Quick answer: free UK streaming in 2026

Answer-first Verified 19 May 2026 · Sources: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Sky NOW, Acorn, BritBox, MUBI
Longest free trial
30 days
Amazon Prime Video
Apple TV+ device trial
3 months
With a new Apple device
UK TV Licence
£174.50
per year, from Apr 2026
Cheapest paid
£4.99
Disney+ with ads, hayu
Free-with-signup services
8+
ITVX, C4, My5, Pluto, Tubi…
Cheapest "watch tonight" route: Pluto TV or Tubi on a Fire Stick, no signup, no fee, no licence needed
Trial trap: 24 hours before any trial ends, log in and cancel. The bill lands the same day the trial expires.

Best free streaming services and free trials at a glance

The table below summarises the most popular UK options grouped by what they really are: forever-free ad-supported services with no card needed, free-with-licence services (BBC iPlayer), and paid subscriptions whose only "free" element is a one-off trial. Prices are checked against each provider's website in July 2026.

If broadband speed for HD streaming is a concern, our TV and broadband hub explains the minimum download speeds for each service and how to pick a plan that can handle multiple simultaneous streams.

Summary of the best free streaming services and free trials in the UK in 2026
Service Type Free trial After trial / paid tier
BBC iPlayerFree with TV LicenceN/A£174.50/yr (TV Licence)
ITVXFree with adsN/A£5.99/mo Premium (ad-free)
Channel 4Free with adsN/A£3.99/mo (ad-free)
My5Free with adsN/AFree
Pluto TVFree, no signupN/AFree
TubiFree, no signupN/AFree
Samsung TV Plus / LG ChannelsFree, smart-TV nativeN/AFree
Amazon Prime VideoFree trial30 days£8.99/mo with ads, £95/yr
Apple TV+Free trial7 days (3 mo new device)£8.99/mo
Disney+No free trial—£4.99 with ads, £8.99, £12.99
NOW EntertainmentBoost 7-day trial only—£9.99/mo rolling
BritBoxFree trial7 days£5.99/mo
Acorn TVFree trial7 days£5.99/mo or £59.99/yr
MUBIFree trial7 days (30 students)£15.99/mo
hayuFree trial7 days£4.99/mo

Indicative prices and trial lengths in July 2026. Streaming platforms change terms frequently, always check the provider's website before subscribing.

Forever-free UK streaming services

Eight services that cost nothing every month, ever. Some need a free account, some need nothing at all. Only BBC iPlayer requires a TV Licence on top.

BBC iPlayer

TV Licence

BBC1, BBC2, BBC News, CBBC, live and on-demand, originals like Line of Duty, Happy Valley, Industry, Doctor Who.

Caveat. TV Licence (£174.50/year) required to watch any live broadcast or any iPlayer content.

ITVX

Free with ads

ITV1, ITV2, ITVBe, ITV4, live and on-demand. Documentaries, soaps, sport highlights, big ITV originals.

Caveat. Optional ITVX Premium at £5.99/month removes ads and unlocks exclusive box sets like Britbox titles.

Channel 4

Free with ads

Channel 4, E4, Film4, More4, live and on-demand. Big catalogue including Friends, Gogglebox, Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners.

Caveat. Ad-free upgrade £3.99/month; sign-up required to watch.

My5

Free with ads

Channel 5 and Paramount UK on-demand: Neighbours, MasterChef Australia, true-crime, US drama imports.

Caveat. No subscription option; free across mobile, browser and smart TVs.

Pluto TV

Free, no signup

100+ live channels in linear "FAST" format, plus on-demand library, mostly licensed catalogue TV and films.

Caveat. Owned by Paramount; quality varies channel-to-channel.

Tubi

Free, no signup

Fox-owned AVOD service that launched in the UK in 2025; large on-demand film catalogue and some Fox-originated series.

Caveat. Smaller library than US Tubi; expanding monthly.

Samsung TV Plus / LG Channels

Free, on smart TVs

Built-in FAST channels on Samsung and LG smart TVs (and the Samsung TV Plus app on mobile). News, sport, kids, reality, classic films.

Caveat. Selection is brand-locked: best on a Samsung or LG TV from 2018 onwards.

STV Player

Free with ads

Scottish ITV franchise on-demand with regional news and STV originals; accessible across the UK.

Caveat. Optional STV Player+ at £3.99/month for an ad-free experience.

