Tubi Review: One Of The Best Free Streaming Services

Tubi might be free, but it’s also an excellent streaming service, and it is difficult to find anything to complain about or any reasons why you shouldn’t use it. In our opinion, Tubi is probably the best free streaming service around right now. At the very least, it is our favorite.

Tubi first hit the market back in 2014, and although it was purchased by Fox in 2020, Tubi continues to operate as a standalone streaming service. Officially, Tubi claims to offer a huge library of content with over 50,000 movies and television shows available to stream at any time.

The main takeaway from this review is that Tubi offers a lot for free. While it won’t be the best streaming app you can download on your TV or phone, it is one we recommend you keep installed and check in with regularly.

Tubi full review

Still unsure whether Tubi is the right free streaming service for you? Check out our full review for a closer look at what you get.

• Tubi specs
• Tubi experience
• Tubi content
• Tubi live TV
• Tubi value
• Is Tubi worth it?

How we reviewed this service: Tubi is one of our go-to services and one we’ve been using regularly for a number of years now. This review is based on that long-term usage and our experience of using the service across a variety of devices, including Apple TV, Fire TV, Google TV, Android mobile, and tubitv.com.

Tubi specs

Below is a summary of some of the main specifications for Tubi that you might need to know before using the service.

Tubi experience – good enough to pay for

Considering Tubi has been around since 2014, it has had time to perfect the user experience, and we’ve generally never encountered any major issues when using the service.

Its age has also resulted in a fairly good level of device support. Pretty much all of the major platforms are accounted for, and most of the major TV brands as well.

Supported Tubi devices include:

• Amazon Fire TV
• Android mobile
• Android TV
• Apple TV
• Comcast Xfinity X1
• Cox Contour
• Hisense TVs
• iOS
• LG TVs
• Playstation 4 and 5
• Roku
• Samsung TVs
• Sony TVs
• TiVo
• Vizio TVs
• Xbox One, Series S, Series X

You’ll also find Tubi is available on some less common devices as well, such as Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub. It is also possible to watch Tubi directly through tubitv.com on any device with access to a supported browser.

Regardless of the device used, we found the experience to be very consistent. Tubi always opens to a typical Home screen with a very Netflix-like feel to it.

The Home screen breaks content down in to rows and contains a mixture of on-demand and live content rows. Some of the on-demand rows are pretty standard, like Recommend, Comedy, Horror, and so on, while others are more curated and seasonal, like Based on True Events, Not on Netflix, and First Day of Summer.

You’ll also find useful Tubi-specific rows including Recently Added, First Time on Tubi, Only Free on Tubi, and Leaving Soon.

Tubi makes use of a left-side menu on most devices, which offers the option to narrow down the catalog by Movies, TV Shows, Live TV, Español, and Tubi Kids.

On most devices, this same menu also includes network and genre lists to further help narrow down content.

On individual title pages, users will find additional information about the title, including a description, cast, and an episode list (if a show). Users will also find the option to play the title or add it to a watch list. However, the latter of which is only available when signing in.

While you don’t need to create an account to use Tubi, there are some clear benefits to creating one, and enough for us to recommend that you should consider creating an account if you plan to use Tubi on a regular basis.

The first, and arguable best, reason, is access to the watchlist. If you are not signed in then you cannot add any titles to a watchlist. If you’re someone who doesn’t tend to use watchlists then this won’t be a problem. For most people, however, a watchlist does make a huge difference.

As an extension of that point, a Tubi account also opens up the possibility for users to continue watching a video. If you are not signed in and attempt to continue watching a video you were previously watching but hadn’t finished, not only will you have to search for the tile again, but you’ll also have to start from the beginning again, and fast-forward to where you were.

A free account fixes both of these issues and turns the Tubi experience into one that’s more similar to other streaming services.

Even though it is a free service, Tubi has done a good job to ensure that it offers a premium experience. Tubi is also always in the process of improving the experience even further, so users can expect it to get even better over time.

As an example, video previews (à la Netflix) are something that we’ve noticed Tubi has gradually added over the past year.

Tubu content — something for everyone

When it comes to content, Tubi is a mixed bag, literally. There is a lot of titles to watch at any given time (more than 50,000, according to Tubi) and a lot of them aren’t worth watching. With so much to offer, however, there is almost always something for every type of viewer.

The interesting things about Tubi is that it does offer access to a lot of lesser known and lower budget titles. This can make it a good destination for up and coming filmmakers as well as a good place for viewers to find hidden gems that they probably won’t find on other services.

The downside, however, is that you are also more likely to run in to movies and shows that aren’t worth your time. In this sense, Tubi can often feel like a game of roulette, although that’s also one of its charms.

In terms of the content that you do know, this is mostly going to be older titles, and these are often the most popular content on the platform.

While you won’t find the absolute newest releases or the most recent blockbusters, you will find plenty of older blockbusters and popular titles.

Example of movies you can stream right now:

• Django Unchained
• Inglorious Basterds
• John Wick (1, 2, and 3)
• Malcolm X
• Non-Stop
• Ready Player One
• Shawshank Redemption
• The Bodyguard
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Twister

Examples of shows you can stream right now:

• Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
• Columbo
• Duck Dynasty
• Gilligan’s Island
• Hell’s Kitchen
• MasterChef
• Miami Vice (1984)
• Scooby-Doo Where Are You?
• The Bernie Mac Show
• The Flintstones

Thanks to a recent deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, users will also find some Max-related shows are available from time to time, including Lovecraft Country.

