Note (September 2026): Several services in the original list have changed: Funimation (April 2024) and the Boomerang streaming app (September 2024) have closed, Crunchyroll ended its free tier in December 2025, and Netflix does allow offline downloads. The old Prime and Boomerang prices were out of date, and the entries below are corrected.
The best legal places to watch cartoons online, as of September 2026, are free ad-supported services such as YouTube Kids, the PBS Kids Video app, Tubi and Pluto TV, plus paid services such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video. Funimation and the Boomerang app have closed, and Crunchyroll is now paid-only.
Key Takeaways
- Free and legal: YouTube Kids, the PBS Kids Video app, Tubi and Pluto TV let viewers watch cartoons without a subscription, with ads.
- Closed services: Funimation shut down on April 2, 2024 and the Boomerang streaming app on September 30, 2024.
- No longer free: Crunchyroll was reported to be ending its free, ad-supported tier at the end of December 2025.
- Adults only: South Park Studios carries a TV-MA series and is not a children’s site.
- Prices change: as of September 2026, Amazon lists US Prime at $14.99 a month or $139 a year; always check the official page before paying.
Cartoons are undoubtedly the best source of entertainment for children and adults alike. If you have the child alive in you, there’s no age to enjoying cartoons. During our childhood days, we would spend hours watching Tom and Jerry, Pokémon, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.
Websites to Watch Cartoons Online, for Kids and Adults
The characters turned out to be our best friends. Now that we’ve grown up to be busier, catching up with our favorite cartoons has become possible, according to the time of their television time. If you’re interested in watching your favorite cartoons online, here are the websites to visit.
Disney Junior
If your kid or you are searching for Disney Junior cartoons, the Disney Junior section of DisneyNOW is the channel’s official online home. DisneyNOW is a TV Everywhere service, meaning its programming is offered to people who subscribe to Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD through a TV provider. Since Disney+ launched on November 12, 2019, Disney has moved much of its library content to that paid service.
Its UI (user interface) is user-friendly and uncomplicated. However, the DisneyNOW mobile and streaming-device apps were discontinued on September 23, 2024, so the service now works only in a web browser on a computer. For the wider Disney library, most families now use Disney+.
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network was once a popular place to watch cartoons online without paying, with a long list of shows sorted into categories. That is no longer how it works: by August 2024 the cartoonnetwork.com website was redirecting visitors to HBO Max or to a local Cartoon Network site, depending on the country, and the old cartoonnetworkhq.com address in the button below now leads to a Cartoon Network YouTube channel rather than a streaming site. In the US, Hulu has hosted the majority of Cartoon Network content since 2022, while Tubi carries many legacy Cartoon Network shows from the 1990s and 2000s, according to Wikipedia’s Cartoon Network entry.
Nickelodeon
The popular channel with the same name runs this online website. You’ll find the best movies, shows and rounds that can satiate the needs of all age groups.
Besides streaming the most famous cartoons, you’ll also get the trending news, play games and read news. You have to sign up with this site and use the search bar to find out your best loved cartoon. For whole seasons, Paramount+, the subscription streaming service of Nickelodeon’s parent company Paramount Skydance, carries much of Nickelodeon’s library. The nick.com.au button below now redirects to Nickelodeon’s global site.
South Park Studios
South Park Studios is the official website of South Park, the Comedy Central series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. South Park was the first weekly program to be rated TV-MA and is generally intended for adult audiences, so this is not a site for children. The old southpark.cc.com address in the button below now redirects to southparkstudios.com. You can scroll through the videos that have a collection of even more videos and get a watch option.
This will help you avoid wasting time. From September 2014, the site limited free viewing to a rotating selection of episodes. Full-series streaming in the US moved to HBO Max from June 24, 2020, and on July 21, 2025 Parker and Stone announced a five-year deal making Paramount+ the exclusive streaming home of South Park.
YouTube
YouTube is Google’s video channel which has been made for the users to watch videos. However, you can also use YouTube to stream cartoons, movies, games, songs, tutorials and educational videos.
For children, the separate YouTube Kids app is the better choice. YouTube Kids was first released on February 24, 2015, gained a web version on August 30, 2019, and offers curated content, parental controls and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate for children under 13. This is the most basic platform.
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an anime streaming service owned by Sony, which completed its acquisition on August 9, 2021. Crunchyroll is no longer free: in December 2025 it was reported to be ending its free, ad-supported tier at the end of that month, and it had 21 million paid subscriptions as of May 2026. Anime fans consider it one of the best places to watch Japanese animation, with more than 1,000 series in its catalog.
You get the option of sharing your video to your friends by publishing the link that directs them to the cartoon on the site. You’ll get a long list of your most-watched cartoons on Crunchyroll.
