Entertainment · alternatives
Alternatives to YouTube TV
24 entertainment tools sit alongside YouTube TV in this directory. Below is what separates each from YouTube TV on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 14
- Cheaper to start
- 17
- YouTube TV starts at
- $59.99/month
Why people look past YouTube TV
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the YouTube TV entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
YouTube TV starts at $59.99/month. Across the 17 entertainment tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $10.99/month.
There is no free tier
The record for YouTube TV carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 14 of the 24 alternatives below can be used without paying.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
YouTube TV publishes 4 tiers, from $1.99/month up to $82.99/month. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the YouTube TV pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Music for everyone
- Can be used without paying; YouTube TV cannot.
- Starts $53 a month cheaper, at $6.99/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
- 5 tiers to YouTube TV's 4.
Make Your Day
- Can be used without paying; YouTube TV cannot.
- Starts $59.99 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a free model rather than subscription.
- 1 tier to YouTube TV's 4.
Video sharing and streaming platform
- Can be used without paying; YouTube TV cannot.
- Starts $48 a month cheaper, at $11.99/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
- 2 tiers to YouTube TV's 4.
Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- Starts $51 a month cheaper, at $8.99/month.
- 2 tiers to YouTube TV's 4.
Ticket resale marketplace charging both buyers and sellers, with combined fees often a large share of face value
- Can be used without paying; YouTube TV cannot.
- Sold on a Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers model rather than subscription.
- 2 tiers to YouTube TV's 4.
Free ad-supported streaming from Roku, with an optional paid live TV add-on layer
- Can be used without paying; YouTube TV cannot.
- Sold on a Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons model rather than subscription.
- 2 tiers to YouTube TV's 4.
Every YouTube TV alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube TV (this page) | $59.99/month | Subscription | 4 | |
| SpotifyMusic for everyone | Free, then $6.99/month | Freemium | 5 | vs YouTube TV |
| TikTokMake Your Day | Free | Free | 1 | vs YouTube TV |
| YouTubeVideo sharing and streaming platform | Free, then $11.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Amazon Prime VideoWatch anywhere. Cancel anytime | $8.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| StubHub | Free | Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| The Roku Channel | Free | Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| mpv | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs YouTube TV |
| Infuse | Free, then $1.99/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs YouTube TV |
| IINA | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs YouTube TV |
| Castro | Free, then $24.99/year | - | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Castbox | Free | - | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Emby | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Apple TV+ | Free, then $12.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Crunchyroll | Free, then $7.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs YouTube TV |
| Dailymotion | Free | Free | 1 | vs YouTube TV |
| Philo | $33/month | Per household per month, single plan | 1 | vs YouTube TV |
| fuboTV | $73.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs YouTube TV |
| DirecTV Stream | $89.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs YouTube TV |
| Disney+ | $7.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| ESPN+ | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Discovery+ | $4.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
| Final Cut Pro | $12.99/month | - | 3 | vs YouTube TV |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | $22.99/month | - | 4 | vs YouTube TV |
| Apple Music | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs YouTube TV |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the YouTube TV badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than YouTube TV (17)
Entry price under YouTube TV's $59.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
What you would be giving up
YouTube TV is most often brought in for watching live sports with multiview capability to watch up to 4 games simultaneously, accessing 100+ broadcast and cable channels for entertainment and shows, streaming news coverage from cnn, fox news, and local stations, sharing household accounts with up to 6 individual family members, recording unlimited content with dvr storage across devices. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If YouTube TV is broadly right and the question is cost, the YouTube TV pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Entertainment category lists everything the directory holds, and best entertainment tools ranks them.
YouTube TV runs on not recorded. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about YouTube TV alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to YouTube TV?
- 24 other entertainment tools are listed in this directory, led by Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to YouTube TV?
- 14 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, StubHub, The Roku Channel.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to YouTube TV?
- Yes. 17 of the alternatives below start under YouTube TV's $59.99/month: Spotify at Free, then $6.99/month, TikTok at Free, YouTube at Free, then $11.99/month, Amazon Prime Video at $8.99/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to YouTube TV?
- On the figures on record, 3 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; there is no free tier; cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from YouTube TV?
- YouTube TV is most often brought in for watching live sports with multiview capability to watch up to 4 games simultaneously, accessing 100+ broadcast and cable channels for entertainment and shows, streaming news coverage from cnn, fox news, and local stations, sharing household accounts with up to 6 individual family members, recording unlimited content with dvr storage across devices. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to YouTube TV?
- None of the entertainment tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these YouTube TV alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Entertainment, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare YouTube TV against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against YouTube TV covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every entertainment tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Entertainment category, 24 tools beside YouTube TV. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.