Free trials on UK paid streaming services

Every mainstream paid service that still offers a real trial, in order of trial length. Each one requires a payment method up front. Cancel inside the trial window and you keep access to the end of it without being charged.

Amazon Prime Video

After the trial: £8.99 with ads, £11.98 ad-free, or £95/year

30 days

Prime Video included with full Amazon Prime (30-day Prime trial). Originals: The Boys, Reacher, Citadel, plus a deep catalogue.

Good to know. Trial also unlocks Prime delivery, Prime Reading and Prime Music.

Apple TV+

After the trial: £8.99/month

7 days (3 months with a new Apple device)

Originals only, no licensed catalogue. Slow Horses, Severance, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, The Studio.

Good to know. Apple One bundle from £19.95 includes Apple TV+, Music, Arcade and iCloud+.

BritBox

After the trial: £5.99/month

7 days

British box-set archive: classic Doctor Who, Bergerac, Doc Martin, Cracker, Inspector Morse, Spitting Image.

Good to know. BBC + ITV joint venture; large overlap with iPlayer/ITVX but with deeper archive.

Acorn TV

After the trial: £5.99/month or £59.99/year

7 days

British, Irish, Australian and Scandinavian mystery and drama: Foyle's War, Vera, Murdoch Mysteries, Agatha Raisin.

Good to know. Annual plan saves £12 versus monthly.

MUBI

After the trial: £15.99/month or £19.99 MUBI Go

7 days (30 days for students)

Curated arthouse and world cinema: one new film a day, kept on the service for 30 days.

Good to know. MUBI Go adds a free cinema ticket every week to a handpicked release.

NOW Entertainment

After the trial: £9.99/month rolling

No standard trial (discounted intros)

Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Comedy live and on-demand: White Lotus, Succession archive, Mary & George, House of the Dragon.

Good to know. NOW Boost 7-day trial unlocks 1080p and 5.1 audio on top of any membership.

hayu

After the trial: £4.99/month

7 days direct, 1 month via Amazon Prime

US reality: Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, Below Deck, Selling Sunset, 8,000+ episodes.

Good to know. Cheapest mainstream UK reality streamer.

Live tool

What can you watch free this month? The trial-stacking calculator

Pick the services you want to test this month. The widget tells you how many cumulative trial days you get free, when each one expires from today, and what the bill will be in 31 days if you forget to cancel.

Tick the trials to stack

Your trial stack

Free watching, ends

days

Tick a trial to start.

All trials end on or before .

If you forget to cancel: in 31 days the combined monthly bill will be £/month. Set a calendar reminder for the day before each trial ends.

Cancel-before dates

No trials selected yet.

Dates assume you sign up today. Most services allow you to cancel during the trial and keep access until it ends.

How to cancel safely before the trial converts

Almost every free trial converts to a paid month automatically. The cancellation flow is short, but the wording is designed to slow you down. The single rule that protects every trial: cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date, and check the account page actually confirms "cancelled" or "ends on …".

Amazon Prime Video

  1. Sign in at amazon.co.uk > Account & Lists > Your Prime Membership.
  2. Under Membership Management, click End Trial.
  3. Confirm End My Benefits then Cancel Membership.

Access continues until day 30. You can also use the Amazon mobile app via Programs & Features > Prime.

Apple TV+

  1. Open tv.apple.com (or Settings > your name > Subscriptions on iPhone).
  2. Tap Manage next to Apple TV+.
  3. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.

If you cancel during the free trial, Apple may end access immediately rather than at the end of the trial.

BritBox / Acorn TV

  1. Sign in at britbox.com or acorn.tv.
  2. Click your name > Account > Subscription.
  3. Click Cancel Subscription and follow the prompts.

If you signed up via Apple TV, Roku, Amazon or Google Play, you must cancel through that platform instead.

MUBI / NOW / hayu

  1. Sign in on the web (mubi.com, nowtv.com, hayu.com).
  2. Open your account / billing settings.
  3. Pick Cancel Subscription or Manage Membership and confirm.

NOW does not always show a cancellation option in the mobile app: use the website to be safe.

Trial discipline tip. The simplest way to never get charged by accident: as soon as you sign up, immediately go to the account page and cancel the renewal. The trial still runs to the end; the renewal just will not fire. This works on Amazon, Apple TV+, BritBox, Acorn, MUBI and hayu.