Boomerang
Boomerang is an American television network. Warner Bros. Discovery owns the network, and the Boomerang cable channel still airs cartoons from the Warner Bros. Animation library in the US. The paid Boomerang streaming service, however, shut down on September 30, 2024; select content moved to Max (renamed HBO Max in July 2025), and the boomerang.com button below now redirects to a Boomerang page on HBO Max. Timeless cartoons like The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry have long been Boomerang staples. The old Boomerang app prices of $5 a month and $40 a year no longer apply because the app has closed; HBO Max prices vary by plan and change over time.
Side Reel
SideReel is a TV-show tracking website, launched in 2007, that lists shows and links to episodes hosted elsewhere rather than streaming video itself. Before clicking through, check that a link leads to an official service. The upcoming new videos get separated into the trending list and they’re designated a different category. By following the list, you can immediately get access to your desired cartoon video.
Netflix
Netflix is a website that offers their services through communicating with online and this is touted to be one of the best in this list. According to the Netflix Help Center, members can download many (not all) shows and movies in the Netflix app to watch offline on phones, tablets, Amazon Fire tablets and Chromebooks. As of September 2026, Netflix says it offers a limited free trial only to eligible new members in certain countries; if the option does not appear at sign-up, it is not available in that location or on that device.
Amazon Prime
Just as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video allows you to watch online cartoons. Classics such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Popeye, Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer have appeared on the service, but licensed titles come and go, so check a show’s page before subscribing for it.
In order to enjoy watching your favorite cartoons, you have to sign up with your Amazon Prime account. As of September 2026, Amazon’s US Prime page lists $14.99 a month (plus tax) or $139 a year after a 30-day free trial; prices change, so check before signing up. Since the end of January 2024, Prime Video has shown limited ads unless members pay extra for ad-free viewing.
Hulu
Hulu is a US subscription streaming service fully owned by Disney, which bought the remaining stakes held by AT&T in 2019 and Comcast in 2023. It provides you with high quality picture quality and video and hence you can expect non-interrupted and non-buffering cartoon videos. The standalone Hulu service is available only in the United States (including Puerto Rico). Since 2025, Hulu content has appeared as a hub inside Disney+ in many other regions, so viewers outside the US should look there instead of trying to get around the block.
Funimation Now
Just as Crunchyroll, Funimation Now was an online streaming service that focused on Japanese anime, with apps for iOS, Android, Apple TV, Windows and Xbox. Funimation no longer exists: in March 2022 Sony announced it would be consolidated into Crunchyroll, and the Funimation app and website shut down on April 2, 2024, with a large majority of its catalog moved to Crunchyroll. The funimation.com button below now redirects to Crunchyroll.
ConTV
ConTV (styled CONtv) was a streaming channel with a free trial and a paid option, part of the streaming portfolio of Cinedigm, now called Cineverse. As of September 2026, the contv.com address in the button below redirects to Midnight Pulp, an ad-supported genre-film service that Cinedigm acquired in March 2022. You can watch old movies, science fiction, horror movies and also old movies from the list. It was never mainly a cartoon site, so families looking for kids’ animation are better served by the services in the table below.
Vimeo
Vimeo was once considered as a competitor of YouTube as it is a high quality video streaming platform which provides brandable video for most companies. This platform can be personalized, is ad-free and can support few of the biggest video codecs. It is an undoubtedly interesting video platform but it is not designed for kids. Vimeo has been owned by Milan-based Bending Spoons since the acquisition closed in November 2025.
TubiTV
Tubi is a free, ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation, which completed its purchase on April 20, 2020. It has a long list of animation videos, cartoons and dramas, including many legacy Cartoon Network shows, and it reported 100 million monthly active users in June 2025.
Registration on Tubi is optional, so viewers can start watching without an account. This is a community-related site for watching cartoons and you and your kids will love watching these cartoons.
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Which Cartoon Sites Are Free and Which Cost Money?
The table below shows the status of every service in this list as of September 2026, based on the services’ own pages and their Wikipedia entries. Prices and catalogs change, so treat it as a starting point.
| Service | Cost model | Best for | Status (September 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney Junior (DisneyNOW) | TV-provider login | Preschoolers | Web browser only since the apps closed on September 23, 2024 |
| Cartoon Network | Via Hulu (paid) or Tubi (free) | Kids and nostalgic adults | Website redirects to HBO Max or a local site |
| Nickelodeon | Nick site; Paramount+ subscription | Kids | Active |
| South Park Studios | Paramount+ subscription for full series | Adults (TV-MA) | Paramount+ exclusive under 2025 deal |
| YouTube / YouTube Kids | Free with ads | All ages; Kids app for children | Active |
| Crunchyroll | Subscription only | Anime fans | Free tier ended December 2025 |
| Boomerang | Cable channel; content on HBO Max | Classic cartoons | Streaming app closed September 30, 2024 |
| SideReel | Link tracker | Finding where a show streams | Does not stream video itself |
| Netflix | Subscription | Families, originals | Limited free trial only in some countries |
| Amazon Prime Video | Included with Prime | Families already on Prime | Limited ads since January 2024 |
| Hulu | Subscription | US viewers, Cartoon Network shows | Standalone service in the US only |
| Funimation | None | Not applicable | Closed April 2, 2024; catalog moved to Crunchyroll |
| ConTV | Address now leads to Midnight Pulp (ad-supported) | Genre films, not cartoons | Redirects |
| Vimeo | General video platform | Independent animation | Owned by Bending Spoons since November 2025 |
| Tubi | Free with ads | Free classic cartoons | Active; registration optional |
What Has Changed Since This List Was First Published?
