There’s never a bad time to say goodbye to cable in favor of services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus. Subscription services are usually easier to set up and more flexible than standard cable, but you can easily end up matching your cable bill. Luckily, you can avoid paying for streaming services and still get your movie fix. There are plenty of places online to legally stream movies and TV shows and here are some of the best options.
Also read: The best legal free movie apps and free TV show apps!
Websites with free movies: Hoopla
Many people don’t know that their local library card can get them more than just books. If your local library supports it, you can also gain access to a couple of different services that let you watch free movies online, and Hoopla is one of them. Hoopla features tons of free movies and TV shows online and through its mobile app.
Also read: The best eBook reader apps for Android!
Beyond movies, Hoopla also has tons of eBooks, comics, music, and audiobooks, so it can really become your one-stop-entertainment-shop. Just keep in mind, Hoopla works kind of like a normal library, so you will only be able to borrow a certain number of movies, TV shows, or books, and you have a set time to finish them before you have to check them out again.
IMDb TV
IMDb is one of the best websites for movie lovers to catch up on all sorts of movie and celebrity-related content. It offers local movie showtimes and ticketing, trailers, movie critic and user reviews, personalized recommendations, and it even has a robust library of free movies online.
Related: The best IMDb TV shows to watch for free while stuck at home
It features fun family favorites like The Smurfs and Stuart Little, but it also has a bunch of cult classics like Donnie Darko. Whatever kind of mood you are in, you can bet IMDb TV has something for you.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a little bit of an oddball in this list. Not only can you stream thousands of hours of free movies online, but you are also free to download nearly everything on the website too. That’s because all of the content on the Internet Archive is either uploaded by users or falls within the public domain. Most of the feature films were made over 70 years ago, but it’s the place to be for classic detective, sci-fi, horror, and silent films.
Kanopy
Just like Hoopla, all you need to get up and going with Kanopy is a library card. We can’t guarantee every library supports it, but if yours does, Kanopy is a treasure trove of free movies online. You may also be able to tap into Kanopy’s library through your school or university.
You can access Kanopy online or through the service’s mobile app, and there are more movies than you could ever hope to watch. Plus, Kanopy’s movie selection is top-notch, featuring award-winning films like Moonlight, Ex Machina, and Momento.
Movies Found Online
The name says it all. Movies Found Online doesn’t host its own content, but instead, the website embeds free movies and videos from other sites into one location. Nearly everything on this website is independently made, and the selection features movies, documentaries, and even short films. The website has a somewhat limited library compared to other sites on this list, but if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, you just might find something on Movies Found Online.
Just be sure to keep your ad blocker on, Movies Found Online is prone to pop-ups here and there.
Plex
Plex is a useful tool for people who want to be able to access their personal media library from anywhere in the world. But that’s not all it does. Recently, Plex released its own online ad-support media library, so users can watch tons of free movies online without having their own collection.
Related: Plex launches ad-supported video-on-demand with thousands of free titles
This selection of free content fits seamlessly within the existing Plex interface so that you can access it either from the app or within a browser. Whether you’re already a longtime Plex user or you’ve never even heard of it, this new movie selection is worth a look.
Pluto TV
One itch most streaming services just don’t scratch is the need to channel surf like you can on cable television. That’s where Pluto TV comes in. Pluto TV features tons of free movies, TV shows, and cartoons online and through the Pluto TV app, but it presents them in a way that’s more akin to classic cable.
Related: Here are the best Pluto TV channels you can watch from home for free
Pluto TV has a section where you can stream content on-demand, but it also features more than 250 channels that you can tune in to watch at previously scheduled times. Naturally, that comes with a few downsides, but if you are looking for a nigh one-to-one replacement for your existing cable service, Pluto TV has you covered.
Popcornflix
Popcornflix is a simple and straightforward video streaming service to watch free movies online. It hosts tons of films, TV shows, and even viral videos from all over the web for your online viewing pleasure. The service has been around for nearly 10 years now, and the library has continually gotten better with age. It features a well-organized directory to easily peruse the various genres you are interested in, including new arrivals, foreign films, and even Popcornflix originals.
