Crunchyroll
Price: $7.99–$14.99/mo.
Free trial: 14 days
Simultaneous streams: 1–6
Simulcasts: Yes
Crunchyroll is a pretty good anime streaming service. Anime is so much more accessible here in the US than it was even 15 years ago, and Crunchyroll has a huge anime library.
Unfortunately, it’s also your only option for a lot of anime—Crunchyroll’s bought up a lot of its competitors. So if you don’t like its user experience, you might be out of luck. Hulu carries a lot of the most popular shows, but no one can beat Crunchyroll’s seemingly endless supply of new anime.
When you sign up for a Crunchyroll account, you’ll have the option to sign up for a free plan, which gives you access to a limited amount of ad-supported content. But if you want a taste of the premium life, with access to the entire ad-free catalog, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial of any premium subscription tier.
It does require credit card information, though, so make sure to cancel before the trial is over if you don’t want to be charged.
Currently, the only way to save money on a Crunchyroll premium subscription is to sign up for a longer billing cycle. For example, with the lowest-tier Fan plan, a monthly billing cycle is $7.99/mo. But if you sign up for quarterly billing (every three months), you’ll pay $22.99 per cycle, which turns out to be $7.66 per month (a 4% discount).
The best deal is to sign up for the yearly cycle, which is $79.99 every 12 months. That turns out to be $6.66 per month, a roughly 16% discount from the regular price.
Crunchyroll throws in extra perks for subscribers at the mid- and highest-tier plans. The $9.99 Mega Fan plan gives subscribers first access to Crunchyroll Expo events and lotteries, as well as a $15 discount off a $100 purchase in the Crunchyroll store every three months.
For the $14.99 Ultimate Fan plan, that $15 quarterly discount bumps up to $25 off of $100. That’s not enough to fully cancel out the extra money you’ll be paying for the highest-tier plan in the long run, but maybe you’re splitting subscription costs with a few other people anyway.
The Ultimate Fan plan also comes with an annual swag bag and the opportunity to purchase an exclusive members-only Nendoroid figure of Hime, Crunchyroll’s mascot and best girl.
We couldn’t find details about this swag bag or exclusive figure online, but we can verify that Ultimate Fan subscribers will get 43% off of this Hime Nendoroid with the code HIMENENDO at checkout. You’ll end up paying about $37 before tax and shipping, if you don’t want to pull out your calculator.
It won’t save you money on a Crunchyroll subscription, but you’ll get a 15% off coupon on your first Crunchyroll store purchase when you sign up for its newsletter and use the code CRNEW at checkout.
Crunchyroll also offers free shipping on orders over $100, which isn’t great compared to Entertainment Earth ($39 with code FREESHIP39), Hot Topic ($60), or Amazon ($25), but that might not matter if you’re buying one of those high-end $300+ figures.
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
The easiest way to tell if Crunchyroll is for you is to sign up for a free plan. This gives you access to a small sliver of the platform’s content without any sort of commitment.
But if you want to watch those new episodes of your favorite simulcast, you’ll need a premium subscription. For most subscribers who aren’t sharing their account with others, we recommend the lowest-tier Fan package. You’ll get ad-free access to Crunchyroll’s entire anime for just $7.99 a month.
In comparison, a $7.99 Hulu plan has tons of ads. Crunchyroll definitely gives anime fans the most bang for their buck.
But if you’re sharing an account with multiple people, you might want to upgrade to Mega Fan. Although Crunchyroll doesn’t allow multiple profiles, it does allow multiple users to stream anime simultaneously from different devices, and the Mega Fan plan pays for four simultaneous streams. It also allows offline viewing, if you’re often traveling or without Wi-Fi.
