In the exponentially stimulating culture of media production and consumption that we live in, TV shows have become close to impossible to keep up with. It seems that everyone and their mother has a show suggestion to offer any unexpecting individual. Assuming that one could feasibly keep up with all of the most popular and talked about series in the world, they are all scattered throughout the various streaming services available today, making it difficult and potentially expensive to do so. If you're hoping to watch TV without needing a Netflix subscription or a free trial of a service, we’ve gathered a list of the best sites to watch TV shows for free without any sort of financial requirement attached.
If you're looking for a site or app that will allow you to watch episodes of something without costing a dime, these are your best free TV streaming options in 2024. You can also check out our list of free movie streaming sites if you want our picks of the best places to watch films.
The Roku Channel
Getting its start as a small, material add-on for one’s home TV, The Roku Channel is a product of competition between multiple streaming services. While Roku does support the use of rival streaming services, it provides free access to some well-known series as well as some well-rated original shows. As with most options on this list, Roku does contain ads while viewing in order to deliver that free content right to your living room.
The Roku channel is available on most modern smart TVs built for streaming and you can also use a Roku streaming stick or any other streaming device to gain access to free TV and movies. Some of the best free TV shows you can stream right now include clasic TV shows like Bewitched and the Price is Right. You can also find episodes of Bones and House available for free.
FreeVee
Acting as Amazon’s selection of absolutely free streaming movies and TV, the selection of available shows for free are expectedly of a slightly higher quality and demand. With shows such as Schitt’s Creek, Blue Mountain State, Top Gear, Taxi, and The DIck Van Dyke Show, options are a bit more varied than the average free streaming site. While there are some quality shows to find for free here, viewers will still have to create an Amazon account before watching Freevee. And it's worth noting that you get access to both this and Prime Video when you sign up for a Prime membership
This is also the only place you can currently watch Jury Duty, which actually a Freevee original that has gained popularity.
Crunchyroll
For the avid anime fans out there, Crunchyroll is the site to check out right away. With all the anime one can imagine to be available, all one has to do is go to the website, endure a minute or two of ads, and begin streaming your new favorite anime absolutely free. Available on the site is a 14-day free trial that lets you watch certain seasons of select shows–with ads–without creating an account. Crunchyroll also has a free 24-hour anime channel that is available on Roku and Amazon Freevee.
You can check out our Crunchyroll review and also the list of the best anime streaming sites for more info.
PlutoTV
One of the more unique additions to this list of streaming options, PlutoTV acts as less of a streaming service than an online cable TV guide for live TV. Even without creating an account, anyone can go to the site and start watching live TV straight from their computer. A huge difference between watching TV the old school way and PlutoTV is that on PlutoTV, you can choose to start the program you are watching from the very beginning. As this is the closest relative to watching cable TV, there are definitely ads as if one was watching cable TV.
In addition to live channels, you can get on demand episodes of classic shows like Survivor, King of Qeens, Cops, and more.
Tubi TV
Good news for fans of some older, classic TV shows, Tubi TV allows viewers to watch select seasons of shows like the Bachelor, Lois and Clark, Degrassi, and more. As one of the most popular and well-known free streaming services, Tubi can be found already available on most smart devices. Due to its popularity, it has gained quite a few beloved shows and movies that put it a step above the others.
Vudu
The free streaming platform from Fandango, Vudu grants viewers access to a variety of shows for free upon account creation. Since it is linked to Peacock, it will often try to navigate users to create a Peacock account and sign up for a premium membership. Luckily, it is very easy to find all of the shows that are actually free–with ads–with a quick check of the box “Free TV only”.
YouTube
A service that has attempted to keep up with the paid streaming services for the last two decades, YouTube has increased their catalog to include a large amount of free and premium content. While its selection of movies is a bit more diverse, the shows available are still bound to catch some attention from unwary scrollers.
XumoPlay
Standing out as one of the easier platforms to navigate, XumoPlay is a site that grants immediate access to multiple shows for free. Featuring shows and series that are more similar to something one might watch on the discovery channel, this site is for lovers of documentary, research, and reality TV shows. No account creation is required to start streaming–with ads–right away.
Crackle
An international, free streaming platform and app, Crackle has access to shows from around the world as well as some acclaimed, original series that are worth checking out. A site that is designed for absolutely free content, most–if not all–shows on the platform are free to watch as soon as you arrive. A great thing about this site is its ease of navigation: it makes it incredibly easy to find shows of all kinds and one can even filter by genre.
Plex TV
Somewhat like Pluto TV, Plex TV takes on the format of a TV guide screen for navigation. Prioritizing favorite channels and providers, one is able to find shows easily based on what channel they originally aired. What separated Plex TV is its additional ability to search through available shows to watch on demand, making it a tasteful combination of abilities that are typically one or the other on other free streaming platforms.
For those looking for more options based on specific titles you care most about getting access to, including paid options, see our recently re-ranked list of the best streaming services. In 2024, it's also a good time to explore the options you can get from a VPN when your top need is to access specific content outside of your local region (e.g. sports games).
How to Get Live TV Channels fo Free
If you don't have a smart TV capable of downloading any of these free TV apps, you can still get access to live TV the old-fashioned way. There are quite a few HDTV antennas that allow you to pull live channels out of the air. You can also purchase one of the more popular streaming devices on the market that will help give your television smart TV capabilities.
For the best streaming deals right now and latest on all things streaming, see below for more:
Connor Sheppard is an Oregon-grown entertainment writer for IGN with a love for pop culture and movies.
