A Fire TV Stick lets you watch millions of movies and TV shows, but it could come at a cost. In fact, the average US household now pays $55 a month on all their streaming services, according to a 2021 J.D. Power survey. Here is our list of the best free apps to download on your Fire TV Stick, so you can actually save money after cutting your cable subscription.
If you’re new to streaming, check out our step-by-step guide on how to download apps on your Fire TV Stick.
Pluto TV: Best Fire TV App for Live TV
Pluto TV is the perfect app to replace a regular cable subscription because it feels so familiar. This simple app lets you flip between more than 250 live channels, but most of its channels are centered around a certain genre or even a single TV show.
In addition to its live channel selection, you can also watch thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows on Pluto TV. The free app has over 150,000 hours of content from major television networks and movie studios, including Comedy Central, TV Land, Nickelodeon, and more.
Peacock TV: Best Free Streaming Service for Fire TV
Peacock TV is one of the only streaming services that lets you watch thousands of hours of movies, TV shows, news, and live events for free, without even entering your credit card information.
Since Peacock is owned by NBC, it has lots of news, sports, and TV shows, like The Office, 30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and more. However, the free tier is ad-supported, and you won’t be able to watch the most popular movies or TV episodes unless you upgrade to a paid plan.
If you are willing to pay a monthly subscription fee, check out our list of the best streaming services to find out which paid app is best for you.
News: Best Fire TV App for Local News
Fire TV makes it easy to stay on top of current events with the built-in News app. While many news organizations have free apps that you can download, this app from Amazon will recognize your location and give you access to live news in your area.
In addition to letting you watch local channels, this customizable news aggregator app has live national sports, entertainment, and financial news from organizations like Reuters, ABC, CBS, and more. The app also helps you catch up on trending stories with short, on-demand videos that you can scroll through daily.
IMDb TV: Best Fire TV App for Award-Winning Movies
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is one of the most popular websites for finding information about films, actors, directors, and more. So, it makes sense that IMDb TV is one of the best Fire TV apps for finding award-winning movies, artsy documentaries, and critically-acclaimed TV shows.
While you will have to watch ads with this free streaming service, IMDb claims that it only has about half the ads as network TV. You also have the option to create a free account and link it to your regular IMDb account. This way, you can quickly add movies to your watchlist when you find them on the IMDb website or in the app.
YouTube: Best Fire TV App for Everything Else
When you don’t know what to watch, there’s always YouTube. Google claims that over 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute, so there’s always something new to watch. Plus, the app has tons of free movies that you can stream, as long as you’re willing to sit through ads.
Once you sign in to your YouTube account, all your liked videos and saved playlists will instantly appear on the Fire TV app. You can even link the smartphone app to your Fire TV device and control the video playback from your device.
Plex: Best Fire Stick App for Streaming Your Own Content
If you already have a personal collection of movies, TV shows, and music on your computer, you can easily stream them to your TV with the Plex app. This free app also organizes your videos and adds a poster image, cast lists, and other details, so you can easily find any of your content.
Plex also comes with a library of on-demand videos and live TV shows you can stream. The app even analyzes the videos in your collection and recommends free videos that you might like. If you want to pay a little extra, you can get a Plex Pass to watch your videos on any device, even when you’re away from home.
Read More: Plex now lets you add all your streaming services in one place
Crunchyroll: Best Free App for Anime
If you’re a fan of anime, Crunchyroll is the best app to download on your Fire TV Stick. After being acquired by Sony and merging with Funimation, the streaming service now has over 40,000 sub and dub episodes available, making it the biggest anime library in the world.
The free version of the app gives you access to most of the episodes on the streaming service, but you will have to watch short ads and the quality will be downgraded to 480p. Also, free users will no longer have access to newly-released episodes or simulcasts in the future.
Spotify: Best Fire TV App for Streaming Music
Your Fire TV Stick comes with the Amazon Music app built-in, but you can also play music on your TV for free with Spotify. While a free Spotify account lets you stream over 70 million songs, you will have to listen to ads, and you can only skip six songs every hour.
The Spotify app gives you all the same functionality as the mobile app, and it displays cover art and band photos for each new track. You can use your Fire TV remote to play, pause, and skip songs, or you can sync it with your mobile app, so you can seamlessly switch between streaming on your phone and streaming on your TV.
Amazon Silk: Best Web Browser App for Fire TV
The Silk browser is one of the best Fire TV apps that allows you to browse the web on your TV. Since the app was designed by Amazon, you can easily use your Fire TV remote like a mouse to move your cursor around. Then you can use the voice control button on your remote, so you don’t have to type a URL out letter-by-letter.
While it might seem a little weird to browse the internet on your TV, there are lots of reasons you might want to download a web browser on your Fire Stick. This app allows you to watch your Facebook videos on a big screen or do a speed test on your Fire TV Stick to see if your WiFi is strong enough to stream in 4K.
If you want to know how to do speed test on your Fire TV Stick, check out our step-by-step guide here.
HelloTech editors choose the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.