15 Best Free Roku Channels & Apps in 2026 (No Subscription)

Roku added greater than 100 new free channels within the first half of 2026.

A number of the largest free Roku channels additionally disappeared, together with Crackle and Freevee.

However there are nonetheless hidden gems most lists miss, together with ad-free library motion pictures, NASA content material, stay sports activities, and extra.

I put in and examined quite a lot of dozen to seek out the very best free Roku channels and apps for twine chopping.

On this information, I’ll present you my favourite free Roku apps that offer you entry to tons of of free motion pictures, TV reveals, stay channels, native information, youngsters programming and extra.

15 Finest Free Roku Channels and Apps in 2026

These are the free Roku channels I’d add first.

Each certainly one of them is free to put in and free to look at.

What I like about this lineup is that you may set up all 15 and nonetheless pay nothing. Begin with the primary six and also you’ve changed most of what cable gave you.

The Roku Channel

• What you get: 500+ free stay channels plus an enormous on-demand library
• Account wanted: Just for a number of titles
• Be careful for: Paid add-ons sitting proper subsequent to the free stuff

The Roku Channel is already in your gadget, so that is the best place to begin.

Roku says its channel now carries more than 80,000 titles and over 500 stay channels. That features 65+ stay Spanish-language channels within the Espacio Latino part.

You don’t want a Roku gadget to make use of it both. The app additionally runs on Hearth TV, Samsung TVs, telephones, and any net browser.

One factor that journeys folks up is the premium row. The Roku Channel sells Starz and AMC+ subscriptions inside the identical app, and people tiles look identical to the free ones.

Search for a price ticket or a “Subscribe” button earlier than you press OK. Free titles play straight away.

Tubi

• What you get: The deepest free film catalog on Roku
• Account wanted: Sure, an e-mail handle
• Be careful for: Titles rotating off when licensing offers finish

Tubi is owned by Fox and has 100 million month-to-month customers as of 2026.

In order for you motion pictures greater than stay channels, that is your app. The library dwarfs what Netflix and Prime Video carry, as a result of Tubi licenses older catalog movies as an alternative of paying for brand new hits.

Tubi additionally streamed two 2026 World Cup matches free in 4K. That sort of stay sports activities deal is uncommon on a free app, and it got here from Fox proudly owning the printed rights.

The frequent grievance is motion pictures vanishing out of your listing. That occurs as a result of Tubi’s licenses expire on set dates. Watch something you’ve saved inside a number of weeks as an alternative of letting it sit.

Pluto TV

• What you get: 250+ stay channels laid out like a cable information
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: A small on-demand part

Pluto TV is the closest factor to old-school channel browsing, and Paramount owns it.

You get 24/7 channels constructed round single reveals. Star Trek, Survivor, CSI, Hell’s Kitchen, and Physician Who all have their very own channels.

I like that you simply don’t have to enroll or do any of that annoying stuff.

However the trade-off is management. You possibly can’t pause or rewind a stay Pluto channel as a result of it’s an actual broadcast stream, the identical as cable. However you possibly can change to the On Demand tab whenever you need playback controls.

Plex

• What you get: 600+ free stay channels, greater than every other app right here
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Leases and Plex Go combined into the menus

Most individuals know Plex because the app for internet hosting their very own film recordsdata. That’s why nearly no person places it on a free Roku listing.

They need to. Plex quietly constructed one of many largest free channel lineups anyplace, and it retains rising each month.

You possibly can watch the free channels with out signing up for something. Plex Go prices cash, however you by no means have to the touch it.

In the event you do have a tough drive stuffed with dwelling movies or ripped DVDs, Plex is the one app on this listing that places your personal stuff and free TV in a single place.

Sling Freestream

• What you get: Round 600 free stay channels plus a free DVR
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Fixed upsells to paid Sling plans

Sling is a paid stay TV service, so folks assume the app prices cash. It doesn’t.

DISH runs a free tier known as Freestream inside the identical app. Sling mentioned it crossed 600 channels on the finish of 2025 after including nearly 100 that yr.

On Roku you possibly can browse and watch with out signing in. Open the app and decide “Stream for Free” on the launch display screen.

Freestream additionally provides you a free DVR, which no different app on this listing does. Which means you possibly can file a stay channel and watch it later, without spending a dime.

Xumo Play

• What you get: Over 300 free channels
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Channels disappearing with out discover

Xumo Play is owned by Comcast and Constitution, and its lineup leans heavy on information.

