Don’t want to Netflix and Chill, but you still want to stream online? There are many other video on-demand streaming services that you could subscribe to. These are the five best Netflix alternatives.
Netflix alternative: Amazon Prime Video
Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video is Netflix’ biggest competitor. You can use it by becoming an Amazon Prime member for $119/year or $59/year if you are a student (prices as of September 2020). Other services are also included in this price, for example free shipping and Amazon Prime Music.
- If you don’t want an annual Prime membership, there’s also a monthly subscription, for $12.99/month or $6.49/month for students, respectively.
- Or you can opt for Prime Video as a standalone service, for $8.99/month.
- You can access tons of movies, TV shows, documentaries and so on.
- If you want a certain title and it’s not included in the subscription, you can buy or rent it.
- Amazon produces many original TV shows, like the critically acclaimed “The Boys”, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Bosch”, “The Man In The High Castle” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”.
- The service is available worldwide, excluding a few countries: Mainland China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria. It has 150 million users as of September 2020.
Disney+
In November 2019, Disney launched its own video-on-demand streaming service. Disney+ has over 60 million users and is available in more than 30 countries (as of September 2020), including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and countries in Latin America.
- An annual subscription costs $69.99 or you can opt for a monthly membership for $6.99/month (US prices, as of September 2020).
- Disney owns many (movie) production companies, brands and content rights – including Marvel and Pixar. Movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are just some of the titles that you’ll get access to on the streaming service.
- Disney+ is great if you have kids! You and your family can watch tons of Disney titles, including older movies, TV shows and cartoons.
- During the first year after the launch, Disney didn’t produce as much original content for its service as Netflix or Amazon did but it took over the streaming charts with its hit show “The Mandalorian”.
HBO Max
WarnerMedia’s streaming service HBO Max was launched in may 2020 and had 4.1 million users by the end of June 2020.
- HBO Max is only available in the US (2020). Latin America and Europe will follow, probably in 2021 – with countries that already operate HBO networks and have over-the-top services (Poland and Romania, for example) getting HBO Max first.
- Countries like the UK and Germany, where HBO content is streamed via Sky, will probably get HBO Max later (if at all).
- The service is available at $14.99/month (US price, as of September 2020).
- The catalogue includes all HBO movies, original series and documentaries, like “Game of Thrones”, “Westworld”, “Chernobyl” , “Veep” as well as content produced by other companies.
- The service is also home to many older TV shows, like “Friends”, “The Sopranos”, “The Wire”, “Six Feet Under” and “South Park”.
Hulu
Hulu has more than 35 million subscribers (as of August 2020), although it’s only available in the US and Japan. The streaming service plans to start its international expansion in 2021.
- You can get Hulu for $5.99/month, but this subscription includes ads. The ad-free subscription costs $11.99/month (US prices, as of September 2020).
- There are also add-ons available, to get access to HBO, Cinemax, Starz etc.
- Hulu also offers a plan with Live TV channels (ABC, CNN etc.) for $45.99/month.
- Hulu’s catalogue includes mostly TV shows, for example the original series “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
CBS All Access / Paramount+
CBS All Access was launched in 2014 and had 4 million subscribers in February 2019. In 2021, the streaming service will be rebranded as Paramount+.
- CBS All Access is available in the US, Canada and Australia (as 10 All Access).
- It became known worldwide due to its original series “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard”, that are available in other countries on platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.
- The price for CBS All Access starts at $5.99/month for the Limited Commercials plan, with an ad-free subscription costing $9.99/month.
- You can also get an annual membership for $59.99/year (US prices, as of September 2020).
