Best Netflix Alternatives: Free, Paid and in Nigeria
Fourteen legal streaming services compared: what each costs, which are free with ads, which work in Nigeria, and which old names have shut down or merged.
In Nigeria, the two straight swaps for Netflix are Prime Video at ₦2,300 a month and Apple TV at ₦1,300 a month. Both cost less than Netflix’s ₦4,000 Basic plan. You could pay for the two together and still spend ₦400 a month less than Basic.
Showmax is no longer an option. MultiChoice closed it in 2026, and its originals now sit inside DStv Stream, which costs far more.
Most of the big American services do not reach Nigeria. Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, Pluto TV and JioHotstar each said so when we opened them from a Nigerian connection. Paramount+ showed a coming-soon page, and HBO Max does not list a single African country. Readers elsewhere have more choice, so the table says where each service is offered.
Everything here is a licensed service. We have left out pirate sites, and we have left out VPN tricks for getting round a region lock.
What Netflix costs in Nigeria
For comparison, Netflix’s Help Centre gives four prices for Nigeria: Mobile at ₦2,500 a month, Basic at ₦4,000, Standard at ₦6,500 and Premium at ₦8,500. Mobile plays on one phone or tablet at 480p and cannot be cast to a TV. Basic is the cheapest plan that plays on a TV, at 720p on one device at a time.
Netflix alternatives at a glance
| Service | Free or paid | Price it shows | In Nigeria | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Video | Paid | ₦2,300 a month (Nigeria) | Yes | Amazon Originals, films and series |
| Apple TV | Paid, no ads | ₦1,300 a month (Nigeria) | Yes | Apple Originals such as Severance |
| DStv Stream | Paid | From ₦19,000 a month for Showmax Originals (Nigeria) | Yes | Live channels, SuperSport, Showmax Originals |
| Kava | Paid | $5.99 a month (US dollars) | Yes | Nollywood and African cinema |
| MUBI | Paid | $7.99 a month (US dollars) | Yes | Films chosen by hand |
| YouTube | Free with ads | Free | Yes | Official channels, full documentaries |
| Plex | Free with ads | Free | Yes, by Plex’s account | Free films and live channels, no sign-up |
| Tubi | Free with ads | Free | No | Hollywood films and TV |
| Pluto TV | Free with ads | Free | No | Live channels and on-demand films |
| Disney+, with Hulu | Paid | None shown from Nigeria | No | Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars |
| HBO Max | Paid | From $10.99 a month (United States) | No | HBO series and films |
| Paramount+ | Paid | None shown from Nigeria | Not yet | Paramount films, CBS shows, live sport |
| Peacock | Paid | None shown from Nigeria | No, US only | NBCUniversal’s shows, films and live sport |
| JioHotstar | Not shown | None shown from Nigeria | No, India | Live cricket, Bollywood and regional films |
The prices are the ones each service showed on its own site. A service that would not open from Nigeria showed no price, and we have not filled the gap from other websites.
Paid services that work in Nigeria
Prime Video
Amazon’s page for Nigeria prices Prime Video at NGN 2,300 a month, with a seven-day free trial. It plays on up to three devices at once, in a browser, in the phone and tablet apps and on some smart TVs, and every title can be downloaded. You get Amazon’s own originals, The Boys and Jack Ryan among them, plus licensed films and series.
It is ₦200 a month cheaper than Netflix’s phone-only Mobile plan and ₦1,700 cheaper than Basic. Over a year the gap to Basic is ₦20,400.
Apple TV
Apple now calls its streaming service plain Apple TV, the same name as its box. Apple’s Nigerian page gives ₦1,300 a month after seven days free. There are no adverts, and one subscription can be shared with up to five family members.
Apple describes the catalogue as hundreds of its own original shows and films: Severance, Slow Horses, Ted Lasso, The Studio. That is the whole offer. Films to rent or buy in the same app cost extra, and there is no back catalogue from other studios. At this price it works best as a second subscription next to something bigger.
DStv Stream, where Showmax went
DStv’s Nigerian site says the Showmax service was discontinued on 30 April, and that Showmax Originals now have their own section in the DStv Stream app. To watch them you need DStv Compact at ₦19,000 a month, Compact Plus at ₦30,000 or Premium at ₦44,500. DStv adds that some Showmax titles could not move because of licensing, and that old profiles and watch histories were not carried across.
Compact costs more than eight times what Prime Video does. It only makes sense if you also want the live channels and football that come with it. Our guide to DStv decoders and prices covers the packages.