Xumo’s personal help web page confirms the 300+ channel depend and updates a lineup PDF as issues change.

That’s the sincere catch with Xumo. It swaps channels out and in greater than most, as a result of its lineup is determined by offers that expire. If a favourite vanishes, test Pluto TV or Plex, for the reason that similar channels usually stay on all three.

The CW

• What you get: Full seasons of community reveals plus stay NASCAR and WWE NXT
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Solely the previous few episodes keep up

The CW app has no login, no subscription, and no cable test. That makes it the one broadcast community you possibly can watch on Roku without spending a dime the day after it airs.

You additionally get stay sports activities. The CW carries NASCAR, WWE NXT, and school soccer from the ACC and Mountain West, and people streams price nothing.

In April 2026 Roku signed a deal to convey CW reveals to The Roku Channel too. So that you’ll begin seeing the identical episodes in two locations, which is useful should you’d somewhat keep in a single app.

Episodes do roll off. New reveals stick round for a restricted window, so watch a brand new episode inside a few weeks of the air date.

PBS

• What you get: NOVA, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, and your native station’s livestream
• Account wanted: Sure, a free PBS account
• Be careful for: Passport titles that want a donation

PBS confirms you don’t want to donate to make use of the app. Loads of readers assume you do, and skip it.

Most PBS reveals stream free for no less than two weeks after they air. That covers new episodes of every thing from NewsHour to Nature.

Older seasons sit behind PBS Passport. Passport is a thank-you reward for donating, normally $5 a month or $60 a yr to your native station.

Search for the small Passport icon within the nook of a thumbnail. No icon means it’s free for you proper now.

Professional tip: It’s important to activate the PBS app on every Roku individually. In case your bed room Roku says you’re locked out, that’s why.

PBS Kids

• What you get: A 24/7 youngsters channel plus full episodes on demand
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: US-only streaming

PBS Youngsters is a separate app from PBS, and it’s the higher one for little youngsters.

You get Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Sesame Road, Curious George, and Odd Squad. No subscription, no adverts between reveals.

The stay 24/7 channel is the characteristic I’d level dad and mom to first. Flip it on and it simply retains going, so no person has to choose the following episode.

By the best way, PBS Youngsters movies solely play inside the USA. That’s a licensing rule, not a bug, so a visit overseas will block it.

Kanopy

• What you get: 30,000+ movies with no adverts in any respect
• Account wanted: Sure, plus a library card
• Be careful for: A month-to-month restrict set by your library

Kanopy is the very best free app nearly no person on Roku makes use of.

Your public library pays for it, so that you watch Criterion Assortment classics, documentaries, and indie movies with zero commercials. Each different free app on this listing runs adverts.

Your card units the restrict, and it varies loads by metropolis. Los Angeles Public Library provides you 9 play credit a month, whereas some techniques hand out 20 or extra.

When you press play you may have 3 days to look at that movie as many instances as you need on one credit score. So don’t burn a credit score on one thing you solely half need to see.

Professional tip: Kanopy Youngsters normally doesn’t use credit in any respect. When you’ve got youngsters, that alone makes the app value putting in.

Hoopla

• What you get: Advert-free motion pictures, TV, comics, and audiobooks
• Account wanted: Sure, plus a library card
• Be careful for: Borrow limits getting minimize

Hoopla is the mainstream model of Kanopy. The titles are extra recognizable and there’s by no means a waitlist, since each merchandise is all the time accessible.

Libraries pay per checkout, and that price is squeezing them. LA County Library cut its limit from 8 borrows a month to five on January 1, 2026.

So test your personal library’s quantity earlier than you intend a film night time. Some techniques nonetheless give 10 or extra, and some hit a every day cap for the entire metropolis that resets at midnight.

NASA+

• What you get: Stay launches, documentaries, and youngsters’ house reveals
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Nothing, it’s free and ad-free

NASA+ is the one app right here with no adverts, no account, and no catch of any form.

Your tax {dollars} already paid for it. NASA says the service is ad-free and wishes no subscription. It streams stay mission protection, authentic documentaries, and reveals made for teenagers.

Stay rocket launches are the rationale to maintain it put in. When a launch is going on you get the identical feed the networks use, with no business break on the worst second.

RetroCrush

• What you get: Traditional anime from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Titles rotating off when licenses finish

RetroCrush acquired much more essential on January 1, 2026, and I’ll clarify why within the subsequent part.

