Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ can get pretty expensive, and whilst they do offer a wide range of great cinematic content, they’re not the only way to enjoy the best movies from the comfort of your own home. In fact, there are a lot of free websites that unlock huge catalogs of movies for you to fall in love with.
Unfortunately, when you search “Free Movie Websites,” a lot of the results can be illegal movie sharing sites or just straight up malicious. This list gathers the most trustworthy websites to enjoy free movies with our guarantee that they are 100% safe and legal. So, why don’t you give them a try?
1. Crackle
Crackle is a streaming site owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and it’s a fantastic repository of their great films for you to access for free. The service, however, is only available in the United States. Like movies on TV, you’ll have to sit through commercial breaks, and how long? It depends on what film you are watching. But, for free access to a wide variety of content, we think it’s worth the wait.
Crackle has a great collection of classic films, with some of Hollywood’s greatest works like Sunset Boulevard and Taxi Driver, and an even larger collection of TV shows from yesteryear. Hits like Merlin and more obscure stuff starring famous actors like Denzel Washington make the service worth checking out. Where Crackle does leave more to be desired is in its collection of newer films. Of course, with a free service, you’re not going to get the latest blockbusters straight from cinemas, but a quick search by year descending throws up a list of films you’ve never heard of. If you’re willing to brave the catalog, this might be your choice. But, if you’re looking for your favorite film, you could be disappointed.
The selection of movies and TV shows on offer on Crackle change all the time. Whilst its pretty sad to see great films like Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead be taken off the platform, there are new films added to the service all the time, so its worth checking back every so often. You might be surprised with what you can watch!
As mentioned before, Crackle is only available for those living inside the US. If you live elsewhere in the world, check out our article on Free VPNs to bypass the geo-block and trick the site into believing you’re connecting from within the US.
Overall, the best way I can describe Crackle is an on-demand version of the 5PM slots you get on satellite channels. They’re not the newest, or greatest films or TV shows (except Merlin, that’s a great show), but there is enough variety on there to find a film that could surprise you.
2. Vudu Free
Born out of a top-box digital media player the Vudu Box, the once Walmart owned Vudu offers on-demand rentals and purchases of films and TV shows to watch. The full service has the latest films like Avengers: Endgame ready to buy or rent, but they have a surprisingly decent selection of free movies and TV shows available to stream.
Right off the bat, Vudu’s interface is a lot easier to navigate than that of Crackle. Their ‘Hidden Gems’ tabs reveals some excellent films like the Dylan Sprouse led 2017 horror flick Dismissed, Pierce Brosnan’s Survivor, and Adam Orton’s Amelia 2.0.
As expected, watching a free movie means you’ll have to sit through ads, and they can get pretty frequent. Also, you will need to create a user account in order to watch movies. But, we think the selections of movies on offer means its worth the ads.
If you do use this service, we would recommend giving the film title a quick Google search before diving in. The true “hidden gems” and fantastic films can get drowned by the plethora of bad ones, and on first glance, the Free section of Vudu might look like a graveyard for poor films. But, if you look out for film ratings and have Rotten Tomatoes ready on your phone, you should be able to find something worthwhile to watch fairly quickly.
As with Crackle, Vudu is unfortunately geo-locked. That means if you’re not living in the US or Mexico, you’ll have to use a VPN to access the content. Not sure which to go for? We have an article on the best free VPNs to check out.
3. The Roku Channel
Another streaming service born out of a media device, this time the Roku TV, the Roku Channel has a great selection of movies and TV shows ready for you to watch free of charge. You’ll have to sit through ads, but they are less interruptive than other free streaming services, and they offer licensed movies from studios such as Lionsgate, Paramount, and even Disney. They also have a wide range of classic movies and TV shows, including classic Batman!
The selection tends to be more fluid than other providers, with many new titles being added every week. If you’re unhappy with the selection one week, you can pop back another time and check what’s recently been added.
The Roku Channel streams high-quality HD video, offers Closed Captions and works on a variety of devices. Though, only if you’re in the US. If you’re in Canada or the UK, you have to own a Roku TV or play from the Roku player app on your smart TV or device. The app is free, but it does mean you can’t stream from a desktop browser. But, if you have a Roku device or a smart TV, you’re good to go.
If you’re not in the UK, US or Canada, though, you’re out of luck. Free VPNs don’t usually work on The Roku Channel, so masking your location probably won’t work. As its free, it might be worth a shot to try, as VPNs find ways around content-blocking all the time, but there are other entries on this list that might suit you a little better.
The Roku Channel is a great choice if you’re looking for free movies and TV shows to stream, and is very handy if you already own a Roku device.
4. IMDb TV
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is well known as the one-stop-shop for all the information about a chosen film or TV series. It’s great to sift through the cast of your favorite film, learn quotes and chat with likeminded people. But an underrated gem that not many have heard of is their streaming service, IMDb TV.
Out of all of the choices on this list, we believe IMDb TV has the best selection of well-known film. Whilst you’re not going to get the latest blockbusters, of course, there are some seriously brilliant films on this platform. Never seen T2 Trainspotting? It’s there! Taxi Driver, RDJ’s Sherlock Holmes, Will Smith as Ali, Life of Pi! There’s shows like Schitts Creek, Psych, Lost and White Collar. You can check out both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, clearly the two greatest films of all time. Finally, if you’re looking to relax, grab a nice warm cup of tea and watch along with Bob Ross’s The Joy of Painting.
The interface is very easy to use, though you will need to make an account. There are subtitles available to stick on. The advertisements are a little on the long side, but with this great selection of movies, we think it’s worth it.
The catalog is the most impressive of the bunch. If you’re looking for older but very popular films for nostalgia, this is your pick. The service is only available in the US, but with the help of a handy VPN, anyone in the world can watch this great content free of charge.
5. Internet Movie Archive
Archive.org exists to make an online archive of some of the most important works in human history. Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive now includes over 4 million videos, including 1.6 million TV News programs alone. This makes it a fantastic resource to find old movies and TV shows from the days gone by.
Most of the content is archived television transmission, and you can find movies from the very genesis of cinema like Charlie Chaplin films, The Phantom of the Opera, Gulliver’s Travels, and more. The entire back catalog of classic Doctor Who is on there, including some not even released on DVD.
If you’re into old films and TV shows, take a look through the archive. There is a lot of content, and its very difficult to sort through them. This isn’t the site to browse casually, but if you’re looking for a certain old film, searching it on the Internet Archive might be a good shout. Films with explicit content aren’t filtered out there, so it would be advised to keep the archive away from children.
This is a very unique service. It exists to preserve everything in the public domain so that future generations can look back and learn from our artist past. This is more of a learning resource than an entertainment platform. But, if you’re willing to brave the black-and-white gems of the past, we think you might find something old to give some love to.
