The best streaming services in Australia

Apple TV Plus has grown a lot since it first launched in 2019 and subscribers are finally enjoying the fruits of their free trials with some top-shelf television and movies. Workplace sci-fi thriller Severance has nourished a lot of water cooler talk, and drama flick CODA became the first streaming exclusive to win Best Picture when it took the gong at the 94th Academy Awards. Its earlier hits, like Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet and Ted Lasso have continued to deliver the goods in their subsequent seasons too. Apple TV Plus also wins points for venturing outside of its walled garden and onto a wider variety of devices, like Xbox, PlayStation 5 and even Chromecast with Google TV.

The only downside is that there simply isn't all that much to keep you subscribed once you burn through the originals. Its library is made up of originals alone so if you want to stream some classics, you'll be coughing up for a second streaming service. 

Disney’s monopoly on some of the biggest media franchises of all time means Disney+ scored the highest in our Box Office analysis. We scored each service on the number of Top 10 Box Office Blockbusters (International) it had from the last decade and it's no wonder Disney+ came out on top.

That monopoly is also why Disney is so keen to throw absurd amounts of cash at its originals. The Mandalorian wasn’t for everyone, but as big fans of Dave Filoni’s world-building in Clone Wars (and secret prequel apologists), we found it to be a meaty serving of unabashed fan service.

For the whole family, there are all the Disney animation classics, from Aladdin to recent Pixar fare like Inside Out 2. And after hours, adults can switch over to Star for a more mature lineup with action-packed blockbusters like Alien: Romulus, Deadpool and Wolverine and the Oscar-winning comedy-drama A Real Pain. 

The only issue with Disney+ Originals is that they tend to be just as formulaic as the Marvel and Star Wars movies have become. It's good popcorn television but its Originals are feeling less significant by the day (with the exception of Andor.)

Paramount Plus might be overlooked as a streaming platform, but there are definitely some gems in there that are at the very least worth the 7-day free trial. You can catch up on loads of Channel 10 content like The Bachelor and Survivor (hello on-demand Jonathan LaPaglia), locally-made TV series like Five Bedrooms and Spreadsheet and live comedy performances from the likes of Celia Pacquola, Matt Okine, Anne Edmonds and Geraldine Hickey.

There are also some exciting originals, such as Yellowjackets, 1883 (the Yellowstone prequel), Dexter: Original Sin and plenty of ways for Trekkies to go boldly where no streaming service has gone before. It's also home to Twin Peaks and Daria, which will be enough to net subscriptions from at least two huge cult fanbases. 

Tubi is a free-to-use streaming site that was purchased by Fox in early 2020. It was first launched in the US back in 2014 but only made its way to Aussie shores in late 2019. In case you were wondering, it is 100% legal to use. Unlike most subscription models, Tubi is 100% ad-supported. Here in Australia, giving Tubi a go won't cost you a thing.

Still, there aren’t as many ads as you would expect given it's free. Ad breaks are only around one to two minutes long, To test it, we watched a movie and a couple of TV episodes and only experienced about six ads. That’s nowhere near as many ads you’d have to sit through watching an episode of Masterchef. As you could probably guess, its 12,000+ catalogue of movies isn’t short of a few duds and B-grade bangers but that’s part of the charm. 

On our scoreboard, Binge and its predecessor Foxtel Now came to a tie so it’s dealer's choice and this dealer recommends Binge over Foxtel Now. Price is the number one metric we rated providers on and Binge is simply a more affordable and more reliable streaming solution than Foxtel Now. 

Binge hit the ground running (okay, more of a brisk walk) when it first launched and we'd happily pay $10 a month for access to that primo TV, but it’s a service that’s currently in flux as it's set to lose a huge portion of its TV library when Max (HBO Max) launches in Australia. Some of the most popular TV series in history; Game of Thrones, Succession and The White Lotus, for example; will leave Binge when the Max streaming app launches locally at the end of March. 

Netflix set the stage for streaming across the world and in many ways, no other service has quite managed to catch up. The years invested in the Netflix app, and advancements in streaming technology have paid off in the streaming goliath’s favour. You just won’t find another app (here in Australia, at least) that’s as user-friendly as Netflix.

Then there are the originals. Look no further than Stranger Things, a toy box full of 80s nostalgia and horror tropes that became a cultural phenomenon and is only just approaching its final season almost a decade after it began. There are also mountains of under-appreciated originals that flew under the radar, The Midnight Gospel and Maniac are two personal favourites. But that's where the positives end, unfortunately.