The brief model is that it’s now one of many few locations to look at actual anime on Roku with out paying. Its Roku Channel Retailer web page says free to stream, no subscription required.

You get Lupin the Third, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bubblegum Disaster, and Future Boy Conan. That is old-school stuff, not this season’s simulcasts.

A variety of it’s subtitled somewhat than dubbed, so it’s not the very best decide for background viewing.

FilmRise

• What you get: 10,000+ hours of films and basic TV
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Only a few new releases

FilmRise is the biggest impartial provider of free motion pictures and TV, and it wants no subscription or login.

True crime and basic TV are its sturdy fits. Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack, Midsomer Murders, Hannibal, The Rifleman, and Hell’s Kitchen all stay right here.

You’ll additionally see FilmRise channels inside The Roku Channel and Pluto TV, as a result of the corporate syndicates its channels to different platforms. The standalone app provides you the complete on-demand catalog as an alternative of only a stay feed.

Local Now

• What you get: Native information, climate, and visitors in your zip code
• Account wanted: No
• Be careful for: Older on-demand motion pictures

Native Now could be owned by Allen Media, the identical firm behind The Climate Channel.

You sort in your zip code and it builds a neighborhood information and climate feed in your metropolis. That fills the one hole most free apps depart large open.

It carries 400+ channels overlaying markets throughout the nation, alongside nationwide feeds like Cheddar Information and Bloomberg. For extra methods to cowl this hole, see my information to watching local TV with out cable.

Updates

After I initially wrote mu information to the very best free Roku channels, I had included many different apps together with a number of that have been common again then.

Listed here are a number of massive ones which have both shut down or not have free tiers.

Crackle

Its mother or father firm, Hen Soup for the Soul Leisure, went into Chapter 7 liquidation, and Crackle’s web site went dark on June 7, 2025. The Roku app should still set up, however nothing performs.

Freevee

Amazon shut Freevee down in August 2025 and moved every thing into Prime Video. You possibly can nonetheless watch that content material free with no Prime membership, simply search for the free part contained in the Prime Video app as an alternative.

Peacock’s free tier

NBCUniversal cut off free signups in January 2023 and completed the job that June.

Crunchyroll

Its free ad-supported tier ended on December 31, 2025, so each title now wants a paid plan beginning at $7.99 a month.

There’s a workaround for the anime followers. Crunchyroll nonetheless runs free channels inside The Roku Channel and Pluto TV, and people are reruns and older titles somewhat than new simulcasts. Pair a type of with RetroCrush and also you’ve changed most of what the previous free tier gave you.

Free Roku Apps vs Free Channels: What Free Actually Means

Each app within the Roku Channel Retailer is free to put in. That’s the half that fools folks.

Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Max, and HBO all price nothing so as to add to your Roku.

Then you definitely open them and hit a login wall, as a result of the app is free and the service isn’t.

There are three various things known as “free” on Roku:

• Free to look at: Tubi, Pluto TV, and the remainder of this listing. Adverts pay for it.
• Free to put in, paid to look at: Netflix, Max, Paramount+. The app is a door, not a key.
• Free with one thing you have already got: Kanopy and Hoopla want a library card. Some community apps want a cable login.

The time period for the primary group is FAST, which stands for Free Advert-Supported Streaming TV. These channels run 24/7 on a schedule and earn money on commercials, precisely like broadcast TV all the time has.

ABC is likely one of the massive one which confuses a number of customers, for instance. The app is free and a few clips play, however the stay stream and latest episodes need a cable subscription.

So earlier than you get connected to an app, open it and press play on one thing. If a signup display screen seems, it isn’t free.

The best way to Add Free Channels on Roku

Including free Roku channels is fairly fast and straightforward.

Right here’s what you do:

1. Open the Streaming Retailer: Out of your Roku dwelling display screen, scroll down and decide Streaming Retailer. Older units name it the Channel Retailer.
2. Search by identify: Sort the app identify or press the microphone button in your distant and say it.
3. Add the app: Choose it, then select Add app. It lands on the backside of your channel listing.
4. Examine the value first: The shop web page reveals a worth or “Free” close to the highest. Learn it earlier than you add.
5. Transfer it the place you need it: Spotlight the app on the house display screen, press the star button, and decide Transfer channel.

If Roku asks for a four-digit PIN whenever you add an app, that’s a setting you turned on your self. You possibly can change it in your Roku account settings on-line.

For stay channels, skip the Streaming Retailer fully.

Decide Stay TV from your private home display screen and every thing in The Roku Channel’s information is already there, no putting in wanted.

