Sling TV vs. YouTube TV

Is Sling TV or YouTube TV better?

We think Sling TV is better for budget shoppers, while YouTube TV is better for avid TV viewers.

Sling TV offers a good deal for an affordable price; its add-on packages offer flexibility, and its largest plan is still cheaper than YouTube TV.

If you want more channels, including locals and premiums, and unlimited DVR recording, YouTube TV is the way to go. Cards on the table: we gave our Editor’s Choice award for the best overall streaming service to YouTube TV.

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV pros and cons

✓ Low prices
✓ Plenty of sports add-ons
✗ Limited local channels

View plans

✓ 100+ channels
✓ Unlimited cloud DVR
✗ Higher price

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Jump to:

• Deals
• Prices and plans
• Fees and extra charges
• Channels
• Specs and features

Deals and promotions

YouTube TV typically offers bundle discounts with Frontier internet, the occasional free trial, or some bucks off your first month or two of service. Check out our review for the latest YouTube TV deals.

Hands down, Sling TV offers the most deals out of any live TV streaming service. Sling very rarely offers free trials, but the service does offer free or discounted TV antennas for local channels, savings off your first month or two of service, and other assorted goodies. Check out our Sling TV Deals page for more current promotions.

How are Sling TV and YouTube TV different?

Sling and YouTube TV are very different streaming services. In a nutshell, some Sling TV plans are close to half the price of YouTube TV, but YouTube TV has more channels and a better Cloud DVR.

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Sling TV’s main selling point is its lower price. Sure you’ll get fewer channels but, apart from Philo, you won’t find a cheaper full-featured live TV streaming service.

YouTube TV offers more channels and has unlimited cloud DVR storage for when you can’t watch shows live. It honestly has one of the best unlimited DVR allowances—most services will delete shows and movies after 28 days, but YouTube TV lets you keep all your faves for nine months before auto-deleting them.

And although Sling TV offers four simultaneous streams with its largest package, YouTube TV allows for six different user profiles—so each family member can create a personal streaming profile to improve their experience on the site.

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV prices and plans

Plans and pricing get a little bit tricky with Sling TV, but YouTube TV keeps it simple with one plan at a single price point. In particular, keep an eye on the channel lineups and simultaneous streams if you sign up for Sling TV.

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Sling Orange and Sling Blue offer different cable channels. While there’s some overlap, there are also set differences—Sling Orange has Disney Channel and ESPN, and Sling Blue has FOX News and MSNBC channels. This is a major downside to Sling TV—most streaming services build their packages on one another, so it’s a little annoying that you have to choose between two totally different options.

But if you want the best of both worlds, the Sling Orange + Blue package combines the two channel lineups at a fair price. If you’re gonna go with Sling TV, we say go with Sling Orange + Blue for lots of channels at a reasonable price.

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

YouTube TV offers only one live TV package, but it offers several additional premium channels you can add on for a little bit more.

Luckily, with over 100 channels already, there isn’t a whole lot more you might want to add to stream your favorite live TV shows. YouTube TV’s large channel count, with kids and sports faves, is impressive, but its price makes it less of a budget pick.

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV fees and extra charges

Like most live TV streaming services, Sling TV doesn’t have any hidden fees. But if you want more cloud DVR space to record live TV for later, it’s an extra $5 per month to bump up from 50 hours to 200.

Or, you can watch on-demand movies, which offer older favorites and new releases. Those movies are separate from the live channels you pay for, so they can vary from $3 to $6 per movie, depending on the film’s release date.

Sling TV also has channel add-ons to help make up for its small channel selection. Add-ons like the Lifestyle Extra give you access to the Hallmark Channel, DIY channel, Lifetime movies, and more for only $6 a month. Or there’s the Kids Extra that, also at $6 a month, gives you Disney Junior, Disney XD, Nick Jr., and more.

YouTube TV has no hidden fees, and its unlimited cloud DVR is free. That’s a win in our books, for sure.

YouTube TV doesn’t have the same on-demand service that Sling TV has, but it does a great job showing the free movies that are available across different channels. That means you can get access to any movie playing on live channels, even for a time after they’ve aired, without paying for them.

And YouTube TV has original on-demand shows and movies (more on that below) that you don’t have to pay extra for.

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV channels

Missing channels

In 2021, YouTube TV added 14 Paramount Media channels, including Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and MTV. This made YouTube TV one of the most cable-like live TV streaming services available, but also made it more expensive.

Sling TV has some Paramount Media channels, but not all of them (rude). And it’s missing some other noteworthy channels like CNBC (sorry, Jim Cramer fans).

Popular channels

• Discovery Channel
• Disney Channel
• Lifetime
• ESPN
• NFL Network

• TNT
• ESPN
• AMC
• CBS Sports Network
• Hallmark Channel

Both Sling TV and YouTube TV have a lot of popular channels—everything from Disney Channel to ESPN to Discovery Channel.

That said, you’ll want to pore over the channel lineups to make sure you choose the right Sling TV package for Lifetime (Sling Blue) or to double-check that YouTube TV has all the FOX channels you want (it has a ton of them, so probably, yes). But if we’re being picky, we’d say that YouTube TV has a better channel lineup because of its variety and quantity.

Data as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. *Sling TV: Antenna required for Sling TV. #Sling TV: Select markets only for Sling TV.

While YouTube TV has plenty of sports channels, Sling TV has some baller sports add-on options. Its cheap base plans include some of the most-desired sports channels, and when paired with the Sports Extra add-on packs ($11 a month for either the Orange or Blue add-on), Sling TV is a sportsball smorgasbord.

Data as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

You’re gonna have lots of trade-offs when it comes to sports channels, but we think YouTube TV beats Sling TV overall.

