When it comes to live TV streaming services, fuboTV and Sling TV are among the leaders in the industry, so they might be on your radar. Choosing between the two can be hard since they both offer unique benefits that appeal to different types of viewers. With a channel lineup that mainly appeals to soccer fans, fuboTV may be the ideal choice for avid sports enthusiasts. But Sling TV offers a lower entry point, making it a great option for those who want a cheap cable alternative.
If you still have trouble deciding on fubo vs. Sling, we’re here to help. In this post, we give you a detailed breakdown of the differences between the two services. We help you figure out which is a better option for you in terms of content offering, features, and more.
Plans and pricing for fuboTV vs. Sling TV
| FuboTV | Sling TV | |
| Monthly price | Starting at $64.99/mo. | Starting at $30/mo. |
| Free trial length | 7 days | 3 days |
| Number of channels | 160 | 50+ |
| Original content available? | No | No |
| Live streaming available? | Yes | Yes |
As you can see, fuboTV has more standard pricing for live TV streaming, with plans starting at $64.99/mo. (Family) and going up to $79.99/mo. (Elite). But with this, you get access to up to 160 live TV channels at the time of writing this post. Even the most basic plan gives you 110+ channels, with a lineup that seamlessly balances entertainment and sports programming.
So consider fuboTV as more of a well-rounded alternative to cable. You can learn more about the different plans available in our fuboTV packages and pricing guide.
On the other hand, Sling TV has a much lower price point, with plans starting from $30/mo. (Sling Orange, Sling Blue) and going up to $45/mo (Sling Orange + Sling Blue). That means even the most expensive Sling TV plan still costs less than the basic package from FuboTV.
But with the lower price comes a few sacrifices. Sling TV has a much smaller channel lineup, offering just 50+ for even the most premium plan. This may not be a total deal-breaker to some depending on your priorities. Get a detailed comparison of the different Sling TV plans in our Sling TV packages and pricing guide.
Comparing the FuboTV vs. Sling TV experience
User experience
App usage
The fuboTV user interface is clean and straightforward, making it easy to use and navigate. You have dedicated tabs to easily access your recordings, peruse your TV guide, and browse through movies and shows that recently aired and are now available to watch on-demand. There’s even a tab to access sports programming available with your subscription. This makes it super easy for sports fans to find what to watch next.
What you’ll find most impressive is the TV guide, which uses a clean layout and intuitive navigation. You can sort the guide based on what’s up next and what’s on tomorrow and tonight as well as tomorrow night. Plus, you also get a visual guide right next to each channel on the other half of the screen.
And the experience is pretty consistent and smooth across all devices, whether you’re access fuboTV from a browser, a mobile app, or even a streaming device. But it’s slightly more difficult to channel surf using the mobile app since the interface is different.
As for Sling TV, there’s nothing wrong with the interface in general. Like fuboTV, it also has dedicated tabs to let you easily access sports channels and the TV guide as well as what’s on now. But the TV guide is slightly different from traditional ones and may take some getting used to. It sorts the programming into sub-tabs that may be easy to navigate but make the screen look a bit cluttered.
Sling TV also offers a fairly consistent experience across most devices, except when it comes to streaming sticks. The service particularly struggles on Amazon and Roku streamers with a tendency to crash and a pixilated display.
Device compatibility
You can watch fuboTV on the following devices:
- Amazon Fire TV devices.
- Android phones and tablets.
- Android TVs.
- Apple TV devices.
- Chromecast.
- iOS phones and tablets.
- Roku devices.
- Samsung Smart TVs.
- Xbox One.
Sling TV works on the following devices:
- AirTV Mini.
- Amazon Fire tablets.
- Amazon Fire TV devices.
- Android phones and tablets.
- Android TVs.
- Apple TV devices.
- Chromecast.
- LG Smart TVs.
- iOS phones and tablets.
- Oculus devices.
- Portal from Facebook.
- Samsung Smart TVs.
- TiVo Stream 4K.
- Xbox One.
