Frustrated with Netflix and Peacock Price Hikes? Try These 8 Best Streamers to Save Money
This week, Peacock raised its prices for new customers and Netflix killed its least-expensive ad-free plan. If you feel like your streaming bill is raging out of control, we have some great services to consider to help your entertainment dollar stretch further.
If recent price increases at the services, including the elimination of free plans, has you searching for new streaming options, we have a collected some of the best options for ad-free and cost-free solutions. Whether you are missing Netflix’s $9.99 ad-free Basic plan, or if Peacock’s $5.99 ad-supported rate is more than you are comfortable paying after previously getting the service for free, the eight streamers below might just offer you what you are looking for.
Apple TV+
This service is a screaming deal at just $9.99 / month and you won’t see ads. Every series on this service looks and sounds amazing. It doesn’t feel like any other streaming service. And best yet, if you’ve purchased an iPhone, iPad, Macbook, or Apple TV device recently, they all come with 3 free months of Apple TV+.
You’ll see acclaimed new series like “Ted Lasso,” “Severance,” “Hijack,” “Silo,” “The Crowded Room,” “Foundation,” “Shrinking,” “The Morning Show,” “Black Bird,” “For All Mankind,” “Slow Horses,” “See,” and “Truth Be Told.” You’ll frequently see major stars signing on for these shows.
For movies, you’ll get great films like “CODA,” “Ghosted,” “Tetris,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Luck,” “300,” “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” “Troy,” “Kingdom of Heaven,” “Spirited,” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”
Prime Video
If you have Amazon Prime, you already get this streaming service for free! Otherwise, it’s a budget-friendly $8.99 / month and you won’t see commercials.
The movie and TV library is enormous, with a rotating library of favorites. Movies available right now include “Air,” “M3GAN,” “Creed III,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Truman Show,” “80 for Brady,” “Nope,” ‘Gladiator,” “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Smile,” “Men in Black,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Ticket to Paradise,” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”
TV shows to stream include “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Jury Duty,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Outlander,” “The Chosen,” “The Boys,” “Daisy Jones & The Six,” “Citadel,” “The Expanse,” “Fleabag,” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Prime Video is home to tons of undiscovered gems, so you’ll never run out of titles to explore.
One other bonus, you can add a huge variety of add-on channels to your Prime Video subscription. This would allow you to get free trials to services like Max, discovery+, STARZ, MGM+, AMC+, and many, many, many more.
Related: What Are All the Premium Subscriptions You Can Add to Prime Video? ►
Paramount+ With Showtime
Paramount+ offers a dirt-cheap ad-supported tier at just $5.99 / month. But the real value kicks in at the premium tier. For $11.99 / month you’ll eliminate commercials and add Showtime at no additional cost. That’s still less than Netflix’s ad-free plan. Best of all, you can start streaming with a 30-day FREE trial.
If you love “Yellowstone,” you’ll get a kick out of Paramount+, since you’ll have access to the prequel series “1888” and “1923” (with Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford). You’ll also see other star-driven Taylor Sheridan projects like Jeremy Renner’s “Mayor of Kingstown,” Sylvester Stallone’s “Tulsa King,” and the brand new show “Special Ops: Lionness” with Zoe Saldaña, Morgan Freeman, and Nicole Kidman.
You’ll see almost all the biggest hits from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian Channel. If you don’t feel like choosing the on-demand experience, Paramount+ has a lineup of virtual channels that play endless reruns of shows like “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race” or “Beavis and Butt-head.”The premium tier also includes free access to your local CBS affiliate.
It’s a great option for kids, since the Nickelodeon library offers thousands of hours of “PAW Patrol,” “Spongebob Squarepants,” “Digby Dragon,” “Rugrats,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Peppa Pig,” and much more.
The recent addition of the Showtime library means you get great adult shows like “Yellowjackets,” “Billions,” “Dexter,” “George & Tammy,” “Your Honor,” “Homeland,” “Ray Donovan,” and “Shameless.”
On the movie front, you’ll see classics like the “Indiana Jones” and “Godfather” films. You’ll see the “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek” franchises, “Saving Private Ryan,” “Tombstone,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Titanic,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Scream,” the “Transformers” franchise, “Minority Report,” “Basic Instinct,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Midsommar,” “The Big Lebowski,” “The Shining,” “Major League,” “hereditary,” and “Shutter Island.”
The Mount Rushmore of Free Services
If your library provides access to Hoopla or Kanopy, download those immediately. You’ll find a huge library of movies and TV shows, including many popular Hollywood films. You’ll also find lots of educational content, like more than 2,000 videos from The Great Courses, where you can learn about meteorology or the Middle Ages or retirement planning or music theory or foreign languages.
Hoopla and Kanopy do not have ads, so these should be part of your streaming lineup regardless of what you watch.
Freevee
Best known for the breakout hit “Jury Duty,” Freevee offers lots of classic movies and TV shows to binge. See “Schitt’s Creek,” “Lost,” “The Chosen,” “Project Runway,” “Fringe,” “The X-Files,” “Columbo,” “Farscape,” Bewitched,” and “Top Gear.”
The movie library is very strong with “Back to the Future,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Twilight,” “Superbad,” “The Usual Suspects,” “The Revenant,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The Blair Witch Project,” and more.
Tubi
Tubi’s catalog is mind-boggling. At no cost, you can watch “Jurassic Park,” “The Mummy,” “Goodfellas,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Casino,” “The Fifth Element,” “Sicario,” “Se7en,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” “Speed,” and “8 Mile.” It’s wild that movies of that quality are available for free.
For TV, there’s “The Bachelorette,” “Shameless,” “Miami Vide,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Buck Rogers,” “The Jetsons,” and “Luther.”
Sling Freestream
Sling Freestream is a great option for any budget-conscious streamer. You’ll see movies like “Identity Thief,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Hoop Dreams,” “Highlander,” “My Friend Dahmer,” “The Goonies,” and more.
You’ll find dozens of live channels with fun movies and reruns to enjoy.
Freestream also offers free previews of shows from AMC+, MGM+, Showtime, STARZ and more. It’s a great way to try these services without buying.
Pluto TV
If you just need TV as “background noise,” Pluto TV is an awesome choice. There are channels with TV Land reruns, “The Walking Dead,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Baywatch,” “Star Trek,” “60 Minutes,” “CSI,” “COPS,” “Bar Rescue,” “The Amazing Race,” “Survivor,” and so much more.
You can also see great on-demand titles like several “Mission: Impossible” movies, “Forrest Gump,” “The Big Short,” “Tropic Thunder,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Point Break,” “Air Force One,” and “Anchorman.”
Roku Channel
There’s always something to watch on Roku Channel. You’ll find 450+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows.
Watch shows like “Young Rock,” “Weeds,” “Yukon Men,” “Walker: Texas Ranger,” “Bones,” “Quantum Leap,” “Green Acres,” “The Addams Family,” and “2 Broke Girls.”
Check out movies like “The Craft,” “Puss in Boots,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Lego Batman Movie,”
You’ll also get fun Roku Originals, like “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” “Die Hart 2: Die Harter,” “The Great American Baking Show,” “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas,” “Martha Cooks,” and “The Next Black Millionaires.”
Related: Best Free Streaming Services ►