Other services and networks you can watch content from include A&E, ConTV, Docurama, Dove Channel, Fox, Fox Sports, Filmrise, and Lifetime, among others.

Obviously, a lot of the content cycles in and out so what’s available when you use Tubi might be very different to what’s available right now. But that’s another benefit of Tubi.

Unlike many other services, where the emphasis is on originals, almost all of Tubi’s entire library is subject to change over time.

That’s not to say Tubi doesn’t have originals, as it does, it is just that they are not the majority of the content, or the reason why you might start using the service.

Speaking of originals, these can be very hit and miss. While they are usually pretty good in terms of production value, some can be weak in other areas.

Examples of Tubi originals:

• Baby Blue
• Blood, Sweat and Cheer
• DC Down
• Kitchen Commando
• Meet, Marry, Murder
• Scariest Monsters in America
• Scariest Places in America
• Shark Bait
• Terror Train
• Titanic 666

For younger family members, there is a dedicated Tubi Kids section that opens up into a smaller kid-friendly version.

The Tubi Kid section breaks content down into genre rows, such as Preschool, Anime, Kids Shows, and Family Movies, as well as themed rows like Friendly Monsters, Furry Friends, Enchanted Tales, and Young Adventurers.

The Tubi Kids section also includes a Settings section where various adjustments can be made, including enabling or disabling Text-to-Speech, Video Previews, Autostart, and Closed Captions.

In reality, this isn’t any different to the main Settings section, so any changes made to Tubi Kids will also be made to Tubi as a whole on that device.

For Spanish-speaking viewers, Tubi does also offer a separate Español section where users will find a variety of Spanish-language movies and shows to watch.

Overall, there’s no shortage of content to watch on Tubi, and the addition of dedicated Kids and Español sections help to ensure there’s enough content for all family and household members.

Tubu live TV — adding more value

In spite of being a free service, Tubi does also offer a live TV experience. To be clear, this is not the same as the experience offered by the main live TV providers, and won’t be a replacement for any of their paid plans.

Instead, Tubi offers a collection of live channels that have been specifically curated, typically based on a network, genre, or topic. If you’ve ever used Pluto TV or Sling Freestream, then the live experience offered by Tubi is fairly similar.

For those specifically interested in watching live local news, Tubi might be a solution. Tubi has been expanding the local news stations it supports and now offers local news from stations owned by Cox, Fox, Hearst, Scripps and Tegna.

Tubi live local news channels:

• Very Alabama by WVTM
• Fox 5 Atlanta
• Fox 7 Austin
• Fox 32 Chicago
• Very Cincinnati by WLWT
• News 5 Cleveland WEWS
• Fox 4 Dallas-Ft. Worth
• Fox 2 Detroit
• WXYZ Detroit – 7 Action News
• Very Kansas City KMBC
• Fox 26 Houston
• Fox 11 Los Angeles
• Fox 13 Memphis (WHBQ)
• Fox 6 Milwaukee
• Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
• New Hampshire (WMUR)
• Fox 5 New York
• Very Nola by WDSU
• Very Oklahoma by KOCO
• Very Omaha by KETV
• Fox 35 Orlando
• Fox 29 Philadelphia
• Fox 10 Phoenix
• Very Pittsburgh by WTAE
• Fox 2- San Francisco (KTVU)
• Fox 13 Seattle
• Fox 13 Tampa Bay
• Fox 23 Tulsa (KOKI)
• Fox 5 Washington DC

Tubi can also be a solution for some live sports. While the selection of sports channels is more limited than local news, there is still a good variety available for free.

Tubi live sports channels:

• ACC Digital Network
• beIN SPORTS XTRA
• beIN SPORTS XTRA en Español
• FOX Sports
• FOX Sports en Español
• Fubo Sports Network
• MLB
• NFL Channel
• Pac-12 Insider
• Real Madrid TV
• Stadium
• USA TODAY SportsWire

As Tubi is owned by Fox, it is additionally worth noting that major sports events are occasionally available to stream on-demand soon after they were shown on live TV.

For example, Tubi offered substantial coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup by making every game available to watch on demand, and typically only 30 minutes after the live version ended.

Based on what we’ve experienced, Tubi’s live channels are not as varied or robust as Pluto’s live experience, and the access to live TV is probably not a reason on its own to consider using Tubi. That said, they are free and do genuinely add value.

Tubi value — a lot for nothing

It is a little strange to discuss the value of something’s that’s free, but in the world of streaming, cost isn’t always only measured in dollars spent.

One of the major costs with free streaming services in general is ads. As these services are so heavily reliant on ad revenue, the use of ads can be substantial, and this can not only affect the user experience, but also the time it takes to watch a title.

In Tubi’s case, this is not really an issue. In our testing, we found Tubi’s ad load to be extremely light and better than many other free and paid streaming services, including Pluto TV.

While you will still encounter ads before and during a video, they are limited both in terms of quantity and duration. As to be expected, the ad load is significantly worse when watching live, but no worse than any other live TV service or plan.

All in all, we found Tubi to offer great value overall, making it one of the better free streaming services around.

Review recap — Is Tubu worth it?

Tubi is absolutely worth using. While some homes won’t like the ads, the lack of premium live channels, and find the catalog to be too dated and/or obscure, Tubi offers plenty to watch at any time. The library is always changing, and Tubi does offer a really good user experience.

The fact that it is free is just the icing. There are plenty of paid streaming services out there that are far worse than Tubi, so even if you don’t love it after giving it a try, we would still recommend having it installed as an additional streaming option.

Tubi FAQs

Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about Tubi.