Why pay for Apple TV, Hulu, Peacock, and other streaming services when you can give them a try for free?
Many of the big streaming services will let you sample their wares for a limited time—generally a week, or sometimes even a month—for the ultra-low price of zip.
These free streaming trials come and go, so you’ll want to grab them while they’re still available. Also, most free streaming trials are only for new customers, although some services do offer free trials to lapsed subscribers.
Read on for the best free trials now available from the big streaming services, including some clever strategies for nabbing free trials that aren’t so obvious.
Free 30-day streaming trials
Hulu
Free trial: Yes
Length: 30 days
New and “eligible” returning customers can sign up for a whopping 30 days of free Hulu, including both Hulu with ads and the ad-free version of Hulu. Hulu considers a returning customer as eligible for a free trial if they have not been a subscriber in the past 12 months.
That should leave you plenty of time to sample such hit shows as Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Better Things, Fargo, Shogun, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Only Murders in the Building.
Try Hulu for free
Amazon Prime Video
Free trial: Yes
Length: 30 days
You can snag a full month of free Amazon Prime Video simply by grabbing a free trial of Amazon Prime, which includes such benefits as free and fast shipping, unlimited photo storage, ad-free music streaming, games, free Kindle books, and more.
Among the top shows on Amazon Prime Video right now are Fallout, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jack Ryan, Reacher, Cross, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Wheel of Time, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Try Amazon Prime Video for Free
Apple TV
Free trial: Yes
Length: 30 days with Apple One trial, 7 days for standalone Apple TV, or three months with the purchase of selected Apple devices
Apple offers a free 7-day trial for its Apple TV streaming service, but get this: You can actually get 30 free days of Apple TV if you sign up for the month-long free trial of Apple One, Apple’s bundle of online services. Even better, you can snag three months of free Apple TV with the purchase of a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac.
The only catch is that Apple only offers free trials for services that you’ve never subscribed to or otherwise “experienced”–meaning you can’t get a 30-day trial of Apple One with Apple TV and then turn around and get the 7-day Apple TV free trial.
Apple TV+ offers such shows as Pluribus, Severance, The Studio, Your Friends and Neighbors, Murderbot, Silo, Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Slow Horses, Masters of the Air, Sugar, Palm Royale, Franklin, Dark Matter, Shrinking, For All Mankind, Foundation, Hijack, Trying, and more.
Try Apple TV for free
Free 7-day streaming trials
Paramount+
Free trial: Yes (but not for much longer)
Length: 1 week, or 30 days with a code
The days of streaming Paramount+ for free are numbered, with the company recently announcing that it will be “retiring” free trials in the near future. That said, Paramount+’s 7-day free trial was still live at the time of this writing, so grab it while you can.
The streamer also used to be generous with coupon codes for offering a free month of access, but those codes have been tougher to come by lately.
If you can’t nab a code or you’ve burned through the standard 7-day trial for new Paramount+ subscribers, you can always get another week-long trial via Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, and The Roku Channel. Again, though, it’s not clear how long Paramount+ will offer free trials via third-party streaming platforms.
Popular shows on Paramount+ include 1883, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Daily Show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, The Good Fight, Survivor, Halo, Yellowjackets, Tulsa King, Landman, and Mayor of Kingstown.
Try Paramount+ for free
Peacock
Free trial: No (but yes, shhhh!)
Length: Varies
Peacock is one of the few streaming services that doesn’t offer a free trial on its home page, but we found a sneaky way to get a free Peacock trial.
Instead of going straight to Peacock for free streaming, try his: Head over to Instacart and check out Instacart+. You’ll notice that one of the key benefits of Instacart+ is free access to Peacock, and—you guessed it—you can sign up for a free Instacart+ trial.
Keep in mind that the length of the Instacart+ free trial varies; as of this writing, it’s two weeks.
Top shows on Peacock include Poker Face, Vanderpump Rules, The Office, Community, Saturday Night Live, The Traitors, 30 Rock, Girls5eva, Parks and Recreation, Mrs. Davis, and We Are Lady Parts.
Try Peacock for free via Instacart+
AMC+
Free trial: Yes
Length: 7 days
The home of The Walking Dead and its many spinoffs still offers a 7-day free trial.
Like most of its competitors, AMC+ restricts its free trial to new subscribers, although you can extend your free streaming by signing up for additional trials through Amazon Prime, Apple TV Channels, and The Roku Channel.
Among AMC+ biggest shows are The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, Dark Winds, Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead: Dead City.
Try AMC+ for free
Discovery+
Free trial: Yes
Length: 7 days
Yes, you can still subscribe to Discovery+ as a standalone service following its merger with HBO Max, and yes, there is a 7-day free trial—although again, it’s only for new subscribers.
Shows on Discovery+ run the gamut from Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed and Love Off the Grid to Naked and Afraid of Love, Queen of Meth, The Haunted Museum, Selling the Hamptons, and Million Dollar Wheels.
Try Discovery+ for free
Does Disney+ offer a free trial?
Disney+ has previously offered free trials for new subscribers, but currently, the answer is no.
That said, there are some ways to snag Disney+ for free if you’re a Spectrum or Verizon subscriber.
Does HBO Max offer a free trial?
HBO Max rarely offers free trials and isn’t doing so now, but it does offer a small selection of free episodes if you want a quick taste.
For example, you can stream the series premiere of The Last of Us for free, and you can also stream episodes of Euphoria, Succession, The Penguin, The Gilded Age, and 100 Foot Wave for free.
Watch free episodes of HBO Max shows
Does Netflix offer a free trial?
Nope, Netflix doesn’t hand out free trials at this time, but we’ll update this story if anything changes. T-Mobile subscribers, however, can get a Netflix Standard (with ads) plan for free, depending on which type of T-Mobile account they have.
Don’t forget to cancel
Most streaming services will begin charging your credit card as soon as your free trial runs out, so be sure to cancel your trial before the first billing date.
While some free streaming trials will end immediately once they’re canceled, others will allow you to continue streaming for the remainder of the trial period.