Free trials are vanishing, but plenty of services still offer one. Here are the best that are left, grouped by what you want to watch, longest trial first.
Reviewed and updated August 10, 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 6 guides
After Netflix cancelled its free trial, many popular services followed suit.
However, there are still some services that offer free subscriptions. The free trial period ranges from 3 to 30 days in some cases. For this list, we looked for the very best streaming services out there that still offer a free trial, and put them all in one place. This is the ultimate guide for free trials in streaming.
There are live TV services as well as on-demand platforms. It’s all in here. Happy cord-cutting.
A Good Movie to Watch has covered streaming since 2012. We sign up for these trials ourselves, on real devices, and cancel them, so the lengths and terms on this page are what you will actually get, not what a press release said two years ago.
We recheck every trial monthly, because services quietly shorten or drop them. Affiliate links may earn us a small commission, but they never change the order. Longest trial is listed first because it is the longest, not because anyone paid for the spot.
Live TV is where free trials still hold on. Every major cable-replacement service except Sling gives you a week or so to test the channel lineup, the DVR, and how the app runs on your TV before it charges you. Longest trial first.
Frndly TV
7 daysthen $8.99/mo
Seven days on the cheapest live TV service here. Hallmark, A&E, and lifestyle channels for under ten dollars after.
Start free trial Frndly TV →
Philo
7 daysthen $25/mo
A week on the cheapest real cable-channel lineup, so the trial rolls into a genuinely low bill if you keep it.
Start free trial Philo →
Fubo
7 daysthen $73.99/mo
A full week to test the widest sports and channel lineup. Sign up before a game weekend to get your money's worth from the trial.
Start free trial Fubo →
YouTube TV
7 daysthen $82.99/mo
Seven days on the best all-round bundle, with unlimited DVR and six accounts included.
Start free trial YouTube TV →
DIRECTV
5 daysthen $89.99/mo
Five days, the shortest live TV trial, but enough to check locals and regional sports in your zip.
Start free trial DIRECTV →
Hulu with Live TV
3 daysthen $88.99/mo
Only three days, but it bundles Disney+ and ESPN+, so you are testing three services at once.
Start free trial Hulu with Live TV →For a film binge, the trial length matters more than anywhere else: a 30-day window is a lot of movies. Amazon Prime Video is the standout, but the art-house and premium services are worth a trial run too. Longest first.
Amazon Prime
30 daysthen $14.99/mo
A full 30-day Prime trial, the longest here, with a deep rotating film library plus rentals and add-on channels.
Start free trial Amazon Prime →
Paramount+
7 daysthen $7.99/mo
Seven days across the Paramount film vault, from classics to recent theatrical releases.
Start free trial Paramount+ →
CINEMAX
7 daysthen $11.99/mo
Seven days of action films and late-night movie programming, added through Prime Video Channels.
Start free trial CINEMAX →
Apple TV+
7 daysthen $12.99/mo
A week of Apple's originals and films. Buy any Apple device and that jumps to three free months (see below).
Start free trial Apple TV+ →
Mubi
7 daysthen $14.99/mo
A week of hand-picked art-house and festival cinema, a new film added every day. Nothing else curates like it.
Start free trial Mubi →For binge-watching series, Hulu's 30-day trial is the best deal in streaming, and the niche services (AMC+, BritBox, Acorn) all still give you a week. Longest first.
Hulu
30 daysthen $9.99/mo
A 30-day trial, the longest for shows, with next-day network TV and the deepest current-season library.
Start free trial Hulu →
Crunchyroll
14 daysthen $7.99/mo
Two weeks of the largest anime catalog anywhere, with new episodes an hour after they air in Japan.
Start free trial Crunchyroll → Paramount+
7 daysthen $7.99/mo
Seven days of CBS, Showtime, and Paramount series, including same-day network episodes.
Start free trial Paramount+ →
AMC+
7 daysthen $8.99/mo
Seven days of AMC dramas and horror, with early access to new episodes before they hit cable.
Start free trial AMC+ →
Acorn TV
7 daysthen $8.99/mo
Seven days of British and international mysteries and dramas, the cozy-crime specialist.
Start free trial Acorn TV →
BritBox
7 daysthen $9.99/mo
A week of British TV, from new ITV and BBC dramas to a deep back catalog of classics.
Start free trial BritBox → Apple TV+
7 daysthen $12.99/mo
A week of Apple's prestige originals. Small catalog, but an unusually high hit rate.
Start free trial Apple TV+ →Almost every paid free trial asks for a card up front. If you want to avoid that entirely, skip the trial: these services are free forever, ad-supported, and never ask for a card or even an account. No trial to cancel, no surprise charge.
Fox-owned, no account required, and the largest free movie library of the bunch. Thousands of films and full series.
Watch Tubi →
Pluto TV
Freeno card
Paramount-owned live and on-demand, laid out like a cable guide. Hundreds of channels, no sign-up.
Watch Pluto TV →Built into every Roku and free on the web too. Free movies, live channels, and a handful of originals, no card.
