12 Best Free Online Resources for Movies & TV Shows:

For TV and movie buffs, the internet offers a host of additional ways to enhance the viewing experience. In fact, there are so many online resources out there it can be hard to decide exactly which websites are worth visiting and signing up for.

To help simplify things, we have researched the field and condensed it into 12 quality online resources which each add something unique to the movie experience. Even better, it won’t cost you a cent to sign up to any of them (unless you opt for some of the upgraded packages on offer).

We have also created a comparison table to show how each resource measures up on web traffic, the size of their movie database and their overall and category-specific website ranking.

1.) IMDB

The largest, oldest and most popular free online resource for movie and TV shows is, of course, the Internet Movie Database or IMDb. Only YouTube and Netflix rank higher than IMDb in the TV, movies and streaming category and the database is home to nearly 6 million movies and TV shows.

Formed almost 30 years ago, in Seattle, the IMDb is now owned by Amazon and offers a host of features including movie news and listings, actor features, polls, video trailers, photographs and more. Each film is given a rating out of 10 based on the weighted average of registered member ratings to one decimal place (e.g. 8.3). Most movies also include a plot summary, plot synopsis, relevant tags and a cast list. Not surprisingly, viewers can click directly through to Amazon Prime to buy the movies they are interested in.

IMDb also provides a paid service, IMDbPro, for industry professionals looking to network, showcase their work and access in-production content.

2.) Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is another established movie rating site and the creator of the ‘Tomatometer.’ Unlike IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes uses the opinions of film critics to determine a movie’s Tomatometer score. Movies only receive a score once they have been reviewed five times and the number of good reviews are then expressed as a percentage of overall reviews.

Movies earning a share of 60% or more are given a red tomato icon. Those scoring below 60% are given a green ‘splat’ icon. This represents the rotten food that unhappy audiences would throw at actors back in the heyday of the open theatre.

Regularly reviewed movies carrying a 75% positive rating on the Tomatometer are eligible for the ‘Certified Fresh’ label.

As well as rating movies, the Rotten Tomatoes website provides trailers, videos, news items and features.

3.) Filmaffinity

Spanish movie website Filmaffinity was launched in 2002. It boasts a thriving social network of more than half a million subscribers who are able to rate movies (out of 10), create lists and receive personalized recommendations about which films to watch next.

Visitors to the Filmaffinity website can also find out what’s currently playing and what’s coming up soon in the movie theaters and on Netflix. The sidebar includes movie trailers and a few handy lists including the most popular, most reviewed and lowest rated titles. The site also contains a comprehensive and nicely organised section on awards ceremonies and film festivals. Want to quickly find out who won Best Director in the 1987 Academy Awards or Outstanding Drama in the 1998 Emmy’s? You will find the answer with just a few short clicks.

4.) Metacritic

Santa Monica based Metacritic came onto the scene in 1999 revealing its proprietary ‘Metascore’. Similar to Rotten Tomatoes, it uses the views of film critics to determine the rating a movie will get.  However, only the opinions of the most respected critics are used to generate the score: a number out of 100. At the time of writing, eight films had earned a perfect 100. There is also the option to submit a user review; to avoid confusion, these are on a separate 0 to 10 scale.

The Metascore rating icons follow a traffic light system making it simple for viewers to instantly see the best and worst-rated movies. Metacritic doesn’t just stop at movies and TV episodes either; there are also ratings for games and music titles.

5.) Letterboxd

Hailing from Schaerbeek, Belgium, Letterboxd has created a free social media platform based around a love of movies. Once you’ve filled in the simple registration form you can get to work finding and following new friends, tracking and rating the movies you have already watched and getting recommendations about what you should watch next.

Letterboxd ratings run from half a star to five stars and you can also explore user-generated lists based around specific themes. Some have intriguing names  (e.g. ‘autumn/fall movies for chill evenings,’ ‘The Life of the Mind’ and ‘College Dorm Room Poster Movies’).

The free version of Letterboxd is packed with things to do but you can access even more features, like advanced stats, by upgrading to one of the two paid tiers.

