List of Best Anime Streaming Websites to Watch Online
Top Anime Streaming Sites
| Name | Best For | Regions | Free Trial | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AniWave | Free old and new anime streaming | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| Amazon Prime | Unlimited streaming of anime with Prime Video | Worlwide | 30 days | $8.99 (per month) |
| Animeland | Stream dubbed anime online | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| AnimeNova | AnimeNova has over 2000 titles, including both subbed and dubbed | Worldwide | n/a | minimal subscription fee for exclusive content |
| AnimeOut | Unique for its 4K video playback, also offers convenient downloading options for mobile viewing | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| Anime Planet | Stream over 45 000 legal anime episodes | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| AnimeTake | A large online collection of free anime shows and movies | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| AnimeUltima | Known for its extensive library of over 5000 titles, AnimeUltima offers 720p quality streaming | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| AniPlus | Free anime shows and movies plus merchandise store | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| Asian Crush | For die-hard fan of Asian movies and shows incl. anime | Worldwide | 30 day premium trial | Free ($5/month w/o ads) |
| Chia-Anime | 1000+ high-quality anime clips for online streaming | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| Crunchyroll | 30 000+ anime episodes and an anime and manga store for fans | Worldwide | 14 days | $7.99/$9.99/14.99 (per month) |
| Dubbed Anime | Huge anime episodes database | Worldwide | n/a | Free ($5/month w/o ads) |
| Funimation | Premium original anime content both dubbed and subbed | United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand | 14 days | $5.99/$7.99 (per month) |
| Gogoanime | Great library of classic older anime titles | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| HIDIVE | A wide range of titles, including popular classics and new releases | Worldwide | 7 days | $4.99 (per month) |
| Hulu | Great titles from some of the most reputed anime studios in Japan | USA, Japan | 30 days | $5.99/$11.99 (per month) |
| Masteranime | A wide range of titles, including popular series and movies | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| My Anime List | Claims to have the largest anime and manga database | Worldwide | n/a | Free ($2.99/month w/o ads) |
| Netflix | An extensive library of anime movies and shows | Worldwide | 30 days | $9.99-17.99 (per month) |
| niconico | Great community site with free streaming of many anime titles | USA, Japan, Taiwan | n/a | Free ($5/month w/o ads) |
| RetroCrush | Focused on vintage anime, a great option if you’re into older titles | Worldwide | n/a | Free ($5/month+ w/o ads) |
| SIMKL | A TV episode tracking platform with a dedicated anime section | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| Tubi | Free streaming of anime shows and movies | United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand | n/a | Free |
| WatchAnime | Updates its library daily with over 3000 titles and offers HD quality videos | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
| YouTube | No anime list would be complete without it | Worldwide | n/a | Free |
Top Anime Streaming Sites
Reviews of the 25 Best Sites to Watch Free Anime Online
AniWave Review
If you like a clean and easy-to-use website interface and a large collection of anime shows to choose from, then the popular anime site AniWave is going to be a great place for you to binge-watch some of your favorite anime shows.
AniWave offers more than 40 genres from action to vampire. Most of the content can be streamed in high-quality 1080p. Subbed and dubbed versions are available. Some of the most-watched anime are One Piece, Naruto, Black Clover, and Jujutsu Kaisen.
A very useful navigation tool allows you to filter your videos by season, year, quality, type, and language.
The frequent in-between page ads are very annoying, but that’s the price you have to pay for being able to watch a huge anime collection for free.
Amazon Prime Anime Review
Amazon Prime is a rival of the streaming giant Netflix, and it offers thousands of shows, movies, and anime options that you can stream anywhere at any time.
A search in the anime category shows more than 230 titles available for free for Amazon Prime members with an additional 700+ titles available to rent or purchase.
A very useful navigation tool allows you to filter your videos by season, year, quality, type, and language.
The Prime Video membership costs $8.99 per month and eligible persons can get a reduced membership of $5.99/month. Even if you decide that’s not for you, you can enjoy your 30-day free trial.
Animeland Review
Animeland offers a great collection of dubbed anime from 480p to high-definition 1080p. The site has a very basic layout without a filter function
Lots of ads but you can download clips and movies.
Anime Planet Review
Stream over 45,000 legal, industry-supported anime episodes on Anime-Planet – for free! The site also has a large database of Manga that you can read online.
There is a large fan community (you need to register to participate) with discussion forums, reviews and custom lists.
Very useful filtering options let you search anime shows and movies by name, rating, studio, type, tags, episodes, year/season, and staff.
AnimeTake Review
Animetake is a large online collection of free anime shows and movies.
You can search their catalogue alphabetically, by year, genre, and rating.
