Your Essential Guide to Watch Movies Legally & For Free – Select 12 Premier Sites!

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Watching free movies online is a convenient and frugal way to see the films you love right from the comfort of your own home. Yes, there are plenty of sites where you can get movies “for free” but I’ve taken the time to confirm that the ones listed below, although ad-supported, are clean from viruses and, importantly,100% legal to use .

Our Top Picks

Best Overall: Tubi

Tubi has thousands of free movies and shows, including big titles and a kid-friendly area.

Best for User Feedback: YouTube

Among the millions of videos on YouTube are free movies with ads, curated by YouTube staff.

Best for High-Quality Movies: Fandango at Home

Fandango at Home’s high-def movies are organized into unique sections like Blast From the Past, Hidden Gems, and Big Time Movie Stars.

Best for Popular Titles: Freevee

Amazon’s free movie streaming service includes tons of well-known films.

Best for a TV Experience: Pluto TV

It’s like cable TV, but totally free. Watch on-demand movies and TV, plus live videos 24/7.

Best for a Variety of Movies: Popcornflix

Jump right into watching free movies on your TV, phone, or computer without even setting up an account.

Best for Finding Movies Around the Web: Yidio

Yidio doesn’t host any content, but it has a robust search feature that finds where you can watch films and shows for free online.

There’s a huge variety of freely available movies on these sites, from dramas and comedies to action and horror films. There are movies from big-name studios, but also many older and independent movies that you’ll love to watch over and over again. Just be sure you have the best TV to ensure a great viewing experience.

I spend some time each month looking for websites with free movies. This list was last updated in July to confirm that they still work, are still free, and are still worth your time.

Comparison of the Best Free Online Movie Sites

Most of these sites have a mobile app for watching their movies. Take a look at our list of apps for streaming movies so you can take the films with you wherever you go.

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Tubi

What We Like

• High quality, popular movies.
• Lots of categories.
• Subtitles can be enabled for most movies.
• Has a section just for kids.
• You don’t need to log in to start watching.

What We Don’t Like

• Genre categories don’t separate movies from shows.

You don’t want to miss the_thousands_ of free movies and TV shows you can stream right now at Tubi.

I like to visit the Leaving Soon page to catch freebies before they start to cost somewhere else, but my favorite part of this website for inspiration is Trending On Social — I often have no clue what I’m in the mood for, so to see what everyone else is watching right now is awesome.

For example, a few of the more popular titles people have been streaming over the last month include_Friday, Zapped, Kevin, The Perfect Host_ , and_Triangle._

There are dozens of other genres and collections to pick from, too, like exclusives in Only Free on Tubi , and Black Cinema, Foreign Films, Based on a Book, Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes, and_Cult Classics._ There’s also a Spanish section and live TV.

Tubi Kids is a section of this site perfect for streaming just kid-related films. It’s available from the top of the website and has categories just for preschoolers and other kids, including_Toon TV, LEGO, Animé,_ and Friendly Monsters films. There are also parental controls you can set through the normal website.

You don’t even need a user account to watch this stuff. Just follow this link below, click something you’re interested in, and enjoy!

Watch Movies at Tubi

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YouTube

What We Like

• Movies are rated by real viewers.
• You can leave comments.
• Single, easy-to-scroll-through list.
• Most movies have subtitles.
• No ads for Premium subscribers.

What We Don’t Like

• Relatively few genres.
• No easy search tool for just the free movies.

Our Favorite Free Movies on YouTube (July 2024)

I was shocked the first time I found out YouTube has free movies. And no, these aren’t poorly filmed videos without subtitles uploaded by some random user. I mean proper, full-length, totally legal movies managed directly by YouTube.

Recently, I was able to watch_Project Gemini_ and_The Machine_ ; both included captions and were available in 1080p. Here are some other examples of free films I saw listed on YouTube this past month:Delivery Man, The Day After Tomorrow, Wild Hogs, and_Taken 3._

Something you can’t get with YouTube but that_is_ supported by most of these movie sites is the ability to search through just the free titles. However, here’s a trick that has saved me loads of time: Open the full list of movies and use your browser’s_Find_ function to search by year, genre, or title.

