Two great alternatives to traditional cable for cord-cutters to try are FuboTV and YouTubeTV.
Trying to decide between the two may not be the easiest of tasks but I’m going to try to help you make up your mind with this head-to-head comparison of both services.
You don’t have to go by my word though as both FuboTV and YouTubeTV have free trials so you can test them out yourself.
I’m going to make the decision easier for you by pointing out some differences between the two. Read on if you’re still trying to find out which is the better streaming TV provider.
What Is FuboTV?
FuboTV is a sports-focused streaming television provider offering up to 161 channels of live television with sports and entertainment.
They also offer some premium channels as addons and lots of on-demand content.
Sports fans stand to benefit the most from FuboTV as they can find any sports programming by league, type of sports or event. Whether it’s the FIFA World Cup qualifiers or the NFL season games, you’ll be able to find it quickly on FuboTV.
But even if you’re not that into sports, FuboTV does have a lot of great entertainment and lifestyle programming from all the popular channels you know and love. The kids can enjoy Nickelodeon and Disney Channel while you check out your favorites from NBC, CBS, BET, Lifetime, HGTV and many more.
Plans start at a competitive $64.99 for the basic features and go up to $79.99 for even more. Cloud DVR is included on all plans and you can add screens depending on your needs.
FuboTV is a good choice for cord-cutters who want to replace their cable provider with a more accessible and affordable streaming alternative.
They offer a 7 day free trial so you can test their services out on your own.
Pros & Cons of FuboTV
While FuboTV is a top choice for cord-cutters, there are some things subscribers will love about it and some things that leave a lot to be desired.
During my evaluation of FuboTV, I noted some of these things that I liked about the service and some I thought they could do better on especially compared to what competitors are offering.
What I Liked
What I Didn’t Like
What is YouTubeTV?
YouTubeTV is a premium streaming TV offer from a video service we all know and more than likely already use. It is owned by Google and accessible only to viewers in the United States.
The streaming TV service offers popular live channels providing sports, entertainment and lifestyle content as well as premium channels via addons.
Premium channels like HBO Max, AMC Plus, Showtime & Starz all offer free trials through YouTubeTV.
With a baseline price of $72.99, you can get started with a 14 day free trial and then a limited promotional price of $54.99 for the first 3 months.
YouTubeTV is one of the only streaming providers to offer unlimited DVR so you could record all your favorite shows and play them back when you need.
They offer a very good alternative to cable for cord-cutters in the United States as you’ll get access to live sports, entertainment channels like Disney, Nickelodeon, BET, Lifetime and more as well as on-demand movies and shows.
Pros & Cons of YouTubeTV
I enjoyed trying YouTubeTV just as much as I did trying FuboTV but there were some minor annoyances that I noted.
Here’s what I liked about YouTubeTV and some that I think subscribers might find a little discouraging.
What I Liked
What I Didn’t Like
YouTubeTV vs. FuboTV
OK, so now that we know more about YouTubeTV and FuboTV, how do you decide which one is best for you?
Besides taking both free trials, here are some comparisons between some of the most needed features when you’re shopping for a streaming TV provider to help you determine which one to go with.
Availability
If you’re considering getting YouTubeTV, it’s probably safe to bet that you’re in the United States. YouTubeTV is only available to US residents only while FuboTV can be streamed outside the US in limited regions.
FuboTV is available in Canada and also Spain for now. I’m actually not in any of those regions and had to access both services via a VPN like PrivateVPN.
If you’re inside the US then neither service really wins as availability would not be an issue for you. However, if you’re anywhere outside the US, then FuboTV has the slight win since you can access from a few places and you can use US, Canadian and Spanish IP addresses if you choose to use a VPN.
Free Trial Experience
Both services offer a free trial for a limited period so users can try them out and decide if they’d want to continue.
YouTubeTV offers a 14 day free trial while FuboTV offers just 7 days.
You should be able to properly evaluate each service within the given time period. While YouTubeTV lets you cancel your trial at any time and enjoy the remainder of the trial period, be aware that if you cancel FuboTV during the trial, your access ends immediately.
For the better free trial experience, YouTubeTV wins for having the longer free trial, letting you cancel anytime and allowing you to access your remaining free trial period.
Channels
The amount of channels advertised by YouTubeTV is 100+. How much they actually have depends on where you’re streaming from.
When you allow your browser location, YouTubeTV adds local channels to your lineup. I got a little over 100 channels when I gave access to my browser location.
FuboTV advertises 115 channels on their Starter package and up to 161 on their Elite ($79.99/month) package. You don’t need to give your browser location for access to any channels.
