20 fantastic classic movies you can stream for free right now without a subscription

With prices on the rise and more ads interrupting viewing, people are increasingly choosing to abandon traditional streaming services like Netflix. It’s just getting to the point where it’s not worth it, especially not when there are so many cheaper alternatives available.

There is a whole world of free streaming services out there — including Tubi, The Roku Channel, Plex, and Pluto TV — that allow you to watch movies and TV shows for no money and with no subscription; you don’t even need to download an app, you can just go to the service’s website and it’ll work just fine. You don’t even have to make an account; you just click play and enjoy.

It’s true that a lot of the movies and TV shows available to watch for free on these services are obscure and not terribly appealing, but you can also find genuine gems. We’re here to make the hunt a little easier for you.

Classic movies you can watch for free on Tubi

Come for the free favorites, stay for the originals

Here’s just a sampling of some of the great movies available to watch for free on Tubi:

• Goodfellas (1990): Martin Scorsese’s electrifying crime drama follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) as he joins the mob and lives to (almost) regret it.
• Carrie (1976): This iconic horror movie follows young Carrie (Sissy Spacek) as she gets strange powers she can’t always control.
• Blue Velvet (1986): Director David Lynch’s strange odyssey about the rot lurking under a quiet suburban town was weird and compelling when it came out in the ’80s and it’s weird and compelling now.
• Legally Blonde (2001): Reese Witherspoon’s breezy comedy about a seemingly ditzy blonde going to Harvard Law School still brings the laughs.
• Scream (1996): The Scream franchise is still going strong decades later, but the first movie remains the best. Tubi also has Scream 2 and Scream 3 if you want to keep the fear going.

Tubi also makes original movies, some of which are pretty good.

founded

2014-00-00

number of users

100 million+ monthly

Tubi is a free, ad-supported streaming service that offers thousands of movies and TV shows across a wide range of genres without requiring a subscription. It provides on-demand access to both classic titles and modern releases from major studios.

Classic movies you can watch for free on The Roku Channel

Why get cable when you have this?

When you’ve exhausted the free offerings on Tubi, head over to The Roku Channel for more:

• Before Sunrise (1995): This ambitious romcom shows us young love blossoming between a pair of strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Sequels Before Sunset and Before Midnight catch up with them in their 30s and 40s, and are also available on The Roku Channel.
• Robocop (1987): This action-packed satire about corporate American and a mechanized police force is as funny and unsettling as ever. The first two sequels are also available to watch.
• Platoon (1986): Platoon is one of the great Vietnam War movies, and helped launch the careers of actors like Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, and Forest Whitaker.
• The Birdcage (1996): This terrific farce brings together the likes of Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest, and Gene Hackman to play out a tale of clashing families with very different values.
• On Golden Pond (1981): Hollywood icons Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda reunited for this tender romance about love in later life.

Roku also makes original movies and shows, if you’re feeling adventurous after taking in more familiar fare.

founded

2017-00-00

number of users

145 million+ monthly

The Roku Channel is a free streaming service offering thousands of movies, TV shows, and live TV channels without a subscription. Available on Roku devices, mobile, and the web, it features a mix of classic favorites, news, sports, and premium content with optional paid add-ons for more entertainment.

Classic movies you can watch for free on Plex

And this is just the streaming portion

Plex doesn’t have quite as many offerings as the other free services, but what’s there is good enough to make up for it:

• American Psycho (2000): Christian Bale announces himself as a star with her performance as status-obsessed sociopath Patrick Bateman. This is technically a serial killer movie, but it’s also hysterical.
• Apocalypse Now (1979): Apocalypse Now is another of the great Vietnam War movies, this time starring Charlie Sheen’s father Martin alongside Marlon Brando as a military colonel who’s lost his mind.
• The Hurt Locker (2008): Apparently Plex has a lot of war movies. This intense drama about the Iraq War deservedly won Best Picture at the Oscars and launched Jeremy Renner to stardom.
• Best in Show (2000): On the lighter side of things, Best in Show is a hilarious mockumentary about people who are way too obsessed with their dogs.
• Night of the Living Dead (1968): Zombie movies existed before Night of the Living Dead, but George Romero’s classic defined the genre as we know it today.

Also, Plex offers a way for you to build a kind of proprietary streaming service using media you already own, so it has uses beyond normal streaming.

OS

MacOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android

Plex is a powerful media management and streaming service that centralizes your personal media—like movies, music, photos, and TV shows—into one easy-to-access library. It also offers free streaming of movies, TV, and live channels, making it a versatile entertainment hub for all your content.

Classic movies you can watch for free on Pluto TV

Swett free-dom

Finally, check out some of the offerings on Pluto TV:

• The Godfather (1972): If Goodfellas is the zippy, kinetic classic mob drama, then The Godfather is the mannered tragedy. The Godfather: Part II, which might be even better than the original, is also on Pluto TV.
• Arrival (2016): Arrival is a gripping sci-fi story about humanity’s first contact with an alien race. After proving himself with movies like this, director Denis Villeneuve would go on to helm the Dune movies.
• Titanic (1997): It’s got romance, it’s got history, it’s got ground-breaking special effects; this is over three hours of movie gold.
• Pulp Fiction (1994): Quentin Tarantino broke out as a director with this energetic crime drama that jumbles up different characters and plotlines.
• Zodiac (2007): Zodiac is one of the best serial killer movies ever made, and quite possibly the best thing David Fincher has ever directed.

founded

2013-00-00

number of users

80 million+ monthly

Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported streaming service that offers live TV channels and on-demand content across news, entertainment, sports, and movies. It provides a traditional TV-like viewing experience with hundreds of curated channels available online.

Can I interest you in paying money to watch things?

As many great movies and TV shows are available on these free streaming services, there is terrific content locked behind the paywalls at places like Netflix and Apple TV+. But hopefully the competition from the likes of Tubi and Plex will keep the more traditional streamers in check, lest they think they can get away with jacking up prices without giving us anything in exchange for it.