YouTube’s curated list (the link below) is the best way to find all their new and popular free films. Some companies, like Cineverse , list movies in their own profile.

Watch Movies on YouTube

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Fandango at Home

What We Like

• Lots of high quality movies.
• Several useful ways to find just the free movies.
• Most are popular and well known, and include subtitles.
• Films can be filtered and sorted in a number of ways.
• Also supports buying and renting movies.

What We Don’t Like

• Some movies here cost.
• You must log in (it’s free).

There are thousands of movies on Fandango at Home that you can watch right now. All you have to do is put up with a few commercials.

It’s a great movie site whether you do or don’t know what you want to watch. Films can be filtered by genre, and you can browse by most-watched or release date. All the basic genres are available: action, comedy, crime, romance, and a few others.

While it’s true that the genres aren’t interesting, Fandango at Home makes up for it with their curated lists. Check these out: Big Time Movie Stars , Critically Acclaimed , Hidden Gems , and Most Watched Movies . There are a few hundred videos in each section.

Something unique about this site is that it not only lets you look through the newest releases, but you can do so on a single page for every genre. Another great thing about Fandango at Home’s movies is that some of them are in 1080p, so you don’t have to sacrifice quality just to watch some free movies.

Once you settle on something to watch, you might be given the option to buy or rent it, but so long as you find it through one of the free pages, there will be a button you can use to stream the movie without paying. You can even watch movies still in theaters .

Watch Movies at Fandango at Home

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Freevee

What We Like

• Great collection of newer free films and shows.
• Browsing for movies is easy.
• Includes original videos.
• Locate movies with subtitles in your language.
• Uncluttered video player.

What We Don’t Like

• User account required.
• Most in-video ads are long.
• Unhelpful search tool.
• For US users only.

Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) is Amazon’s collection of free movies. I use this a lot from my TV, but it’s just as easily accessible from their website or mobile app. Everything I watch here is easy to find and seems to be high-quality.

Something I like about this site is how the genres and movie collections are organized. For example, if I’m looking through the most popular movies or recently added lists, I can filter by genre and/or subtitle language to make sure I find a movie that’s a good fit for me.

The video player lets you turn on subtitles, adjust the way the captions show up on the screen, change the video quality, and go into full-screen mode.

There’s a lot to explore here, including original films, but I’ll get you started with these titles that are some of the more popular choices: How to Train Your Dragon 2, The High Note, Skyscraper, Dolittle, and_Split._

Watch Movies at Freevee

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Pluto TV

What We Like

• Has the same feel as a TV’s channel guide.
• Includes thousands of on-demand movies.
• Streams TV shows, news, music, and more.
• No user account necessary.

What We Don’t Like

• Has only a dozen or so channels for_just_ movies.
• Live-streamed movies can’t be watched again on demand.
• There’s always a video playing; you can mute, but not stop it.

Pluto TV is the closest thing I’ve found to free cable TV. It’s owned by Paramount and fully supported by ads, so there’s no worry that you might accidentally buy something.

My biggest joy about using this service is that I can just turn it on and let it play. There are hundreds of live channels, so some of them feature news, reality TV, or game shows, but others have full-length movies.

Not everything is live, though, which is good. If I’m in the mood for something specific, I can look through thousands of movies and TV shows that are available on demand.

The unique categories for their on-demand films are a huge plus because most movie sites just stick to the traditional few genres.Hollywood Icons, The King of Horror, 00s Replay, and_Cult Films_ are a few examples.

These are some of the most-watched movies on Pluto TV this last month:Super 8, Sonic The Hedgehog, Rocketman, and_Tropic Thunder._

In my experience, running Pluto TV through a TV makes it easier to use because the always-on video player gets in the way on smaller screens. But, there is a mobile app and a desktop player if you’d rather go that route.

Watch Movies at Pluto TV

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Popcornflix

What We Like

• Includes subtitles.
• Has a one-page list of every movie available.
• ‘Continue watching’ section.

