Internet TV: Streaming Video On Demand (SVOD) Comparison

Research and compare on-demand internet streaming media services available in the US.

The wide world of internet TV allows us to watch our favorite shows how we want, when we want. You might be getting everything you want from your current provider, but are you paying the most feasible price for it? Possibly not.

Whether you’re up for a night of plotting cold-blooded revenge with the Underwoods, raging at the latest episode of Game of Thrones or learning to cook with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, there’s many services that cater to your viewing needs. We’ve compared the top USA services head-to-head to help you decide on the best streaming provider for you.

• The Basics
• Compatibility & Features
• Content
• Data and broadband

Content Type

ServiceAllStreamingDownloadingRenting

Name	Service	Content	Pricing (USD)	Contract Type	More info
	Streaming	TV, movies	SD – $7.99, HD – $8.99, UHD – $11.99.	No lock-in	More info
	Streaming	TV, movies	Prime – $99, Rentals – starting at $0.99 for 24 hours.	Annual subscription fee	More info
	Streaming	TV, movies	Hulu – Free, Hulu Plus – $7.99.	No lock-in	More info
	Streaming	TV, movies	No subscription fee, rentals range from $0.99 to $5.99.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Downloading	TV, music, movies	TV – From $1.99 per episode, Movies – $14.99 to buy and $3.99 to rent.	No lock-in	More info
	Streaming	Soccer	$9.99 per month.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Streaming	Christian Movies and TV shows	$10.99 per month.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Streaming	Original and Exclusive Documentaries	$2.99 per month in SD, $5.99 per month in HD and $11.99 per month in 4K.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Streaming, mail-based	Video games, movies	Starts at $6.99 per month.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Streaming	HBO TV episodes	Free with your HBO subscription. If you do not have a subscription to HBO, you can purchase HBO Now for $15 a month.	No lock-in	Go to site
	Streaming	TV, movies	Free with your regular TV subscription through participating television providers.	No lock-in	More info
	Streaming	TV, movies	Free with STARZ subscription or $8.99 per month.	No lock-in	More info

Devices

HardwareAllSmart TVDesktopConsoleMobile TabletChromecastMacApple TV

Name	Hardware	Mobile Phone	Consoles	Devices	Streams
	Tablet, mobile, desktop, Chromecast, Apple TV	Yes	Yes	Any device.	4
	iPod, iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android phone and tablets, Smart TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and more	Yes	Yes	2	2
	PC, Mac, iPad, Android Tablets, iPhones, Android Smartphones, Sony Smart TV, Hisense TV, Samsung Bluray Players, Roku, Amazon Fire and Sony Smart TV.	Yes	No	1	1
	Smart TV, desktop, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Nexus Player, Nook, TiVo Premiere, Amazon Fire TV	Yes	Yes	Any device.	1
	Smart TV, Chromecast, Blu-ray, Roku, TiVo, Tablets and Home Theatre	Yes	Yes	12	2
	Apple TV, Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPad	Yes	No	1	1
	Mac or Windows computer, iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, Roku, Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV	Yes	No	Any device.	1
	Mac or Windows computer, iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, Roku, Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV	Yes	Support in 2017	Any device.	1
	Mac or Windows computer, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android Phone, Roku, Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV	Yes	No	1	1
	Amazon Fire TV, EMTEC GEM Box, Smart TV, CD Rom, DVD, Amazon Fire TV stick	Yes	Yes	Any device.	1
	Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Playstation 4, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox 360, Android TV, Playstation 3, Roku, Tivo, Xbox One	Yes	Yes	3	3
	Apple iOS, Roku players, Apple TV, Android, Windows 8, and Xbox One	Yes	Yes	2	2
	Amazon devices, Android Phone and Tablets, Apple TV, Microsoft Window 7 or newer, Apple OSX 10.5.7 or newer, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Roku, Smart TVs, Xbox	Yes	Yes.	2	2

