Everything about the free streaming service

Amazon Prime Video is great for people who have paid for the service. It has thousands of movies and shows to watch, plus some acclaimed original films and series. However, Amazon also wants people without a Prime subscription to watch video content as well. That’s why it launched its free streaming service, which now has the name Amazon Freevee.

So what is Amazon Freevee, and is it worth your time to check out? Here’s everything you need to know about the service, which has had more than one name change in its brief existence (more on that later).

What is Amazon Freevee?

Amazon first launched the free, ad-supported, streaming video service in January 2019, under the name IMDb Freedive. Later that year, the company changed the name of the service to IMDb TV. In April 2022, the service got yet another name change, this time to its current brand of Amazon Freevee. However, the basic business model hasn’t changed. It still offers a number of older and more recent TV shows and movies that you can watch completely for free, with some video ad breaks. It’s also been slowly adding a number of exclusive TV shows to the service as well.

While a streaming service may be free, that doesn’t mean much if its content is lacking. Thankfully, Freevee has a lot of great movies and TV shows to watch, and its library of original programming is not only growing, but getting better as well. If you don’t mind the occasional ad break, you should enjoy watching lots of content on the service.

Where is it available?

Amazon Freevee is currently available in the US and the UK, and there are plans to expand the service to Germany later in 2022.

If you have a Windows or Mac PC, you can access Amazon Freevee via the Amazon Prime Video web site. It’s listed as one of the Prime Video “channels”. However, you don’t need a Prime subscription to access Freevee on your PC.

On other devices, you can download a stand-alone Amazon Freevee app to watch the content. They are available for iOS and Android mobile devices, along with Roku streaming sticks, boxes, and smart TVs. You can also get the app for Amazon’s Fire TV sticks, boxes, and smart TVs, the Amazon Fire tablet, and Android/Google TV-supported devices. There’s also an app available for Samsung and LG smart TVs, along with Sony’s Playstation 4 and 5 game consoles and Microsoft’s Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X game consoles. Finally, it’s accessible for Comcast’s Xfinity cable TV and internet users.

Other Freevee features

Because it is a free streaming service, Freevee is a bit lacking in terms of features at the moment. There’s a search bar where you can type in the movie or TV show you want to watch without browsing. If you access the service via Amazon Prime Video or on an Amazon Fire TV device, you can use the same parental controls that are available for Prime Video users.

What’s on Amazon Freevee?

Freevee has a generous selection of movies and TV shows to stream. Furthermore, a growing amount of original content is regularly added to the service, as well as content that’s imported from other countries.

Movies

As with most streaming services, the selection of movies on Freevee can vary greatly from month to month. Amazon has set up contracts with many of the major Hollywood studios — including Disney, Sony, Universal, and Lionsgate — that will allow Freevee to access a portion of their movie libraries. Those films will include pretty recent releases, such as Logan, Knives Out, The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and the Fifty Shades films. You can also expect to see lots of lower-budget B movies on the service as well.

TV shows

Freevee’s selection of television shows is a bit more stable in terms of them sticking around for more than a month. You can look forward to watching lots of classic TV like Bewitched, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and more. Even more recent shows like Mad Men and Lost can be streamed for free on the service.

“Live” TV channels

While not as prominent as other free streaming services like Pluto TV or The Roku Channel, Freevee does have a small selection of “live” TV channels. These are shows that run 24/7 content that the user has no control over, like a typical broadcast or cable TV channel. You can select from truly live news content like Newsy or AccuWeather Now, or watch constant reruns of shows like Unsolved Mysteries, classic Doctor Who, and more.

As we mentioned, Amazon is going all-in for Freevee, even including original TV shows and imports that can only be streamed on the free service. While there’s only a few of these shows at the moment, some of them are worth checking out.

• Bosch: Legacy — The continuation of Amazon Prime Video’s Bosch crime drama series is only available via Freevee.
• Judy Justice — The star of the hit daytime court show Judge Judy returned to TV via Freevee. Judge Judy Sheindlin once again presides over her civil case court, with a whopping 120 episodes to watch already, and more to come.
• Leverage: Redemption — The former TNT series about a group of con artists who now try to help people is back on the service with new episodes, starring much of the original cast.
• Alex Rider — This UK import, based on the novels about a teenage boy that also works as a super-spy, is a Freevee exclusive in the US.
• Pretty Hard Cases — This is a Canadian import show about two female police detectives that is a Freevee exclusive in the US.

In the future, look for these additional exclusive shows to debut on the service:

• Tribunal — A new court series from the makers of Judy Justice that will feature a panel of three judges deciding cases.
• Beyond Black Beauty — A young adult drama inspired by the classic Black Beauty novel.
• Hollywood House Lift with Jeff Lewis — The star of the former house renovation series Flipping It is back with a new series that will feature Jeff Lewis revamping celebrity houses.
• Sprung — A comedy series about a man who’s just been released from jail and moves in with a former cellmate. Unfortunately for both of them, there’s also a global pandemic that’s starting to affect the world.
• Troppo — An Australian import about a pair of detectives trying to find a Korean tech executive that’s gone missing in Queensland.

Best Amazon Freevee alternatives

Amazon Freevee is most definitely not alone in offering free streaming video content. Here’s a look at some of its biggest competition for your eyeballs.

Crackle

Crackle was one of the first free streaming services to be launched, and it’s still one of the best. It includes a number of library movies and TV shows to watch, plus a small number of exclusive movies and shows. It even offers parental controls if you sign up for a free account.

Tubi is owned by Fox, and as such uses that relationship to quickly show recent episodes of Fox reality shows only a few weeks after they drop, like The Masked Singer. The service also has a number of exclusive films from B movie outlets like The Asylum, and a few original shows like the animated series The Freak Brothers. Tubi TV also offers live local news from over 200 Fox TV affiliates across the United States.

Pluto TV was the leader in offering a cable TV-like experience for streaming, with hundreds of channels to watch content. Pluto TV is owned by Paramount, which means you can check out lots of classic and current movies and shows from that studio, including Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and more.

Roku, the same company that makes streaming TV sticks, boxes, and the OS for a number of smart televisions, is also offering the free Roku Channel streaming service for a number of platforms. Like Freevee, it also has both on-demand and live streaming “channels” to check out. It also has a growing number of original shows and movies.