Is Free Streaming Service Tubi Any Good in 2024?

Streaming services and price hikes go together like Tango and Cash. So if you’re juggling paid subscriptions, wondering which to keep and which to cut, adding a free streaming service to the mix can lighten the load. One of the best options to consider is Tubi, with its mix of live and linear channels, on-demand movies and TV shows, and some of the fewest ads around. 

All for free.

With a fresh new logo (which looks a lot like Freevee’s logo), is Tubi worth your time in 2024? Our Tubi Review sets out to answer precisely that.

What is Tubi?

Tubi launched in 2014 as a way to watch TV shows and movies online for free. Unlike some of its competitors, it was designed as a platform for licensed content right from the get-go.

Tubi was acquired by Fox in 2020 and it has both linear channels and an on-demand library. 

Is Tubi really free?

Yes. 

Tubi is completely free. It makes money from showing commercials on its channels and on-demand videos, the same way regular broadcast television has been doing for decades.

Can you pay to remove ads on Tubi?

No. 

Tubi is not like the ad-supported plans of SVODs (Subscription Video On Demand) like Hulu, Netlifx, and almost every paid on-demand streaming service nowadays. There is no Tubi Premium option with better video quality, more screens, or no ads.

Does Tubi have a lot of ads?

In terms of ad load – ie: the number (or amount) of ads per show – it’s one of the best free streaming services around. It’s even got fewer ads than the ad-supported plans of some paid streaming services.

This is just one of the reasons it ranks #2 on our list of the 11 Best Free Streaming Services in 2023.

On average, we clocked ad breaks every 15 minutes. That’s much better than the industry standard of around ads every 10 minutes. And what’s even better is that some ad breaks contained just a single 20-second commercial. 

While the company states that it delivers “4 to 8 minutes of ads every hour,” most of what we watched contained 3 minutes or less.

Advertising Grade: A

What is the video quality on Tubi?

Tubi currently has a maximum video quality of 720p HD streaming resolution. This may sound disappointing to anyone wanting to watch it on their big screen 4K TV, but keep in mind that a lot of paid services also stream their TV channels at 720p HD.

This is primarily because many television networks, such as Fox, ABC, and FX, broadcast at 720p. However, other networks – like CBS, NBC, and TBS – broadcast in 1080i, which paid live TV streaming services will (hopefully) stream in 1080p HD.

Video Quality Grade: C+

Tubi navigation

There are plenty of ways to find free movies and TV shows to watch.

When watching in browsers, the main navigation has 6 items: Browse, Movies, TV Shows, Live TV, Español, and Tubi Kids. The last 2 menu items take you into content hubs with their own menus and sections. You need to exit them to get back to the main navigation, which is great for parents keeping an eye on what their kids can watch. (But there’s more on the Kids hub below.)

On streaming devices – like the Fire TV – the navigation is a vertical menu on the left side, as well as a quick menu on the top with For You, Movies, TV Shows, and Live TV.

Hovering over the Browse tab drops down a mega menu with 46 genres, 26 curated collections, 17 networks, and 18 “popular” lists to browse. The popular lists include collections of what’s trending, new releases, and recommendations. 

You can also browse movies that are available in audio description (AD), which scores the platform some points for accessibility.

Tubi TV channel guide

You’ll find a channel guide similar to most live TV streaming services – which are in turn similar to satellite and cable TV channel guides.

Channels aren’t numbered but are grouped together in 11 categories, including Recently Added, Sports on Tubi, Weather, and Entertainment – plus 5 separate News categories. 

Along the top of the guide, there are tabs for all of these categories that quickly scroll the guide down to the corresponding section.

Navigation Grade: A

Tubi channels

There are over 205 free channels of live and linear TV covering news, sports, entertainment, and beyond. Some of these channels fall under the 17 networks on Tubi.

Free live TV channels

Regardless of what you might read on other sites, all of the channels are not “live” TV. Many of them are linear channels–which are also referred to as “live linear”–which simply means they have recorded content broadcast on a continuous stream or broadcast.

Most of Tubi’s free live TV channels are news and weather, along with some sports.

Free linear channels

The linear channels cover a wide range of interests, including sports, entertainment, news, and more. Channels include:

• Tubi Originals
• 14 Warner Bros. channels
• 4 Filmrise channels
• 3 Ion channels
• 3 Cinevault channels

There’s also a TMZ Live channel that replays the hour-long live chat show on a continual loop. All. Day. Long.

Free news channels

In an impressive offering, you get free local news in nearly 60 markets (we counted 58). Coverage comes from 55+ premium media outlets, including FOX, NBC, Cox Media Group, and more.

As mentioned above, the channel guide has 5 categories for news: 

• National News
• Business News
• Global News
• Entertainment News
• Local News

Free sports channels

There is a solid selection of free sports channels on Tubi. 

Pro sports league channels include the MLB Channel, NFL Channel, NHL Channel, and Real Madrid TV. For college sports, there are the ACC Digital Network (ACCDN) and Pac 12 Insider. Fans of the outdoors can tune in to Waypoint TV and Outside TV.

Other general and specialty sports channels include:

• beIN Sports Extra
• Fubo Sports
• Fox Sports on Tubi
• Fox Sports En Español
• Stadium
• PGA Tour
• MotorTrend Fast TV
• USA Today Sports
• Womens Sports Network

Channel Grade: A

Tubi on-demand library

While the channel selection is great, the main attraction is (arguably) the largest on-demand library in the market with over 50,000 movies and TV episodes.

