Video Streaming without YouTube, Prime & Netflix

30 min Easy

Eine Illustration mit einem Teller, am dessem Rand violette und orange Tacochips liegen, um eine grüne, runde Portion Guacamole mit Chilischeiben und Zwiebeln heru. In der Mitte der Guacamole liegt ein oranger Tacochip mit der Spitze nach rechts ausgerichtet, der an das Play-Symbol erinnert.

YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime dominate our living rooms. Yet they are souring our appetite for entertainment through data-hungry tracking, personalised advertising and algorithms that can encourage addictive behaviour. These platforms lock us, as users, into closed ecosystems – and their streaming subscriptions are becoming increasingly expensive.

But there are alternatives offering high-quality, ad-free content: public service media libraries such as ARD, ZDF and ARTE offer their licence-fee-funded content free of charge. Libraries such as Filmfriend provide access to thousands of films and TV shows – fairly compensated and without algorithms. PeerTube offers a decentralised, community-based alternative to YouTube. And if you really must use YouTube: NewPipe is an open-source alternative that works without tracking or advertising. If you’re looking for Big Tech-free streaming without the addictive factor, this recipe is for you.

Different ways to cook

Our digital switch recipes provide an easy, simple way to give Big Tech the push, but there are other options available. We have tried to make it easy by focusing on a single approach and a small number of options, but there are other alternatives that are just as good. After all, what we mean by ‘good’, ‘not so good’ and ‘bad’ is open to debate: DI.DAY is about easy ways to give Big Tech the push (without getting into purism or being preachy). Our decisions are based on advice from our advisory panel.

An overview of the alternatives is available on the next page:

Alternatives to Big Tech

Ingredients

1 serving of curiosity

Try out the alternatives and be surprised by just how tasty the selection is beyond Netflix and the like.

1 farewell

If you enjoy the alternatives as much as we do, why not cancel your Big Tech subscription on a temporary basis? You can do this easily at the end of each month (and you can always renew it if you find you can’t live without Netflix and the like).

Preparation

1 Choose the alternative(s) of your choice

TV media libraries

The media libraries of ARTE, 3sat, ARD, ZDF or ORF offer thousands of films, shows, and documentaries – from crime dramas like “Tatort” to award-winning documentaries. Use the search function with keywords such as ‘documentary’, ‘cinema’ or ‘children’ to find exactly what you’re looking for. All media libraries also have their own apps for smart TVs, smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android). Searching and downloading are made even easier by the software Mediathekview.

Other TV channels, including RTL and ProSieben/Sat.1 (with Joyn – which, by the way, also features ZDF content), stream online – but often with more tracking and advertising.

Libraries

Many public libraries offer free streaming services. Filmfriend is a good choice: the portal is provided by over 860 libraries in German-speaking countries and currently includes around 4,000 films and 222 TV shows, as well as collections organised by theme. The excellently curated selection ranges from European productions and ambitious documentaries to classics and the latest arthouse films. It's easy to access: you can log in at filmfriend.de using your library card. Library cards are often inexpensive for adults, and for children and young people they are often (almost) free.

In addition to Filmfriend, many libraries also offer Onleihe, which allows you to stream not only movies but also e-books and audiobooks.

Special streaming services for admirers of the art of film

If you’re looking for arthouse films, classics or international films, there are other services worth checking out. The paid service Mubi sees itself as a ‘film curator’ and also offers social features such as reviews and discussions.

For fans of documentary films, Dok-at-Home is another favourite dish. This joint streaming platform, involving various German and international documentary film festivals, also offers talks from the festivals, including Q&A sessions with actors and directors.

Are these services available everywhere?

Public media libraries are accessible in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Filmfriend can only be accessed with a library card from a German-speaking country; an American version is available at MyFilmfriend.

2 Streaming videos together: PeerTube

PeerTube is a decentralised, algorithm-free alternative to YouTube: a network of open-source video portals, run mostly by volunteers worldwide, based on the open ActivityPub protocol – similar to Mastodon for short messages (see Mastodon switch recipe). PeerTube even allows users to host their own public media libraries (‘instances’) and connect with others.

Users from the Fediverse (e.g. Mastodon) can follow PeerTube channels (i.e. subscribe to content creators) and comment on videos. Please note the following legal information: So-called ‘peer-to-peer technology’ reduces the load on the server, but theoretically turns every viewer into a ‘publisher’ too. In the case of copyrighted content, this may pose a risk of receiving a warning letterof – but this can be disabled in the settings.

One of the largest PeerTube media libraries is FramaTube (run by PeerTube developer Framasoft); a good overview can be found at joinpeertube.org/instances. Save Social has also published the videos from the 2mr conference on its own PeerTube server. PeerTube can be used worldwide – depending on the instance. Whether downloads are permitted depends on the specific instance.

Dessert

YouTube without tracking and advertising

If there’s no other option, you don’t have to give up YouTube altogether. With NewPipe, you can enjoy YouTube content on Android without advertising and tracking.

NewPipe is a free, open-source app that accesses YouTube content without Google data access. It offers background playback, downloads for offline use, a pop-up player and even supports RSS subscriptions for channels. NewPipe also works with SoundCloud, PeerTube or Bandcamp.

NewPipe is not available in the Google Play Store because it violates YouTube's terms of service. However, you can easily download the app via alternative app providers such as F-Droid or GitHub. Its use is legal because NewPipe simply reads the public YouTube website and does not bypass any paywalls. NewPipe works wherever YouTube is available. You can also download YouTube videos for offline viewing.

If you prefer to use YouTube in your browser, Invidious is a good alternative. It is a decentralised YouTube front-end with no tracking or advertising. Some examples of such instances are invidious.flokinet.to or yewtu.be.

Enjoy your meal! You have just taken a big step towards a more independent digital existence.

Once you #DIDit – share our post about the digital switch and inspire others to take control of their own digital lives!

Topping

One impressive project demonstrates just how successful PeerTube can be: since March 2026, FunFacts has been offering 15-minute news programmes as video and audio podcasts from Monday to Friday – always at 10.30 pm on funfacts.de and its own PeerTube server. Contributors include Save Social supporter Marc-Uwe Kling, as well as Sarah Bosetti, Karoline Herfurth, Claus von Wagner and Max Uthoff, as well as academics such as the psychologist Maren Urner.

FunFacts combines humour with facts to make raising awareness both entertaining and memorable, always with the goal of promoting “humour, integrity and hope” instead of “incitement, hypocrisy and hatred”.