Every UK streaming service compared on one page
Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+ and NOW. The free ad-funded apps you already paid for via your TV Licence. Sports streaming for the bits Sky and TNT do not cover. Honest takes on which subscription is actually worth £8-£10 a month.
£5.99
Cheapest mainstream subscription (Netflix Standard with ads)
200+
Free ad-funded UK channels on Pluto, Tubi and Samsung TV Plus
£174.50
Annual TV Licence (only required for live TV and iPlayer)
25 Mbps
Broadband floor for 4K streaming (Netflix and Disney+)
UK streaming has settled into a clear three-layer market. Three subscription apps (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video) do 80% of the heavy lifting in most households. NOW, Apple TV+ and BFI Player top that up for specific tastes. Underneath sits a layer of free ad-funded apps (Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Freevee) that you already pay for nothing for, plus BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and My5 funded out of your TV Licence.
Every guide below treats the subscription stack as something you should keep deliberately small. Pick two paid services that genuinely match what you watch, lean on free apps for everything else, and re-evaluate every six months. The full streaming services comparison ranks every option on price, library and 4K availability.
The four pillars
Start with the streaming guide for your taste
All-rounders, Netflix loyalists, free-only households, sport fans. Four pillar guides cover almost every UK viewer. Pick the closest fit and drill in.
Best UK streaming services
Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+, NOW and the rest ranked on library size, originals, 4K availability and what each is genuinely worth in {{ $annee }}.
Read the guideNetflix UK
Every Netflix UK plan, the latest price changes, the ad-supported tier, the password-sharing crackdown and whether the new releases justify a free trial.
Read the guideBest free UK streaming
BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5 plus Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and the other ad-funded apps that put 200+ free channels on any smart TV without a subscription.
Read the guideBest sports streaming sites
Legal UK streaming for football, F1, MotoGP, NFL, NBA, rugby and boxing: DAZN, Discovery+, Prime Video, NOW and Sky Sports compared on coverage and monthly cost.
Read the guideEvery streaming guide on one page
Filter all 8 streaming guides
Tap a category to narrow down: paid subscription, free ad-funded, sport, music, or the latest "what is new this month".
Best UK streaming services
On-demand
Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+, NOW and the rest ranked on library size, originals, 4K availability and what each is genuinely worth in {{ $annee }}.
Netflix UK
Subscription
Every Netflix UK plan, the latest price changes, the ad-supported tier, the password-sharing crackdown and whether the new releases justify a free trial.
Best free UK streaming
Free
BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5 plus Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and the other ad-funded apps that put 200+ free channels on any smart TV without a subscription.
Best sports streaming sites
Sport
Legal UK streaming for football, F1, MotoGP, NFL, NBA, rugby and boxing: DAZN, Discovery+, Prime Video, NOW and Sky Sports compared on coverage and monthly cost.
New on Netflix UK
This month
The Netflix UK releases worth watching in June 2026: new series, films, documentaries and the licensed back-catalogue arrivals that quietly justify the subscription.
New on Amazon Prime Video
This month
The Prime Video UK additions worth watching this month: Amazon Originals, sport (NBA, Premier League Tuesday Nights), and the films now bundled with the Prime sub.
Spotify UK
Music
Spotify Premium tiers in the UK, Family and Duo, the Free ad-supported plan, plus the audiobook hours and Hi-Fi situation Spotify still keeps quiet about.
Compare TV packages
TV side
When pure streaming is not enough: live channels, sport rights and Sky Atlantic exclusives. Sky Stream, EE TV, Virgin Media and NOW compared with streaming alongside.
Top UK streaming services
Pick a service, see what is on it
Every major UK streaming service on one row, with the current entry price and what they are genuinely best at.
Tailored to how you watch
Streaming guides by viewer type
Box-set bingers, families, free-only viewers, sport fans. Pick the closest fit and we send you to the right comparison.
Box-set binger
You watch one show through and move to the next. Netflix and Disney+ together cover most of the catalogue worth bingeing this year, with room to drop one if it goes quiet.
from £5.99
Netflix with ads
Free-only household
You have a TV Licence and that is enough. iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, Pluto TV and Tubi give you 200+ channels and a sprawling on-demand library, nothing to pay extra.
