Best Way to Find a Movie Streaming Online

Lifehacker: What’s the Best Way to Find a Movie I Want to Stream Online?

Thorin Klosowski

I have so many options to stream movies online now (Netflix, Amazon, etc) that it's hard for me to figure out if a movie is available. How do you recommend I find a movie I want to watch that I can stream online?

Sincerely,
Where's Die Hard?

Dear WDH,
We understand the plight of finding a movie online. Worse still, some movie might be available for rental, but not streaming, or vice versa. Let's look at a few of the best ways to find what you're looking for.

Hunt Down Exactly What You're Looking for Across Multiple Services

If you're anything like us, you have a few different streaming options—maybe you have Netflix for streaming, along with Amazon for rentals, and then access to some of the free programs like Crackle or YouTube. Searching through all of them is a bit cumbersome.

We like Can I Stream It? because it searches all the major streaming options (Neflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Crackle, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Blockbuster) at once. It also shows you where you can rent movies from as well as digital purchases. Can I Stream It? also has a notification system you can set up so you receive an alert when a movie is released on a streaming service of your choice.

Can I Stream It? also has mobile apps on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone so you can browse from your couch with ease. Basically, if you know the exact movie you're looking for, Can I Stream It? is an easy way to see if it's available.

Can I Stream It? certainly isn't the only choice—Watch It is similar, but only has an iPhone app,Watchily allows you to search for any movie across services, and the Roku has a built-in universal search option. alternately, if you're wondering what's coming to the queue in future weeks, Streaming Soon is great to see what's on tap for the on Netflix Instant.

Find New Movies to Watch

You're not always going to know exactly what you want to watch though. Sometimes it's great to just flick through a selection of movies like you would in the video store, and while the algorithms Netflix uses to show you movies you might be interested in is great, they're also restricting and don't show you a large collection of movies. Other services, like Amazon, don't have big recommendation engines at all.

For recommendations, we like Watch It Stream. On the surface it works exactly like Can I Stream It? and you can instantly search to see where movies are available (unfortunately it doesn't have mobile app companions though). What's nice about Watch It Stream is curated lists. For example, since Bond just had a new movie in the series, there's a list of Bond inspired options like the Bourne series, and Mission Impossible. There's also a list of top art documentaries, and the A.V. Clubs 50 Best Films of the 90s. Basically, the curated lists offer a good way to discover new movies, and Watch It Stream links directly to where they're available for streaming.

Another option is Instantwatcher, which allows you to sort movies available on Netflix by review score and genre.