If you’re sharing your account with more than three other people—unlike Netflix, Crunchyroll doesn’t care if you share your password with people outside of your home—it might be worth it to splurge for the Ultimate Fan package. The $14.99 per month price is pretty steep, seeing as it doesn’t unlock any additional content, but at least you’ll get some exclusive savings in the Crunchyroll Store to offset the cost.
| Service | Price | Simulcasts? | Streams | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Crunchyroll Best anime catalog |
$7.99–$14.99/mo. | ✔ | 1–6 | View plans |
| Hulu | $7.99–$14.99/mo. | ✔ | 2 |
View plans Read Hulu review |
| Netflix | $6.99–$19.99/mo. | — | 1–4 |
View plans Read Netflix review |
| HBO Max | $9.99–$15.99/mo. | — | 3 |
View plans Read HBO Max review |
| Tubi | Free | — | N/A |
View plans Read Tubi review |
| HIDIVE | $4.99/mo. | ✔ | 2 | View plans |
| RetroCrush | Free–$4.99/mo. | — | N/A | View plans |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
For casual anime fans, you’re probably going to be choosing between Crunchyroll and Hulu. They have similar price points, and both carry popular simulcasts, like Spy X Family, My Hero Academia, and Chainsaw Man.
However, each service has its advantages. Crunchyroll’s $7.99 plan is ad-free, while you’ll have to shell out the full $14.99 to escape ads on Hulu. (Or $19.99, if you’re bundling with Disney+). Also, Crunchyroll has a much larger anime library than Hulu, thanks to some strategic corporate acquisitions.
But Hulu puts captions on English dubs, and that’s a big deal to us. If you’re someone who only watches subbed anime or don’t need captions while watching TV, you’ll probably be fine with Crunchyroll. But if you’re like this writer and need captions on your dubbed anime, you might want to check if the shows you want are available on Hulu first.
Alas, such is the fate of the anime fan: stuck between Hulu’s annoying ads and Crunchyroll’s lack of accessibility.
For those few anime that the Crunchyroll/Hulu sphere don’t cover, check out Netflix. It has a lot of really great original content, and it only ever cancels half of it!
Crunchyroll’s enormous library of anime can’t be beat. If streaming services were Pokémon trainers, Crunchyroll would be the Champion, because it’s caught them all.
That’s our cute way of saying that Crunchyroll’s been buying up all of its competitors and absorbing their content, like some kind of gluttonous cosmic horror. Funimation and VRV lie bloodied and lifeless on the battlefield behind it. HIDIVE and Netflix are the last ones standing between Crunchyroll and world domination (total monopoly on anime here in America).
Crunchyroll also has a decent manga collection, although it’s nowhere near as expansive as its anime counterpart. If you’re looking for some bigger manga titles online, try using the Libby app and seeing if your local library offers any. (The Brooklyn Public Library, for example, carries Spy x Family, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Chainsaw Man in ebook form).
Crunchyroll’s most unique feature is its “Crunchylist” system. In addition to a traditional watchlist, you can add anime to custom lists too. So if you want to make a list for yourself of only currently airing simulcasts or entirely isekai fantasy, you totally can. It’s a lot better than the unorganized overstimulation of a traditional watchlist.
Or you can browse Crunchyroll’s hand-curated watchlists, with cheeky titles like “Not saying it was aliens… but it was ALIENS” and “HELP! I’m surrounded by beautiful men!” There’s even a fun easter egg if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the homescreen.
The only downside here is you can’t browse through just these curated lists—you’re subject to the whims of the algorithm and whatever elements Crunchyroll thinks you’ll like most, including “Top Picks For You” and “Crunchyroll News.”
| Plans | Streams | Offline downloads? |
|---|---|---|
| Fan | 1 | — |
| Mega Fan | 4 | ✔ |
| Ultimate Fan | 6 | ✔ |
Crunchyroll doesn’t mind if you share your Crunchyroll account with friends; that is, as long as you pay for it. If you’re a solo viewer, you’ll be fine with the Fan plan, which allows you to watch one show at a time. You can still log into as many devices as you want, though.
If you have a big household with multiple anime fans who want to watch different shows at the same time, you’ll want the Mega Fan tier. It’s two dollars more per month, which adds up, but you’ll also get offline viewing.