Netflix has fallen hard over recent years. Subscriber numbers might be up, but a neverending series of price-hikes, crackdowns on password-sharing and a tendency to cancel some fantastic television shows have taken their toll. You couldn't be blamed for eyeing off the cancel button.

Worst of all, Netflix betrayed one core tenet of its initial promise when it started pushing advertisements on paying subscribers. Worse still, providers like Binge, Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime Video have followed in its footsteps. 

The Nine-owned streaming service had an incredibly strong start when it first beat Netflix to the punch in Australia. Mostly because it didn’t come empty-handed. Riding off the coattails of one the biggest TV shows of all time (Breaking Bad), Stan entered the fray with a killer exclusive: Better Call Saul. You couldn’t go ten metres in the city without seeing Bob Odenkirk’s loveable face on a billboard.

When it first launched, a few good exclusives wouldn’t make up for Stan’s awful user interface but like Prime Video, Stan has come a long way in the years between, eventually becoming an integral part of the Australian streaming landscape.

Stan has suffered a few setbacks over the last five years, mostly as a result of international distributors like Disney and Paramount taking back their TV shows and movies for their own streaming services.  But it's still one of the best places to catch the latest movies. At the time of writing, Stan has The Substance, The Apprentice and Kneecap, three of the best movies released last year. 

Some people aren’t looking to be challenged when they sit down to watch TV after a long day at work. They want all the drama and none of the nuance. Can you blame them? Say what you will about Hayu but it wears its trash TV-loving heart on its sleeve and its subscribers know exactly what they’re signing up for, Drama with a capital D, fresh out of the oven. At $7.99 per month, the reality is, Hayu is worth it for a lot of Australians.

Hayu suffers the same problem as a few niche services in that some of its biggest series are already available to stream on other services you might already have. Below Deck, The Real Housewives and Top Chef are all available on Binge, for example. Granted, many of the spin-offs are only available on Hayu (such as Below Deck: Down Under), so there's still value for true reality TV connoisseurs. And that's what it boils down to really. If you can't get enough of the previously mentioned series, Hayu is the only place that will continue to sate your appetite long after the credits have rolled. 

BritBox is on the cheaper side of the pricing spectrum at $13.99 per month or $139.99 for the full year.

While there are classics like Midsomer Murders and Fawlty Towers, and contemporary hits like Happy Valley, Luther and Line of Duty, there are a few glaring omissions for a service that claims to offer the best of the Brits. There's no The Great British Bake Off, no Sherlock, no Downton Abbey nor the holy trinity of British soap; Eastenders, Coronation Street or Emmerdale.

BritBox sounds like a great idea in theory - a one-stop shop for all your favourite British programs, both old and new. What’s not to like? Unfortunately, the lack of original content, limited features and rare new additions make it a harder sell than it should be. 

Shudder's spooky selection of curated flicks won’t be for everyone but it’s a nightmare come true for horror fans in Australia. It’s a service that streams horror movies and TV shows exclusively, so if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, keep scrolling.

There are a few standout horror originals that offer fun, fresh spins on the well-trodden genre, movies like Stopmotion and Late Night with the Devil. That's just the beginning, though. Shudder has invested a lot of money in international horror movies over the years.  For the originals alone, Shudder is worth $6.99 per month (at least until you've watched everything you're interested in.)

Despite its many failings and questionable future, the fact is Foxtel Now still delivers some of the most popular movies currently available. At a glance you'll find some of the most talked-about films of recent memory on Foxtel Now; Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Dune, A Different Man, Longlegs and I Saw The TV Glow and It Ends With Us just to name a few. The problem is, you don't get those movies with the $35 per month entry fee. Instead, you'll have to pay for either the Sports and Movies Pack ($84/mth) or the Ultimate Bundle ($104/mth.) Despite those high prices, Foxtel Now's user interface is still pretty awful after all these years.

Foxtel insists on capping its various streaming services at 1080p for on-demand titles and 720p for linear TV. That’s not a huge issue, 1080p HD is just fine, but with the competition leaning hard into 4K/HDR, you’d think that Foxtel would have stepped up to the plate. If you must have Foxtel, we suggested a mixture of Binge (for TV and movies) and Kayo (for sports.) Alternatively, spend just a little more on Foxtel Residential plan and get an iQ5 set-top box.