You’re at home. You want to watch a movie, or a TV show. It’s time to see what’s currently avail-able on digital streaming, but there’s just one problem. There are more digital streaming services than anyone could possibly need right now, ranging from well-known brands that try to be every-thing to everyone, to niche services that hit a small audience, and hit them hard.
It’s a wide landscape and it’s changing every single day. Disney recently announced that they would be pulling their content from Netflix and starting their own digital streaming service, with new and classic content.
Several other networks and studios already have their own streaming services as well. We’re getting more variety of content providers and, within those content provid-ers, less variety of content.
Sooner or later we’re all going to have to make some hard decisions about what’s worth paying for, and what’s not. Here is a look at some of your best (or at least best publicized) options, and some of the most interesting smaller streaming services available.
Choose wisely.
Rate: $7.99 - $11.99/month Trial/Promo: One Month
Netflix offers popular original programming including acclaimed shows like House of Cards, Or-ange is the New Black, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. They also have excellent kids programming, including Voltron: Legendary Defender, Little Witch Academia and Julie’s Greenroom. Their origi-nal movies are generally very good as well, and include acclaimed documentaries like The 13th and award-winning dramas like Beasts of No Nation.
But with Disney leaving the service in the not too distant future, the rest of Netflix’s motion picture selection is going to take a major hit. Although Netflix has its fair share of recent, noteworthy re-leases, their selection of older films is thin, and the majority of the content they actually have available is of the unimpressive, straight-to-video variety.
Rate: $8.99/month or $99.99/year Trial/Promo: 30 Day Trial
Amazon Prime isn’t just a digital streaming service, it’s also got respectable perks throughout the site, including free two-day shipping on a wide variety of products, free music downloads and more. If you order from Amazon on a regular basis, the service might just pay for itself.
Amazon Prime also has acclaimed exclusive content, like Transparent and The Man in the High Castle, and also offers a genuinely impressive selection of films, but only some of them actually come “free” with your subscription. The rest can be rented or purchased for nominal fees, which can be frustrating but at least it gives you the option to watch those films, rather than shop around for other, supplemental services.
Amazon Prime also gives you the option to watch films via other subscription services -- like HBO, Showtime, STARZ, Shudder of Dove -- in one place, not unlike Roku.
Rate: $7.99/month - $39.99/month Trial/Promo: One Month
Hulu is one of the best options for streaming television, with new episodes added practically every day, and a wide variety of content from across multiple channels and multiple countries. Some networks don’t let their content stream on Hulu, forcing you to either DVR them yourselves, buy individual episodes from another service, or sign up for the network’s dedicated streaming ser-vice, but Hulu is still a worthy content hub.
Hulu also offers original content, including The Handmaids Tale (the first streaming show to win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series) and the upcoming Marvel's Runaways, and popular comedies like The Mindy Project and Diffi-cult People. Unfortunately, their selection of movies is significantly spottier than their selection of television shows, but there are excellent films available at any given time.
One caveat: The “No Commercials” plan should read “Mostly No Commercials,” since some pro-gramming does include advertisements at the beginning of the stream. It is, however, not the norm, and the majority of their content is indeed commercial-free at that subscription level (and higher).
Rate: Rentals/Purchases Only Trial/Promo: N/A
VUDU, the streaming service owned by Walmart, offers a very impressive amount of content, but not on a subscription basis. You have to pay to rent or buy each individual film or television series, with prices ranging from free (for certain films, with commercial interruptions) to $24.99 (for new release purchases). The quality and selection is solid, but you won’t get the perks you may re-ceive on other services, or the original content.
Rate: Free, with ads Trial/Promo: N/A
You won’t find a better price for streaming movies than Crackle, a service that is completely free… and chock full of ads, to the extent that it can become distracting. Well, you get what you pay for. The service includes a modest selection of films from Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics, along with some high-profile television series, like Seinfeld and The Shield, and some original programming, like Snatch and Sports Jeopardy.
Rate: $20/month - $40/month Trial/Promo: 7 Days
SlingTV is a low-budget alternative to cable television that streams content from a variety of channels to your computer or other devices. It only offers the same content as cable television, with live streams and some On Demand episodes after they have already aired.
The service offers add-on packs that allow you to customize your lineup for nominal fees, so that theoretically you’re only paying for the channels you actually want to watch. SlingTV does offer fewer channels than its closest competitors, but it’s more affordably priced.
Rate: $35/month Trial/Promo: One month
YouTube TV is another streaming cable service that offers live content and the ability to DVR your shows. However, it is currently only available in select U.S. cities, and its channel options are fair-ly limited compared to the competition, especially for its price tag. Look into this option for stream-ing cable, but make sure you check out the other providers before you commit to YouTube TV. They might be a better deal for you.
