The Best Documentary Streaming Services for 2024 (2024)

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Why We Picked It

Kanopy is a streaming platform with more than 30,000 independent films and documentaries from distribution giants such as A24, Bleecker Street, HBO Documentary Films, Paramount, PBS, and Samuel Goldwyn Films.You'll also find popular series from A&E, History, PBS, and The Criterion Collection. Kanopy is notably home to 2017 Best Picture winner Moonlight and the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro. Purely educational films and series from The Great Courses, with such titles as Understanding Russia: A Cultural History, round out the library. A Kanopy membership also includes access to Kanopy Kids, a streaming collection of age-appropriate documentaries, movies, TV series, and animated storybooks.

Who It's For

Kanopy is free (with a library card or university email), making it great for anyone who wants to learn without spending. However, there is a limit to how much content you can watch. You get 10 Play Credits each month, and use them to access content in the regular Kanopy collection. There are some "Credit Free" movies, however, and the entire Kanopy Kids collection is free for unlimited viewing.Kanopy is available for media streaming devices (Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), mobile platforms (Amazon Fire tablets, Android, and iOS), and select smart TVs (Samsung and Telstra).

Why We Picked It

Netflix has lots of popular documentaries about household names. It is home to Miss Americana: Taylor Swift; Becoming, a documentary about Michelle Obama; and even Beyoncé's Grammy-winning Homecoming. Netflix also features nature documentaries, such as the magnificent Our Planet, the controversial Blackfish, and conversation starters, such as Being Elmo and FYRE.

Who It's For

Netflix is for viewers who want not just quality, but variety from their documentaries. For sports fans, Netflix offers The Battered Bastards of Baseball, a tale about a rag-tag bunch of baseball players in Portland, Oregon. The docuseries, The Last Dance, covers Michael Jordan's legacy, while Last Chance U takes an often heartwarming look at junior college football players as they struggle to make it to bigger college football programs.

If murder and mystery are what you're after, there are many true crime documentaries, such as Amanda Knox, Long Shot, and American Murder: The Family Next Door on Netflix. For feel-good stories, check out My Octopus Teacher and The Speed Cubers, a documentary about Rubik's Cube competitors.

As for other features, Netflix supports offline downloads on mobile, offers 4K content (for subscribers to the Premium plan), and has excellent accessibility options. You can stream Netflix on just about every device, too.

Why We Picked It

CuriosityStream offers a massive collection of factual entertainment. It's home to Forensic Files and other series, specials, and shorts about an array of topics, including space, art, science, dinosaurs, history, and travel. There's also a kid-specific section.

David Attenborough and Sigourney Weaver are among the hosts of CuriosityStream shows. CuriosityStream will get the Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo series with Jane Goodall this upcoming spring, too. One original series currently making waves on the platform is Beyond the Spotlight. In this show, celebrities give highly personal interviews about what inspires them every day.

Who It's For

CuriosityStream is for viewers who want to watch documentaries in their highest fidelity. The platform offers two price tiers, though both include access to the same streaming library. The more expensive plan just unlocks 4K streaming. CuriosityStream supports offline downloads on mobile and doesn't show any ads. You can download the app on mobile devices (Android and iOS), gaming platforms (Xbox One), streaming media devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), and smart TVs.

Why We Picked It

Hulu is home to well-known docs such as Fyre Fraud, the tale of the ill-fated 2017 Fyre Festival, and Free Solo, the acclaimed film about free solo mountain climbers. In addition, the service features some family-friendly fare, such as beloved nature documentary March of the Penguins.

Who It's For

Hulu's documentary specialty is the entertainment industry. The streaming service features plenty of biopics and documentaries about famous musicians, celebrities, and other pop culture phenomena. Hulu also has fashion-centric titles, such as Dior and I, The First Monday in May, and McQueen.

Hulu's basic plan includes ads, but the service offers apps for nearly every media streaming device. The service does support offline downloads and select 4K streams, but only for subscribers to the ad-free tier.

Why We Picked It

Amazon has been expanding its list of original offerings with series such as American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story and Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer. There are also a fair number of entertainment documentaries, such as Hamilton: One Shot to Broadway. Documentary television shows on Prime Video, such as Hoarders, a series about people suffering from extreme hoarding, and The First 48: Missing Persons, round out the catalog.

Who It's For

Amazon's Prime Video has a large documentary section with titles you rarely see on other platforms. Highly political, often polarizing films rule Prime Video's documentary section. If that's what you're into, there's no better option.

Prime Video supports offline downloads, includes 4K titles, and has a wealth of accessibility features, including audio descriptions for visually impaired viewers.

Why We Picked It

History Vault gives you access to much of the video content you don't see on the History channel prime-time lineup anymore, including long-form documentaries and docuseries, such asAmerica: The Story of Us,Ancient Discoveries, andMysteries of the Bible. In addition, History Vault supports offline downloads on mobile devices, doesn't show ads, and offers apps for streaming media devices.

Who It's For

If military history documentaries appeal to you, History Vault is the right on-demand video streaming service. For a low price, you can watch hundreds of documentary films and edutainment programming from the History Channel.

Why We Picked It

High-quality, BBC-produced documentary films and series are the stars of MagellanTV's catalog. 4K films about space exploration, true crime series, and a stay-at-home travel guide are just some of the other types of content you can expect. In addition, MagellanTV supports offline downloads on mobile, doesn't show ads, and offers apps for mobile platforms and streaming media devices.

