15 Free Movie Streaming Sites for a Fun Night In
Ladybird is free to stream on Kanopy.com
We need to be able to stream movies for free -- it's really that simple. When streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime started offering up good movies (some of them originals) as part of their subscription, many of us cut the cord on cable, or at least downgraded it. But with big entertainment companies like Disney and Apple debuting their own streaming sites this month, and the tempting HBO Max coming in spring 2020, our entertainment costs are set to add up again. Luckily, some great websites out there offer a variety of movies for free. Whether we join some of the new premium subscription services or all of them, free movie streaming sites a great way to have more choice and not go broke doing it.
We're not promoting piracy here, of course. Websites like Tubi and PopcornFlix have rights to offer the films and many of the movies are in the public domain. Want to binge on an entire movie series, like Twilight, but don't wanna pay to indulge in a guilty pleasure? We don't blame ya! Head to Vudu and fall for Bella and Edward all over again.
Some of the sites require users to set up a free account to view movies, but on other of the services, that's not required -- just grab the snacks, click "play," and enjoy. Here are 15 great streaming sites that offer great movies that are pretty much free.
IMDb TV
Highlights: La La Land, Big Fish, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Movie buffs usually visit the website for all kinds of info on movies and actors, but it also offers thousands of great movies right on our computers, phones, or tablets through the IMDb TV feature. Just sign up for a free account, or log in using Google, Amazon, or Facebook. It's ad-supported, so putting up with a few two-minute interruptions is the norm. But hey, it's worth it to watch, say, Sandra Bullock overcome the odds to make it back home from space, right?
YouTube
Highlights: Tortilla Soup, Rain Man, Night of the Living Dead
The biggest online video-hosting service also has a selection of movies to watch for free. YouTube's selection might not be as great as IMDb TV's or YouTube's purchase option, but finding some gems is a reward, as is the case with The Terminator, a classic flick with a bad to the bone heroine.
Popcornflix
Highlights: Martin Scorcese's Silence, The Wood
No account is needed to enjoy Popcorn Flix's 1,500 feature-length movies -- including Asian action films and movies in Spanish. Just choose one, and hit play. The site also has a lot of fun extras: It allows users to make a GIF out of any scene. Users can also add comments about a scene, and they'll get pinned to it.
Sony Crackle
Highlights: Jane Austen Book Club, The Young Victoria, We Own the Night
With the media giant's library at its disposal, Sony Crackle has a vast selection in all categories. Though navigation is not that great (can't sort by popularity), it's got a great app and great video quality -- all the better to catch every detail in visual feasts like the innovative Marie Antoinette, by filmmaker Sofia Coppola who helped paved the way for women reshaping Hollywood.
Kanopy
Highlights: Moonlight, I Am Not Your Negro, Rashomon
This may be one of the best-kept secrets in free film streaming. Anyone who owns a library card from a public or school library system that's signed up to Kanopy can have access to large, beautifully curated cache of films -- whether mainstream or independent. The service also has great documentaries. Best of all, there are no ads.
Big Five Glories
Highlights: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, Kansas City Confidential, Royal Wedding
It's fairly easy to find recent mainstream movies streaming free online, but film buffs who want to get more familiar with movies from Hollywood's golden age (1910s-1970s) should head to the Big Five Glories. The name refers to the biggest studios of the time, and this is where these amazing, underrated classics live.
Vudu
Highlights: Twilight movie series, Stuart Little, Look Who's Talking
Yes, Vudu is best known as a subscription service, but it also has a good selection of free films, especially a huge, solid collection of kids movies to transport us back to our childhood. Just sign up for a free account.
Hoopla
Highlights: Ella Enchanted, Ex Machina, The Illusionist
Like Kanopy, Hoopla works with via a library card (if the library system participates). Its selection is a more mainstream and less choosy, so there's something for everyone. It will work with any device that has a browser.
Roku Channel
Highlights: The American President, Memento, Hugo
It's no longer necessary to have a Roku device to watch movies. Though the Roku Channel's movies tend to be older (think Neverending Story, As Good as it Gets, and Free Willy), there are also some newer titles.
SnagFilms
Highlights: Bellissima, The Corporation, Nanking
With a gigantic catalog of over 10,000 movies, SnagFilms might be the place where movie lovers find that one title they can't find anywhere else and want to watch it with minimal ads. Bonus: The site groups movies in collections with titles like "Before They Were Stars," "Explore the World," and "Immigrant and Refugee Stories" for a bit of guidance.
Pluto TV
Highlights: James Bond collection, Thelma and Louise, The Golden Child
Sure, there is a small collection of free movies on demand on Pluto TV, but it's mainly a live-TV streaming platform. Pluto also has various movie channels to choose from, playing everything from Radio Days to Raising Victor Vargas. Because sometimes, channel surfing is actually preferable to trying to choose from a list of titles.
Internet Archive
Highlights: The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Plan 9 From Outer Space, The Kid
For those in the mood to go down a rabbit hole of film history, Internet Archive will be waiting with Charlie Chaplin films, original horror movies that spawned modern-day remakes, and creepy alien movies with pre-CGI special effects. There's a lot of lesser-known stuff on here, so for some direction on what to watch, read the site's blog for recommendations.
Free Movies Cinema
Highlights: Ink, After Her, Lucy's Tale
A great resource for independent movies, Free Movies Cinema offers fresh, unexpected content and updates its catalog often. It's also great for another reason: Most of the videos don't have ads to snap movie lovers out of a film's spell every 10 minutes. The site requires no sign up and is easy to navigate.
Tubi
Highlights: 10 Cloverfield Lane, How to Train Your Dragon, No Country for Old Men
Some great pluses for Tubi include an emphasis on popular movies and lots of categories and filters to help visitors find exactly what they're looking for. A family section covers a wide array of ages, including teen-appropriate flicks, like eye-opening The Giver, and the beloved rom-com 13 Going on 30.
Top Documentary Films
Highlights: Pluto and Beyond, The Cove
Make room for engrossing, entertaining documentaries on Top Documentary Films. This site takes great docs from sites around the Internet and puts them in one place. So often, streaming sites dump all documentaries into one section. Here, the films are sorted by topic, so it's easy to pinpoint something to watch.