Kava
Kava calls itself the home of premium Nollywood and African cinema: films that have finished their cinema run, exclusives and its own originals. It says it is available in more than 190 countries and charges $5.99 a month. The price is in US dollars, so you need a card that can pay in dollars, and the naira cost moves with the exchange rate.
irokotv, the older Nollywood service, showed only a maintenance notice at its address, so it is not in the table.
MUBI
MUBI is for people who want cinema more than box sets. Its pitch is films picked by hand, by people who love film. The Nigerian page charges in US dollars: $7.99 a month, or $59.88 for a year, which works out at $4.99 a month and saves $36 over paying monthly. There is a seven-day free trial.
Free alternatives to Netflix
YouTube is the free service every reader already has. Broadcasters and studios put whole films on their own channels, and our list of the best documentaries on YouTube has seventeen of them.
Plex has free films, shows and live channels, paid for by adverts, and you can watch without signing up. The page for its free library opened from Nigeria, and Plex’s support pages say people in almost every country can use it.
Tubi is free with adverts and belongs to Fox. Its corporate site lists the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Australia. From Nigeria, the site says it is not available in our area.
Pluto TV is also free with adverts, with live channels and films on demand. Its site told us it is not available in our location.
Paid services that do not reach Nigeria
Disney+ and Hulu. Disney+ says it is not available in our region, and Hulu’s own address sent us straight to that same Disney+ page. Hulu describes itself as a service for the United States. Disney’s press site says bundle subscribers in the United States watch Hulu inside the Disney+ app, and that outside the US Hulu is a brand within Disney+.
HBO Max. The HBO Now address from our old list no longer exists, and HBO’s streaming service is now HBO Max. Its help pages list the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, much of Europe including the United Kingdom, and Asia Pacific. No African country is on the list, and neither is India. The US prices on its site are $10.99 a month for Basic With Ads, $18.49 for Standard and $22.99 for Premium. The same page sells a US-only bundle of Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max from $21.99 a month.
Paramount+. The old CBS All Access address now leads here. From Nigeria it shows a page saying the service is coming soon, with a box for your email and no date.
Peacock. NBCUniversal’s service. Its site says your device must be in the United States.
JioHotstar. Hotstar’s new name. It is built for India, with live cricket, Bollywood and regional films, and its site tells visitors from Nigeria it is not available here.
What happened to our old list
This article first ran in 2018 with twenty names. We opened each old address to see where it leads now.
- Vudu and FandangoNow: both addresses now lead to Fandango at Home, which is not available in Nigeria.
- FilmStruck: the address redirects to Turner Classic Movies.
- iflix: the site now carries the WeTV name.
- HOOQ, Sony Crackle and Box TV: their sites no longer load.
- SnagFilms: the old address now belongs to a gambling site that has nothing to do with films. Do not go looking for it.
- iTunes Movie Store: Apple rents and sells films in the Apple TV app now.
- Popcornflix: still online with free films, and its site links to a company called Future Today.
- Acorn TV: still running, with mysteries and dramas at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year on its sign-up page.
- Stan: still running in Australia, with plans from $9.99 to $23.99 a month on its Australian site.
Fandor’s site would not show us anything we could confirm, so we have left it out.
Which one to pick
- One replacement for Netflix in Nigeria: Prime Video. It is the only one here with a broad mix of originals and licensed films at a naira price, and ₦2,300 covers three screens.
- The cheapest paid option: Apple TV at ₦1,300. Take it for the shows you already know you want.
- Both: ₦3,600 a month, which is ₦400 less than Netflix Basic on its own.
- Nollywood: Kava, if paying $5.99 in dollars is not a problem for your card.
- Nothing to spend: YouTube first, then Plex.
- Live sport: DStv Stream. It is a TV subscription with a TV price.
- Outside Nigeria: if you are in the US, Canada, the UK or Australia, try Tubi before you pay for anything.
Quick answers
Is there a free alternative to Netflix?
Yes. YouTube and Plex are free with adverts and both work in Nigeria. Tubi and Pluto TV are free too, but only in the countries they serve, and Nigeria is not one of them.
What is the cheapest streaming service in Nigeria?
Of the paid services we went through, Apple TV at ₦1,300 a month. Prime Video is next at ₦2,300, then Netflix’s Mobile plan at ₦2,500.
Is Showmax still available in Nigeria?
No. DStv says the Showmax service was discontinued, and Showmax Originals are now in the DStv Stream app on Compact, Compact Plus and Premium.
Is Prime Video available in Nigeria?
Yes. Amazon’s own page shows a Nigerian price of NGN 2,300 a month with a seven-day free trial.
Are Disney+ and Hulu available in Nigeria?
No. Disney+ tells visitors from Nigeria that it is not available in the region, and Hulu’s address now leads to the same page.
