European Video Streaming Services
European streaming services carry the films and series that the American platforms rotate out, buy or never license at all — arthouse cinema, national productions, public-broadcaster documentaries and live sport with local rights. Several are free, most are cheaper than Netflix, and all of them keep your viewing data under European jurisdiction.
7 European Video Streaming Services
MUBI
Hand-picked cinema, one new film every day
ARTE
Free public-service culture, documentaries and concerts
Filmin
Independent and European cinema on demand
Viaplay
Nordic originals plus live football and motorsport
Videoland
Dutch series, films and RTL originals
Rakuten TV
Free ad-supported channels plus new-release rentals
Pantaflix
German pay-per-view platform with no subscription
How We Choose European Video Streaming Services
- European ownership
- European catalogue depth
- GDPR-compliant profiling
- Offline downloads
- Price per month
Frequently Asked Questions
Not a single one — European streaming is more fragmented by design, because rights are sold per territory. In practice most people replace Netflix with two services: one curated film platform such as MUBI or Filmin, and one national or public-service platform such as ARTE or Videoland. The combined cost is usually still below a Netflix standard subscription.
ARTE is free and ad-free, funded as a Franco-German public broadcaster, and its catalogue of documentaries, concerts and European cinema is substantial. Rakuten TV runs a free ad-supported tier alongside paid rentals.
Yes. The EU portability regulation requires subscription services to give you access to your home catalogue when you travel temporarily in another member state. Free services are not covered by the same obligation, so availability there varies.
These providers are established in Europe, so their profiling and recommendation systems fall under GDPR and the ePrivacy rules. You can request what has been collected and object to profiling for advertising — rights that are harder to exercise against a US platform.
The Complete Guide to European Video Streaming Services
Why European streaming is fragmented
Film and television rights are still sold territory by territory, which is why no European service has assembled a continent-wide catalogue to rival Netflix. That fragmentation is a genuine drawback, but it has an upside: national and regional platforms license the European productions that global services skip, and public broadcasters put substantial archives online for nothing.
Building a replacement stack
A workable substitution for most households is one curated film service plus one broad local platform. MUBI and Filmin cover cinema, with MUBI leaning towards a rotating hand-picked selection and Filmin holding a much larger permanent catalogue of European and independent titles. ARTE covers documentaries, arts and current affairs at no cost. Viaplay is the one to add if live sport is what actually keeps you subscribed.
Looking for a direct swap? See our comparison of European alternatives to Netflix.