Why You Shouldn’t Use Roku, Tubi, and Pluto TV the Same Way

I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime, but I still spend most of my time watching free streaming services. We keep Netflix largely because my wife despises ads, while I take advantage of other Amazon Prime benefits throughout the year and view Prime Video as a bonus. However, the bottom line is that when I choose something for myself, I usually open Pluto TV, The Roku Channel or Tubi.

At first glance, these three services may look similar, but after regular use, I’ve found that they are better at different things. One is better when I want to find a movie, one is closest to the Netflix streaming experience, and one is what I open when I want to browse channels without making another decision. I have a favorite, but that doesn’t make the others unnecessary. Once you understand what each service does best, choosing between them becomes much easier.

Most of these figures come from platforms or their parent companies, but they are not entirely comparable. Tubi counts movies and individual TV series, Roku separates movies from shows, and Pluto TV doesn’t publish an exact total for its on-demand library. Catalogs and channel lineups also change regularly.

Pluto TV is my favorite free streaming service.

Nothing else beats old-fashioned channel surfing.

Pluto TV may not have the on-demand depth of Tubi, but it’s still the free streaming service I open most often. Its live guide is closer than Tubi or The Roku Channel to recreating the experience of switching cable channels and watching everything that’s happening. There are channels dedicated to movies, news, reality TV, classic TV, sports, music videos, and even individual shows or franchises. When I don’t have something specific in mind, Pluto TV makes it easy to start watching without spending 20 minutes scrolling through a wall of thumbnails.

Its on-demand section is also better than people sometimes think. It’s easy to switch between live channels, search and on-demand programming, and there are plenty of old shows and familiar favorites that I’m always excited to watch again. I don’t use the on-demand section as often as I do live TV, but it gives Pluto TV more flexibility than just a collection of streaming channels.

This doesn’t mean the experience is perfect. Pluto TV can feel monotonous, especially when the channel cycles through the same seasons or the same small group of episodes, and commercial repetition can be soul-crushing. Listening to the same ad over and over again in one evening is perhaps one of the platform’s biggest weaknesses. However, these complaints don’t matter much when I’m cooking dinner, doing things around the house, or just want something familiar playing in the background. Pluto TV may not offer the most control, but it requires the least from me, and that’s the main reason it remains my favorite.

The Roku Channel is the closest thing to a paid streaming service.

This is usually my next stop after Pluto TV.

When there’s nothing on Pluto TV that catches my attention, I usually go to the Roku channel. The Roku Channel is the closest thing to the experience of a regular paid streaming app, placing movies and shows at the center of a clean, easy-to-watch interface. Cord Cutters News readers also voted it the best ad-supported free streaming service of last year at the annual Cordie Awards.

My Roku home screen also has a Live TV tile that allows me to skip the Roku channel’s main menu and go straight to its guide, which Roku says includes over 500 free channels. I still prefer Pluto TV for channel browsing, but the combination of Roku’s big live guide and stronger on-demand experience makes it the most comprehensive service of the three.

Photo: Rich Hayne/HowToGeek

Tubi is where I go when I want to browse.

Its deep catalog rewards a little patience.

I open Tubi when I know I want to watch a movie or an old show but don’t have a specific title in mind. Its biggest strength is the size and diversity of its catalog. I can navigate through genres, decades, cult favorites, forgotten TV shows, and movies I haven’t thought about in years. It’s less like channel surfing and more like digging through an old video store, which is part of the appeal. I don’t always find something right away, but I usually come across a few titles that make me stop scrolling.

The downside is that Tubi may require more effort than Pluto TV or The Roku Channel. There’s so much available that browsing can feel endless, and the interface doesn’t always do a good job of separating the truly interesting finds from the filler. Some viewers will also dislike advertising, although I find the experience easier to bear if I’ve chosen exactly what I want to watch. Tubi isn’t the service I open when I want the TV playing in the background, but it’s often the best of the three services when I’m willing to spend a little time searching for a movie or show.

Free streaming is better if you use it on your own terms.

The biggest benefit of free streaming isn’t that one service can replace everything I pay for. The point is that I can move between multiple platforms without adding another monthly bill. Once I stopped expecting each to perform like Netflix, their differences became much easier to appreciate.