Why pay for Max, Hulu, Peacock and other streaming services when you can try them for free?
Many major streaming services allow you to try their offerings for a limited period of time – usually a week or sometimes even a month – for the dirt-cheap price of zero.
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 for new customers only, although some services offer free trials for former subscribers.
Read on to learn about the 8 best free trials currently available on major streaming services, and also learn some clever strategies for getting free trials that aren’t so obvious.
Free 30-day streaming trials
Hulu
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 30 days
New and “eligible” existing customers can sign up for a whopping 30 days of free Hulu, including both Hulu with ads and the ad-free version of Hulu.
This gives you plenty of time to try out hit shows like Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Better Things, Under the Bridge, Shogun, The Handmaid’s Tale, And Only murders in the building.
Amazon Prime Video
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 30 days
You can get a full month of free Amazon Prime Video simply by taking a free trial of Amazon Prime. This includes benefits like free and fast shipping, unlimited photo storage, ad-free music streaming, games, free Kindle books, and more.
The top shows on Amazon Prime Video currently include Fallout, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jack Ryan, Reacher, Gen V, The Summer I Became Pretty, The Wheel of Time, And The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
AppleTV+
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 7 days or 30 days with Apple One trial
Apple is offering a free 7-day trial for its streaming service Apple TV+, but guess what: you can actually 30 free days of Apple TV+ when you sign up for a one-month free trial of Apple One, Apple’s online services suite.
The only catch is that Apple only offers free trials for services you’ve never subscribed to or otherwise “experienced.” This means you can’t get a 30-day trial of Apple One with Apple TV+ and then immediately grab the 7-day free trial of Apple TV+.
Apple TV+ offers shows like Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Severance, Slow Horses, Masters of the Air, Sugar, Palm Royale, Franklin, Dark Matter, Shrinking, For All Mankind, Foundation, Hijack, Trying, and more.
Free 7-day streaming trials
Max
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 7 days
Max doesn’t normally offer a free trial, but if you act fast, you can currently grab a 7-day free trial of Max. The offer expires on June 23rd, so don’t wait too long.
Top Max shows include Hacks, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession, Game of Thrones, The White Lotus, Leave it, Larry!, Chernobyl, Big Little Lies, Euphoria, And True Detective.
Outstanding+
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 1 week or 30 days with code
Paramount+ typically offers new subscribers a 7-day free trial, but the streamer is also known for offering one coupon code after another that allows for a full month of free streaming.
Lately, those Paramount+ coupon codes have dried up, although The Streamable recently caught wind of a new code that unlocks a month of free streaming.
If you can’t get a code or you’ve used up the standard 7-day trial for new Paramount+ subscribers, you can always get another one-week trial through Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, and The Roku Channel.
Popular shows on Paramount+ include 1883, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, The Good Fight, Survivor, Halo, Yellowjackets, Tulsa King, And Mayor of Kingstown.
peacock
Free trial period: No (but yes, pssssst!)
Length: Varies
Peacock is one of the few streaming services that doesn’t offer a free trial on its homepage, but we’ve found a clever way to get a free Peacock trial.
Instead of going straight to Peacock to stream for free, try this: Go to Instacart and try Instacart+. You’ll find that one of the main benefits of Instacart+ is free access to Peacock, and – you guessed it – you can sign up for a free trial of Instacart+.
Note that the length of the Instacart+ free trial varies; at the time of this writing, it is two weeks.
The top shows on Peacock include Poker face, The Saved by the bell RestartVanderpump Rules, The Office, 30 Rock, Girls5eva, Parks and Recreation, Mrs. Davis, And We are Lady Parts.
AMC+
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 7 days
The home of The Walking Dead and its many offshoots still offer a 7-day free trial.
Like most of its competitors, AMC+ limits its free trial to new subscribers, but you can extend your free streaming by signing up for additional trials to Amazon Prime, Apple TV Channels, and The Roku Channel.
AMC+’s biggest shows include The Walking Dead (naturally)Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, Dark Winds, Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, And The Walking Dead: Dead City.
Discovery+
Free trial period: Yes
Length: 7 days
Yes, you can still subscribe to Discovery+ as a standalone service after the merger with Max, and yes, there is a 7-day free trial – but again, this is only for new subscribers.
The shows on Discovery+ range 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.
Free 3-day streaming trial
Disney+ and ESPN+ with Hulu (no ads) + Live TV
There’s no one-month or even a 7-day free trial for Disney+ or ESPN+, but you can get a 3-day trial of both bundled with Hulu + Live TV. Three days is better than nothing, right?
Just remember to cancel that three-day trial for Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu + Live TV before it expires, or you’ll have to pay a whopping $76.99 per month.
Disney+ is your hub for everything Marvel, war of starsPixar and Disney, while ESPN+ offers a menu of live and recorded sports programming (note that ESPN+ does not offer a live simulcast of the cable network ESPN).
Does Netflix offer a free trial?
No, Netflix does not currently offer free trials, but we will update this story if anything changes.
Don’t forget to cancel
Most streaming services will start charging your credit card once your free trial period ends, so remember to cancel your trial period before your first billing date.
While some free streaming trials end immediately when canceled, others allow you to continue streaming for the remainder of the trial period.