Rate: $39.99/month - $74.99/month Trial/Promo: 5 Days
Like SlingTV, PlayStation Vue offers streaming cable and On Demand content as an affordable alternative to cable television. PlayStation Vue also offers cloud DVR and a larger selection of channels than SlingTV, but as you can see, it’s significantly more expensive. When selecting any of these cable streaming services, research all the channels available, and make sure you’re only paying for what you actually need.
Rate: $10/month - $70/month Trial/Promo: 7 days
DirecTV Now has more channel options than any of its cable streaming competitors, making it a very appealing option, but there are some drawbacks. There are gaps in its channel offerings, and some stations aren’t available in all areas, so again, make sure DirecTV is offering the channels you actually want before you subscribe.
It’s also an expensive service: the $10/month option is only available to subscribers with AT&T Unlimited Wireless plans, and DirecTV makes it abundantly clear that the price is subject to change at any time. The same goes with the $35/month option, the next lowest price, and all the others. (Fortunately, all of these cable subscription services can be canceled at any time.)
Rate: $14.99/month Trial/Promo: One Month
HBO Now is a standalone service, offering HBO’s movies and most of their original content (ex-cluding some of their older shows, like Tales from the Crypt) for a monthly subscription fee. Their movie selection is respectable and cycles out on a regular basis, but their original content may be worth the price of admission alone. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, Westworld, Veep, Silicon Valley or Insecure, or if you have any interest in becoming a fan, HBO Now is for you.
HBO Now is only necessary if you aren’t already receiving HBO as part of your cable package. Cable subscribers can access the same streaming content via HBO Go for no additional charge.
Rate: $10.99/month Trial/Promo: One Month
Like HBO Now, Showtime Anytime is available for free if you already subscribe to the channel through your cable provider. Otherwise, if you really want to watch Twin Peaks, Ray Donovan, Shameless, Homeland and a respectable assortment of feature films and older Showtime Origi-nals, you can subscribe to this service for a nominal fee.
Rate: $8.99/month Trial/Promo: 7 Days
Like HBO and Showtime, STARZ offers its content via a streaming service that includes their re-cent crop of movies, and their original content, like American Gods, Outlander and Ash vs. Evil Dead. It’s more affordable than HBO Now or Showtime Anytime, although again, if you subscribe to STARZ already through your cable provider, the streaming service is included for free.
Rate: $5.99/month - $9.99/month; $59.99/year - $99.99/year Trial/Promo: One Month
CBS All Access offers CBS programming from the throughout the history of the network, as well as a small selection of films. Prices vary from cheaper plans, which include commercials, to more expensive plans that play their content commercial-free.
As you can imagine, the television programming is the draw. In addition to current episodes of the latest shows, CBS All Access offers all the Star Trek shows, MacGyver, Mission: Impossible, Cheers, Melrose Place, The Twilight Zone and a lot of other classic programs. CBS All Access has also moved into original programming, and will soon debut Star Trek: Discovery, the first new Star Trek television series in over a decade.
Rate: $6.99/month - $10.99/month, or $99/year Trial/Promo: 14 Days
FilmStruck is the best movie streaming service for lovers of high quality, art house films. With ex-clusive access to Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection, the service is packed with art house favorites, international classics and more. The films are carefully curated, and many come with introductions by film experts. It’s a valuable service for highbrow movie lovers.
Rate: $5.99/month Trial/Promo: 7 Days
Like FilmStruck, Mubi offers highbrow, art house content. Unlike FilmStruck, this service offers only 365 movies a year, and only 30 at a time, with a new film getting cycled into the rotation eve-ry day as another movie gets cycled out. It’s an interesting gimmick that encourages subscribers to watch films on Mubi regularly, but it won’t be right for everyone.
Rate: $4.99/month, or $47.88/year Trial/Promo: 7 Days
Shudder is a streaming service for horror lovers that specializes in deep cuts for serious fans of the genre, but also includes well known horror films as well. The service has grown big enough that it now has exclusivity windows on some high profile new horror movies. They have also start-ed unearthing never before released films and director’s cuts, like the extended, international ver-sion of The Devils, making them even more appealing to serious horror geeks. Shudder has also moved into the realm of original programming, including Riprore, an upcoming series from Won-der Woman director Patty Jenkins.
Rate: $5.99/month, or $59..99/year Trial/Promo: 14 days
There are two major services that stream anime content, and they’re both working together, with much (but not all) of their programming appearing on both services. Funimation offers a wide va-riety of anime programming, dubbed by English-speaking actors, for audiences who prefer their anime that way.
But if you prefer subtitles, head on over to…
Rate: Free with commercials, or $6.95/month Trial/Promo: 14 days
Crunchyroll offers much of the same content as Funimation, but streams its anime in subtitles, which many fans of the medium prefer.
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