My cable bill hit $89 a month last year and I snapped. Eighty-nine dollars to watch HGTV reruns and the local news. I called to cancel and the retention agent offered me “a special rate” of $79 — still seventy-nine dollars more than I wanted to pay.

I canceled anyway. And I discovered that between the free streaming apps available now, I am watching more content than I ever did with cable, for zero dollars a month. There are ads, yes. But I was paying $89 a month to watch ads on cable, so this feels like a net win.

Here are the three apps that replaced everything, plus one honorable mention.

Pluto TV (the one that feels most like cable)

Pluto TV has hundreds of live channels that play on a schedule, just like cable. News (CBSN, NBC News Now, Bloomberg), movies (a whole channel just for James Bond films), classic TV (I Love Lucy, The Price Is Right, Doctor Who), and niche stuff you did not know you wanted — there is a 24/7 Bob Ross channel. I have fallen asleep to Bob Ross more times than I want to admit.

There is also an on-demand library with thousands of movies and TV shows. The selection rotates monthly. You cannot watch the newest blockbusters, but the back catalog is deep. I have watched more 90s action movies on Pluto than I ever did when they were in theaters.

Available on: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, smart TVs, web browser, phone. No account required. Just install and start watching.

Tubi (the biggest movie library)

Tubi has over 50,000 movies and TV shows, all free, all on-demand. The ads are shorter than cable — usually 30 to 60 seconds every 15-20 minutes. The movie selection leans toward older titles and B-movies, but there is genuinely good stuff if you dig: indie horror, cult classics, foreign films, documentaries.

I found an entire section of Korean thrillers I had never heard of. Tubi’s recommendation algorithm is not as good as Netflix, but the tradeoff is that you are not paying fifteen dollars a month for a recommendation algorithm.

Available on: Basically everything — Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, PlayStation, Xbox, smart TVs, web, phone. Free account required (just an email).

Amazon Freevee (for the originals)

Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) has original series you cannot get anywhere else for free — “Jury Duty,” “Bosch: Legacy,” “Alex Rider” — plus a rotating selection of popular movies. It is Amazon’s free tier, basically. The ad load is a little heavier than Pluto or Tubi, but the content quality is higher.

If you already have an Amazon account, Freevee is built into the Prime Video app. You do not need a Prime subscription to watch Freevee content — it is a separate tab inside the app that anyone can access.

Available on: Fire TV, Prime Video app (all platforms), web. Requires an Amazon account (free).

Honorable mention: your local library

Most public libraries give you free access to Kanopy and Hoopla, which stream movies, documentaries, and TV series with no ads at all. All you need is a library card. Kanopy has a lot of Criterion Collection films, indie documentaries, and Great Courses. Hoopla has newer movies and comics. Both are completely free and ad-free.