Netflix is the reigning king of streaming services, and for good reason. The selection of movies and TV shows is second to none, and the user interface is easy to use. However, Netflix isn’t the only game in town. Here are five other streaming services that you should consider if you’re looking for a good variety of programming:
- Amazon Prime Video: If you’re a fan of Amazon products, then you’ll love Amazon Prime Video. The selection of movies and TV shows is top notch, and there’s always something new to watch. Plus, the user interface is very easy to use.
- Hulu: Hulu is another great option if you’re looking for a wide variety of programming. They have everything from old TV shows to new releases from Hollywood studios. The user interface isn’t as easy to use as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, but it’s still pretty straightforward.
- CBS All Access: If you’re a fan of CBS shows, then CBS All Access is definitely worth considering. They have a wide variety of programming that includes current hits as well as older series that many people may have missed out on over the years. The user interface isn’t as easy to use as either Hulu or Netflix, but it’s still manageable overall.
- Sling TV: Sling TV has quickly become one of the most popular streaming services on the market due to its low price tag and wide variety of programming options including live sports events (depending on your region). However, Sling TV doesn’t have as many movie and TV show options as some other services do so it may not be ideal for everyone." “Netflix has long been considered the king of streaming services thanks to its vast selection of movies and television shows available at your fingertips.” “However, there are several other great options out there if you’re looking for something different.” “Among these are Amazon Prime Video and Hulu which offer an impressive range ..
Or maybe you have no interest in the mainstream entertainment offered by major streaming services, and you want to start by honing in on your particular favorite niche, whether that’s a genre, an era of filmmaking, or a specific global region.
There’s no need to spend money on popular streaming services that don’t offer the content you’re looking for, and most specialty services charge cheaper monthly fees than their big-name counterparts. You can save by sticking with just a few specialty services if you only enjoy specific media genres.
Whether you rely on them as your primary source for entertainment or as supplements to more extensive services, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to subscribe to more than one or two specialty streaming services. These services aren’t for everyone, and that’s precisely the point.
Our picks will help guide you to the exact service for your unique interests.
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Best Streaming Service for Horror: Shudder
Launched in 2015, Shudder is one of the more longstanding specialty streaming services, and it’s gotten more popular and more prestigious over time. Horror fans are known for the service’s dedication to the genre, even to productions that might be considered questionable to mainstream audiences.
✓ Carefully curated selection of classics and recent releases✓ High-quality original and exclusive films✓ Hosted live-stream events with horror personalities
✗ Library content changes frequently
But that’s what’s great about Shudder—it doesn’t take the horror audience for granted. Sure, there are well-known horror classics and weird cult favorites available to stream, but Shudder is also dedicated to bringing its audience new discoveries and unlikely picks from the horror vaults.
Shudder’s slate of original and exclusive films has become the premier destination for independent, creative horror, and the service has increased its frequency of originals and exclusives over time. In addition to movies, Shudder features select original series, including its series revival of the Stephen King/George Romero anthology Creepshow.
The service also offers themed live-stream channels of films from its library for viewers who can’t decide what to watch. Shudder even features occasional live-stream marathons hosted by icons of the horror community like Joe Bob Briggs and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Shudder’s curation is one of its main strengths, but it involves removing and adding new movies. As a result, the service’s library grows slowly, with many films often expiring or being removed. Still, if you can’t find your favorite horror movie to watch, you can count on Shudder’s expert programming team to offer you something just as good or even better.
Best Streaming Service for Classic Cinema: The Criterion Channel
Since 1984, Criterion has been the most trusted brand name for curating classic and acclaimed cinema on home video, from laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray. The Criterion Channel brings that same standard to a streaming service.
✓ Expertly selected collections of classic and influential films from around the world✓ Extensive bonus materials✓ Helpful guidance on what to watch
✗ Titles come and go frequently✗ Higher price than most specialty services
This streaming service isn’t just an endless list of titles to scroll through. It’s a thoughtfully programmed lineup of themed sets of movies, many of them augmented by the kind of extensive bonus material that’s still a hallmark of Criterion’s home releases. That means that you can listen to feature-length commentary and watch supplemental interviews for many of the movies on Criterion.