Who It's For

If educational documentaries appeal to you, MagellanTV is the perfect on-demand video streaming service. For a low price, you can watch thousands of documentary films (many of which are available in 4K). The service has relationships with international distribution companies, filmmakers, and producers, which helps it maintain an extensive library of films and series. If you're hoping to find well-known or award-winning documentaries, you may want to look elsewhere.

Why We Picked It

PBS Documentaries features content from major directors, such as Ken Burns, whose entire collection of documentaries is available under the banner of Ken Burns Presents. Other top features on the channel include Stanley Nelson's The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, and Academy Award-nominated films like Frontline's For Sama and Last Days in Vietnam. You'll also find nature documentaries, including a startlingly new take on the human body and the ancestors who shaped it, called Your Inner Fish.

Who It's For

With 50 years' worth of flagship public broadcasting content at its fingertips, PBS is putting a lot of its content out into the streaming sphere via the PBS Documentaries channel on Prime Video. Viewers who have formed a strong relationship with PBS over the years should appreciate that history.

Because PBS Documentaries is a Prime Video channel, it is available nearly everywhere, including on mobile platforms (Android, Fire OS, and iOS), media streaming devices (Apple TV 4K, Fire TV, Google TV, Nvidia Shield, Roku, and TiVo), game consoles (PlayStation and Xbox), and Smart TVs.

Why We Picked It

From Oscar-winning wartime films from the likes of Frank Capra to a humorous look at a Belgian ghost town in the film Doel, there are many high-quality documentaries in the GuideDoc library. GuideDoc does not offer any original series or films, but it recently added more movies at HD and 4K resolutions.

Who It's For

If you're looking for the most-lauded documentary films, look no further than GuideDoc, an on-demand streaming service for award-winning documentaries from Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca Film Festival, and many other movie fests. The films aren't just new features, either: The site offers many movies from the 20th century that carry historical significance and high honors.

GuideDoc is available to stream without ads on streaming platforms, such as Apple TV and Chromecast, as well as Android and iOS devices. However, it lacks apps for Roku and Fire TV devices or game consoles.

Why Picked It

Mubi curates its streaming lineup so that you'll frequently encounter films you've never seen, including its documentaries. Along with its streaming catalog, Mubi lets you join an enthusiastic, online film community powered by Mubi's database. You can view critics' accolades alongside user reviews, plus create watch lists (the lists can include movies that Mubi doesn't offer). Building on the community angle, Mubi lets you follow other fans and compare your tastes.

Who It's For

Mubi is for movie buffs. You won't see many celebrity scandal flicks in Mubi's catalog, but you will find older art-house documentaries; Mubi's films tend to have a serious subject matter. For example, Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris features the powerful words and history of acclaimed activist and writer James Baldwin. There are also other historical biopics, such as The Trials of Muhammad Ali and 2016's Between Fences, the story of a theater workshop at an Israeli detention center.

If you're looking for lighter fare, Mubi has a few offerings like Klitschko, the story of the famous Ukrainian boxing brothers, and 9 Muses of Star Empire, an insider's look at the K-pop industry. In addition, many of the service's selections examine social justice and systems of inequality, such as 2014's She's Beautiful When She's Angry, the story of the modern women's liberation movement. The best part about Mubi is that new films are added to its lineup on a daily basis.

Mubi offers offline downloads on mobile, 1080p streaming, and apps on most streaming platforms. In addition, it features the best collection of community-oriented features among the services we've reviewed.

Why We Picked It

Nebula’s library features high-quality, accessible videos that entertain and educate you about a variety of topics. From film and writing to science and engineering, Nebula shows that independent documentary filmmakers creators can use the internet to share their knowledge across the world.

Who It's For

Nebula is for viewers who want to support creators, not just enjoy content. Nebula is made up of creators who first became famous on YouTube, but wanted to bring their work to a less toxic video platform where they have more control and equitable pay. You can buy merchandise and even pay extra for lengthy online lessons.

Why We Picked It

Ovid.tv includes approximately 900 titles from documentary production companies, such as Bullfrog Films, The dGenerate Films Collection, Distrib Films US, First Run Features, Grasshopper Film, Icarus Films, KimStim, and Women Make Movies.Documentaries in Ovid.tv's library range from high-budget social critiques to lower-budget, art-house offerings.

Who It's For

Ovid.tv excels at international documentaries. Films of note include F11 and Be There, a commentary on American civil rights, race, social justice, and art as told through the lens of photographer Burk Uzzle. Edith + Eddie, Geek Girls, and the docuseries The Adventures of Modern Art bolster Ovid's collection.

Ovid.tv's films come from all over the world, which means that not all of them are in English, but Ovid.tv includes English subtitles. Ovid.tv lets you download titles for offline viewing on mobile devices. It offers apps for media-streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), but not for game consoles. Despite its international selection of films, Ovid.tv is only available in the US and Canada.

Why We Picked It

PBS Video is home to plenty of high-quality documentary programming. You can watch selections fromAmerican Masters,America Reframed,NOVA,andPBS NewsHour, as well as Ken Burnsdocumentaries. The service is free, but some of the network's most popular films and shows are behind the PBS Passport paywall. PBS Video also lets you watch live streams from more than 100 local PBS stations.

Who It's For

PBS Video is for accessing PBS content you won't find on its other apps. PBS Documentaries is a paid Amazon channel focusing on long-form features, whereas PBS Video is free with optional paid content. There is some overlap.

You cannot download content for offline viewing. The PBS Video app is available on the web, mobile platforms (Android and iOS),media streaming devices(Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), and Samsung's smart TVs.