TV Streaming Apps That Are Actually Worthwhile

TV streaming apps are a must these days. Who has the time to sit around and watch television the old school way? We’ve selected the best streaming apps for your needs that deliver on content, variety, and value.

Our Top 9 Best TV Streaming Service Recommendations

There are dozens of streaming services but a lot of them fall flat. Here are our favorites so you can enjoy your series when it’s convenient for you.

Netflix: Best for Great Original Shows

Netflix has been around longer than most of this list, and with good reason. While they may be known for their movies, television series are no less represented. What’s more, they’ve poured a lot of effort into making well-loved original shows that have most people buzzing. Case in point? Stranger Things, for one.

What We Love: The quality of the original content is very impressive. Big Hollywood names, great special effects and scripts, plus they’re always coming up with new content.

What We Don’t Love: Prices keep creeping up. You can pay $6.99 for an ad based monthly service, or there are various tiers all the way up to $19.99. Also, unoriginal content is only temporarily available, often being cycled in and out of availability. The most grievous sin, in our book? They have a bad reputation for canceling their own series, sometimes rather quickly. You’re just getting into the story and BAM. The show is over. Forever. If that’s a deal breaker, here’s how to easily cancel your Netflix subscription.

Paramount+: Best for Classic Favorites (A Must for Trekkies)

Paramount+ is a solid TV streaming choice for many reasons. A lot of content that Netflix used to have was removed and is only available here now. Example? Star Trek. Considering the series are difficult and expensive to buy, sci-fi fans will have reason enough to flock here for their beloved favorites as well as some new ones, like Picard. Besides that, other great classics and even some original content are available too.

What We Love: Reasonably priced tiers range from $4.99 a month with ads, clear to $11.99 without ads and including SHOWTIME. The series (and movies) available are popular, recognized, and great quality.

What We Don’t Love: Not as much content as Netflix or other places. Has a decent amount of original content that doesn’t look particularly worthwhile.

Hulu: Best for Keeping up With Your Favorite Current Shows

Hulu has a decent library of movies and older full series well worth looking into. One of their biggest strengths, however, is that they have a lot of current content you can catch if you missed it on your regular live TV channels. Things like The Rookie, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and tons more. Episodes are aired weekly, so though you can’t binge new offerings, it’s still a great replacement for anyone who wants to stay up to date with shows but at their own convenience.

What We Love: The plan versatility is probably the best on this list. Prices range from $7.99 a month with ads, and up, depending on the tier selected. You can keep it simple and go with the base model, or you can add on HBO Max, Cinemax, SHOWTIME, STARZ, or LIVE TV which gives you tons of live channels. The Disney Bundle includes Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN, albeit with ads.

What We Don’t Love: The tier system, while impressive, is confusing. Also, episodes can expire, meaning if you don’t watch them within a certain time frame, some of them go away. Nothing like stressful binging trying to cram in all your episodes before it’s too late. Lastly, sometimes they only get partial series so you’ll be watching a cooking show, for example, and they’ll only have seasons 2, 3, 5, and 12. Weird.

Prime Video: Best for Multiple Benefits

Amazon is a goliath of a company for good reason. Their fast and reliable delivery is reason enough for most to buy into their annual membership. A perk is access to their music and video streaming services, in this case, Prime Video. A lot of people would be happy enough with the Amazon benefits alone, but adding on a great streaming provider is the icing on the cake.

What We Love: Lots of great TV and movies. Lots of well loved, big name shows and even some more obscure ones too. Besides that, they are a decent rival to Netflix in terms of original content. Think The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel or Good Omens. New content is frequently pouring in, too. Also, if you don’t feel like becoming an Amazon Prime member, you can just pay for this streaming service for $8.99 a month.

What We Don’t Love: While there is a lot of great content available, there is also a lot of subpar offerings. On top of that things can disappear quickly, leaving you in the lurch if you don’t get a chance to stay on top of your entertainment. What’s more, some series will start out without ads only to have them fall under the “free with ads” category a little later on, perhaps even while you’re only halfway through the series. As someone who has experienced this and found the ads to be obtrusive and frequent? Not a happy camper.