Criterion’s definition of classic cinema is expansive, encompassing vintage Hollywood and movies from around the world, underground and experimental cinema, and even select new releases. The themed collections make it easy to hone in on what interests you or explore a new area of cinema.
These extras are costly, though, and Criterion’s price ($11 per month or $100 per year) is higher than most specialty services. To offer content from so many different sources, some of which are subject to complicated rights issues, Criterion also cycles through its catalog fairly quickly, and dozens of movies leave the service at the end of each month.
But there is more than enough at any given time to satisfy even the most discerning cinephile.
Best Streaming Service for British/International TV: Acorn TV
There was a time when British TV series only made it to the U.S. via PBS stations, but one of the great things about the age of streaming is that it’s made international TV much more accessible. Major streaming services all feature a selection of shows from around the world, but for hardcore British and European TV fans, the selection is still relatively limited.
✓ Extensive library of series from the U. K. and other countries✓ Multiple seasons of vintage shows✓ New premieres close to overseas release dates
✗ International selection focused primarily on Europe✗ Minimal movie content
That’s where Acorn TV comes in. You won’t find any American-produced shows here, but you will find a wide range of shows from the United Kingdom and other countries, from beloved classics to new releases.
Maybe you remember growing up with dramas like Midsomer Murders or Poirot on PBS, or perhaps you’re curious about cult British comedies like Detectorists or Only Fools and Horses. Maybe you want to be among the first American viewers to catch the latest Scandinavian murder drama. Acorn is the place for all that, with a library of British TV staples and new productions from the U.K., Europe, Canada, and Australia.
The international scope of Acorn sticks mainly to English-speaking countries and mainland Europe, so if you’re interested in shows from South America or Asia, you won’t find them here. Acorn is almost entirely TV-focused, with only a smattering of feature films that sometimes seem like they were selected randomly.
However, that still leaves tons of content for fans eager to explore TV from across the pond. So if you’re a fan of British or European TV, Acorn TV is the subscription to get.
Best Streaming Service for Anime: Crunchyroll
Japanese animation, or anime, has had an American following for decades, with periodic mainstream breakthroughs like Akira or the films of Studio Ghibli. But its popularity has exploded in recent years, thanks to the kind of diligent fans who founded Crunchyroll in 2006.
✓ World’s largest selection of anime✓ Free ad-supported tier available✓ Non-anime content including live-action programs and manga
✗ Uncertainty over new ownership
A streaming service that grew from semi-legitimate origins into a corporate powerhouse, Crunchyroll is now the premier destination for anime outside Japan, with a repository of thousands of episodes of popular series like My Hero Academia, One Piece, and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Over the years, Crunchyroll has expanded to showcase other content related to anime, including manga (Japanese comic books that are often adapted into or from anime), live-action series, and even video games.
Crunchyroll has become an indispensable service for fans of Japanese pop culture, as well as original content produced in a familiar anime style. Best of all, it’s done so while remaining free, with most users taking advantage of the free ad-supported version. For viewers who want to forgo commercials, premium subscriptions are available starting at $8 per month.
The service has become such a power player that it’s been the subject of several corporate acquisitions, and in late 2020 it was acquired by Sony, owner of rival anime service Funimation. At some point, the two services will be combined, and there’s a lot of uncertainty over how that will play out.
For now, though, Crunchyroll continues as normal, providing anime fans with all their favorite content and a destination to connect with fellow enthusiasts.
Best Streaming Service for Reality TV: Discovery+
The cable networks under the Discovery corporate umbrella, including HGTV, TLC, Food Network, Travel Channel, and Animal Planet, feature some of the most popular reality shows on TV. If you’re a cable subscriber, you can catch endless reruns of home renovation shows and true crime shows, but you’ll be at the mercy of TV programmers if you’re hoping to catch an episode you haven’t seen before.
✓ Full seasons of popular series from Discovery’s brands✓ New spin-offs and extensions of reality favorites
✗ Ad-free plan increases price
Discovery+ brings all of those reality shows together, along with many more, on one streaming service with dozens of seasons of dozens of shows available on demand. Not only can you watch popular reality shows like 90 Day Fiancé, Ghost Adventures, and Dr. Pimple Popper, but you can also catch spin-offs and expanded versions of those shows exclusive to Discovery+.