Quite a bit of advertising…
Aniplus Review
Aniplus is a platform for anime lovers with an online collection of free anime shows and movies plus an anime merchandise store
Filtering options are very basic and you can search their catalogue only alphabetically, by year and genre.
You can register to participate in Aniplus’ community of anime lovers.
Quite a unique feature is its AnimeInMyLife campaign for anime fans by anime fans. Here you can showcase your love for anime by submitting your anime-related entry in the form of an artwork, photo or short video and stand a chance to win awesome prizes.
Asian Crush Review
If you’re a die-hard fan of Asian movies and shows, Asian Crush is your site. Apart from movies, the site has quite a good selection of anime. It also has a blog that offers the latest news updates of the Asian movie industry.
Filtering options are very basic and you can search their catalogue only by movies or shows, by country and genre. You can sort by newest, most popular and alphabetically.
You can register for the premium option at $4.99 a month that allows you to watch ad-free (they have lots of ads…) and get access to exclusive titles and stream wherever, whenever with the AsianCrush app.
Chia Anime Review
Chia Anime offers more than 1000 high-quality anime clips for online streaming. The site has a modern and efficient user interface.
Filtering options are by genre, studio, type, season, latest, populat and you can search alphabetically.
The Chia Anime site does not store any files on its own server and all content is provided by third parties. That can make video load time slow.
Crunchyroll Review
CrunchyRoll is the biggest streaming service for all kinds of anime shows with over 30 000 episodes. The best thing about it is that it uploads an episode only an hour after its Japanese release. It also has a large selection of Manga.
The site allows you to add reviews and share videos on Facebook and Twitter. Supported languages are English, Dutch, France, Italian, and more.
While the standard version is free, it only gives you access to a limited number of shows and manga. You can subscribe to the Fan plan for $7.99, the Mega Fan plan for $9.99 per month, or the Ultimate Fan plan for $14.99/month. All three plans offer a free 14-day trial.
Crunchyroll also provides experiences to deepen fan engagement and community through social, events, games, consumer products, content distribution, content creation, and manga publishing.
Dubbed Anime Review
Dubbed Anime has a large online collection of shows and movies that you can filter by genre, language, year, and season.
You need to register (free) to participate in their online community board. There is also an option of a $5/month VIP membership that allows you to browse the site ad-free.
Funimation Review
Funimation is known for its great interface, amazing anime titles, subbed and dubbed options. Owned by Sony, this is a great anime website that is famous for releasing dubbed foreign content like anime and TV shows.
The free option shows lots of ads and doesn’t give you access to dubbed content. With any of their two premium options ($5.99/$7.99 a month) you can watch over 15,000 hours of anime anywhere, ad-free.
Great filtering options let you filter by genre, language, version, and rating. You can also search alphabetically and by date added.
GogoAnime Review
GogoAnime is known for a great library of classic older titles and many new ones as well. It is completely free and a great place to watch anime without paying anything.
GogoAnime offers genres like action, cars, horror, drama, game, kids, and more. You can watch recent releases, dubbed, and Chinese animation series.
If you don’t find your favorite show, you can also request the clips you are interested in.
HIDIVE Review
HIDIVE is an independent anime streaming company that acquired the rights to over 500 series, movies, and OVAs.
Besides simulcasts, dubs, exclusives, and even live-action titles, HIDIVE gives you more anime streaming options: switch between censored and uncensored anime; change the color of your anime subtitles; chat with your fellow fans while legally streaming anime in HD.
If you don’t find your favorite show, you can also request the clips you are interested in.
Subscriptions cost $4.99 per month but there is s free 7-day trial
Hulu Review
Hulu is an online streaming service owned by The Walt Disney Company and Comcast.It holds licenses to great titles coming from some most reputed anime studios in Japan. The site is home to one of the largest streaming galleries of content among premium online content platforms. Suffice to say, it is also home to some of the best anime titles, too.
With Hulu, you can dowmload titles and play anime on any device you own, iPhone, Tablet, or laptop.
MyAnimeList Review
MyAnimeList, a.k.a MAL, claims to have the largest anime and manga database and community.
MAL is also an anime social networking website with forums and over half a million users a day. You can read reviews from other people before starting a new anime series. Also, you can find people of the same interests as you and form a fan club.
As the site name suggests, you can create lists of anime series that you will watch. MAL also hosts contests to challenge users into completing their lists before others.
You can watch your favorite online anime for free, but a premium subscription at $2.99 per month lets you get rid of ads and has some extras on how you can interecat in the community.
Extensive filtering options allow you to search by genre, themes, demographics, studios, rankings and seasons.
