Media & Entertainment · ranked shortlist
Best Media & Entertainment software for Startups in 2026
20 approved media & entertainment listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed. Startups are buying for a headcount they do not have yet, which makes the second and third tier of each ladder more important than the first. Check what the price becomes at ten people.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $4.99-$24.99
- Publish a $0 plan
- 9 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved media & entertainment listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the media & entertainment category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Apple TV+
Highest rated hereOriginal stories from the most creative minds
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $9.99 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- streaming, apple, originals, movies
- #2
Audible
Audiobooks as you've never experienced them
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $7.95 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $14.95.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- audiobooks, podcasts, audio, books
- #3
BritBox
British television and entertainment
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $6.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $9.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, british, bbc, itv
- #4
Castbox
Podcast & radio app for everyone
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- podcasts, radio, streaming
- #5
Castro
Podcast app with episode inbox
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $24.99 a month.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- podcasts, iOS app, inbox
- #6
Criterion Channel
Criterion Collection curated films
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $10.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $99.99.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, cinema, criterion
- #7
Crunchyroll
The world's largest anime streaming platform
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $7.99 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $9.99.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- anime, streaming, manga, japanese
- #8
Dailymotion
Watch, publish, and share videos
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- video, sharing, streaming, content
- #9
Discovery+
Unscripted content at your fingertips
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $4.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $8.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, reality tv, unscripted
- #10
Disney+
Stream Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $7.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $13.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, disney, marvel, star wars
- #11
Emby
Your personal entertainment server
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $4.99 a month.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- media server, streaming, personal library
- #12
ESPN+
Stream live sports, original shows, and exclusive content
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $10.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $13.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- sports, streaming, live-events
- #13
HBO Max
Stream iconic series, movies, and Max Originals
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $9.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $19.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, hbo, movies, series
- #14
Hulu
Stream TV and movies live and online
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $7.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $76.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, live tv, on-demand, entertainment
- #15
IMDb TV (Freevee)
Free ad-supported streaming from Amazon
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- free streaming, amazon, ad-supported
- #16
Jellyfin
The free software media system
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- media server, Open Source, streaming
- #17
Kodi
The ultimate entertainment center
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- media center, Open Source, entertainment
- #18
MUBI
Discover extraordinary cinema
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $7.99 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- streaming, cinema, world cinema
- #19
Overcast
The best podcast app for iPhone
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $9.95 a month.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- podcasts, ios, apple
- #20
Paramount+
A mountain of entertainment
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $11.99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- streaming, cbs, paramount, sports
What media & entertainment software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $4.99Discovery+
- Median entry price
- $7.99across 15 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $24.99Castro
- Publish a $0 plan
- 9of 20
Paid media & entertainment plans in this set start anywhere from $4.99 a month for Discovery+ to $24.99 for Castro. The median entry price across the 15 tools that publish one is $7.99, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is Criterion Channel's at $99.99 a month, 4× the highest entry price on the page. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.
9 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 5 of those charge nothing at all. 11 tools have no free tier of any kind.
1 of 20 keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote, which in practice means the number you end up paying at the top end is not on this page or on theirs.
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 media & entertainment listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- subscription
- 9
- free
- 4
- freemium
- 2
Separately, 1 of 20 publish at least one tier with no price attached. Those are sold by quote, so the top of the ladder is negotiable, and unknowable, until you talk to sales.
What comes as standard, and what you pay extra for
Every capability named in a published pricing tier by any of the 18 media & entertainment tools here that break their plans down, counted once per vendor. This measures what vendors choose to advertise as a selling point, not everything the software does, an absence below is silence, not a missing feature.
Named most often
- Ad-supported , 7 of 18
- Ad-free , 6 of 18
- Downloads , 4 of 18
- Full HD , 3 of 18
- Full library , 2 of 18
Named by fewer
- No ads , 2 of 18
- Open source , 2 of 18
Named by exactly one vendor: Ad banners, Basic in-audio search, Dolby Atmos, Limited ads, Original shows, Smart Speed. Those are differentiators rather than table stakes.
What “Media & Entertainment” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- streaming15
- entertainment4
- podcasts4
- apple2
- cinema2
- media server2
- movies2
- Open Source2
- sports2
Carried by a single tool: ad-supported, audiobooks, content, free streaming, itv, manga, paramount, sharing. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
9 of 20 media & entertainment tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with ad-supported, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$4.99 to $24.99 is a $20 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $24.99 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
3 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 2 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, ad-supported, ad-free, downloads, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 3 billing models: subscription on 9 listings, free on 4, and 1 other arrangement across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Questions people ask about media & entertainment software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this media & entertainment ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved media & entertainment listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- Is this list re-ordered for startups?
- No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the startups framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Startups are buying for a headcount they do not have yet, which makes the second and third tier of each ladder more important than the first. Check what the price becomes at ten people.
- How much does media & entertainment software cost?
- Across the 20 media & entertainment tools listed here, paid plans start between $4.99 and $24.99 a month, with a median entry price of $7.99. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $99.99 a month (Criterion Channel). 9 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest media & entertainment software?
- 5 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, Discovery+ has the lowest published entry price at $4.99 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free media & entertainment software?
- Yes, 9 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 5 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- What features should media & entertainment software have?
- Judging by what vendors put in their own published pricing tiers, the most frequently named capabilities in this category are ad-supported (7 of 18 tools that publish plan detail), ad-free (6) and downloads (4). Treat those as the category baseline. Anything named by only one vendor, such as ad banners or basic in-audio search, is a differentiator rather than a standard, so it is worth deciding whether you need it before it narrows your shortlist to one.
- How is media & entertainment software usually billed?
- subscription (9), free (4), freemium (2), counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not. 1 of 20 tools also keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote.
- What does media & entertainment software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are streaming (15), entertainment (4), podcasts (4), apple (2), cinema (2). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under media & entertainment may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do media & entertainment tools offer?
- 19 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 2 tiers. 3 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many media & entertainment tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved media & entertainment listings appear on this page, including Apple TV+, Audible, BritBox, Castbox. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/media-entertainment, which ranks the same set by published rating.
Keep reading
More on Media & Entertainment
Neighbouring categories
- CRM & Sales
- Marketing & Analytics
- Development Tools
- Event Management
- Web Development
- Calendar & Time Management
- HR & Recruiting
- Scheduling & Booking
Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.