One Of The Best Streaming Services Is Free And You've Never Heard Of It

Published Aug 28, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

George is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Beginning as the Co-Creator and Co-Editor of Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X, George went on to develop The HoloFiles, a movie and television-focused website with his brother and writing partner Josh.

A member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance, Chicago Indie Critics, Online Film and Television Association, and the Internet Film Critic Society, George has covered major industry events as credentialed media, including D23, CinemaCon, SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Star Wars Celebration, Tribeca Festival, and more. He also regularly writes reviews and contributes articles to ScreenAnarchy, BRWC, Film Obsessive, TV Obsessive, and Under the Radar. George's work has been featured in various esteemed publications, including the BBC, Associated Press, Forbes, and The New York Times.

In the last 20 years, streaming has drastically changed the way in which audiences discover, pay for, and consume movies and television. The shift from traditional linear television to on-demand streaming quickly led to mass cord-cutting and immense competition among a wealth of streaming services, each of which offering a variety of original and licensed content.

Currently, viewers can be forgiven for being both overwhelmed and outpriced by the myriad of streaming services available. Subscription costs continue to rise, even as ad-tiered versions have been introduced, making it more important than ever to be calculated and selective with the streaming services one opts to subscribe for.

Interestingly, one of the best streaming services available is one that seldom, if ever, enters conversations about which streaming services to select. And, to make the prospect of this streaming service even more alluring, it’s free of charge and ad-free.

Kanopy is a streaming platform that partners with public libraries and universities to provide high-quality movies, shows, and educational content to anyone free of charge. The movies featured on the service range from classic cinema to festival winners to international hits to independent movies and more. Kanopy even has partnerships with A24 and the Criterion Collection to bolster its impressive library.

Some of the amazing films currently streaming on Kanopy now, for instance, include classics like Rosemary’s Baby, Saturday Night Fever, Chinatown, Airplane, The Truman Show, and Pretty in Pink. There are multiple Best Picture winners available on the service, including Parasite and Moonlight, and tons of other great movies, such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Zodiac, Memento, Donnie Darko, The Big Short, A Different Man, First Reformed, Lady Bird, and Moonlight.

Acclaimed documentaries like I Am Your Negro and Hoop Dreams also populate the service, as does a dedication section for children with educational shows, storybooks, and PBS content. Those looking to expand their intellectual horizons may also be interested in a number of instructional and academic video lecture series available to stream.

Needless to say, Kanopy bolsters a library that rivals any of the high-price streaming services and, unlike these others, doesn’t cost a dime. Diverging from other free streaming services like Tubi and Pluto, Kanopy is also entirely ad-free.

How To Access Kanopy For Free

Accessing Kanopy is surprisingly straightforward. The app can be downloaded on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Roku, and on Amazon Fire devices, while the website version is accessible via any web browser.

In order to log in to Kanopy, one must have a public library card or a university login. Anyone with an address in the United States will find a public library card easy to come by - simply go to your public library, present your ID and some proof of address, and a library card will be granted.

Kanopy uses a ticket system in which users receive a set number of monthly play credits or tickets to watch titles. Depending on your local library’s specific plan, this amounts to around five to ten movies per month. Of note, however, children’s content does not require use of monthly tickets.

In a day and age in which selecting which streaming services to have can be overwhelming, both from a cost and content standpoint, Kanopy offers a refreshing alternative, one that is free, ad-free, and full of high-quality content.

The Wolf of Wall Street

10/10

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  Jordan Belfort

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  Jonah Hill

  Donnie Azoff

The Wolf of Wall Street, released in 2013, is a biographical crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese. The film follows New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, as he becomes embroiled in a high-stakes securities fraud case involving Wall Street corruption and organized crime connections.