Crackle
The Crackle streaming service feels like it has been around forever. It is one of the staples for budget-minded movie lovers looking for free online content. Like most other services on this list, it’s ad-supported, but Crackle’s library is more robust than some others, and it is available in your web browser and through various smart TV and mobile apps. Whether you like watching your movies on your TV, computer, or smartphone, Crackle is there waiting for you to give it a shot.
Top Documentary Films
Are you in the mood for a documentary? Top Documentary Films has you covered. Whether you are looking for a film on human health, environmentalism, or even outer space, there’s something here for you. It features some of the best documentary movies you can find online covering a vast selection of topics, and it’s all completely free.
Some of the movies are only a couple of minutes long, while others are as long as any standard movie. So whether you have only 15 minutes or a few hours, you’ll be able to find something on Top Documentary Films.
Tubi
Tubi TV has been around since 2014, and since then, the service has grown to become one of the highest quality free movie streaming services you can find online. What’s great about Tubi is that it offers some of the overall best films on this list.
Also read: The best free music download sites on the Internet that are legal
It also boasts a wide variety of genres you won’t find on a lot of other free services like LGBTQ, home and garden, reality TV, and musicals. It also has a ton of hand-curated collections, so if you are having a hard time finding what you want to watch, Tubi will help you narrow it down.
VRV
Do you like anime? Then you need to give VRV a try. Yes, the service offers more than just anime, but that is where VRV’s library truly shines. VRV offers its own content selection, but it’s also home to services like Crunchyroll, Hidive, and even NickSplat.
Related: The 14 best anime on Netflix you can binge right now
Unfortunately, not all of the content on VRV is free. If you want to get access to the entire VRV library, you will need to fork out $9.99 a month, or you can purchase access to individual channels. If you mainly want to watch anime from Crunchyroll while also trying out content on other channels occasionally, then the free version is perfectly fine.
Yidio
Like Movies Found Online, Yidio doesn’t host its own content. Instead, it aggregates online movies and TV shows from both paid and free services into one easy-to-navigate UI. Because of that, Yidio’s library looks massive.
You can watch free movies directly from the website, and you can also browse content on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. So, if you have at least one of these streaming services, you should give Yidio a try.
YouTube
YouTube is chock-full of content creators, vloggers, and even original content. But what people might not know is that YouTube also offers a library of movies and TV shows beyond YouTube Originals. Within that online library, there is an entire selection of movies you can watch entirely for free.
Related: Forget Netflix! Watch these free movies on YouTube instead
Though the free library isn’t the largest on this list, you’ll find horror films, comedies, action flicks, dramas, and even children’s movies. So, the next time you check out the Android Authority YouTube channel, be sure to scout out YouTube’s free movie library.
The Roku Channe
You can watch a bunch of free movies and TV shows on The Roku Channel. The streaming service also gives you free access to Live TV. There is no subscription fee involved, and you can watch the free titles available on the service through your Roku device or even a web browser.
Peacock
Peacock is a streaming service run by NBCUniversal. The platform lets you watch around 13,000 hours of content for free, including feature films and TV shows like This is Us, Law and Order: SVU, and more. The only caveat is that you’ll have to watch some ads while binging for free.
ConTV
Previously called Viewster, ConTV is a fandom-focused digital streaming network. It’s the result of a partnership between Cinedigm, an independent content distribution, and Wizard World, the largest Comic-Con producer in the US. The website offers thousands of hours of programming, including free movies and TV shows across genres like horror, sci-fi, anime, martial arts, classical cinema, and more. It’s also got licensed content from a bunch of other studios and all of it is free. You’ll obviously have to endure some ads while watching but you probably guessed that already.
Still not enough streaming content for you? Here are some other ways you can get your movie and TV show fix:
