Advertisement
We outline the movies and shows available on each streaming service, plus the cost, number of users and other key info. Plus, a cost comparison of streaming vs. cable.
You have endless options for streaming services in Canada. While choice can be a great thing, it can also cause confusion when it comes to the value of each service, since each differs greatly in terms of available movies and shows, subscription cost and the number of users that can access a single account. Plus, a 2023 study by Roku Advertising found that 47% of Canadian streamers are considering changing providers within the next year. Why? This stat is a convincing one: 57% of Canadian streamers “feel that they have less disposable income than before.” Cutting down on expenses (like streaming subscriptions) can be one of the first ways to effectively manage your spending. If you’re wondering which service you should keep, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up the best Canadian streaming services, their prices and other key information so that you can choose (and binge-watch) wisely.
Before you sign up for any streaming service, first find out if it offers a free trial. This will not only save you a few bucks, but it will also allow you to sample the service and get a better idea of whether you want to fully invest in it. Some services, like Netflix and Disney+, do not offer free trials, whereas Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video offer 7- and 30-day free trials, respectively.
While conventional sales are rare in the world of streaming services, that’s not to say you can’t find a deal. Some services can be bundled (like through your Amazon Prime membership, for example), or you can save by paying for an entire year upfront (as you’ll see below).
Of course, a great way to save on streaming services is to share them. Check how many users are allowed on one account—then have a conversation about it with family and friends. If, say, your parents or adult kids subscribe to Netflix, you may be able to use their account. If you have an existing account of your own with a particular streaming service, and room to add more users, you can always agree to exchange log-ins, too.
Here are the streaming services in Canada, along with their prices and features, to help you choose the right one for you and your household.
American Express Cobalt Card
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite Card
What to watch: Stream Amazon’s original content, such as The Boys, Invincible, Red Queen, The Great, Russell Peters Deported, Creed Three, Beautiful Boy, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Lake.
Cost: Amazon Prime membership fee (includes Amazon Prime Video): $9.99 per month or $99 a year. Channel add-on costs vary from $3.99 to $12.99 per month. For further details, see Amazon’s pricing add-on chart.
How many devices: Stream select content on 3 devices.
What’s included: 4K and HD streaming of Amazon Prime, depending on the device you use, of course; offline viewing and downloads on select titles. Movies and TV shows include commercials that run before and during playback. However, on-demand music streaming with Amazon Music Prime is ad-free. Get access to free games and thousands of books and magazines through the Prime app. Get free two-day shipping included with your Prime membership. To top it off, Amazon Prime Video Channels allows you to add premium video channels at an additional cost, including Starz, StackTV Canada, BBC Earth and BritBox to your base Prime subscription for an additional fee. Costs vary depending on the channel.
Free trial or deals: 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime Video when you sign up for Amazon Prime. Get three months of Amazon Prime Music Unlimited free when you sign up for Amazon Prime for the first time.
What to watch: Apple TV+ features original shows, movies and series, such as Napoleon, Argyle, Criminal Record, Still Up, Strange Planet, Hijack, Swagger, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Family Plan.
Cost: $12.99 per month for basic plan; $28.95 per month for family plan; $24.95 per month for premier plan; $44.95 per month if bundled with other services via Apple One.
How many devices: 6
What’s included: 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) streaming across all devices for one price
Free trial or deals: 7-day free trial or three months free with the purchase of an Apple device, such as a Macbook, an iPhone or an iPad
What to watch: Stream well-known British series and shows, including Downton Abbey, Father Brown, Lewis, Archie, Payback, Pride and Prejudice, Bay, Lark Rise To Candleford, Five by Five, 24 Hours in Police Custody and the Antiques Roadshow.
What’s included: Stream hundreds of British TV shows ad-free and in HD on your laptop, desktop or mobile device.
Cost: $9.99 per month, $99.99 per year
How many devices: 5
Free trial or deals: 7-day free trial
What to watch: Enjoy ad-free streaming of all CBC videos, including well-known shows like Fakes, Coronation Street, One More Time, Murdoch Mysteries, Son of a Critch, Poker Face, Schitt’s Creek, The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, Run the Burbs and Kim’s Convenience, as well as news programming and special event coverage.
