The Great Debate: Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon Video
What
better way to relax on a day off than watching a great movie or two?
Streaming services have made it simple for just about anyone to watch
some of their favorite movies and TV shows with little effort. You can
often skip the commercials and watch in HD inexpensively, making it a
great alternative to cable and a good choice for those too busy to watch
TV on a regular basis (sometimes the cost of cable isn’t worthwhile).
With
a streaming service, you can watch during your own availability so you
needn’t rush to the TV at any specific time, and finding what you’re
looking for can take less than a minute. Sometimes you can even find new
episodes of TV shows only one day after they’ve premiered on cable,
allowing you to keep up with some of the most popular series without
altering your schedule or paying a lot for a service you wouldn’t use
otherwise.
Not so fast though; if you’re ready to subscribe to a
streaming service or simply check one out, you may first want a better
understanding of what each service has to offer. You’ve probably heard
of Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video before, but what’s the hype really
about and which one takes the cake for the best streaming service? Let’s
take a look.
Netflix
As an entertainment blogger, I’ve written
about Netflix quite a few times. In my opinion, it’s one of the best
streaming services available because of what's offered for the price.
Plans cost between $8 and $12 per month, depending on whether you want
standard definition, HD or Ultra HD streaming. How many people can use
Netflix at the same time also varies with each plan (with the limit
being four screens being viewed at once).
Netflix is especially great
for families since it allows you to enable parental controls if you
prefer, and they also have a great selection of kid-friendly movies and
TV series available. They categorize everything by genre and subgenres,
making it easy for you to find titles you might be interested in, and
you can also use their search feature if you already have something in
mind. For kid-friendly videos, you can even filter the results by
character.
Closed captions in English are available for every video
you stream on Netflix and subtitles in a variety of different languages
are offered as well (though not every movie or series will be available
with subtitles in certain languages). Perhaps one of the most beneficial
features of Netflix though is the ability to watch everything
commercial free and from a variety of different devices.
Netflix is
compatible with game consoles (such as the PlayStation4, Wii U, and
more), smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, Blu-ray players and streaming
media players (such as Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Nexus
Player and NVIDIA Shield) so you don’t have to have a PC to enjoy it.
Another great thing about Netflix is that you’re now able to create user
profiles on your account so your friends and family can watch without
messing with your browsing history.
Hulu
If you’ve decided to
avoid subscribing to cable TV, Hulu might be the best option for you.
Certain TV shows are available on Hulu the day after they premiere on
cable, so depending on whether or not Hulu has current episodes of the
shows you’re interested in, it may or may not be a better deal than
cable.
Hulu has also expanded its library of movies available,
offering a good selection for just about anyone. Like Netflix, movies
are categorized by genre and subgenre and a search bar is available so
you can quickly find whatever you’re looking for. The downside is that
not every movie or TV show is available with your subscription plan
without an add-on subscription, and commercials are included on the
lowest priced plan.
At the moment, ShowTime is the only add-on
available, and it costs an additional $8.99 per month on top of the
usual subscription fee of either $7.99 or $11.99 per month. The add-on
could be worthwhile if there are some shows you'd like to keep track of,
but be sure to take a look at the selection first during a free trial.
Speaking of free trials, Hulu only offers a week for free before
you have to pay up or cancel your account, whereas Netflix gives you a
whole month. In my opinion, Hulu falls a little short compared to
Netflix (unless you’re more interested in current TV shows) since not
only are they stingy on the free trial, but they also don’t guarantee
that every video will be in HD.
However, Hulu is compatible with a
few devices that Netflix is not, and that alone might make it a bit more
worthwhile for you. If you’re looking for a streaming service that
offers parental controls though, you might want to look elsewhere
(though they do have a good selection of kid-friendly titles).
Amazon Video
Here’s
where streaming services get a little different; if you already have
Amazon Prime, you have Amazon Video. If you shop on Amazon’s site
frequently, Amazon Prime is an excellent service that will allow you to
access exclusive sales, receive unlimited 2-day shipping on most
purchases, stream music, receive free e-books, watch videos (of course!)
and more.
Amazon Prime is definitely worth the cost ($10.99 per
month or $99 per year), but you can subscribe to Amazon Video alone for
$8.99 per month if you prefer. Similar to Hulu, Amazon Video allows you
to subscribe to add-ons for an additional fee, though it offers more
add-on options than Hulu does, such as Starz, Acorn TV, Comic-Con HQ and
more. Amazon Video also allows you to try a 7-day free trial of add-on
subscriptions, so you don't have to commit to the price before trying
them out.
As far as streaming services compare, at least in my
opinion, Amazon Video is somewhere in the middle between Hulu and
Netflix. It has increasingly become a better service over the years,
adding more videos to appeal to a variety of users. Though I believe
Netflix is easier to use, I would say Amazon Video may be the second
best streaming services out of the three!
If you'd like to check it
out for yourself, Amazon Video does offer a month-long free trial. As
far as kid-friendliness goes, it appears you can set up some parental
controls (though the process doesn't seem as simple as on Netflix), and
Amazon Video does have a nice selection of titles available.
Consider Your Location Though.
Unfortunately,
these streaming services aren't available globally, so you might want
to take your location into consideration or install a Virtual Private
Network (VPN) before you subscribe. Not only will a VPN keep your device
protected while you stream, but it’ll also unblock geo-restricted
content, so you’ll be able to access these streaming services from
anywhere.
Even when the service is available in your country, you may
want to use a VPN to view the video selections available to other
countries (certain movies are not available in certain countries). To
learn more about this, check out Secure Thoughts’ article on Netflix.
Out of these three streaming services, do you have a favorite? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
About
the Author: Cassie is an entertainment and internet security blogger.
When she’s not busy blogging, she’s catching up on some of the latest TV
shows on Hulu or relaxing to a great movie on Netflix or Amazon Video.
securethoughts.com.