Which free streaming services should you pick in 2026?

For most UK households, the best value combination is BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4 (all free with a TV Licence for live, free without for catch-up) plus one paid subscription trialled through Amazon Prime Video, which bundles free delivery alongside its 30-day video trial. Add Pluto TV or Tubi on a Fire Stick for filler live channels and old films at zero cost and zero signup.

If you specifically want arthouse film, add MUBI for its curated catalogue and weekly cinema ticket option. For British period drama and mystery, stack Acorn TV or BritBox during their free trials. For reality TV, the cheapest legitimate route is hayu at £4.99/month, since the same shows on Netflix cost twice as much.

Whatever you choose, set a calendar reminder 24 hours before the trial ends. Almost every service renews automatically and charges the full monthly price the same day. You can always resubscribe later if you miss the content; you cannot easily refund an automatic renewal.

Advantages

  • ITVX, Channel 4, My5 and BBC iPlayer cover most mainstream UK TV at no monthly cost
  • Pluto TV and Tubi need no card, no signup, no licence (on-demand only)
  • Amazon Prime's 30-day trial is the longest mainstream free window
  • Trial-stacking can give you 30+ days of premium content without paying anything

Disadvantages

  • BBC iPlayer requires the £174.50 TV Licence whether live or catch-up
  • Disney+ no longer offers any free trial
  • Trials auto-renew: forgetting to cancel means an immediate charge
  • The same email rarely qualifies for a second trial on the same service

Free streaming FAQ

Yes. Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and LG Channels work with no account, no card, no email. Channel 4, My5, ITVX and STV Player ask for a free account but never a payment method. Only BBC iPlayer requires a valid TV Licence on top of the free signup.

Amazon Freevee shut down in February 2024. Its programmes and channels were folded into the main Prime Video app, where they appear in the new free-with-ads tier when you have a Prime subscription. Standalone non-Prime access to Freevee no longer exists in the UK.

Yes if you watch any live TV (on any channel, any device) or anything at all on BBC iPlayer including catch-up. The fee rose to £174.50 per year on 1 April 2026. If you only ever watch on-demand on ITVX, Channel 4, My5, Netflix, Prime, Disney+ or Apple TV+, and never live, you legally do not need a licence, but the burden of proof falls on you if TV Licensing checks.

FAST stands for "Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV": a linear (live, scheduled) channel that streams over the internet rather than via aerial or satellite, funded by ads. Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Rakuten TV's "linear" tab and the new free tier on Tubi all sit in this category. They look and behave like Freeview channels but no aerial is needed.

Yes, and it is a legitimate way to test what fits before committing. Most services let you cancel inside the trial window and keep access until the trial ends. The risk is forgetting one: each trial auto-converts to a paid month if you do not cancel at least 24 hours before it expires. Set a calendar reminder the same day you sign up.

In most cases, no. Amazon, Apple, Disney, BritBox, Acorn, MUBI and NOW all track your email and payment details; signing up again with the same card or account usually fails to qualify for a new trial. Some services explicitly say "new customers only". A new Apple ID or Amazon account does sometimes work, but creating fake accounts can breach the terms of use.

Disney+ removed its 7-day free trial in early 2022 and has not reinstated it. Occasional promotions through O2, Vodafone, BT Broadband and EE Mobile bundle a few months free, and Tesco Clubcard vouchers can be exchanged for short Disney+ memberships. There is no free direct sign-up route in 2026.

Most services recommend at least 5 Mbps for SD, 10 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. If two people in the home watch different streams at once, double those figures. If you live in a fibre-to-the-cabinet area at 30–40 Mbps and stream regularly, the bottleneck is usually contention and not the headline speed.

Get the right broadband for free streaming

All of these free services need a stable broadband connection. ITVX, BBC iPlayer and Pluto TV will run on anything above 10 Mbps; 4K films on Prime Video or Apple TV+ need around 25 Mbps. If two people in the home stream different things at once, double those figures.

Selectra's UK broadband team compares Sky, BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Vodafone and full-fibre challengers like Community Fibre and Hyperoptic against your postcode and the streaming services you actually use, so you do not pay for a gigabit line you cannot use.

Use our free comparison tools to find the broadband and TV deals that fit your address and viewing habits.

Quick links:

Best UK sports streaming sites · Best UK TV packages · No-contract broadband deals · TV & Broadband hub

Further reading