The best way to Discover New Free Roku Channels Each Month

Roku provides free channels consistently.

For instance, in 2026 alone, Roku added 6 channels in January, 17 in February, greater than 30 in April, 15 in Could, and over 20 in June, together with Sports activities Illustrated and two FIFA channels timed to the World Cup.

That’s greater than 70 new free channels in six months.

Now they don’t announce them or ship you notification, so you must test your self.

Right here’s how one can catch them:

• Use the Stay TV information’s search: Open Stay TV, then discover the search choice within the class listing on the left facet.
• Star your favorites: Spotlight a channel, press the star button, and decide “Favourite this channel.” It strikes to a Favorites row you possibly can really discover later.
• Scan the classes: New channels get sorted into genres like Traditional TV, Sport Exhibits, and Sports activities somewhat than a “new” row.

The information has over 500 channels in it as of this writing.

Finest Free Roku Channels FAQ

Is Tubi or Pluto TV Higher?

It is determined by the way you watch. Tubi wins if you wish to decide a particular film, since its on-demand library is way deeper. Pluto TV wins if you wish to activate the TV and let one thing play, as a result of its channel information works like cable.

Most individuals find yourself putting in each.

Are Free Roku Channels Authorized?

Sure. Each app within the Roku Channel Retailer is licensed, and the large ones are owned by main media corporations like Fox, Paramount, Comcast, and DISH. They pay for content material with advert income, the identical means broadcast tv has labored for many years.

Why Did My Free Roku Channel Disappear?

Streaming rights expire on fastened dates. When a licensing deal ends, the app has to drag the title or the entire channel, usually with no warning. The identical present continuously pops up on a competing free app a number of weeks later, so search Pluto TV, Plex, and Tubi earlier than giving up on it.

Do Free Roku Channels Use a Lot of Information?

Sure, and greater than most individuals anticipate. HD streaming runs roughly 1 to three GB per hour, and 4K can hit 7 GB or extra. In case your web plan has an information cap, drop the video high quality inside every app’s settings.

Can I Get Native Channels Free on Roku?

Partly. Native Now provides you native information and climate by zip code, and The Roku Channel carries NBC native information feeds for main cities. To your precise native ABC, CBS, and FOX broadcasts, you continue to want an antenna plugged right into a Roku TV.

Which Free Roku App Has the Fewest Adverts?

Kanopy, Hoopla, and NASA+ haven’t any adverts in any respect. Among the many ad-supported apps, Tubi tends to run the lightest advert load, whereas Pluto TV runs the heaviest as a result of its stay channels observe a cable-style business schedule.

Analysis Methodology

I verified each app on this listing earlier than publishing. I checked every service’s personal web site or its Roku Channel Retailer web page for present channel counts, signup necessities, and whether or not the app nonetheless works in any respect.

For something that modified, I went to the unique reporting and first sources: NASA’s personal website for NASA+, library system pages for the Kanopy and Hoopla limits, PBS help docs for the Passport guidelines, and information protection for the Crackle, Freevee, Peacock, and Crunchyroll shutdowns.

Channel counts transfer consistently, so I used every firm’s personal revealed quantity somewhat than third-party guides, which are usually greater.

Which Free Roku Channels Ought to You Add First?

In order for you new releases and this week’s hit reveals, no free app goes to make you cheerful.

These sorts of reveals  normally require paid subscriptions.

However what you will get free is big anyway.

Tubi’s film catalog alone is larger than Netflix and Prime Video mixed, and Plex and Sling Freestream offer you 600 stay channels every with out an account.

Begin with these 4 tonight:

• The Roku Channel: Already put in, 500+ stay channels
• Tubi: The film library
• Pluto TV: Cable-style browsing with no signup
• Plex: The largest channel depend

Then add these primarily based in your family:

• Youngsters at dwelling: PBS Youngsters and Kanopy Youngsters
• Film fan who hates adverts: Kanopy and Hoopla along with your library card
• Information watcher: Native Now and Xumo Play
• Anime fan: RetroCrush, now that Crunchyroll’s free tier is gone

In the event you’re constructing a free setup on different units too, my information to the best free movie apps covers those that work past Roku.

Get a library card, favourite your channels with the star button, and test the Stay TV information each few weeks for brand new additions. That’s the way you get essentially the most out of the very best free Roku channels.

In the event you’ve been utilizing every other legit free Roku channel or app, please let me know within the feedback under. Different readers might discover it useful.