What We Don’t Like

• Can’t sort by date or popularity.
• Strange site navigation.

Popcornflix is another great place to watch free movies online. Their constant flow of new titles from Screen Media Ventures means they have lots of movies being added all the time.

Right off the bat, I appreciate that I don’t need an account to use it. I also like that resume playback is supported so I can pause and watch the rest of the movie later.

However, there are a few things I don’t like. While the website is definitely very modern-looking, it’s not super user-friendly. Along that same line, I would love to have sorting options within each genre list because it’s way more fun to see which documentaries, for example, were added recently so I’m not scrolling over all the same movies I always see.

There are several hundred movies here that include comedy, drama, horror, action, romance, family, documentary movies, and foreign films. They also feature web and film school originals and list some titles by a common theme; I’ve seen Mobster Movies, Based on True Stories, Edgy Comedies, Behind Bars, Space Invaders, Pulse-Pounding Thrills , and_Fear_ Factory .

Watch Movies at Popcornflix

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Yidio

What We Like

• Makes it easy to find free movies around the web.
• Lots of unique filtering options.
• Sort by popularity and date added.
• Can be helpful for renting and buying, too.

What We Don’t Like

• Films are streamed through other sites.
• Incorrectly labels some paid movies as free.
• Shows the wrong synopsis and photo for some films.

I’m so happy I stumbled on Yidio years ago! It’s like a search engine for all these other movie sites. It’s incredibly handy because it shows where on the internet a movie is available for free.

A search box would be enough, but Yidio goes above and beyond with lots of other sorting and filtering options. These include MPAA rating, decade, genre, IMDb score, and others. Just fill out any of that information to get a list you can comb through, with links to free movie sites.

For example, I asked Yidio to find me free animation movies released since 2020 and to sort the list by IMDb rating. The top several results provided links to watch those films on Tubi, Roku, Pluto TV, and other free streaming sites.

This isn’t a perfect service, but it works great nearly every time I use it.

Find Movies at Yidio

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Plex

What We Like

• Most if not all movies have subtitles.
• Doesn’t require a user account.
• Several ways to browse the films.
• Create a queue for easy passive watching.

What We Don’t Like

• Mostly uninteresting genres.
• Lists shows alongside the movies.
• Huge lists of videos that can’t be sorted.

Plex is an interesting service because it’s actually a much bigger package than it might seem at first. In addition to its massive collection of free full-length movies and TV shows, Plex also has live TV and software that serves as a really cool at-home media server .

Currently, there are tens of thousands of free movies and shows here. They’re sectioned off in traditional genres like action and crime, but you can also browse by actor or channel. Plex has its own unique collections, too; I’ve seen_Feel Good Films_ ,Til Death Do Us Part, Oh-My-Godzilla, Cheap Thrills, and_Midnight Movies_ .

On a movie’s watch page are similar titles and additional details that help build a total picture of the film, like the full cast list, reviews, and trailers. I love this because it makes it easy to find other movies on Plex with the same stars.

See which movies on Plex are leaving soon to catch them before they go page lists The Girl Next Door, Cruel Intentions, Copshop, Uncommon, Serenity , and others.

If you can’t find what you want on Plex, the title you’re interested in might still show up in the results, and you’ll be given links to places you can buy/rent it (sort of like Yidio, listed above).

Watch Movies at Plex

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Filmzie

What We Like

• You don’t need a user account.
• Also has TV shows.
• Save movies to a ‘Watch Later’ list.
• Includes movie trailers.
• The ads help fund the project and filmmakers.

What We Don’t Like

• Can’t sort or filter any genre list.
• Really distracting ads.
• No age verification for NC-17 films.

Filmzie is built for streaming movies from independent filmmakers and both small and large studios. The site and app are well-designed, and there are plenty of great titles to stream.

Here are some collections I’ve seen that are rare to find on a movie site: Directed by Women, European Production, Asia’s Top Cinema, LGBTQI+, Cuddle-Up Comedies , and_Independent Cinema_ . Of course, over 20 traditional genres, like drama and thriller, are also available. Trending, new, and most-watched movies each have their own section as well.

