and more. You sign in with your library card number and borrow titles the same way you would a book. If you do not have a library card, getting one is usually free and takes a few minutes.
Free tiers of paid services
Some subscription services keep a permanently free, ad-supported layer that you can watch without paying. It is worth checking whether a service you were about to cancel has a free tier that keeps the shows you like within reach at no cost. You lose the exclusive originals but keep a lot of the catalog.
Over-the-air broadcast is still free
If you mostly watch local news, sports, and network shows, a simple antenna pulls in broadcast channels over the air for free, in high definition, with no subscription at all. It is a one-time purchase that can replace an entire streaming service for people who watch mostly live television.
Put it together
The goal is not to watch everything for free. It is to stop paying for a service when a free option covers what you actually watch on it. Install one or two free apps, get a library card, and you will often find that a paid subscription or two no longer earns its place.
Enter your shows and BudgetStreamer shows you which paid services are truly unique to your watch list, and which are carrying titles you could get elsewhere, including for free.
Analyze my shows