Between Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and the three hundred other streaming services we’re expected to keep up with, watching movies and TV shows at home can be extremely expensive. But there’s a whole world of free streaming services out there that often go overlooked.
Take, for instance, Roku, one of the oldest players in this game. With the purchase of a Roku device, which run anywhere from $20 to $100 and plug right into your TV, you’ll get access to 80,000 movies and TV shows to stream for free, many of which are absolutely fantastic.
Let’s explore some of the great stuff you can watch for free with Roku.
Free Movies
From classics to (almost) modern blockbusters
Like all free streaming services, Roku allows you to watch movies for free with ads. Roku licenses these movies from other services, and it must be said that a lot of the selections are on the schlocky side. That said, if you know where to look, you can find some absolute bangers, and Roku makes it easy. Here are some of the great picks pulled right from the handy Featured and Trending tabs:
- Prey: This fantastic 2022 film single-handedly made the Predator franchise interesting again.
- Legally Blonde: A classic feel-good comedy that’s stood the test of time.
- Sonic the Hedgehog: One of the more recent blockbuster movies available on Roku.
- 42: This excellent biopic about Jackie Robinson stars the late Chadwick Boseman in the lead role.
- It Follows: A fantastic horror film you shouldn’t stream alone.
- A Fistful of Dollars: This 1964 Clint Eastwood classic basically invented the modern western movie as we know it.
- The Silence of the Lambs: Another classic film, The Silence of the Lambs introduced much of the movie-going public to Hannibal Lecter.
- Dredd: This underrated 2012 action movie stars Karl Urban as a one-man judge, jury, and executioner.
- A League of Their Own: Again, there are quite a few classic movies included in Roku’s lineup, this historical sports dramedy among them.
And that’s just at a glance. You can go deeper and find more great selections if you dig a little.
Free TV Shows
From drama to comedy to genre and beyond
Roku also has a wide selection of great TV shows to watch for free with ads. Again, let’s just pull a few from the front page of the TV section, proving that you won’t need to look far to find something worth watching:
- Hell on Wheels: This superb western series ran for five compelling seasons.
- Naruto: Anime is hugely popular, and Naruto is one of the best-known. There are hundreds of episodes to stream on Roku.
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents: This classic anthology series serves up seven seasons of mystery, suspense, and dark humor.
- Forensic Files: One of the ultimate binge shows, Roku has all 14 seasons of this documentary crime series.
- Married With Children: Every streaming service needs a couple of sitcoms in its corner. Married With Children may not be as big as Seinfeld, but it’s still funny. The Drew Carey Show is another Roku option.
- Everybody Hates Chris: If your taste in sitcoms runs more modern. You can also check out Mike & Molly and The Connors.
- Nurse Jackie: This edgy medical drama adds some prestige TV to the Roku lineup.
- The White Queen and The White Princess: These series explore English history as only opulent costume dramas can.
- CSI: NY: A great bingeable police procedural.
Roku changes out what movies and TV shows it has available all the time, so it’s always worth checking back to see what’s new.
Roku Originals
In addition to licensing content from other providers, Roku also makes movies and TV shows in house, and some of their originals come highly recommended. For instance, Most Dangerous Game is a high-quality thriller series starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz, #FreeRayshawn is an Emmy-winning drama, Die Hart is a comedy-action show from the always-eager-to-please Kevin Hart, and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is an off-the-wall biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe as the legendary musician.
There are also plenty of unscripted series to sample, like the wrestling reality drama WWE: Next Gen or the culinary travelogue The Shape of Pasta. There’s a little something for everyone on Roku.
Free Live Channels
For when you want to sit back and receive
If you’d rather not have to seek out your next binge, you could just turn on one of the 500+ live TV channels on Roku. Some of these channels play episodes of the same show one after the other, some play groups of shows, some play the news, and so on. Some examples:
- Roku offers news feeds from the likes of Fox, NBC, ABC, BBC News, and CNN in case you want to catch up on the day’s events.
- Oxygen True Crime Archives: Sit back and delight in the sordid details of other people’s lives through this constant true crime stream.
- Universal Westerns: Classic and modern western movies and TV shows, all day every day.
- Game Show Central: What it sounds like. For when you want to yell at the TV when you figure out the answer before the contestants.
- NBA: All basketball games, all the time. There are other channels for different sports.
- Hallmark Movies & More: For when you’re in the mood for 50 consecutive romantic comedies.
- Miramax Movie Channel: From dramas to comedies to historical epics, you never know what you’re gonna get.
- Law & Order: Who doesn’t want to binge the prototypical procedural drama day-in, day-out?
The amount of free offerings you can get through Roku makes you wonder if paying for streaming services at all is a scam.
You can get most of this without even buying a device
6 Easy Ways to Watch Streaming Services On Your Dumb TV
Why get a smart TV when you could try these methods?
What’s more, if all you’re after is free stuff, you can probably also save on the cost of a Roku device. Buying a Roku device will get you access to the Roku ecosystem, which will allow you to access all of the free programming above through the Roku Channel app. You’ll also get a dedicated remote and the ability to add pay streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
But if the whole point is to avoid those kinds of services, you could also just download the Roku Channel app on another device and get access to everything we’ve talked about. The Roku Channel app is available for TCL and Sony TVs, Samsung smart TVS, and many Amazon Fire TV models. You can also download it on most smartphones and tablets. And if you really want to embrace the brand, Roku makes its own line of TVs with the app built in.
Whatever your specific setup, Roku offers a ton of value for the low price of $0, which seems like too good an opportunity to pass up.
