Amazon’s premium membership program is an all-in-one bundle that includes access to the streaming platform Prime Video, more commonly referred to in this publication as “Amazon Prime.” A subscription entitles you not only to Amazon Prime’s thousands of films and TV shows, but also to Amazon’s delivery benefits, which include discounted fees, free shipping, and same-day delivery on select items. The membership bundle costs $14.99/month, but you can access the streaming service as a standalone for just $8.99.

Depending on where you live, access to Amazon Prime might differ. If you live in the US, UK, or Germany, you have the option of paying a yearly or monthly subscription fee for an Amazon Prime account. Users from the US, UK, France, and Brazil likewise have access to Amazon Prime’s sports content which, depending on the season, may include live and on-demand coverage of basketball, football, and baseball events. Meanwhile, people in countries where Amazon is not operating may only be able to access it from a browser.

In addition to on-demand streaming, you can rent or buy titles that are not on the service or purchase add-on channels like HBO, Starz, and MLB.TV to watch on the Amazon Prime platform. And apart from Amazon devices, the app is available on any mobile device, including iOS, Android, or Windows. The app also works on Apple and Windows computers, a wide range of TVs, mobile devices, and gaming consoles.

Peacock is a streaming service owned by NBC, with options for paid subscriptions as well as a free plan. The free plan offers about 13,000 hours of ad-supported content, with the option to upgrade to premium for more access to content. The premium options include two plans: $7.99 a month or $80 a year for ad-supported; $13.99 a month or $140 a year for ad-free. With both premium plans, you’ll get access to the full catalog of 2,000 movies and shows, including every episode of the original NBC series. You’ll also get next-day access to all the new episodes of ongoing NBC shows, and early access to talk shows such as Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on the air night. You can stream Peacock on Apple devices like the iPhone and Apple TV, Google devices like Android phones and Chromecast, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. But there is still no app available for Roku or Amazon platforms.

Hoopla is a digital library that partners with public libraries across the US to grant their patrons free access to the wealth of media they have online and on the go. This includes movies and television shows, but Hoopla also has a vast collection of ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts, and albums it offers members. You can check their website to see if your library card is valid, and if it is, you can continue on to registration (with no extra fees) and start viewing their available titles. Hoopla rotates its selection every week or so, but generally, it has a good mix of old films, cult classics, past hits, and foreign movies. Occasionally, it will also have the latest blockbusters. For television, it’s recently partnered with the BBC and a couple of manga publishers to deliver content from around the world. 

Microsoft is most known for its computer and gaming services, but the tech corporation also has a streaming service under its belt. Microsoft’s media store allows you to rent or purchase a host of films and TV shows, many of which are still up in theaters or being broadcast on network TV. The good news is that Microsoft often puts up sales and specials that slash prices up to half, and the even better news is that Xbox Game Pass holders are entitled to many of these discounts. So for instance, a Game Pass holder can pay just $7 for a film that costs $20 to rent. Now, the not-so-good news is that Microsoft’s rental store is only available for Xbox and PCs and mobile devices that run on Windows. Anything outside of these devices, unfortunately, won’t be able to access the store. 

Despite its wobbly start in the streaming sphere, Peacock now has a growing and respectable catalog of titles to its name. It’s home to critically acclaimed shows like Poker Face and movies like Tar, not to mention a whole host of reality shows and sports events. But perhaps the greatest edge Peacock has over its competitors is that along with its on-demand content, it also features a solid lineup of live TV channels, many of them for free.

Peacock’s premium tier, often referred to as Peacock Premium, has channels like Hallmark, Fallon Tonight, SNL Vault, NBC News, Premier League TV, WWE, Dateline 24/7, and Below Deck.

Plex is a media management software that doubles as a free streaming service. Its main function is to organize your own library of content—that is, your own video, photo, or sound files—and make it streamable alongside Plex’s offerings of 200+ live TV channels and 50,000+ on-demand movies and shows. Plex’s basic package comes at no cost, but it also has a premium package starting at $4.99/month that boasts additional features, such as the ability to download content and watch them offline, among other things.

ViX is an ad-supported streaming service by Univision, the largest Spanish-language content provider in the US. Spanning the usual movies, series, and telenovelas, the ViX library also boasts live TV, news, and sports programs. The latter, in particular, comes as a strong suit since the streamer covers events in conjunction with TUDN, Univision’s sports arm, as well as hosts football events in many parts of South America. The free-to-watch service also has an on-demand section, meaning you can easily search for a title you want to watch instead of scrolling from the multiple channels available.