Watch The Roku Channel →Amazon's free tier, now folded into Prime Video. Free with ads, and no Prime membership needed to watch.
Watch Amazon Freevee →A big free movie and live-TV layer sitting on top of Plex's media player. Free account, no card.
Watch Plex →Why no paid trials here? Services like Netflix, Max, and Disney+ dropped their free trials years ago, and the ones that remain all require a credit card. The truly card-free way to watch is a free, ad-supported service. You give up new releases and live sports, but you never get billed.
Most trials now cap at a week. Only a few still run longer, and they are worth planning a binge around. These are the free trials that give you more than seven days.
Hulu
30 daysthen $9.99/mo
A 30-day trial, the best value of the long trials, with the deepest current-season TV library.
Start free trial Hulu → Amazon Prime
30 daysthen $14.99/mo
A 30-day Prime Video trial, tied for the longest, with films, originals, and Thursday Night Football.
Start free trial Amazon Prime → Crunchyroll
14 daysthen $7.99/mo
Fourteen days of the biggest anime catalog, enough to get through a full season or two.
Start free trial Crunchyroll →Bonus, three months free: buy any new Apple device (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV) and Apple includes three free months of Apple TV+. It is not a standard trial, but it is the longest free stretch of any premium service.
ESPN itself does not offer a free trial on its standalone app, and neither does Sling. The way to watch ESPN free for a few days is a live TV bundle that carries it and still has a trial. Longest first.
Fubo
7 daysthen $73.99/mo
ESPN plus the widest overall sports lineup, and a full week to test it during a game weekend.
Start free trial Fubo → YouTube TV
7 daysthen $82.99/mo
ESPN and every sister channel in the base plan, with a 7-day trial and unlimited DVR.
Start free trial YouTube TV → DIRECTV
5 daysthen $89.99/mo
ESPN plus the best regional-sports coverage left in streaming, on a 5-day trial.
Start free trial DIRECTV → Hulu with Live TV
3 daysthen $88.99/mo
ESPN and ESPN+ together, plus locals, on a short 3-day trial.
Start free trial Hulu with Live TV →No trial: the standalone ESPN Unlimited app ($29.99/month) and Sling TV both carry ESPN but charge from day one. If a free trial is the goal, start with one of the bundles above.
Every service on this page in one place, ranked by trial length, with what you pay if you keep it.
| Service | Free trial | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Hulu |
30-day | $9.99/mo |
| Amazon Prime |
30-day | $14.99/mo |
| Crunchyroll |
14-day | $7.99/mo |
| Paramount+ |
7-day | $7.99/mo |
| Frndly TV |
7-day | $8.99/mo |
| AMC+ |
7-day | $8.99/mo |
| Acorn TV |
7-day | $8.99/mo |
| BritBox |
7-day | $9.99/mo |
| CINEMAX |
7-day | $11.99/mo |
| Apple TV+ |
7-day | $12.99/mo |
| Mubi |
7-day | $14.99/mo |
| Philo |
7-day | $25/mo |
| Fubo |
7-day | $73.99/mo |
| YouTube TV |
7-day | $82.99/mo |
| DIRECTV |
5-day | $89.99/mo |
| Hulu with Live TV |
3-day | $88.99/mo |
| Tubi | Free, no card | Free |
| Pluto TV |
Free, no card | Free |
| The Roku Channel | Free, no card | Free |
| Amazon Freevee | Free, no card | Free |
| Plex | Free, no card | Free |
On the live TV side: Fubo, YouTube TV, Philo, Frndly, DirecTV, and Hulu + Live TV. On demand: Hulu (30 days), Amazon Prime Video (30 days), Apple TV+, Paramount+, MUBI, AMC+, BritBox, Acorn TV, Crunchyroll, and Cinemax. Netflix, Max, Disney+, and Peacock no longer offer one in the US.
Hulu and Amazon Prime Video both run 30 days, the longest standard trials. Crunchyroll gives 14 days. Separately, buying any new Apple device includes three free months of Apple TV+, the longest free stretch of all.
Almost never. Every paid trial that is left requires a card up front. The card-free way to watch is a free, ad-supported service like Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, or Plex. They are free forever and never ask for a card.
No. Netflix ended its US free trial in 2020, and Max (formerly HBO Max) and Disney+ have both dropped theirs too. They occasionally run discounted intro offers, but no free trial. The services above are the ones that still give you a free week or month.
Cancel before the trial ends. On every service here, cancelling still lets you watch through the last day of the trial, so there is no reason to wait. Set a reminder for the day before it renews.
Yes, through the live TV bundles. Fubo (7 days), YouTube TV (7 days), DirecTV (5 days), and Hulu + Live TV (3 days) all carry ESPN and still offer a trial. The standalone ESPN Unlimited app and Sling TV do not.
Founder of A Good Movie to Watch. I have been signing up for, and cancelling, streaming free trials for over a decade so you can see which are still worth starting.