Several cartoon streaming services in this list have closed, merged or changed their pricing since 2021. The main changes, in date order:
- March 1, 2022: Sony announced that Funimation, Wakanim and VRV would be consolidated into Crunchyroll.
- End of January 2024: Amazon Prime Video began showing limited ads to Prime members by default.
- April 2, 2024: the Funimation app and website shut down.
- September 23, 2024: the DisneyNOW mobile and streaming-device apps were discontinued.
- September 30, 2024: the standalone Boomerang streaming service shut down.
- July 2025: Max was renamed HBO Max, and Paramount+ became the exclusive streaming home of South Park.
- November 2025: Bending Spoons completed its acquisition of Vimeo.
- December 2025: Crunchyroll was reported to be ending its free, ad-supported tier.
Ownership is still moving as well. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Cartoon Network, Boomerang and HBO Max, agreed on February 27, 2026 to be acquired by Paramount Skydance, the owner of Paramount+ and Pluto TV; according to Wikipedia, the deal was expected to close by the end of September 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Families may see catalogs shift between services again.
Where Can Kids Watch Cartoons Online for Free and Legally?
Free, legal cartoon streaming exists, but it is almost always paid for by advertising. These services do not require a subscription as of September 2026:
PBS Kids Video app
The PBS Kids Video app is the primary source for free streaming of PBS Kids clips and full episodes, and it also includes a free live stream of the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel. PBS first made the app publicly available for free on May 12, 2011.
YouTube Kids
YouTube Kids is a separate app and website from Google’s YouTube, built for children with curated content, parental controls and filtering. It is free with ads; since August 2016 it has supported YouTube’s paid subscription (now YouTube Premium) for ad-free, background and offline playback.
Pluto TV
Pluto TV is a free ad-supported streaming television service owned by Paramount Skydance. Registration is optional.
RetroCrush
RetroCrush is an ad-supported streaming service for classic anime, one of the services Cinedigm (now Cineverse) acquired in March 2022 along with Midnight Pulp.
Availability differs by country, so a service that is free in the US may not be offered where you live. Parents choosing between these apps may also find our guide to parenting apps that help keep kids safe online useful.
How Do You Choose a Safe Cartoon Streaming Site?
A safe cartoon streaming site is one run by the rights holder or a licensed service, with parental controls and no pressure to download unknown files. Use this short checklist before letting a child use any service:
- Start from the official app store listing or the service’s own address. Copycat “free cartoon” sites often imitate real brands.
- Set up a kids’ profile or a kids’ app. YouTube Kids, the PBS Kids Video app and the kids’ profiles offered by paid services help keep children away from adult titles such as South Park.
- Be wary of sites that ask for card details for a “free” stream or push pop-ups and downloads; legitimate free services are funded by ads, not by surprise charges.
- Check the price on the official page before subscribing. Prices change, and old figures copied around the web are often out of date.
- Agree on viewing limits. Our guide to screen time limits by age summarizes what pediatric guidance recommends.
If you watch on a television, a streaming TV device can run most of these apps in one place. Disney fans can also read our guide to signing in to Disney+, and families who want screen time to teach something can mix in some educational games for kids.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch cartoons online for free legally?
YouTube Kids, the PBS Kids Video app, Tubi and Pluto TV all offer cartoons without a subscription as of September 2026. They are funded by advertising, and what each one offers depends on your country.
Is Funimation still available?
No. The Funimation app and website shut down on April 2, 2024, and a large majority of its anime catalog moved to Crunchyroll, which Sony also owns.
Does Crunchyroll still have a free tier?
No. In December 2025, Crunchyroll was reported to be ending its free, ad-supported tier at the end of that month, so watching now requires a paid subscription.
Can I still get the Boomerang streaming app?
No. Warner Bros. Discovery shut down the standalone Boomerang streaming service on September 30, 2024 and moved select content to Max, which was renamed HBO Max in July 2025. The Boomerang cable channel is still on air in the US.
Does Netflix have a free trial for cartoons?
Only in some places. As of September 2026, the Netflix Help Center says a limited free trial is offered to eligible new members in certain countries, and it appears automatically at sign-up where it is available.
Is South Park Studios suitable for kids?
No. South Park was the first weekly program to be rated TV-MA and is generally intended for adult audiences, so South Park Studios should not be treated as a children’s cartoon site.
1 Comment
Great Post Ankita. In these Crunch situation these channels will help children to watch cartoon movies of their choice.