Netflix Review
No list on premium online anime would be complete without Netflix of course. Watch Netflix anime on your smartphone, tablet, Smart TV, laptop, or streaming device, all for one fixed monthly fee. Plans range from $8.99 to $17.99 a month. And there is a free 30-day trial.
Netflix has an extensive library of anime shows and it has reportedly invested lots of money into this segment of its programming, producing original series and movies, as well as making big-ticket licensing acquisitions for world-famous franchises like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cardcaptor Sakura, Saint Seiya, and others.
Most anime are available in English Dub Audio and the rest are available with Japanese Audio with English and other language subtitles.
Niconico Review
What sets Niconico apart from other online anime websites is its video comment feature. The comments are overlaid directly onto the video, synced to specific playback times. This provides users with a shared viewing experience.
Users also can upload, view, and share video clips and use ‘Nicoscript’ – by using special commands in the uploader comments, the uploader can add special effects to the video, including voting, automatic transfer to another video, quiz scoring, and other features. They can also create ‘Mylists’, a function similar to browser bookmarks.
In addition to a massive collection of free anime videos there is a large community section on Niconico, supported by additional features like a Commons section and Niconico pedia.
Lots of ads in the free version but you can register for a premium membership at 550 Yen (∼$5)per month.
SIMKL Review
SIMKL TV Tracker is a service that tracks TV shows and movies you watch and provides personalized recommendations based on your viewing history. It is not a specific product or device, but rather a service that can be accessed through a website or mobile app. The purpose of SIMKL TV Tracker is to help users discover new content and keep track of what they have watched..
SIMKL TV Tracker provides information and recommendations for various forms of entertainment, including anime. Users can track their progress and discover new anime shows based on their preferences.
You can sort anime by most voted, most watched (month/year/all time) and by genre. You can also filter by series, movies, OVAs, ONAs and music.
Tubi Review
Tubi is the largest free movie and TV streaming service in the US, supported by ads. The platform works spectacularly well across all devices and provides quality content in high resolution.
It also features a large selection of free online anime. Although its catalog is not as comprehensive as other platforms on our list, it still offers great choices of some of the best anime to come out of Japan.
You can stream movies, TV shows as well as anime in high quality, with an ad block shown every 15 minutes.
Unfortunately there is no good way to filter anime shows.
Exploring Anime: A Fascinating World of Japanese Animation
Anime, originating from Japan, is a captivating style of animated entertainment known for its vibrant characters, imaginative narratives, and fantastical themes. This form of artistry manifests in various mediums, including television series, movies, and original video animations (OVAs). With its unique visual style and intricate storylines, anime spans across a diverse spectrum of genres such as action, romance, science fiction, and fantasy, captivating audiences of all ages worldwide.
Distinguishing Anime from Manga
While anime and manga are interconnected realms of Japanese popular culture, they differ in their presentation mediums. Anime refers to animated works, whereas manga encompasses printed or digital comics. However, it’s common for anime adaptations to stem from manga series, showcasing similar stylistic elements albeit in full-color animation and featuring talented voice actors. Both anime and manga hold significant roles in Japanese pop culture, boasting dedicated fanbases globally.
Understanding Anime and Manga Styles
Anime, being animated storytelling, shares stylistic resemblances with manga, albeit in color and enhanced by voice performances. Conversely, manga, presented in comic form, showcases distinct features such as larger character eyes and dynamic action sequences with intricate speed lines. Additionally, manga is predominantly presented in black-and-white, accompanied by visually impactful sound effects, typically enjoyed by readers in serialized formats.
Exploring Anime Streaming Platforms
Anime streaming sites serve as virtual repositories housing a plethora of animated content, ranging from movies to TV shows, categorized across various genres for easy exploration. These platforms offer filtering options based on season, year, quality, and language preferences, akin to conventional movie and TV streaming services. While some sites extend their offerings to include manga for online reading, alongside community engagement features like forums and fan boards, others boast integrated merchandise stores.
Considerations for Anime Viewing
When opting for anime streaming platforms, users encounter the choice between free services, laden with advertisements and potentially cumbersome interfaces, or premium subscriptions offering ad-free experiences for a monthly fee. The decision ultimately hinges on individual preferences, budget constraints, and viewing habits, as regular anime enthusiasts may find value in investing in premium content access.
Fun Facts About Anime
In Japanese, the term “anime” encompasses all forms of animation, regardless of style or origin, whereas internationally, it specifically denotes Japanese animation. Surprisingly, more than half of the world’s animated TV shows hail from the anime industry, comprising over 430 production companies, including renowned studios like Studio Ghibli, Sunrise, and Toei Animation. Since the 1980s, anime has gained substantial international acclaim through dubbed and subtitled programming, solidifying its status as a global cultural phenomenon.
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