The cost of streaming service subscriptions continues to rise. Even services that used to offer free content are moving it behind paywalls. Here are some once-free streaming services that have added fees, removed free tiers, or just made free viewing harder, and some alternative options you can use instead.
Crunchyroll
Once free, now paywalled
If you’re a fan of anime, this one will have really hurt. Crunchyroll used to be the go-to anime streaming site, with a massive audience. It used a free, ad-supported model that meant you could legally watch popular anime without having to pay a thing.
You had to put up with ads, but it meant you could watch hours of hugely popular anime such as One Piece, Attack on Titan, and Naruto. Sadly, the service slowly began moving content behind a paywall, including big titles such as One Piece, before ending the free tier entirely at the end of 2025.
You now need to pay a minimum of $9.99 per month to access Crunchyroll, with some tiers costing as much as $17.99 per month. This is a far cry from the free access that used to be available.
If you’re looking for genuinely free alternatives, RetroCrush still offers a free, ad-supported option for people in the US and Canada (or anyone with working knowledge of how to use a VPN). Tubi also has a decent selection of anime, including Naruto, Death Note, and JoJo’s Bizarre…