£0/month
Free with TV Licence
Sport fan
You want Champions League, F1, MotoGP, NFL or boxing without a Sky bundle. DAZN, Prime, Discovery+ and NOW Sports Day Passes cover almost everything live.
from £14.99
NOW Sports Day Pass
3 steps to a sensible stack
How to pick your streaming subscriptions
The biggest streaming mistake is paying for four apps and using two. Three honest checks usually cut a household stack in half.
Open the apps you actually used last month
Most smart-TVs show last opened. If you opened an app twice in 30 days it is probably not earning its £8/month. Cancel it: nothing is locked in, you can resubscribe in two minutes if you miss it.
Two paid + free apps + TV Licence
Most UK households are well served by two paid subscriptions (Netflix + Disney+ or Netflix + Prime) plus iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and a couple of FAST apps. Total cost: £15-£18/month and the TV Licence.
Rotate, do not collect
For sport, films or a specific show, take the subscription for the month or season you need it and then cancel. NOW, Apple TV+ and Paramount+ all reward this kind of rotation; only Netflix really fights it.
Live monthly prices, June 2026
What does a UK streaming stack actually cost?
Most UK households land in three brackets depending on how aggressive they are about cancelling. Add £174.50/year (£14.54/month) for the TV Licence if you watch any live TV or iPlayer.
£0
Free apps only (iPlayer, ITVX, C4, My5, Pluto)
£15–£20
Two paid subscriptions (Netflix + Disney+ or Prime)
£35–£50
All-rounder + NOW Sports or Cinema add-on
Source: service published rates, verified June 2026. Ad-supported tiers continue to drop into the £4-£6 range across the board.
Streaming FAQ
The Selectra expert answers your questions
For sheer breadth, Netflix still wins on UK originals, licensed films and the volume of new releases each month. Disney+ is the best second app for families, Star Wars, Marvel and National Geographic. Prime Video is the better second pick for childless adults thanks to NFL, Premier League Tuesday Nights and a deep film catalogue inside Amazon Prime. Full ranking in our best streaming services guide.
You need a TV Licence (£174.50/year) to watch any live TV as broadcast (any channel, on any device) and to watch BBC iPlayer on demand. You do not need one for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+ or any other on-demand-only service that is not iPlayer. If you only use those, you can legally write to TV Licensing and stop paying.
NOW Entertainment at £9.99/month gives you Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Witness, Sky Comedy and a big library of box sets, with no contract. NOW Cinema (£9.99) covers Sky Cinema. NOW Sports Month Pass (£34.99) or Day Pass (£14.99) covers Sky Sports. All three can be stopped any month, unlike Sky's 18-month contracts.
Not legally. Netflix ended password sharing in 2023 and now flags accounts that stream from outside the "primary household" Wi-Fi. Disney+ followed with a similar policy. Both offer paid add-ons to allow a second household (Netflix Extra Member at £5.99/month). Sharing is not technically blocked everywhere yet, but the algorithm catches up over a few months.
For most viewers, yes. Netflix Standard with ads (£5.99/month) now includes 1080p, two simultaneous streams and the full catalogue with very few exceptions. Around 4-5 minutes of ads per hour. The only reason to pay for the £10.99 Standard tier is to avoid ads or to download for offline viewing; the £17.99 Premium adds 4K and four streams.
Yes, the British public-service apps (BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5) are funded by the TV Licence and ads, so once you hold a Licence they cost nothing extra. Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels and Amazon Freevee are pure ad-funded streamers with no subscription. The catalogue is older but covers 200+ channels and a deep film library at £0/month. Full list in our best free UK streaming guide.
Yes. UK Champions League rights belong to TNT Sports (ex-BT Sport), available as a Discovery+ Premium add-on (around £30/month, no contract) or as a Sky channel. NOW does not carry TNT Sports. The best sports streaming guide breaks down what carries which competition.
5 Mbps per HD stream, 25 Mbps per 4K stream. A household running two 4K streams plus everyday browsing wants at least 75 Mbps to feel comfortable. Anything under 30 Mbps will buffer 4K on Netflix and Disney+, even if the marketing says otherwise. Our postcode availability check shows what your address can actually run.