Filmzie does a great job organizing its movies. This is the main reason I use it. That, and there are so many videos here that I have never even heard of, so it’s the perfect place to find something brand new.

Some of this site’s most-watched movies are_The Hard Ride, The Maid, Baby Girl_ , and_Venus Obscura._ Some trending titles over this last month include_The Frame_ and_Lady Chatterley’s Lover._

I’ve used the website and the mobile app, and both work more or less the same as these other movie sites.

Watch Movies at Filmzie

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Crackle

What We Like

• Big selection, including recent films.
• Good video quality.
• Really great mobile app.

What We Don’t Like

• Can’t sort films by popularity.
• Available only in the US and its territories.

Crackle is a no-brainer for this list. I always come back to it to watch free movies online because of its list of hundreds of full-length films and original programming. These are big-name movies with stars I’m sure you know.

Although you have to sit through commercials, I find them to be relatively short, with only a few breaks during a movie.

Another reason I choose Crackle is because of its unique categories like_Summer Binge-a-Thon_ ,Foreign Language, Stand-Up, British, Variety/Talk/Games, and_Unidentified/Unexplained_ . It’s fun to look through interesting genres like this.

A closed captioning toggle is available directly from the video player for all users but, if you sign up for an account (it’s free), you can also enable parental controls (options are kids mode, teen mode, and grown-up mode).

Here are some examples of the most popular movies on Crackle:Monstrous, The Bouncer, Eye See You , and_Willy’s Wonderland_ .

Watch Movies at Crackle

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The Roku Channel

What We Like

• Provides high quality movies.
• Includes newer films.
• Works on computers, mobile devices, and TVs.
• Offers customizable captions.
• No user account needed.

What We Don’t Like

• Can’t filter or sort any genre list.
• Doesn’t separate movies from shows in category lists.
• Lists paid videos next to free ones.

You might already know about Roku’s free movies if you have a Roku TV or streaming device . But even if you don’t, you can still watch all the same free movies, TV shows, and live TV from a computer, phone, or tablet.

There are some ads in these movies, but the trade-off is high-quality videos and well-known movies.

On the home page are handy categories I have yet to find on another website with free movies. They often change, but some that I’ve seen recently include Heroes & Heroines, It’s the 70s, Powerful Women, Academy Award Winners & Nominees , and_Retro Horror Movies._

While there are also typical genre lists you can browse through, none of them let you sort by popularity or filter by rating or year. This is by far my biggest issue with the service. That, and both TV shows and movies are mixed into the same lists, and said lists must be browsed horizontally in a carousel-like menu. It’s just not super user-friendly.

However, I do like that you can search for actors and directors to find movies they’re associated with. I also appreciate the_Continue watching_ section.

Watch Movies at Roku

The 16 Best Roku Channels of 2024

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Kanopy

What We Like

• Includes thousands of free videos.
• Adds new movies often.
• No ads display within the movies.
• Loads of genres to pick from.
• Unique movies.

What We Don’t Like

• Must have a supported library card or school account.

The Kanopy movie streaming site is different from these other choices because you need a valid library card or university login before you can watch anything. However, there are zero commercials in the movies, and new films are added every month.

Use Kanopy’s signup page to search for your library, whether it’s a public library or one attached to a school. You can start watching movies after you’ve been approved.

Kanopy does a great job of providing useful categories to look through. There’s Short Film, History - Ancient, LGBTQ Cinema, War & Action, Sociology, Performing Arts, Human Rights, Everyday Health, and_K-12 Lessons_ .

A few of the more popular movies here include_God’s Own Country, Lady Bird, The Bookshop,_ and_Anomalisa._

There’s also an entirely separate section for kid movies at Kanopy . My son’s old enough now to watch more mature movies, but if he weren’t, I’d be thrilled with this. There are subsections like_Story Time_ and_Read-Along Storybooks_ . You can also set up parental controls to force only age-appropriate content.

Watch Movies at Kanopy

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