Personalization
Accounts
When it comes to personalizing your account, fuboTV has a leg-up over Sling TV. The service lets you create up to 6 user profiles, with each one having its own favorite channels and recordings. Sling TV, on the other hand, doesn’t support user profiles. So you’ll have no way of creating a personalized feed just for you if you share the account with the entire family.
Add-on features
FuboTV still wins even in terms of add-on features, offering the option to expand your cloud DVR storage to 1,000 hours and your simultaneous streaming limit to 5. Learn more about these add-ons in our fuboTV review.
Meanwhile, Sling TV only has one add-on for a feature upgrade, which gives you 50 hours of storage. Our Sling TV review details the add-on features, so make sure to check it out.
Setting controls
Both fuboTV and Sling TV offer plenty of controls to let you customize your settings. But some of the customization settings may not be available across all devices. For instance, fuboTV only lets you reorder your favorites on Apple TV and Roku devices.
Other than that, it has most of the basics, such as settings to adjust the video playback quality and enable or disable closed captioning. You can even choose to enable or disable background videos to further customize your experience.
But keep in mind that fuboTV doesn’t have parental controls, which is where Sling TV has an advantage. Sling TV allows you to lock certain content based on rating. You can even lock in-app purchases such as rentals and pay-per-view access.
Besides parental controls, Sling TV offers several additional settings to further personalize your experience. It allows you to set your bandwidth usage, which comes in handy for those with a smaller data limit. And the closed captioning setting offers plenty of additional customizations, allowing you to change text color, opacity, size, and style as well as background color and opacity and more.
Features
Cloud DVR
FuboTV is a clear winner when it comes to cloud DVR, offering 30 hours of storage with the Standard plan. If upgrade with the Cloud DVR add-ons, you’ll get up to 1,000 hours of storage in total. Meanwhile, Sling TV only offers 10 hours of storage with its packages. And a Cloud DVR Plus add-on only gives you up to 50 hours.
Simultaneous streams
Even with a simultaneous streaming limit, fuboTV has a bigger advantage. The Standard plan comes with 2 simultaneous streams, but you can increase this limit by up to 5 with the Family Share Max add-on. But Sling TV caps the maximum screen limit at 3, and the Orange plan allows streaming from just 1 device at a time.
FuboTV vs. Sling TV content
FuboTV
FuboTV is a clear winner in terms of sports programming and overall channel lineup. Even the most basic plan gives you access to 100+ channels. Plus, you can further expand this lineup with the impressive variety of channel packages and premium add-ons.
With fuboTV, you can access leading sports channels such as beIN SPORTS, Big 10 Network, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, FOX Sports 1 and 2, NBC Sports Network, and more. Plus, it comes with a great selection of entertainment and lifestyle channels including A&E, AMC, Bravo, FX, HGTV, and Travel Channel to name a few.
But its on-demand library isn’t too impressive since it doesn’t own any of the content. You can only get some of the most recently aired movies and shows available through its channels. However, that means you should be able to watch shows like Fixer Upper, Killing Eve, and The Big Bang Theory on-demand. As for movies, Free Solo, La La Land, and The Avengers are some of the current titles you can get on-demand.
Sling TV
Although Sling TV has a decent selection of channels, its lineup is much smaller than that of fuboTV. Even the Orange + Blue plan only has 50+ channels, which doesn’t compare to the most basic FuboTV package. That being said, the service still offers leading channels such as AMC, CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN, TNT, and more. But its sports lineup is a lot more barebones compared to FuboTV.
Like fuboTV, the on-demand library also consists of a few recent episodes that aired on the networks from its lineup so the selection keeps changing. The service has offered on-demand episodes of Breaking Bad, Dietland, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead. And movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bad Moms, and Deadpool have also been available on-demand.
The final cut
In the Sling TV vs. fubo comparison, there’s no clear winner since each service has its unique benefits that might appeal to different types of viewers. For those who want a budget streaming service and don’t care too much for sports, Sling TV would make a great choice. But if you want something more comprehensive, fuboTV makes more sense.Before you decide, we recommend trying out both services first to see which one you like more. So make sure you sign up for a free trial of fuboTV and Sling TV before you commit.