There are more FREE streaming services out there than you would imagine! Here’s a primer on where you can stream movies and TV shows for free.

These are all legal sites, with no bootleg content or copyright violations. Yes, they come with a catch — you may need a library card, or be willing to sit through commercials. And some ones without commercials are part of a 30-day free trial, which you have to remember to cancel. But they are all viable options for a tight budget.

So before you rent your next movie, or pay for another streaming service subscription, check out our list below. You’ll be able to re-visit some of your old favorites, as well as step outside your comfort zone to watch something different.

We are lucky in Charlotte, because two of the streaming services we mention below are available with a Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card. And if you don’t have a card, no worries. You can sign up for one online and it will be available almost immediately. Your card will also afford you many other free online services, including eBooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Learn about Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s free online offerings.

Thanks to Atlanta on the Cheap for doing most of this research!

Amazon Prime Video (30-day free trial)

You probably know that Amazon Prime is a membership service that includes not only free video streaming, but a host of other freebies — free 2-day delivery, music streams, Kindle downloads, and more. It usually costs $119 per year ($59 for students).

You can sign up for a 30-day free trial, and stream movies and TV shows with no commercials.

The catch: You’ll have to set up an account with billing info and remember to cancel.

Pro tip: As soon as you set up the account and get access, go back and turn off auto-renew. Or, set a calendar alert on your smartphone to remind you to cancel the service in 29 days.

You can stream Amazon Prime content through an app that’s available on most smart TVs, the Amazon Fire Stick, Roku devices, Google Chromecast, some BluRay players, some game consoles, smartphones, tablets, computers, and more.

Want to upgrade your streaming device?
A special offer lets you trade-in an existing device for a discount or credit on a new Amazon Fire streaming device. The devices eligible for trade-in include those made by Apple, Roku, Google Chromecast, and Amazon.

HBO offers select programming for free

The FREE streaming content is available without a subscription, starting Friday, April 3, 2020. No end date has been set for the offer.

To access the content, download the HBO Now or HBO Go app for your smart TV or streaming device. You can also watch via computer in a web browser — go to hbonow.com or hbogo.com.

While there is over 500 hours of free entertainment, you won’t find Game of Thrones on that list. Also missing is recent hits like Big Little Lies and Chernobyl.

Still, there are plenty of binge-worthy series included, as well as a selection of features and documentaries.
According to Variety.com, the free HBO programming includes the following.

Full Series
1. Ballers (5 Seasons)
2. Barry (2 Seasons)
3. Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
4. Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
5. The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
6. Succession (2 Seasons)
7. True Blood (7 Seasons)
8. Veep (7 Seasons)
9. The Wire (5 Seasons)

Movies
1. Arthur
2. Arthur 2: On the Rocks
3. Blinded By the Light
4. The Bridges of Madison County
5. Crazy, Stupid, Love
6. Empire of the Sun
7. Forget Paris
8. Happy Feet Two
9. Isn’t It Romantic?
10. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
11. Midnight Special
12. My Dog Skip
13. Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase
14. Pan
15. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
16. Red Riding Hood
17. Smallfoot
18. Storks
19. Sucker Punch
20. Unknown

Documentaries
1. The Apollo
2. The Case Against Adnan Syed
3. Elvis Presley: The Searcher
4. I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
5. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
6. Jane Fonda in Five Acts
7. McMillion$
8. True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
9. United Skates
10. We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest

Acorn TV (30-day free trial)

This is a subscription service that normally costs $5.99 per month, after a 7-day free trial. Now, the trial period has been extended to 30 days, in light of all the folks who are staying home these days. Doesn’t 30 days of binge-watching British TV sound pretty good right now?

Acorn TV streams mysteries, dramas, and comedies from the U.K. and beyond. You can watch hit shows like Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, and more.

The extended trial offer is for new subscribers only (which just means you have to sign up with a different email address, if you’ve been a subscriber before). Get more info

There are NO commercials when viewing Acorn TV.

To take advantage of the FREE 30-day trial offer, you must sign up on the website. Just click on “Start free trial” and then fill out the form. You must add the promo code FREE30 before you check out.

The catch: You’ll have to set up an account with your billing info (credit/debit card or PayPal), and then remember to cancel your subscription before you’re charged for the first month after the trial ends.

Pro tip: As soon as you set up the account and get access, go back and turn off auto-renew. Or, set a calendar alert on your smartphone to remind you to cancel the service in 29 days.

You can stream on these devices: Roku, Amazon Fire Stick and Fire TV, Apple TV, smartphones and tablets (Apple and Android), Google Chromecast, laptops and desktop computers via web browser.

Hulu (30-day free trial)

Hulu has now followed the lead of others and increased its free trial period from 7 days to 30 days.

Remember: To redeem the trial offer, you have to set up your billing info and then remember to cancel before you are charged for your second month. We suggest setting up the account and then immediately turning off the auto-renew option.

The nice thing about Hulu is that it has original programming, so you can find something new to watch during your free month.