Cost: $5.99 per month
How many devices: 3
What’s included: HD ad-free streaming of all content on CBC Gem
Free trial or deals: 7-day free trial
What to watch: Stream Crave and HBO original shows Dark Side of the Ring, Billionaire Murders, Nesting, I Have Nothing, Dark Side of Comedy, Late Bloomer, Canada’s Drag Race, Evolving Vegan, Sisters, Don’t Rest in Peace, Thunder Bay, Disobey, Letterkenny, Rat Park, Mike on Much and Bria Mack Gets a Life. Plus, it gives you access to family content and documentaries.
Cost: Crave Premium ad-free: $22 per month or $220 per year. Crave Standard with ads: $14.99 per month or $149.90 per year. Crave Basic with ads: $9.99 per month or $99.90 per year. Starz add-on: $5.99 per month. You can also sign up for Crave through your cable provider, and free trials vary by province.
How many devices: 1 for Crave Basic with ads, and 4 for Crave Standard with ads and for Premium.
What’s included: Downloading and streaming anytime on up to 5 devices along with access to Crave’s entire library.
Free trial or deals: None from Crave; check your cable provider
What to watch: Access hundreds of different anime series, like Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Black Colver, Demo Slayer, Spy x Family, Dr. Stone and Horimiya.
Cost: Fan subscription is $9.99 per month, and Mega Fan is $12.49 per month or $124.99 per year
How many devices: 1 device with the Fan subscription, or 4 with the Mega Fan subscription
What’s included: All packages include ad-free streaming of the entire Crunchyroll anime library. Get unlimited offline viewing and stream on up to four devices with a Mega Fan subscription.
Free trial or deals: 14-day free trial
What to watch: Stream series, such as Connections with James Burke, AI Tipping Point, Secrets of the Universe, The Real Wild West, Giants, Titans the Rise of Hollywood, Going Circular, Breakthrough, Engineering the Future, Scanning the Pyramids, Cities of Tomorrow and Deep Time along with many other movies and shows about history, science, technology, nature and society.
Cost: Standard annual subscription: $4 per month ($47.99 per year). Smart Bundle annual subscription: $7 per month ($83.99 per year). Monthly standard subscription: $5.99 per month, Smart Bundle monthly subscription: $11.99 per month.
How many devices: 5
What’s included: HD streaming with a standard HD subscription, and 4K streaming with a 4K subscription
Free trial or deals: None
What to watch: Watch more than 70,000 episodes from a variety of shows and channels. Notable streaming picks include NASA’s Unexplained Files; How the Universe Works; Planet Earth; 90 Day Fiancé, Ghost Adventures, Gold Rush, Homestead Rescue, Naked and Afraid, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Drives, Death by Fame, Faking It: Ted Bundy, Iron Chef Canada, The Dead Files and Body Cam.
What’s included: Access to over 2,500 current and former shows from a variety of TV brands, including Discovery, Animal Planet and Food Network.
Cost: $5.99 per month, $8.99 per month ad-free
How many devices: 4
Free trial or deals: None
What to watch: Stream all Disney original content like A Real Bug’s Life, Ahsoka, Among the Stars, Baymax!, Becoming, Big City Greens, Chasing Waves, Arctic Ascent, Crater, Ciao Alberto, Clouds, 22 vs. Earth, Black Beauty, along with full access to the Marvel movie library and all 35 seasons of The Simpsons.
Cost: Standard with ads: $7.99 per month. Standard: $11.99 per month ($119.99 for the year). Premium: $14.99 per month ($149.99 per year). Star on Disney+ is included with all subscriptions.
How many devices: 4
What’s included: Ad-free streaming of all Disney content with standard and premium subscriptions.
Free trial or deals: None
What to watch: Enjoy a wide selection of documentaries and films, including, Mother of All Shows, Strangers in a Room, Six Days to Die, Islands, Ste. Anne, The Translator, The Slaughter, Slaxx, Carnival of Souls, White Zombie. Flyer Boys and Mama Gloria.
What’s included: Stream films from well-known global film festivals, including TIFF, Sundance, Cannes and others.
Cost: $7 per month, $70 per year
How many devices: Unlimited
Free trial or deals: 14-day free trial
What to watch: You have thousands of titles to choose from for your viewing pleasure. Netflix has both original shows (The Night Agent, Wednesday, The Last Kingdom, Ginny & Georgia, The Crown, Lucifer, Wrong Side of the Tracks, El Chapo, Money Heist, The Good Bandit, The Queen’s Gambit, Beckham and Fuller House). It also has the rights to a number of ultra-popular shows, such as Seinfeld and Breaking Bad, plus a huge selection of movies, old and new. Documentaries and kids’ shows are available, too.
