We’ve identified 15 high quality premium content services, offering no obligation completely free trials. Plus, the best 6 services offering free film and TV streaming on an ongoing basis.
Prefer physical discs? Check out this free DVD and Blu-Ray rentals offer. You might also like to stream music for free. Or, stream audiobooks for free.
The following are all genuine completely free trials, but they do ask for your payment details. Remember to correctly cancel in accordance with the provider’s terms & conditions, if you only want the free trial.
Free Apple TV+ (Trial)
Free 7 day, or 1 month trial
What we like
- Exclusive commissioned TV and films, that you won’t find anywhere else
- Massive hits like the multiple Primetime Emmy winning TV series Tad Lasso, or the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Picture winning film Coda.
- Extremely high picture quality, on compatible devices – 4k/Ultra HD and HDR
Tip
- The standard Apple TV+ trial is 7 days.
- However, if you sign up for Apple One (which is a bundle of various Apple services, although you don’t have to use them all), you can get 1 month Apple TV+ free (as well as potential free trials for other Apple services).
Free Prime Video (Trial)
Free 30 day trial
What we like
- A lot of exclusive TV and films, that you cannot stream anywhere else
Free Paramount+ (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- Exclusive TV (such as Yellowjackets Season 2)
- Paramount films
What we don’t like
- Topmost picture quality nowhere near as good as some of it’s rivals, for example no 4k/Ultra HD.
Free Acorn TV (Trial)
Free 14 day trial
What we like
- A streaming service for an eclectic range of TV programs, from a variety of countries
What we don’t like
- Much smaller content library than most of the other services here. This wouldn’t be a problem if a lot of the content was exceptional such as with Apple TV who also a relatively small content library. However, we suspect like us you won’t have heard about many of the programs on Acorn TV.
Free itvX Premium (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- The Premium version of itvX offers exclusive content not available on the free version (such as Britbox content).
- Plus, ad free content (exclusions apply), and the ability to download
What we don’t like
- Some content contains ads, even when for premium users, due to licensing restrictions.
Free Channel4+ (Trial)
Free 14 day trial
What we like
- Ad-free (exclusions apply) Channel 4 (and associated channels) content
- Exclusive box sets
What we don’t like
- Some content contains ads, even when for premium users, due to licensing restrictions.
Free YouTube Premium (Trial)
Free 1 month trial
What we like
- Watch exclusive YouTube Originals
- Ad-free Youtube videos
- Download Youtube videos
- This is the only service that we know of that’s a combined premium video and music service. You can also fully use YouTube Music Premium – a comprehensive music streaming service.
Free Lionsgate+ (Trial)
Free trial
What we like
- Exclusive content
What we don’t like
- They don’t seem to be clear about the exact length of the trial, on their website, when we last checked.
Free Mubi (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- Mubi focuses on high quality international, and art house films
- Discover highly rated films from all around the world you may not have heard of, with expertly curated content
Free BFI Player (Trial)
Free 14 day trial
What we like
- Exclusives (especially British films), and classic films, many of which are not available on other streaming services
Free Filmbox+ (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- Curated selection of world cinema, gems, and evergreens.
Free Hayu (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- Specialises in reality TV, with a truly massive collection
Free Shudder (Trial)
Free 7 day trial
What we like
- The best streaming service for horror, thriller and supernatural fans
Free Arrow Player (Trial)
Free 14 day trial
What we like
- Arrow Films is a well known British independent film distributor.
- A streaming service dedicated to cult films, and hidden gems
- A large selection of world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films.
Free Crunchyroll (Trial)
Free 14 day trial
What we like
- A streaming service for anime fans (anime = Japanese style hand-drawn or CGI animation)
- New episodes available in the UK, a hour after Japanese release
- A library of digital manga in English for you to read too as part of your subscription (magna = Japanese style comics or graphic novels)
Tip
- There are various tiers of service, that offer a free trial. If you want to download content, and/or use multiple screens, select the ‘Mega Fan’ option.
Free Amazon Freevee
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- Expected late in 2023, new episodes of the Australian soap Neighbours, after Channel 5 decided to discontinue their contract.
- Watch selected exclusive programming and Amazon original series (not necessarily all seasons), and films, for free with ads.
- High quality content available, if you are happy with the ads
Free Pluto TV
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- A wide range of linear channels, as well as on demand content
What we don’t like
- Doesn’t compare favourably to the US version of the service
We think it’s worth including the services from the main UK broadcasters even though they are ubiquitous, as they go much further than just being catch-up services. You might be surprised at the amount of content, or features they offer.
Free BBC iPlayer (TV License Required)
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- Extensive amount of 4k / Ultra HD content
- Ability to download shows
Free itvX
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- First look at itv network content, that is not due to be televised for months
Free Channel 4
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- An extensive list of box sets that you can stream for free – and when we say extensive, we really mean that
Free My5
Free (Not a trial)
What we like
- Some additional content, that goes beyond just making this a catch-up service
What we don’t like
- Nowhere near as good as it’s rivals in terms of content