5 free steaming apps that offer no muss and no fuss

One of the most significant benefits of the Internet era is that different services let you watch all kinds of movies and TV shows. While Netflix is still one of the most popular, it has some real downsides. So do Hulu, Disney+, or Peacock.

One reason to “cut the cord” is to save money, so paying for a bunch of streaming sites can feel counterintuitive. The good news is that quite a few sites offer content free of charge. However, there’s still a downside, too, as you’ll need to sign up, opening yourself up to data breaches and crazy levels of spam emails. However, there are a few great sites out there that are both free and don’t require you to sign up. We’ll detail the best of the best below.

1 Crackle

One of the original, originals

Crackle

Crackle is one of the original streaming sites that isn’t tied to a television network of movie studio. It’s been around longer than almost every site out there. It’s also a site that doesn’t require you to have an account or pay for any of its content.

Because it’s not tied to any network or studio, quite a bit of Crackle’s content is either original or the movies that no other streaming site really wants to pony up for. However, the hidden charm of this site is the classic shows from a bygone era like the Dick Van Dyke Show, Dragnet, or Alf.

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2 Tubi

The free streaming service picking up steam

Tubi

Tubi used to be a lot like Crackle in that it didn’t offer a ton of newer, blockbuster-level content. However, the site has changed quite a bit over the last few years, and now there’s quite a bit of stuff on there that you might have seen in theaters not all that long ago. Movies like Aquaman or the Jurassic Park series are featured there alongside older, great flicks like Platoon or Goodfellas.

The hidden gems on Tubi, like Crackle, might be the classic TV shows, though in Tubi’s case it’s old cartoons like the entire series of Transformers, G.I. Joe, or Mask. Viewers my age can totally relive their childhood by binge-watching.

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3 Pluto TV

Watch streaming like old-school TV

plutoTV

Pluto TV sets itself apart from the other free streaming services mainly with the way it presents its app. While the service does offer on-demand titles, it would rather have people use the application like they would if they were watching regular old television.

There are channels like Pluto Celebrity, Bravo Vault, and Pluto Sci-Fi. Quite a bit of their content is reality TV-based, and that includes a special treat for Big Brother fans, who can actually tune into the different live cameras and see what people are talking about at any given moment.

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4 Freevee

The most limited app on this list

Freevee

Freevee is actually owned and operated by Amazon Prime Video, and there are some benefits and drawbacks to that. The most significant benefit is that you can watch quite a bit of the content that’s available to Prime Video subscribers without needing to sign up. That includes Amazon original programming like The Boys, though you’ll have to wait a while for the latest season.

The two significant downsides are that you can only watch so much content without signing in and signing up at one time. Depending on how long you want to binge, you might get a message saying you’ve run out of time. For those who like to stream on their computers more than smart devices, you’re out of luck with Freevee as the only way to use it is through a mobile app or streaming device.

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5 Xumo Play

A combination of a few other sites

Xumo Play

Xumo Play strikes me as a kind of combination of Pluto TV and Crackle. It presents itself to users the same way Pluto does, with the home page looking a lot like a television layout where you can select different channels, such as Reality TV or Sci-Fi. Though Xumo leans a bit heavier towards news.

Xumo Play also has on-demand shows and movies, though, like Crackle, most of the on-demand content is either original or quite a bit lower-key or quite a bit older like Glory and Brian’s Song. The most interesting wrinkle here is that Xumo actually has a channel where you can access Crackle.

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