Cost: Standard with ads $7.99 per month, standard $18.99 per month, premium $23.99 per month, and there is a cost for another user (outside of the household) at $7.99 a month
How many devices: 2 devices on standard with ads, 2 devices with standard, 4 with premium
What’s included: Watch unlimited movies and shows on your mobile phone, laptop or tablet anytime with HD streaming. You can watch and download videos on up to 2 devices with the standard plan or standard with ads plan. Get 4K and ultra HD video streaming, plus downloads on up to 4 devices, with the premium plan. (Note that the standard with ads plan may not be available through all third-party billing parties or packages—check with your provider.) Also, if you’re considering sharing log-ins with friends or family from another household, know that Netflix plans may begin to charge households login-sharing fees, meaning you wouldn’t be able to lean on friends and family to watch for free. The standard plan enables you to add 1 member who doesn’t live in your household, and the premium plan lets you add up to 2, for $7.99 each per month.
Free trial or deals: None
What to watch: Get access to award-winning CBS news library and Paramount+ original shows such as, 11 Minutes, Big Nate, Behind Music, Halo, FBI True, Ink Masters, Beavis and Butt-Head, Seal Team, Sexy Beast and The Offer.
Cost: $9.99 per month for the standard plan and $13.99 for the premium
How many devices: 2 for standard and 4 for premium
What’s included: Stream more than 40,000 TV episodes and movies from a variety of different channels, including CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and CBS News. With the premium plan, though, you can use 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
Free trial or deals: 7-day free trial
What to watch: A bone-chilling selection of horror movies, from classics like Hellraiser, The Descent and Creepshow to modern horror films and series like Little Monsters, Watcher, Leave, From Black, Influencer, Children of the Corn, Creepshow Skinamarink, The Day of the Beast, History of Evil, Inferno and Spiral. Shudder also features a selection of podcasts, like Channel Zero The Dream Door, She Kills Darkest Night and The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs.
What’s included: Stream movies, series and podcasts, as well as access to Shudder TV, where you can watch real-time horror movies as they come on, as though you were browsing basic cable.
Cost: $5.99 per month
How many devices: 1
Free trial or deals: 7-day free trial
What to watch: It’s YouTube plus some added luxuries, including ad-free video streaming, offline video downloads and background video playback. Get access to YouTube Music with ad-free streaming, offline music downloads and background playback.
Cost: Standard plan $12.99 per month or $129.99 per year, family plan $22.99 per month, student plan $7.99 per month
How many devices: Stream video and music offline on 4 devices.
What’s included: For all subscription tiers: ad-free video and music streaming and downloads along with background playing of YouTube
Free trial or deals: 3-month free trial for standard subscribers, 1-month free trial for family and student subscribers (more info on free stuff from YouTube below)
If you’re on a shoestring budget or simply don’t want to pay for what you watch, there are free (and totally legal!) alternatives available.
YouTube is the most popular streaming service online, and it offers endless hours of video. We covered the paid plans on premium services above, but YouTube can also be a trusty, free choice for hours of entertainment—you may just have to endure some ads (some are skippable, though!).
Into gaming? Twitch is the platform for streaming and watching gaming content. Watch prominent gaming streamers, including Ninja, auronplay, Rubius, ibai, xQc, and Pokimane, along with staple gaming channels, such as IGN and GameSpot. Ninja is the top streamer on the platform with 19 million followers, and auronplay is in the second spot with 16 million followers. Twitch also features emotes (or emoticons), including the popular <3 (Twitch heart), PogChamp, LUL, 5Head, CurseLit and many others you can download and use. You don’t need to register for an account to watch streams on the desktop version of Twitch, but you’ll need to if you’re streaming through the app.
There’s a lot to like with Tubi, which offers more than 200,000 movies and episodes, along with more than 55 live news channels from premium outlets including NBC Fox, Bloomberg, People TV and CBC. Prominent shows on the platform include Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, Forensic Files, Wolfblood, Missing, Fear Factor and The FBI Files. As of January 2025, you can also watch The Mask, Night School, Wonder, Total Recall, Oldboy, Scary Movie, Snakes on a Plane, Annie and The Grudge. Users of Tubi will also be able to watch the new original comedy series The Z-Suite starring Laren Graham which premieres in February of 2025. Tubi is a division of media giant Fox Entertainment, whose network has over 400 entertainment partners from major Hollywood studios. You do not need to register an account to stream Tubi, but having one allows you to queue up movies and save them for later. With a strong content library, Tubi is a great free choice for streaming. However, you will have to endure short commercials—remember those?
