Built Into Every Roku — Free Movies, Live TV, and More
300,000+ ratings on Roku Channel Store
The Roku Channel is Roku's own free streaming service, built into every Roku device. It offers a curated selection of free movies, TV shows, and 300+ live channels — all without requiring an account. The Roku Channel is unique in offering some 4K content for free, and it has a well-designed Kids & Family section.
Best For
Roku users who want a built-in free option with no setup required, families with kids, and anyone who wants free 4K content.
The Roku Channel has several features that set it apart from other free streaming services:
Built-in: The Roku Channel is pre-installed on every Roku device. You don't need to find it in the Channel Store or install it — it's already there when you first set up your Roku.
4K content: The Roku Channel is one of the very few free streaming services that offers 4K content. If you have a 4K TV and a 4K-capable Roku device, you can watch some content in 4K for free.
Kids & Family section: The Roku Channel has a dedicated Kids & Family section that's well-curated and safe for children. It's a good complement to PBS KIDS and Kidoodle.TV.
Live TV guide: The Roku Channel has a built-in live TV guide that shows you what's currently playing across all free live channels — not just The Roku Channel's own channels, but other free channels too.
The Roku Channel has both free and paid content. Here's how to tell them apart:
Free content is marked with a 'Free' badge. This is the content you can watch without any payment or subscription.
Premium channels are paid add-ons — services like Starz, Showtime, and others that you can subscribe to through The Roku Channel. These are clearly marked with prices.
Roku Originals are shows and movies produced by Roku. These are available for free on The Roku Channel and are exclusive to the platform.
You never need to pay anything to use The Roku Channel's free content. The premium channels are optional and clearly labeled.
The Roku Channel's Kids & Family section is one of its strongest features. It has a large selection of children's content that's well-organized and safe for kids to browse independently.
The section includes animated series, family movies, educational content, and more. Content is clearly labeled by age range, making it easy for parents to find appropriate content for their children.
For a complete free kids streaming setup, combine The Roku Channel's Kids section with PBS KIDS (completely ad-free, educational) and Kidoodle.TV (50,000+ episodes, ad-free). Together they give you more kids content than you could ever watch.
Yes, the free tier is completely free with ads. There are optional paid premium channel add-ons, but the core service is free.
No account is required to watch free content. A Roku account (which you already have if you set up your Roku) lets you access additional features.
Yes, The Roku Channel offers some 4K content for free — one of the few free streaming services to do so. You need a 4K-capable Roku device and 4K TV to take advantage of this.
Roku Originals are shows and movies produced by Roku exclusively for The Roku Channel. They're available for free and include some well-reviewed content.
The Roku Channel is Roku's own streaming service, built into every device. Other apps like Tubi and Pluto TV are third-party services that you install separately.
It's completely free. No credit card, no commitment.