Free TV shows on Tubi

The library of free TV shows can be browsed by popular genres, including:

• Anime
• Comedy
• Sci-fi & Fantasy
• Thrillers
• Romance
• Reality TV
• Westerns

Curated collections include:

• Not on Netflix
• Only Free on Tubi
• Nostalgia TV
• British TV
• Foreign TV
• Home and Garden
• Faith

The collections are a nice way to browse content, but you can also find shows directly in the search bar or using the mega menu mentioned above.

Every free streaming service typically has plenty of classic TV shows and enough of Gordon Ramsay to make his mother bored. Here are some of the newer, most popular TV shows you can watch for free:

• The Firm
• Hell on Wheels
• Lovecraft Country
• Luther
• Midsomer Murders
• Swamp thing
• The War of the Worlds
• V

Free movies on Tubi

The extensive movie library has genre collections similar to its TV shows. There are time-related collections Leaving Soon!, Recently Added, and Trending Now, as well as Only Free on Tubi. More curated collections include:

• Black Cinema
• Bollywood Dreams
• Movie Night!
• Foreign Films
• Cult Classics
• Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes
• Award Winners & Nominees

There are literally tens of thousands of titles to choose from. But some of the best free movies on Tubi right now are:

• Audition
• Bone Tomahawk
• Donnie Darko
• Escape From New York
• The Fifth Element
• Ford v Ferrari
• Ghost World
• Inside
• Léon: The Professional
• Menace II Society
• Pi
• Wall Street

While the massive library is impressive and has a lot of great free movies to watch, it’s still not at the same level as most paid subscription video services. But it’s getting there.

On-demand Library Grade: B

Kids content on Tubi

As mentioned above, there is a complete content hub for Kids. This is great for finding shows for the kids to watch, but it still needs some work. Most importantly, you can’t create Tubi profile yet, although the platform is currently testing them with select accounts and devices.

Not being able to create profiles means that you can’t lock exiting the Kids hub with a PIN code. And content ratings are set at the account level.

The dropdown mega menu under Browse on the main page has a Popular section with Featured, Most Popular, and My List, as well as a Network section with just LEGO. The other 2 sections are Genres and Collections.

The 7 Genres for browsing free kids’ movies and TV shows are:

• Anime
• Epic Adventures
• Family Movies
• Games and Sports
• Kid Friendly Classics
• Kid Shows
• Preschool

The 10 Collections to browse are:

• Dinosaurs & Dragons
• Enchanted Tales
• Friendly Monsters
• Furry Friends
• Horses and Ponies
• Toon TV
• Top Picks for Kids
• Under the Seas
• Winter Break
• Young Adventurers

Some of the most popular kids movies and TV Shows are:

• Baby Shark & More Kids Songs
• Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs Evil
• The Secret of Nimh
• Sleepover
• Tarzan
• Transformers: Generation 1
• A Turtle’s Tale 2: Sammy’s Escape from Paradise
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Zapped

The content hub setup is nice, but the content itself could use some work. It would be better with a bigger selection and newer and more popular titles.

Kids Content Grade: C+

Spanish content on Tubi

There are currently 4 Spanish channels available on Tubi: FOX Sports en Español , Estrella News, beIN Sports XTRA en Español, and Anger Management en Español. (Yes, an entire channel of Charlie Sheen dubbed in Spanish.)

Tubi also has an Español content hub similar to its Kids hub in that is has its own menus of genres and collections. All of the free Spanish movies and TV shows are on-demand.

There are 15 genres to browse and 5 curated collections. Expand the menus below to see the complete lists.

Does Tubi have original content?

Yes.

Similar to Netflix, Tubi produces and acquires original content and there are currently almost 200 Tubi Originals. To be exact, we counted 194 titles the last time we checked (in October 2023).

Most of the titles are movies, but there are a few Tubi Original TV shows like Doomsday Brothers and The Freak Brothers, both of which are adult animated sticoms. The latter has the voices of Hollywood stars Tiffany Haddish, Pete Davidson, Woody Harrelson, and John Goodman.

However, quality-wise Tubi originals are currently not in the same league as Netflix and HBO or even Shudder.

Can you download videos from Tubi?

You cannot currently download movies or TV shows from Tubi. This means you need a good, reliable internet connection to watch Tubi at all times.

Download Grade: F

What devices can you watch Tubi on?

Tubi has excellent device support with native apps for a wide range of devices. Always check the official Tubi Help page for the most up-to-date information and more specific model requirements. Bu as of October 2023, this is what you can watch Tubi on:

• Media players: Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, NVIDIA Shield, Roku, TiVo
• Phones & tablets: Android, iOS, Fire Tablets
• Cable & satellite: Xfinity, Cox Contour
• Smart TVs: Android TV, Hisense, LG, Samsung, Sony, Vizio
• Smart home: Echo Show, Google Nest
• Game consoles: PlayStation, Xbox
• Desktops & laptops: Web browsers
• Blu-ray players: Sony

Device Support Grade: A

Who is Tubi good for?

With movies, TV shows, sports, news, and kids’ content, Tubi is an excellent, well-rounded option for families. Having kids’ content in its own bright-colored, easy-to-navigate mini-platform is a particularly family-friendly feature.

Where Tubi truly shines is its movie selection. You can spend hours just browsing titles – so it’s a good thing there are plenty of curated collections to help you out. From Leaving Soon to Find Your Next Rabbit Hole, Tubi helps you find something to watch. 

It’s also one of the few free streaming services with a Spanish-language content hub. It’s arguably the best free Spanish streaming service outside of the free plan on Vix.

Overall FAST Grade: A