The Roku Channel has sailed to the top of the free streaming heap, earning the title of best free streaming service in a fresh survey of over 1,900 Cord Cutters News readers. Conducted in early 2025, the poll asked cord cutters to name the best ad-supported streaming platform, and The Roku Channel clinched the crown with 28.2% of the vote, edging out stiff competition from Pluto TV at 26.8% and Tubi at 22.1%.
The win underscores Roku’s growing dominance in the free, ad-supported streaming television free arena, where it’s been flexing its muscle with over 500 live channels and a beefy on-demand library. Readers praised its seamless integration with Roku devices—used by 64% of cord cutters in a separate survey—and a lineup that spans news, movies, and reality TV, all without a subscription fee. “Roku Channel’s mix of live TV and on-demand hits keeps me hooked,” said survey respondent Laura Kim, echoing a common sentiment. “It’s like cable, but free.”
Pluto TV, a Paramount-owned service, landed a close second with 26.8%, lauded for its channel-surfing vibe and over 250 curated options, including classics from MTV and CBS. Tubi, Fox’s contender, took third at 22.1%, winning fans with its deep movie catalog and recent Warner Bros. Discovery additions like Raised by Wolves.
The Roku Channel launched in October 2017 as a free, ad-supported streaming service from Roku, Inc., initially offering a modest lineup of movies and TV shows to complement its popular streaming hardware. Conceived as a way to keep users within Roku’s ecosystem—where devices like the Roku Streaming Stick and Roku Ultra dominate—the channel quickly expanded its ambitions, adding live TV in 2018 with over 350 free channels by 2025, spanning news, sports, and entertainment from partners like ABC and Cheddar. By 2020, it had evolved into a standalone app accessible on non-Roku devices, including Amazon Fire TV and Samsung TVs, broadening its reach beyond the 90 million active accounts tied to Roku hardware. The service gained momentum with exclusive Roku Originals like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story in 2022, funded by a $1 billion+ ad revenue stream, and leaned into premium content deals with Lionsgate and AMC Networks.
As The Roku Channel basks in its reader-voted glory—echoing its 2.1% share of total TV viewing in February per Nielsen—the FAST landscape remains fierce, with Pluto and Tubi poised to challenge the throne.
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