I love free streaming movies.
Whether it is online with my computer, with an app, or through my home theater streaming device, free is always the right price.
Many people run into the problem of knowing which free streaming services to trust and which ones are scams or illegally stealing the content they provide. Since I love free movies so much, here are the top legitimate providers that stream movies for free.
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Best Free Services to Stream Movies Online
Vudu
Vudu is owned by Walmart and was created to have a presence that competes with Amazon Prime Video.
The service offers free movies that are supported by ads, and you can rent movies and television shows there. If you do buy a video from Walmart with a digital copy, you can watch it instantly on Vudu.
Summary:
- Movies free with ads
- Rentals available
- Instantly watch Walmart movie purchases.
Hoopla
Hoopla is a service that is through your local library. If your library participates, you get free access to Hoopla’s entire library of movies, eBooks, and audiobooks.
Not every library has a partnership with Hoopla, so check with your local library to see if they have Hoopla accounts available.
Summary:
- Free movies with no ads
- Other digital media available
- Must sign up through the public library
Kanopy
Like Hoopla, Kanopy partners with local libraries to provide content to anyone who signs up for a library card. Kanopy has thousands of documentaries and other movies that are great for learning.
Summary:
- Free movies if your library participates.
- A lot of kids content
Youtube
No free streaming video service list is complete without having Youtube make an appearance.
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare when Youtube introduced their movies section back in 2011, but they have quietly been offering videos for rent, purchase and free with ads for this entire time.
The library is pretty extensive, but many of the titles are ones you have never heard. Also make sure to not confuse this with Youtube TV which is a paid service that has an amazing number of movies available.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- Excellent streaming reliability.
Vimeo
Vimeo is great for indie films and more obscure titles. They also compete directly with Youtube for all other types of streaming content.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads.
- Great for less well-known films
Pluto TV
Pluto TV is one of the top streaming services available. They are now owned by CBS and have a wide variety of independent and older movies.
They are best known for having a wide selection of James Bond movies, but Daniel Craig fans will have to wait till his Bond films get a bit older to be seen here.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- Wide selection.
- Pluto TV Review
Tubi
Tubi has separated itself as a streaming service by offering a wide variety of films from Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount.
My favorite part of this service is how well they categorize their movies. The two categories most people find useful are “Not on Netflix” and “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes”.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- Many movies from leading studios.
Crackle
Crackle was one of the first free streaming services. It was created by Sony to compete with Netflix and other major paid services.
They do tend to have more ads than some of the other options, but because Sony is a major movie studio, they also have a lot of top quality movies.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- Excellent movie quality
- More ads than other services
Roku Channel
Roku is one of the most popular streaming media players in the world. The devices are so popular that the parent company decided they should be showing content and keeping the ad revenue.
Since I use Roku on all my television, I can say the channel is competitive, and the ads are not terrible. The selection is also competitive with other services on the list.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- Available on Roku, computers, and mobile devices.
Top Documentary Films
If you are a documentary lover, this site makes it easier than ever to find the documentaries you crave.
They do not stream the documentaries from their service, but curate from other streaming sites, many of them on this list. One great thing about documentaries is they tend to have much fewer ads.
Amazon Prime
This one isn’t free, but if you are paying for Amazon Prime for free shipping, you will not add to your cost.
One of the most popular streaming services worldwide, Amazon Prime, has tons of movies from major studios and produces its own content.
Summary:
- Not free but comes with Amazon Prime service and no ads.
- Many high-quality movies.
- A lot of original content.
IMDB TV
The Internet Movie Database has been helping people find information on their favorite content and actors for decades.
You may not know that they also have a large amount of streaming content available for anyone that signs up for a free account.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- It also offers original content.
Popcornflix
With more than 1,500 movie titles Popcornflix and they are continually adding new titles. They also have a wide variety of movies.
There are limited ads, making them a favorite of all the ad haters.
Summary:
- Free movies with limited ads
- Wide variety of films.
CW
The CW has been dedicated to making streaming available for free for all over the air content.
This includes any movies that they show on their broadcasting channel. For both movies and television, they give you over a month to watch. They do have ads, but less than broadcast television.
Summary:
- Free movies with ads
- All recent CW channel content available.
Yidio
Yidio is more like a movie aggregator. Instead of hosting movies on their service, the company compiles lists of types of movies from all the other streaming services.
They have a free movie category, but be aware that they include movies from paid services like Netflix.
Is it Illegal to Watch Movies Online?
It is not illegal to watch movies online, as long as you are watching them from a source where the owner of the licensing for that movie is getting paid.
For example, Youtube does an excellent job of hunting down content published to their site, which violates the copyright. On the other end of the spectrum, I did a review of Couchtuner, where it became clear to me that they were flat out stealing content.
With all the services we listed here, you can be sure that they have been vetted and are legit free movie streaming services.
What to Watch Out For With Online Streaming
Streaming movies and shows online has come a long way from when Netflix revolutionized movie watching.
With streaming going mainstream for all sorts of content, it has become much easier to find the content you want. Being a seasoned free movie streaming enthusiast, I now have three criteria I use for
Is the Service Legit?
I want there to be great movies to watch. Part of having great movies to watch is paying the people who make the movies.
Whether I have to watch ads or pay a monthly subscription to make sure those people get paid for their work. So we should all stay away from the illegal copyright infringing sites and stick to legit ones.
Number of Commercials
Some free streaming movie services show more ads than others. After you watch on a few different services, you will get a feel for what is normal.
If I can watch a movie with fewer or shorter ads, I will choose to go that route every time.
Playback Quality
Playback quality was a big problem when I started to watch streaming movies, but has become less over time. You will find some services do not stream as quickly as others, and several offer lower quality pictures so they can limit the bandwidth they use.
I will check out the higher quality playback services first before resorting to a lower quality experience.
Final Thoughts on Free Movie Streaming
There are more movies that you can stream for free online than ever before. The number of services offering free, ad-supported services also seems to be increasing.
The most interesting change will be whether these free services can survive when Disney, Universal, and the other studios introduce subscription streaming services. These subscription-based services seem to be sucking in all the best content.
For now, we can all enjoy free online streaming movies for at least the next few years.
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