There are two options for the free trial:

No ads, renews at $11.99 a month
Ad-supported streaming, renews at $5.99 a month

This is just for the streaming service — NOT for Hulu Live TV (which is an alternative to cable and satellite).

Pluto TV

How did we not know about this service sooner? It’s pretty impressive and completely FREE all the time!
More info here.

The interface gives you an experience much like channel-surfing via cable or satellite. You can scroll through a “channel guide” where movies and shows are on a set schedule, or go right to the on-demand content and pick a movie.

On-demand movies are organized by categories you can scroll through: Kids, Action, New This Month, etc. We were happy to see some of our old favorites there, movies like Jagged Edge and The Big Chill. There are also TV series you can binge on, and sports content.

The content for kids is good, including a whole channel for Dora the Explorer.

Live sports: According to SportsProMedia, Pluto’s Stadium Channel has rights to stream live college football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and lacrosse, as well as coverage from the PGA Tour. (Good info for when we have pro and college sports again.)

The catch: Pluto TV is completely ad-supported, so there will be commercial breaks. (We did not find them to be horribly intrusive, as commercials go.)

Pro tip: Take advantage of the option to set up a free account, which lets you set a watchlist and re-start a movie where you left off.

Stream on these devices: Amazon Fire Stick, Roku devices, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, some smart TVs (search for the app), smartphones, tablets, and computers.

To watch on your computer, go here.

Tubi

Tubi is said to be the largest free streaming service around, featuring an extensive library of more than 15,000 movies and TV shows. You’ll find an impressive selection of movies, kids shows, and TV series (including vintage series from the ’50s and ’60s!)

There’s a whole section of shows for pre-schoolers, and a Not on Netflix section.

Tubi is all FREE, all the time. We’ve been using the Tubi app on our Fire Stick for quite some time. The interface is a lot like Netflix, where you scroll through various categories.

The catch: It’s entirely ad-supported, so you’ll have commercial breaks.

Pro tip: Register for a free account, so you can keep a watchlist.

Stream from these devices: Amazon Fire Stick, some smart TVs, Roku devices, mobile apps, Google Chromecast, some game consoles, and computers via web browser.
To watch on computer, go here.

Hoopla

Stream free movies and TV shows with no commercials.

This service has one catch — you’ll need a library card from a participating library system. Luckily it’s available with your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card. Don’t have a library card? You can apply for a virtual card and get it immediately. Just follow the above link for more information.

Actually, there’s just one more catch: You can check out up to 6 items from hoopla each month, per card. In addition, the library has a daily limit on hoopla lending, so if demand is very high and the limit is reached you might receive a message saying to try tomorrow. The spending limit rolls over at midnight EST each night. So, in times of heavy demand, the early bird gets the worm.

Kanopy

Like Hoopla, you’ll need a library card OR university .edu account to access Kanopy. If you have college students in your family, you’ll likely be able to sign in with their school email address!

it’s available with your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card. Don’t have a library card? You can apply for a virtual card and get it immediately. Just follow the above link for more information.

There are NO commercials.

You’ll find movies that you can’t find on services like Netflix–more than 30,000 independent and documentary films. You can watch them on your computer, tablet, smartphone and TV apps (like Roku.) You can watch up to 6 films a month, per card.

Kanopy also has a site for kids. Categories include TV Series, Learning Languages, Animated Storybooks, Anime Favorites, Classic Films, and Movies for the whole family. Kanopy Kids offers unlimited plays.

VUDU

You may know VUDU as a movie rental service, much like Amazon Streaming Video — but it also has thousands of movies and TV shows you can stream for FREE.

The catch: The free content has commercials.

Check out the free titles here.

You can stream VUDU from nearly anywhere — the app usually comes pre-loaded on smart TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, and some game consoles. You can also watch on a computer via web browser.

Roku Channel

The Roku Channel has a decent collection of free movies and TV shows to stream — including 9 seasons of the British hit Doc Martin, the binge-worthy favorite Schitt’s Creek, and the vintage classic Bewitched.

It was meant to be an extra perk for owners of Roku devices, but you can access it through a web browser on any device.

The catch: Commercials, what else? But the price is right.

Stream from: Roku devices and web browsers.

To watch on a computer, go here.

IMDb TV

You’ll find movies, binge-worthy TV shows, kids shows, and even some original programming.

It’s all free, all the time — with commercials.

Stream on these devices: smartphones, Amazon Fire Stick, some smart TVs, and computer via web browser. Yes, this is a limited offering.

To watch on a computer, go here.

YouTube

Did you know you can find full-length television shows and movies on YouTube?

It’s not a strong offering, with only a few hundred movies, but the price is right, and you can see films like The Graduate and Rain Man.

Pro tip: Check out the Timeless Classic Movies YouTube channel. Or just go to YouTube.com and search by movie title or general term, like movies for kids, TV shows full episode, etc.

Where to stream: via web browser, or through the YouTube app available for Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku devices, and some gaming consoles.