FuboTV’s channel lineup has a lot of sports channels included but otherwise, their channels offered is similar to YouTubeTV.
Each service adds new channels from time to time as they work to expand their network of streaming channels but for now FuboTV is the winner with the most channels offered.
Sports Content
With FuboTV being more focused on providing live sports streaming, it’s tough for YouTubeTV to beat them in this category.
YouTubeTV however does has a good share of sports channels and they even just recently added beIN Sports to their lineup. However, you’ll need to pay extra to access beIN Sports on YouTubeTV while FuboTV gives you access in the Starter plan.
No surprise here. Sports fans knows if they’re choosing between FuboTV and YouTubeTV, the former option is the one to choose.
Addons
Premium addons give you access to more content that is on-demand and ad-free. All TV and cable providers offer premium addons like HBO Max and Showtime so you can enjoy movies and shows without edits and commercial-free.
FuboTV offers a few addons – Showtime, Starz, MGM+ and AMC Premiere (not AMC Plus). You can even add the first three in a bundle for a discounted price.
YouTubeTV though has about 5 times the number of addon channels FuboTV offers. They’re also one of the few places that offer an HBO Max free trial. Plus with the exception of AMC Premiere, you can get all the same premium addon channels from FuboTV.
DVR
One useful feature streaming providers offer is the ability to automatically record and store your favorite shows and movies so you can watch them later.
Both services here offer DVR but YouTubeTV comes out with the win for offering unlimited DVR recordings. No other streaming TV provider I know of offers unlimited DVR. Your recordings are kept for up to 9 months
FuboTV offers 250 hours of DVR on their Starter plan but you can either pay for additional DVR storage or upgrade your plan where you’ll get 1000 hours of DVR.
4K Quality
Some users may look for 4K quality streaming if they have the right devices but the truth is that there aren’t a lot of shows that stream in 4K with the exception of some sporting events.
For this reason, FuboTV includes it in all its plans. To get 4K with YouTubeTV, you’ll need to get the 4K Plus addon which comes with a 30-day free trial then $9.99/month the first year before you pay the regular price of $19.99/month.
To me, the price seems a bit steep for something that should be included in any TV package or at least on an upgraded plan. For example, if FuboTV had said that you could only get 4K on the Elite plan then that would have been fine because there are additional benefits other than what you get out of this feature.
Offline Viewing
Most streaming services let you download content for offline viewing. There are many reasons why you might want this including outages, bad connections and traveling to areas without internet.
FuboTV does not currently offer the ability to download content for offline viewing.
YouTubeTV does offer this and pulls from your DVR but you need to get the 4K Plus addon to be able to do this. This is really a bummer because as I explained above, at some point you’ll be paying $19.99/month to be able to do this.
Still, YouTubeTV offers it while FuboTV doesn’t.
Apps & Devices
FuboTV and YouTubeTV both have apps for all the devices that you may want to access their services on.
You would not be able to stream YouTubeTV on any Roku devices through a dedicated app. Roku stopped letting new users download the YouTubeTV app recently after disagreements with Google.
You can still get YouTubeTV content on Roku through the YouTube app but this isn’t the ideal way for paying premium users to get their service.
This is a big deal to me because my primary streaming device is a Roku TV. I’ll give FuboTV the slight win here until the situation is resolved.
Pricing
This is a big factor because most cord-cutters are cutting the cord to save money. Three top TV streaming providers Hulu + Live TV, FuboTV, and YouTubeTV all once offered their services for $64.99/month.
So how do they compete and get people to choose?
FuboTV offers three plans ranging from $64.99 to $79.99/month after their 7-day free trial. They also offer channel packages and premium addons which can carry up the price.
YouTubeTV recently raised their base plan from $64.99 to $72.99 after their 14-day free trial. They too offer a number of premium addons and a couple of channel packages.
With the longer free trial and promotional pricing for the first three months of $54.99/month, you’ll end up paying less for YouTube in the long run. They also offer you the ability to pause your membership which will save you money if you’re not going to use it.
Conclusion
At first glance, it may seem as if both FuboTV and YouTubeTV tied with each winning in 5 categories but FuboTV got slight wins for being available in more locations and having a Roku TV app where YouTubeTV doesn’t.
However, YouTubeTV does have unlimited DVR storage and a bigger selection of premium addons which are two very major wins. Overall, I’d say this is the better service for most people.
If you’re an avid sports fan, located outside the United States or do most of your streaming on a Roku device then FuboTV might be the better pick for you.
Either way, both services are great for cord-cutters to consider and you can try them yourself with their respective free trials. You can learn more about the FuboTV free trial here and the YouTubeTV free trial here.