There are only so many hours in a day for programming on Discovery’s cable networks, but Discovery+ has unlimited space for new iterations of fan-favorite reality shows. The service also includes some more serious documentary feature films, fitting with the focus on true-life programming, but with loftier artistic ambitions.
Discovery+ has a tiered subscription set-up, meaning you’ll have to shell out $7 a month for the ad-free version, or $5 with ads. While this is a business model more typical to larger services, these shows were all designed for commercial breaks, so viewers may not mind them as much.
Best Streaming Service for Spanish-Language Television: Pantaya
The audience for Spanish-language content in the U.S. has been strong for many years and continues to grow, with movies from Latin America bringing in big box-office returns and Spanish-language TV networks reaching millions of households.
✓ Variety of TV series and films from throughout the Spanish-speaking world
✗ No English subtitles on the majority of content
So there’s plenty of demand for a streaming service like Pantaya, which brings together Spanish-language TV series, including telenovelas from Mexico and South America, and Spanish-language films under one virtual roof.
Pantaya has even ventured into original programming with the series El Juego de Las Llaves, emulating the kind of content it licenses from other countries. Pantaya is geared toward Spanish-speaking viewers, so while some shows are offered with English subtitles, most TV series and movies on Pantaya are only available in Spanish.
As Pantaya grows, the service may expand its subtitling efforts to English and other languages, as larger streaming services typically do. For now, though, Pantaya provides exactly the kind of content that caters to its primary audience, as the destination for Spanish-language programming that isn’t represented elsewhere.
Best Streaming Service for Indie and Arthouse Cinema: MUBI
If you miss the days of indie video stores or arthouse movie theaters, staffed by cinephiles with deep knowledge of obscure films, then MUBI is the service for you. While other streaming services, even specialty-focused ones, tout their wide selection, MUBI is built on curation, debuting one new title each day, which is then available only for a limited time.
✓ Diverse selection of challenging, fascinating films from various regions and eras✓ Expertly curated to provide targeted programming for cinephiles
✗ Limited selection with titles frequently coming and going
Instead of scrolling through seemingly endless lists of titles you’ve never heard of, you can open up MUBI and watch that day’s selection, confident that it’s been carefully selected by curators with impeccable taste and extensive knowledge.
That movie might be a masterwork by a pioneer of the French New Wave, a forgotten low-budget exploitation movie, or a new release from a titan of world cinema. Whatever it is, you can be assured that it will be challenging and rewarding to watch and enhance your appreciation of film as an art form.
MUBI also functions as an arthouse distributor. Its theatrical releases, including titles picked up from film festivals and restorations of neglected classics, end up streaming on MUBI following their theatrical runs.
MUBI’s business model means that if something you want to watch premieres on the service, you probably won’t be able to put it in a queue and get to it weeks or months later. Even if you miss out on a particularly enticing movie, there will be something else just as great premiering the next day.
Best Streaming Service for Martial Arts Movies: Hi-Yah!
This streaming service’s silly but memorable name tells you exactly what Hi-Yah! is about—martial arts action. Browse through Hi-Yah!’s selections, and you may be amazed at the depth and breadth of martial arts movies and related Asian action cinema. But followers of the genre have known for decades how rich and varied it can be, and they’re some of the most dedicated fans in all cinema.
✓ Selection of rare and in-demand movies✓ Low price point
✗ Genre limitations
Just tracking down many of these special foreign action movies has been a challenge for a long time, via a combination of import home video releases and questionable bootleg trades. But Hi-Yah! brings many previously unavailable martial arts movies together to stream, along with new premieres.
Martial arts stars like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Donnie Yen are all well-represented, but Hi-Yah! also goes beyond those famous names. The service seeks out up-and-coming talents and regional cinemas, so subscribers to Hi-Yah! may be the first to experience a new martial arts sensation from Malaysia or Indonesia. Genre fans who’ve worn out their classic Hong Kong action movie DVDs will still find plenty of new movies to explore here.
There’s no shortage of martial arts movies to fill out Hi-Yah!’s programming, and the service expands the definition to include other types of action movies from Asia. But unlike genres on other niche services, Hi-Yah!’s focus is so limited that even die-hard fans may get burned out on the same type of content.
The good thing is that Hi-Yah! is so inexpensive (just $4 a month) that it’s easy to pick up as an add-on to other services, even if you don’t use it constantly.