HBO Max: Best for Gritty Drama Lovers

Game of Thrones. White Lotus. Succession. Last of Us, (btw, here’s everywhere you can watch The Last of Us). These are some of the heaviest hitting beloved series that have ever been produced and they’re all home to HBO Max. Besides these powerful favorites, there are all kinds of other series, and not all of them will leave you semi-traumatized either (yes, we’re still thinking of the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones). Instead you could watch something like, Sesame Street (they have it). Can’t go wrong with Cookie Monster.

What We Love: The consistent well-loved original dramas. Plus, lots of popular series, like Doctor Who or Vampire Diaries.

What We Don’t Love: Can be a bit spendy. $9.99 with ads or $15.99 ad free. Also has less content than some other streaming services.

Disney+: Best for Families

While you certainly don’t need to have kids to enjoy this streaming service, you’ll definitely get a lot of entertainment for them if you do. Or, if you’re a huge Marvel and/or Star Wars fan, this will be the place to get your fix. What’s more, they have lots of other content too, like National Geographic documentaries and series, a good catalogue of movies, and popular original content.

What We Love: Disney is great at bundling. For $12.99 (with ads) to $19.99 a month you can access Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, though you can always pay less for just Disney+ if you choose. Besides that, the original content and massive library alone is enough to make this a must for many TV lovers. Shows like The Mandalorian have a particularly enthusiastic following.

What We Don’t Love: Though they have a handful of R-rated movies, like Deadpool, Disney+ tends to be geared toward children and families. This means more mature content will be in short supply. The lack of variety in terms of content type can also be a downside. Also, this app isn’t currently available everywhere. Want to know how to get around that? Here’s how to watch The Mandalorian anywhere with a VPN.

Sling TV: Best Alternative to Cable

If you’re looking to break away from expensive cable services, Sling allows you to pick one of three tiers to do just that. It’s a method to stream big name channels and sports, with DVR capabilities. You get different channels depending on if you choose Orange or Blue (at $40.00 monthly each), but you can get both options for just $55.00 a month. Compared to other live TV streaming services, it’s actually a good deal.

What We Love: Lots of customization. You can decide if you want to lean heavy on sports offerings, entertainment, or both. You can also add additional channels, a la carte style, for an extra fee. It’s much cheaper than cable and gives you a lot of the same benefits.

What We Don’t Love: It can get real confusing real fast. Especially if you mix and match channels and features. Add on packages can add up too.

Fubo TV: Best for Sports Lovers

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With 154 channels, 1000 DVR hours, and the ability to watch 10 screens all at once, Fubo has some shiny perks right off the bat. Yes, we’re already making sports puns. After all, sports is the biggest reason to attract viewers to this service. With channels offering live, national, international and college sports without the cost of cable TV? Let your inner jock go nuts.

What We Love: It’s not just for sports lovers. There are dozens of other channels, including ones like HGTV and Nickelodeon. They also have a reasonably priced Latino plan for $24.99 a month. 

What We Don’t Love: It’s one of the spendiest of this list. You’d better really love sports. Also, the various plans and add-ons can get overwhelming.

YouTubeTV: Best for DVR Storage

This one is great for anyone who wants a ton of options. Well, who doesn’t? Still, YouTubeTV has access to over a hundred live channels with other tiers such as Spanish Pro or NFL Sunday Ticket for those majorly into football. Oh, by football, we mean American Football. You have been warned.

What We Love: Unlimited DVR space! Record all the things! Besides that, having access to so many channels is mind boggling. In a good way.

What We Don’t Love: The price. Base plan is $72.99 a month. Adding the NFL package is where things get even crazier. It can range from $349 to $489. A month. Yikes. Still, if you love football it may be worth it. Read here if you want to learn more about why YouTubeTV’s NFL package attracts subscribers.

There you have it. Our top 9 TV streaming apps. With so many options and so much content, you’ll probably never get bored again.