Top Free Streaming Services of 2020

The days of paying for good TV is slowly coming to an end and mainly for 2 reasons. 1st is that most of the great shows from the 60’s up to the 90’s are free to watch. 2nd is ad-revenue has become king and free streaming platforms like Tubi, Pluto, Xumo and many more are thriving off of it.

Tubi TV sold for $440 million to Fox and one year prior Pluto TV sold for $340 million to Viacom, both ad based platforms.

For years free streaming platforms were overlooked or seen as the poor mans cable and many pay tv users scoffed at the idea of having to watch commercials or not having DVR and on-demand content.

Well, times have changed and below is a list of free streaming platforms you may want to check out.

Crackle

Crackle first launched in 2007 and may be the first legitimate free streaming service( No sign in required). Their content was top notch and included classics such as Good Times, Green Acres and Sanford and Son. In 2019 at the beginning of the cord cutter surge the company sold and was rebranded as Crackle.

Though Crackle doesn’t offer live programming they do offer AAA content from big media houses like Paramount, DreamWorks, Sony, Epic, FilmRise, Magnolia, Warner Bros. and many more.

New movies and shows are uploaded regularly but I always wonder if Crackle missed its mark. This service still has a lot of potential and at one point they were creating great original content that for some reason suddenly ended.

Overall Crackle is still a great ancillary service to have.

What Crackle Has to Offer

Movies
TV Shows
Documentaries
Original Content
On-demand content

Peacock TV

Launching at the height of cord cutting, Peacock TV had all the tools in place to create a great streaming platform. Being under the NBC umbrella and having a back log of great content allowed them to enter this space with limiting overhead.

Shows and movies that weren’t available anywhere else became available for free. Shows like American Greed, Two and a Half Men and Saturday Night Live.

Peacock makes a great primary or ancillary streaming service. All of their content is premium and is rotated regularly. At this time Peacock TV does not air live TV. (Sign in required)

What Peacock Has to Offer

Movies
TV Shows
Documentaries
On-demand
Popular TV Shows
Exclusive Content
Original content

Xumo

Xumo is another free streaming service owned by Comcast (Comcast owns NBC Universal or Peacock TV). Early 2020 Comcast purchased Xumo for $100 million making it the 3rd most profitable free streaming service behind Tubi and Pluto TV.

Xumo carries over 190 channels including curated live TV consisting of 12 categories.

News
TV and movies
Kids and Family
Sports
Entertainment
Lifestyle
Pop Culture
Science
Music
Fashion
Comedy
Food and Drink

Use of Xumo requires no login and their content is at the forefront of many Smart TVs ad streaming devices.

What Xumo Has to Offer

Live News
On-demand content
TV Shows
Movies
Documentaries
Popular shows
Crime TV

Tubi

Launched in 2014 Tubi became an instant success and in my opinion has the best content layout of any streaming service period. Like the others on this list Tubi offers a wide variety of content, including the newly added live news.

But what sets their platform apart from others is that it’s categorized in a way that makes it extremely easy to find what you want to watch.

Content is rotated regularly and no sign in is required.

What Tubi Has to Offer

Live News
Movies
Documentaries
Reality TV
On-demand
Popular network tv
Martial Arts films
TV Shows
Crime TV
Dedicated kids Section

Pluto TV

Launched in 2013 Pluto TV may be the most advanced of all the services on this list. Pluto TV has become a mainstay for Smart TV’s and offers the most live tv channels of all the services mentioned.

Content is rotated regularly and no sign in is required.