The highest level is Ultimate Fan. If your group wants to watch six different anime at the same time (or maybe six people want to watch the same anime, simultaneously from different locations across the globe), you’ll need this tier. But hopefully with six people, you’ll be able to split that $14.99 monthly price tag.
| Device | Can you watch Crunchyroll? |
|---|---|
| Amazon Fire Cube, Stick, TV | ✔ |
| Android phones, tablets | ✔ |
| Android TV | ✔ |
| Apple TV (4th gen.) | ✔ |
| Apple TV 4K | ✔ |
| Chromecast, Chromecast with Google TV | ✔ |
| Facebook Portal | — |
| Echo Show | — |
| iPhone, iPad | ✔ |
| LG TVs | — |
| Nintendo Switch | ✔ |
| NVIDIA SHIELD Pro TV | ✔ |
| PC, Mac web browsers | ✔ |
| PlayStation 4, 5 | ✔ |
| Roku Ultra, Express, Premiere, Stick, TV | ✔ |
| Samsung TVs | — |
| TiVo Stream | — |
| Vizio TVs (select models) | — |
| Wii | Discontinued in 2019 |
| Xbox One | ✔ |
| Xfinity Flex, X1 | — |
Crunchyroll is available on most devices—it’s even one of the few streaming services available on the elusive Nintendo Switch. The main way you’ll miss out is if you rely on native apps from smart TVs, like those from LG and Samsung. You’ll have to connect with a gaming console or streaming stick instead.
You also won’t find Crunchyroll on Xfinity Flex devices. Sorry, Xfinity subscribers, but at least you probably got your hardware for free. Use that money you saved to buy a Crunchyroll-compatible streaming accessory like the Amazon Fire TV or Roku.
None of Crunchyroll’s current plans offer 4K streaming, and the highest resolution it offers is 1080p. That’s still pretty good, though. Crunchyroll will probably auto-select 1080p or 720p, both of which count as HD, and viewers can manually pick what resolution is best for their setup.
You can even choose to bump your resolution all the way down to 240p, if you’re worried about data usage or want to relive those 2000s bootleg anime days when everything was, ahem, crunchy.
So is Crunchyroll worth it? If you’re a big anime fan, yeah, absolutely. It’s got a huge catalog of shows and it’s relatively cheap to go ad-free compared to a lot of other streaming services in 2023.
If you’re a casual anime fan only looking for the hottest titles, Hulu is a fine pick, especially because it’s better at captioning dubbed anime than Crunchyroll. But the best bang for your buck is gonna be Crunchyroll.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some simulcasts to catch up on.
No, Crunchyroll doesn’t offer its whole catalog for free. A lot of dubs and simulcasts are locked behind a paywall. However, you can still watch a decent amount of anime with a free Crunchyroll plan, no credit card required—as long as you’re okay with ads.
Crunchyroll has four subscription tiers. The lowest one is completely free, but a premium subscription will cost between $7.99 and $14.99 a month.
If you’re a new subscriber or looking for currently airing shows, you should just subscribe to Crunchyroll. After buying Funimation, Crunchyroll is in the process of absorbing its library. Unfortunately, Funimation no longer carries new simulcasts, only continuing ones. This is all part of a (very slow) process that will end in Funimation no longer existing. Drop an F in the chat.
If you really love anime, it’s definitely worth paying for a Crunchyroll subscription. More casual fans might want Hulu instead—it’s got a lot of the most popular anime and simulcasts, and handles dubs better—but no one can beat Crunchyroll’s massive library.
The premium version of Crunchyroll is also far better than the free version. A ton of its library is locked behind the paywall, so the free plan is more of a trial experience than a full streaming service.
Our anime experts have spent hundreds of hours testing streaming services to bring you the 411 on everything anime. For more information on our methods, check out How We Rank.
Stay updated on the latest products and services anytime anywhere.
Curious what TV and internet providers are in your area?