Content

Closed CaptionsAllYes No

Name	Closed Captions	Quality	Content	Affiliates	Most Popular
	Yes	SD, HD and 4K	~100,000 movies and TV shows	Starz, Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Marvel Television, Sony Pictures, The Weinstein Company, Open Road Films	House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Grace and Frankie, Wet Hot American Summer
	Yes	SD, HD and 4K	40,000 titles	Lovefilm, Epix. HBO, Amazon Studios	The Good Wife, Under the Dome, Downton Abbey, Catastrophe, Extant, Suits, Girls
	Yes	SD and 720p HD	~1,650 hrs of TV and 2,500 hrs of movies	NBCUniversal Television Group, Fox, Disney, ABC, The CW, BBC	Deadbeat, The Awesomes, Quickdraw, The Mindy Project, Selfie, Party Down, The Hotwives of Orlando
	Yes	SD and HD	20,000 titles	Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Disney, Lionsgate, HBO, BBC Worldwide	Mr Robot, Zoo, Shark Week, Scream, Game of Thrones, Pretty Little Liars, Community, True Detective
	Yes	SD and HD	Data not available	Data not available	Data not available
	Yes	HD	Data not available	La Liga, Serie A, MLS, Liga MX, Ligue 1, Primeira Liga and the Brazilian Serie A through our live channels beIN Sports, Univision Deportes, UniMás, GolTV HD and Benfica TV	Copa America, Copa America Centenario, CONMEBOL, Football League Championship, English League Cup and Swiss Super League
	Yes	HD	Over 2,000 family-friendly, faith-based titles.	Data not available	God’s Compass, Unlimited, Crossing Streets, October Baby, The War Within, and Woodlawn
	Yes	SD, HD and 4K	Thousands of documentaries in science, technology, the arts, civilization, and more.	Data not available	Next World, Big Picture Earth and The Road to Singularity
	Yes	SD and HD	8,000 titles	Data not available	Skyrim, Battlefield 1, Star Trek Beyond, Titanfall 2
	Yes	HD	400 hours of feature and HBO original television films (including 130 movie titles that rotated monthly).	Data not available	The Wire, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Enlightened, Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm and more
	Yes	HD	Data not available	Xfinity, Dish, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable Spectrum, Optimum, Verizon, AT&T U-verse, Cox, Charter Spectrum, Optimum, Bright House Networks, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Cable One and Wow! Wide Open West	Suits, Mr. Robot, Shooter, Queen of the South, WWE, Colony and more
	Yes	HD	Data not available	Xfinity, Dish, DirecTV, Amazon Channels, Verizon, Suddenlink, AT&T, Cox, Charter Spectrum, Optimum and Mediacom	Outlander, Black Sails, Power (TV series), Spartacus, The Missing, The Girlfriend Experience and more

Broadband

Streaming QualityAllSD HD Ultra HD

Name	Data Usage	Pros	Cons
	SD – 1GB/hr, HD – 3GB/hr, Ultra HD – 7GB/hr	30 day free trial, the biggest content library, Netflix exclusives!	Not much.
	SD – 1GB/hr, HD – 1.5GB/hr, Ultra HD – 7GB/hr	30 day free trial, great content from Comedy Central and Nickelodeon	Only offers annual subscriptions
	HD – 650MB per hour	30 day free trial, streams shows that are currently airing.	Commercials for paid customers? What were they thinking?
	Streaming N/A, SD episodes – 894.25 MB, HD episodes – 1.96 GB	Good range of TV shows and movies.	Pay per episode, no free trial, limited accessibility.
	Data not available	Compatible with all Apple deices	Most expensive
	Data not available	All new users receive 24-hours of free access to a full fuboTV subscription	Only offers soccer titles
	Data not available	FREE for one month	Only offers faith and family titles
	Data not available	FREE for one month	Only offers documentaries
	Minimum 5Mbps for streaming	30 day free trial, mail-based or streaming	Some titles may have limited availability
	Data not available	Compatible with most popular platforms and internet browsers, no cap on the number of devices you can link and access to all of HBO’s movies and TV shows.	Access to HBO Go requires a cable and HBO subscription.
	Data not available	Helpful app, live TV and HD	In order to access the streaming service, you will need a cable or satellite subscription.
	With a fast connection, a single video streamed on STARZ PLAY consumes approximately 1GB of data.	STARZ Play streaming, media options and family options	In order to start streaming, you need to select your cable, satellite, or telco company TV provider, and enter in your STARZ account information.

How do I choose a streaming service that best suits me?

Yes, we all know Netflix is the crowned king of streaming video on demand (SVOD). Their unrivaled library, global expansion, and quality exclusives have cemented their position at the top for many years now. But did you know that Hulu Plus actually uses less data per hour, or that Amazon Prime Instant Video streams Comedy Central shows, like Key and Peele? It’s the little differences like these that will make you reconsider your streaming provider of choice. So sit back, relax and let us walk you through the many options available to you.

Television Network Streaming Services

From basic cable channels like CBS to premium services such as HBO and Showtime, different networks are starting to launch their own standalone streaming apps. Some options are listed below but make sure to research online to find more networks, as new apps and services are frequently becoming available.

• Showtime- Starting at $10.99 per month, Showtime recently went solo with its app streaming hit shows such as Masters of Sex, Homeland, and Shameless. Showtime streaming is currently available on Apple and Android devices, and Roku. Amazon Prime, PlayStation Vue, and Hulu customers can add Showtime to their accounts.
• HBO Now- The first major premium network to go out on its own was HBO. The network’s content has been available online for a while now via HBO Go, but uses had to log in with their cable network account information. For $14.99, you can sign up for HBO NOW, the online-only streaming version. Available on Android, iOS, Web, and Roku.
• CBS All Access- Stay up to date on all your favorite series and sitcoms such as NCIS, The Good Wife, and The Big Bang Theory, for only $5.99 per month. CBS All Access is compatible with Android, iOS, web, Roku, and Chromecast.

What devices can I stream Internet TV on?

You can stream most services through just about any device with a display and an internet connection. From tablets, to Playstations, MacBooks to PCs, everyone is eligible to stream Internet TV. Below is a list of common devices used to stream Internet TV.