Kanopy is a streaming service that’s available through public libraries in Canada, as long as you have a library card (if you’re a student, you can access it through your college or university, too). Offering both entertaining and educational content, the platform has a unique video selection including, The Mask You Live In, The Central Park Five, I Lean American, Concerning Violence, Dunder, Litterbugs and Patema Inverted.
Though nowhere near the size of YouTube or Twitch, Dailymotion has features worth checking out. The site has five main verticals: news, sports, entertainment, tech and music. Prominent news publications like The Canadian Press, Vogue and Teen Vogue have channels.
Interested in knowing how streaming costs stack up against cable? Assuming you already pay around $70 for internet service each month, here’s what it will cost you to add a streaming service (or two) to that expense. Keep in mind prices will vary depending on where you live and the plans you choose. The chart below compares the streamers’ fees with the average costs of cable plans.
| Streaming | Cable |
|---|---|
| 1 streaming service (Netflix standard with ads): $5.99 per month | Rogers and Bell basic cable packages: 25 to 35 channels, $25 per month |
| 2 streaming services (Netflix + Prime): $15.98 per month | Rogers and Bell medium packages: 30 to 125 channels, $150 per month with Bell, and $130 per month with Rogers |
| 3 streaming services (Netflix + Prime + Crave): $25.97 per month | Rogers and Bell large packages: 52 to 143 channels, $176 per month with Bell, and $159 per month with Rogers |
| 4 streaming services (Netflix + Prime + Crave + Apple): $38.96 per month | Rogers and Bell all-inclusive packages: 158 to 184 channels, $211 per month with Bell, and $185 per month with Rogers |
If you’re wondering which of the two offers the best selection at the lowest cost, the short answer is: it depends. Many factors affect the costs of streaming, including what you want to watch. For instance, someone who needs cable to watch live sporting events may not find the same value in having a few streaming services, whereas a British TV show lover may find little value in basic cable.
So, where do all these platforms get their content? It differs for each service. While streaming giants like Netflix, Apple and Crave do produce original programming through their own production houses, they also procure the rights to stream various television shows and movies. Other services, like Kanopy and Highball.TV, don’t produce original shows or movies; they only procure rights for what they stream. And sometimes those rights are limited, which is why some shows and movies jump from streaming service to streaming service. For example, after Friends moved from Netflix to Crave.
The country you’re watching from matters, too. What’s available to Canadians can differ in other countries, even on the same streaming service provider. Check the streaming service’s website to see if you’ll be able to get the shows and movies you want to watch.
Either way, with so many services available, all with huge libraries of films, shows and documentaries, you’re bound to find something binge-worthy—no matter your budget.
Video: Promotional rates: What to look for in the fine printShare this article Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Share on Reddit Share on Email
A MoneySense reader asks what tax and probate implications she might face if she inherits a rental property held...
Whether you want the highest interest rate or no service fees, these savings accounts will meet your needs.
Find the best GIC rates in Canada. Plus, everything you need to know about how they work.
Which ETFs should you invest in? Which ones best suit your risk tolerance? What about personal ethics? Check out...
The co-founder of online prenuptial agreement startup Jointly talks about leaving Big Law, tracking spending as a system, and...
The Index Matrix vividly illustrates how different assets performed in the past. Here’s how Canadians can use it to...
Canadian investors have several options for investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Here are the pros and cons of...
Both mutual funds and ETFs have their place, and the right one for you comes down to your financial...
A MoneySense reader wants to give money to his spouse to invest. Can he avoid Canada’s income attribution rules?
Many retailers offer buy now, pay later programs to encourage spending. Understand the risks, including how your BNPL data...
What was failed to mention is that you if you stream you don’t need cable if you by a relatively inexpensive firestick on amazon!!!
These are not Canadian streaming services. They are streaming services that are available in Canada. Big difference.
Why did you not mention provincial services such as TV Ontario and the excellent BC Knowledge Network as well as Acorn which has a better selection of European movies ?
Crave is Canadian (Bell Media).
Why not a mention for Gem? It is a free service with ads or no ads will cost around $7 each month. Lots of Canadian programming, British imports, documentaries, music videos etc…….Well worth the money…..
Thank you for your comment. CBC Gem is on our list; it sits between BritBox and Crave.
Gem has a free option, though it has ads. This is one of the only true Canadian streaming services.