6.) TMDb

Not to be confused with Amazon’s huge Internet Movie Database, Canadian website themoviedatabase.org is known for its versatile API, enabling it to be integrated with a wide range of third party applications and services.

TMDb empowers its users to edit movie entries and to add any missing ones. As a result, it now stores over half a million movies. As with Metacritic, TMDb uses a rating score out of 100 and a traffic light system to help viewers identify the best and the worst titles. Viewers can find something new by going to the ‘Discover’ page and using the filters provided.

TMDb is also known for its vast collection of posters and fan art which number more than two million pieces.

7.) Reelgood

San Francisco’s Reelgood was originally launched as an iPhone app in 2015. It is now a smartly designed streaming platform which acts as a convenient movie hub. Over 300 free and paid-for subscription services from Netflix and Hulu to HBO and Amazon Prime Video can be integrated with Reelgood so you can watch them all in one place.

Reelgood can help you to plan your viewing by highlighting what’s new on the different services, what is coming into the pipeline soon and what movies are about to be moved out. You can also browse a selection of recommended lists for inspiration or hand over reponsibility to the Netflix Roulette which will select a title at random within the parameters you set.

8.) SIMKL

Created in New York in 2007, Simkl is a movie tracking service which works across multiple platforms. Once you’ve signed up for a free account and downloaded the software, Simkl will start monitoring every second of every TV show you watch. It will then automatically alert you when new episodes drop or of you have missed any.

Simkl also enables you to view your friends’ profiles and see what they have been watching. By aggregating data across accounts, Simkl can also reveal trends about what is popular right now.

The API is useful for developers who want to add Simkl to their devices or services, opening up new ways for users to benefit from the technology.

9.) myepisodes.com

It may lack the polished look of many other TV and movie resources but Danish service myepisodes.com provides a flexible and powerful service for people who want to keep track of the TV episodes they watch.

myepisodes.com acts as a TV assistant, enabling users to organize episodes into handy checklists, set up RSS feeds and integrate information with their Apple or Google calendars. There is also a user forum for people to make feature requests, highlight errors and suggest custom code.

As with all services on this list, myepisodes.com is free of charge but there is an option for making a donation to the developer or joining their Patreon program.

10.) mymovierack.com

mymovierack.com is a social platform aimed mainly at Indian film and TV lovers but its intuitive interface and useful search filters makes it suitable for everyone. There is even a ‘mood search’ function which enables you to narrow down your recommendations by selecting from a long list of hashtags ranging from #antiHero and #melodrama to #zombies. Colorful buttons labeled ‘MindBending’ or ‘Chick Flick’ or ‘Money Heist’ offer more avenues to explore.

There are sections on movies, TV shows, web series and theater screenings and you can also access the latest movie trailers and organize movies into custom lists. Individual movies can be liked, marked as favorite, commented on and reviewed on a five point scale.

11.) Criticker

The founders of Criticker realized there was a gap in the market for a movie recommendation engine based on shared taste rather than critical reviews or aggregated user ratings. They came up with the Taste Compatibility Index. To activate their TCI, viewers have to rate at least ten movies (or games) on a scale from 1 to 100. They will then be matched with others who have rated films in a similar way and given recommendations based on their choices.

Criticker also has a handy random movie generator button for those days when you really just can’t decide.

Criticker is free but there is the option to pay $5 and benefit from enhanced statistics and no ads.

12.) suggestmemovie.com

Last on our list is free Turkish website suggestmemovie.com. Launched in 2011, this is a refreshingly simple recommendations engine which uses either a plain site-wide search box or a filter and Boolean search function to help you find films you might like to watch; you don’t even have to sign in to use the service.

Every search result generated when you click ‘Suggest Me Movie’ includes a prominent IMDb rating, movie description and feature trailer. If you don’t like the first suggestion simply regenerate the search and try again.

By signing up for one or more of the above services, you can benefit from a more organized and personalized viewing experience.

Comparison Table