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Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks and Amazon affiliate programs.

An unprecedented number of people around the globe are being told to stay at home as a public health measure in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. But just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean you have to be bored.

Here’s a roundup of just some of the many digital items that companies and individuals are giving away for free during the current crisis for folks who are working or playing from home while self-quarantined/practicing social distancing. And make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the list for a collection of resources that are always available for free.

I’m also throwing in a few goodies that are free for a limited time, so make sure to note the start and end times when relevant.

Another thing to note — these deals are all available in the United States, where I’m located. International availability will likely vary by region and product or service.

Stadia

 

Free Games

Free eBooks, audiobooks, and digital comics

HBO Now

Free Video

Free audio

Free Content creation tools

Other

Always-free streaming services:

  • Baen – Free eBooks and short stories
  • Crackle – Ad-supported movies and TV shows
  • Facebook Watch – Ad-supported original shows and select TV series (like Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
  • Google Arts & Culture – virtual tours of 2,500 museums
  • Khan Academy – Free online courses in dozens of subjects
  • Hoopla – Free movies, TV shows, eBooks, and audiobooks (requires a library card from a participating library)
  • IMDB TV – Ad-supported TV shows and movies
  • Internet Archive – Free eBooks, movies, music, and more (including 6,000+ MS-DOS games to play in a web browser)
  • Kanopy – Thousands of great movies for free (ad-free too), but requires library or university login and there may be a limit to how much you can watch in a month)
  • LibriVox – Free public domain audiobooks
  • ManyBooks – Free and discounted eBooks
  • OverDrive – Borrow eBooks and audiobooks (requires library card from participating library and you may have to wait in line for popular titles — the company’s Libby app is also great for browsing, reading, and listening on Android and iOS devices)
  • Plex Watch Free – Ad-supported movies and TV shows
  • Pluto TV – Hundreds of live TV channels and thousands of movies (ad-supported)
  • Project Gutenberg – Tens of thousands of (mostly public domain) eBooks
  • Roku Channel – Ad-supported movies and TV shows (no Roku required)
  • Sling TV Happy Hour Across America – Stream 50+ live TV channels for free between 5:00 PM and midnight, and access cloud DVR plus 50K+ on-demand titles. No credit card required.
  • Sling TV – The new Stay in & Sling collection offers select live and on-demand TV for free (ad-supported)
  • Spotify – Ad-supported music streaming
  • Tubi – Ad-supported movies and TV shows
  • Vudu – Selection of ad-supported TV shows and movies
  • YouTube – I don’t really have to explain this one, do I?

TV Network apps and websites

These usually offer a selection of ad-supported content from currently-running TV shows, but if you don’t subscribe to a cable or satellite service, you may be limited to watching just a handful of the most recently-aired episodes:

And a personal favorite of mine has been available for free online for a few years — every Elfquest comic published before 2014 is available to read at Elfquest.com.

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23 replies on “60+ freebies for while you’re stuck at home”

  1. Two more things from libraries, and these both depend on if your library subscribes to them.
    Acorn TV – you have to go in through your library and ‘check it out’ digitally, then log in through Roku or whatever.

    RB Digital – this is from Recorded Books, it started off as ebooks and audiobooks, but now it’s incorporated Zinio for magazines and some other things too apparently including Acorn. https://rbdigital.com/

  2. Specific complaint about Amazon prime video. All i want to do is easily purchase and download digital tv series at a reasonable price (some series are not available at all or the prices are very high like $25 per season). No i don’t want to stream with commercials or sign up for subscriptions… No i don’t care to go through the trouble of buying and ripping dvds.I have and will continue to email jeff @ amazon.com to the corporate office to let them know they should work with the content owners to offer better deals! So far like usual they just send a form letter reply “thanks for the feedback ” cut and paste answers.

    1. I have no idea what series you want to buy, but you can typically get SD versions for about $17 instead. Also, check on justwatch.tv/us — other streaming services sometimes offer lower prices.

      Amazon offers free trials of a bunch of streaming services, though obviously you would have to binge if you don’t want to start paying.

      There’s multiple options available, but you seem determined to be pissed off, I guess. Also, what do you expect from Amazon in reply to your emails? They’re not going to start slashing prices, and nor are the content creators.

  3. Jb82, some people don’t have luck to have a family with them, Im single live alone and relatives all live 1000+ miles away. Any resource like this is very helpful

  4. Tinder have a deal?! They’ve missed the point of isolation lol. They should shut down the app if they want to be responsible?

    1. Arguably, tinder should shut itself down if it wants to be responsible, pandemic or no pandemic.

  5. Several other good free streaming sites are Xumo – 180+ free video channels and a library of on-demand movies, (www.xumo.com) and Stirr – multiple streaming channels with a local news channel affiliate (www.stirr.com) and Locast – an app rebroadcasting over-the-air TV in major cities, covering 30% of the US population – your location must be in said City for it to work (www.locast.org)

  7. One always free resource is Project Gutenberg which hosts out of copyright books downloadable in various formats.

    Also, while I used to use Overdrive I now use the app (and Windows application) Libby which they created. The county I live in has agreements with the surrounding counties so I can get a library card from each of them. Libby is designed to better handle multiple libraries and also supports reading on the Kindle.

    1. Thank you for this information. The other responders seem to enjoy telling people how to live and how to think…you just seemed to enjoy helping people. I am appreciative for this…

      Take care of yourself and your family(if you have one).

    2. Thanks. Don’t know how I forgot to add Project Gutenberg on my first pass — but it’s in the list now.

      Personally I tend to use OverDrive to send eBooks straight to my Kindle (or download audiobooks as MP3 files I can listen to using the app of my choice), so I’ve never been that fond of Libby. But I can see why some people like it, so I added a note.

  9. LMFAO at the Haymarket Books selection of free books. It’s all far left-wing nonsense. Never let a crisis go to waste I guess. Gotta indoctrinate at every opportunity.

    Putting that aside, this is actually a great list of freebies. Very helpful.

    1. Thanks for the heads up.

      Had it not been for your inane rant, I would have missed out on a bunch of good books.

      Now let’s see what lovely Ms Klein has to say…

      1. Not every family can be considered “quality”… sometime’s it is a waste of time :\

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