We’re guessing most of you back at home won’t miss ESPN3, but for the hardcore sports fan, it might fill some gaps in your sports coverage. Well, Sling TV offers it, but YouTube TV doesn’t (it does offer ESPNews, though). See what we mean?

The bottom line is that YouTube TV objectively has more sports channels for only $15 more a month than the Sling Orange + Blue package.

Local channels

Sling TV has only 36 local channel affiliates across the entire nation, which come from ABC, NBC, and FOX networks, while YouTube TV has 391 local channels from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and even PBS. That makes YouTube TV an easy winner in this category because you’re more likely to get your local channels with YouTube TV.

Still, we recommend doing a zip code check, whether you decide on Sling TV or YouTube TV, so you know which local channels you can get in your area.

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV specs and features

If the Holy Grail you seek is unlimited cloud DVR storage, your quest is over: YouTube TV is one of the only live TV streaming services that have it. But Sling TV offers more simultaneous streams, greater device compatibility, and more convenient channel guides, which keeps it from falling too far behind. So it just comes down to which features matter more to you.

Cloud DVR

Like we said, Sling TV’s limited cloud DVR options can’t hold a candle to YouTube TV’s industry-leading cloud DVR. But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at the specs yourself.

Regardless of what Sling TV package you choose, you’ll get the 50-hour cloud DVR, or you can spend an extra $5 a month for 200 hours of storage. But at least you can hold onto that content for as long as you want—there’s no time constraint.

YouTube TV’s cloud DVR is included, and it has unlimited storage capacity. But it does delete content after nine months. So you can record as much as you want, but make sure not to record so many Golden Girls reruns that you can’t finish watching in time.

Multiple streams

Sling TV offers more total streams with Sling Orange + Blue (one stream for Orange channels and three streams for Blue channels). But YouTube TV keeps it simple with three simultaneous streams that let you stream any channel.

Sling TV’s simultaneous streaming depends on the package you buy. Its Orange + Blue package is definitely the best if you have a family with members who will all want access at the same time.

But if you’re not worried about sharing streaming time, Sling Orange will probably work just fine.

YouTube TV offers three simultaneous streams, which should be enough to get your family access to the shows and movies they want when they want it. Plus, YouTube TV allows you six different user profiles, so your family can easily switch to the profile specialized for them when it’s their turn to start streaming.

If you get YouTube TV’s 4K Plus upgrade for an extra $9.99 a month, you’re allowed unlimited streams, offline downloads, and 4K resolution capability (if your device or smart TV can handle it).

Compatible devices

Wow, that’s a doozy of a chart, so we’ll try to boil it down for you: The two services are very similar in device compatibility. But YouTube TV works on the Xbox One, while Sling TV doesn’t connect with any gaming consoles.

But both live TV streaming services have good mobile apps, so you can watch anywhere your mobile device has data. So as long as you don’t mind watching your shows on a small screen, it’s a great feature.

Video quality

Both Sling TV and YouTube TV have the same video resolution. It may not be the ultra HD you were hoping for, but that’s pretty hard to achieve in streaming without causing other lags, so this really is the best tech can do right now. And besides, 720p is still great resolution for live TV streaming (1080p is the standard for on-demand streaming, like Netflix and Hulu).

Channel guide

Good news: both Sling TV and YouTube TV have easy-to-use channel guides.

YouTube TV’s channel guide includes the channel logo on the left of the screen, an image preview from the channel, and descriptions for the next two hours of live TV.

The mobile app is laid out similarly, but it only has space to show what’s playing live at the moment.

Sling TV’s channel guide can be seen in two ways, either in grid view or by channel.

The grid view looks like what you use on a typical cable TV service—with the channel logo and the next several hours of live TV. You can even filter those channels to show only your favorites, or to sports, entertainment, movies, or kids.

Meanwhile, the channel view (only available if you’re on desktop—mobile doesn’t have this feature) allows you to scroll as far forward as you want on one channel, to see what’s playing until the next Friday at 5 p.m.

It’ll also show the on-demand TV related to that channel. Because of the flexibility, Sling TV’s channel guide is our favorite.

Commercials

• On-demand movies
• Fast-forwarding on most cloud DVR recordings

• Fast-forwarding on most cloud DVR recordings
• YouTube Premium content (including YouTube Originals)

Both Sling TV and YouTube TV packages are just like watching regular cable, so there’s no way around the commercials, unless you skip them with the DVR. Or, you can get on-demand movies with Sling TV, and there won’t be commercials, but you’ll have to pay that $3–$6 per movie.

On the other side, if you pay extra for YouTube Premium, you won’t have commercials when watching your typical YouTube videos or YouTube Originals.

Of course, having YouTube Premium’s no-ad promise doesn’t apply to actual live YouTube TV channels—those commercials can’t be avoided without the DVR. Still, that unlimited DVR means you can record everything you want on YouTube TV and watch most of it commercial-free that way (FYI: some recordings have what YouTube calls “unskippable ads”). So YouTube TV definitely appeals to us with that extra benefit.

Is YouTube TV or Sling TV more worth it?

For rabid TV fans, YouTube TV wins out because it has more channels, more premium options, and an unlimited cloud DVR.

Still, you may not want all those channels or DVR space. Sling TV is also cheaper and fantastic for sports (with add-ons). So this decision is gonna come down to priorities. Where do you stand?

Sling TV vs. YouTube TV FAQ

Methodology

Our experts examined the functionality and reliability of Sling TV and YouTube TV through 100 hours of hands-on testing. We then compared plans and prices side by side and researched their channel lineups, hidden fees, and extra features online, speaking to real-life customers and service representatives to double-check our information. To learn more about our methods, check out our How We Rank page.