The Best Streaming Services for Seniors in 2023

1. Hulu - Best Overall

4.6 / 5

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What We Like Most:

• Diverse content, including originals
• Low starting price
• Live TV option, including sports
• Accessible interface

Overview

Cost: Starting at $7.99 per month

Hulu’s starting price of $7.99 per month, combined with a robust content library, keeps this classic streaming service at the top. Hulu has next-day streaming for new episodes of hit shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Saturday Night Live.” Other shows, such as “Game of Thrones: The Last Watch,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Bear,” “The Rookie,” and “Blue Bloods” fill out their content library, along with a wide array of films and exclusive documentaries like “The Secrets of Hillsong.”

You also have the option of getting livestreamed sports and cable content with the Hulu + Live TV plan, which also includes subscriptions to Disney Plus and ESPN Plus for one monthly bill of $69.99 with ads, or $82.99 without ads. In fact, ads are our biggest downside to Hulu. The ad-free plan costs $14.99 instead of $7.99, making it far from the cheapest ad-free service.

However, with no long-term contracts and a ton of original programming, Hulu is great for people interested in their content, not bothered by ads, and looking to replace their cable.

To learn more about this service, read our guide to Hulu for seniors.

2. FuboTV - Best for Live Sports

4.4 / 5

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What We Like Most:

• Live sports, including local, regional, and national
• Content add-on options
• Hassle-free simultaneous streams
• Cloud DVR service

Overview

Cost: Starting at $74.99 per month

Unlike on-demand streaming services like Hulu, fuboTV is a livestreaming TV service. Starting at $74.99 per month, fuboTV provides 163 channels at the entry level, including ABC, FOX, ESPN, SHOWTIME, and HGTV, as well as sports content that includes livestreamed games from leagues like the NFL, MLB, NHL, NGA, and MLS.

FuboTV offers 1000 hours of DVR space for you to record and save your favorite games and programs. They also have a selection of on-demand content, such as “Saturday Night Live,” “American Horror Story,” “House Hunters,” and “The Bachelor,” but don’t expect this side of the service to be as robust as that of Hulu or Netflix.

You can add a subscription to NFL RedZone for $10.99/month or STARZ for $9.99/month to get access to more specific content. This large variety of options makes fuboTV a great cable replacement. That said, it’ll cost more than your average streaming service.

To learn more about this service, read our full rundown of fuboTV for seniors.

3. Sling TV - Best Budget Option

4.3 / 5

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What We Like Most:

• Live channel coverage, including sports
• On-demand shows
• Competitive pricing
• Accessible interface

Overview

Cost: Starting at $40 per month

Sling TV is one of our favorite cable alternatives. It offers news, sports, and entertainment channels for a competitive $40 per month. It doesn’t offer as many sports add-ons as fuboTV, however, particularly for local games.

To start your service, you’ll have to choose either the Orange package, which includes ESPN 1, 2, and 3, as well as MotorTrend; or the Blue package, which includes Fox Sports 1, Fox News, MSNBC, and the NFL Network.

Choosing between these two equally priced plans is the most confusing thing about Sling TV. You can get both for $55 per month, but you’ll have to look at the channel offerings of each to see what you want. No matter which plan you get, you’ll have access to popular channels like AMC, CNN, A&E, Food Network, HGTV, History Channel, Travel Channel, TNT, and more.

Like fuboTV, Sling TV offers add-ons that cost extra per month if you want specific content. The downsides include only 50 hours of DVR storage to start (you can buy more at a rate of $5 per 200 hours) and only one to three simultaneous streams allowed depending on the plan you buy.

Even with on-demand content like “Yellowstone” and “Law & Order,” Sling TV can’t compete with purely on-demand services like Hulu. But its versatile channel offerings make it our favorite cable replacement streaming service for how much you get at such a comfortable monthly price.

To read our full rundown of everything offered by Sling TV, read our guide to Sling TV for seniors.

4. Amazon Prime Video - Best Discounts

4.0 / 5

What We Like Most:

• Bundled with Prime Shipping discounts
• Huge on-demand library
• Premium sports content
• Accessible user interface

Overview

Cost: $8.99 per month

Amazon Prime Video offers a huge on-demand library that may confuse some viewers, since not all of the content you see is free. A lot of it is only included with specific channel add-ons, like STARZ or HBO, or has to be rented individually. However, the real draw of Prime Video is the ability to bundle it with Amazon Prime shipping in the combined $14.99 per month package, which includes two-day shipping on qualifying Amazon orders, Amazon Music access, and product discounts across the board.

If you frequently buy from Amazon, this subscription pays for itself. The streaming service ends up being an amazing bonus that you can purchase by itself for $8.99/month. No matter which option you choose, on-demand shows and movies, including Amazon Originals, should keep you busy. They have everything from “Silence of the Lambs” to “Reacher” to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Amazon Prime Video may not be the best streaming service for those who never buy Amazon products. But if you shop there, even occasionally, the $14.99 combined subscription is worth it, and has become a staple of 77 million American households for a reason.

5. Netflix - Most Popular Shows

4.0 / 5

What We Like Most:

• Popular original programs
• Low price
• Clear plan options
• Plentiful on-demand content

Overview

Cost: Starting at $6.99 per month

Netflix is the household name of streaming services for a reason: they offer the widest selection of on-demand content out there, including the most well-reviewed original movies and shows. Their $6.99 plan includes ads, but even the recent price hike to $15.49 per month for the ad-free plan can’t stop Netflix from being a fantastic choice for on-demand content, provided you don’t want to bundle live television or sports with it.

Netflix offers ad-free plans for $15.49 and $19.99 per month, which increase the simultaneous streams allowed from two to four, and the video definition from full HD to ultra HD. The main draw of the service, no matter which plan you choose, is its hugely popular lineup of shows that includes “Black Mirror,” “Breaking Bad,” and “The Crown,” as well as originals like “Stranger Things,” “Ozark,” and “Peaky Blinders.”

Numerous classic, new, and original movies round out their catalog. As cheap as the ad-supported content is, the best use of Netflix is to take advantage of ad-free streaming on all its popular shows with the middle subscription tier. Just remember that you’ll have to keep your cable plan if you want news and sports channels.