The Best Free Netflix Alternatives
Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq
Netflix has been hemorrhaging subscribers, and with good reason. The steady loss of popular titles along with the snail’s pace of decent new content has subscribers paying more than ever for a service that isn’t delivering as much as its competitors. But we live in the Golden Age of streaming, so if you can put up with commercials, it’s easy to stay entertained without paying a cent. Here’s a breakdown of the best streaming services that don’t come with a monthly bill.
Several of these services have some of the same shows and movies, but hey, they’re free. Ever since I discovered this plethora of free streaming options, I look at my Netflix bill and ask myself “Why am I paying the most for the service I use the least?” (Pro-tip: if you set a calendar notification to cancel your subscription, make sure it alerts the day before your subscription renews. Otherwise, you’re stuck paying $15 a month just to see how bad “AJ and the Queen” is.)
With the sites listed below, you can certainly entertain yourself por gratis for a few months until Netflix drops a couple of shows you want to see. Then, get it for a month, binge, cancel, and fall into another Tubi hole. Hell, you can cancel Amazon Prime, too, because a lot of their library is low-budget material that is available for free elsewhere. Unless you get your kicks by giving Jeff Bezos a monthly stipend to fund his next space vacation (eBay also has free shipping on things).
Tubi
Tubi is an endless supply of vintage camp gold like the Troma classic, The Toxic Avenger and Vamp, starring Grace Jones as pained by Keith Haring! It’s loaded with more cult cinema than I knew existed, specializing in fantasy/sci-fi films with high concepts and low budgets. It’s perfect for a B-Movie night with friends! If you ever watched “Glow” on Netflix and wondered what they meant when they talked about Sam’s history directing titillating action films, look no further. It sometimes veers into softcore porn and you have to figure tweens are discovering it the same way we elders discovered Skinemax. Pair that with a bunch of old cartoons, like Jem and G.I. Joe, and you have the exciting, yet confusing, Tubi experience.
Plex.TV
The best part of Plex.tv is their live channels that show anything from Wu-Tang movies to The Walking Dead 24/7. My favorite channel, “Nosey”, harkens back to a simpler time when we got our kicks watching other people’s drama on Maury Povich or Jerry Springer instead of social media. They have all the classics, “I Am Not the Father”, “My Mom Dresses too Slutty” and of course, the deeply problematic, “I Was Born a Man”. If you’re like me and have never had a cable subscription in your adult life, Plex is fun for getting back into channel surfing. There’s nothing quite like dipping into some arbitrary show for 15 minutes, wondering what the hell it is, and changing the channel before you ever find out.
Peacock
Universal’s free streaming service, Peacock, has tiered subscription options, so they do put some content behind a paywall. But there’s always something good available for free, like Elvira, The Office, or The Descent. They also have new NBC shows, like The Thing About Pam, plus originals (which are sometimes for premium subscribers) like the show where Demi Lovato sings to a ghost. It’s also where I first discovered my favorite Prom Night movie, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, so it forever holds a place in my heart.
Roku Channel
Home to a new season of Reno 911, I discovered the Roku Channel when I heard that Scream Queens was available. I don’t mean Ryan Murphy’s horror-comedy series, I mean the 2008 reality show in which super emotionally stable actresses compete for a role in a Saw movie. Early 2000s reality TV is something to behold. It was like people didn’t realize that the words coming out of their mouths were going to be broadcast on national television and make them look like a piece of shit. That reminds me, it also has Dance Moms!
Kanopy
Without a doubt, Kanopy is the most prestigious of the free streaming options. That’s because it was founded for educational purposes, but it has a full collection of content. It is free with the caveat of needing a public library or school that provides user access (you can get in with your SF library card). Depending on how you are accessing it Kanopy limits the number of films you can watch per month, for San Francisco Library users it is 15 titles per month. It’s loaded with Oscar-bait, documentaries, select Criterion films, and lots of educational kid content. If you’re looking for more cultured streaming options, this is the one!
Crackle
Crackle is loaded with movies you’ve never heard of, but we’re here for the old shows that will let you have your own Nick at Nite watch party. It covers decades of TV from The Beverly Hillbillies to 3rd Rock from the Sun, and everything in between. Plus, other gems like Forensic Files and Mr. T’s World’s Craziest Fools. This is one of the more random curations of titles, but you’re sure to find something to entertain you for at least 30 minutes.
Pluto TV
Where Crackle has a poor movie selection, but a decent TV selection, Pluto has a good movie selection but lacks in shows. The best part of Pluto is their live streaming TV channels. There is some overlap with Plex, but they also have some selections that you can’t find anywhere else like movie channels, news channels, music video channels, and channels devoted to a single show, like 90210 or Bob Ross.
