It’s the holiday season, which means you can finally binge the Christmas movies it would feel weird to watch any other time of year. While finding the family favorites used to mean digging through a box of VHSs or scanning the DVD rack, nowadays, you can waste a whole night scrolling through what’s available on streaming services.
To help mitigate your time spent endlessly scrolling, I’ve rounded up some of the best Christmas movies currently available on major streaming services, as well as a couple you can find online for free. If you have a particular holiday favorite that you can’t seem to track down, there’s a strong chance it’s on this list. Unless it’s the 2001 live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas: You’re going to have to shell out a couple bucks on Prime Video for that one.
Jump to our top Christmas movie picks from specific streaming services:
Disney+MaxPrime VideoHuluPeacockNetflixApple TV+Free Christmas Movies
Best Christmas Movies on Disney+
Credit where it’s due, Disney+ has a pretty solid variety of holiday movies and specials in its library. Turns out owning everything on the planet does have its benefits. If you’re subscribed to Disney+ or recently hopped onto the new Disney+/Max/Hulu bundle, I’d recommend checking out holiday classics like Home Alone, Jingle All the Way, or the slightly spookier Nightmare Before Christmas. Disney+ also hosts tons of holiday specials for all its properties, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to LEGO Star Wars.
Best Christmas Movies on Max
Over at Max, you can find Christmas classics from the 2000s like Elf, Four Christmases, and a 20th Anniversary restoration of The Polar Express. Going a little further back, Max also hosts National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story. In terms of modern holiday releases, Max is home to the generally well-received 2023 romance movie Last Christmas.
Best Christmas Movies on Prime Video
Prime Video is probably where you’ll end up when you realize your favorite movie isn’t streaming anywhere, but the Amazon service also includes a library of movies available to stream without putting (additional) money down. Stand-outs include rom-coms like the “didn’t age well” classic Love Actually and The Holiday, as well as the animated Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and Frosty the Snowman.
Best Christmas Movies on Hulu
The Hulu library has some overlap with Max, so on the off chance you have a Hulu-only subscription, rest assured you still have access to Elf and Christmas Vacation. Hulu is also home to some of the greatest modern sitcoms (like New Girl, Abbot Elementary, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and all of their Christmas episodes.
Best Christmas Movies on Peacock
For whatever reason (probably a sweet licensing deal), Peacock is the place to go for the Grinch movies, specifically the original 1966 hand-drawn classic or the 2018 Dreamworks revamp. Peacock is also where you can find the entire Hallmark collection, Christmas rom-coms and all. If you’re looking for something with a little less jolly spirit, Peacock is also home to the Christmas horror movie Krampus.
Best Christmas Movies on Netflix
While Netflix might be the most popular streamer, it’s not really the place to go for classic Christmas movies. Most of those have been claimed by the streamers associated with their original distributors (see: NBC and Peacock). Of course, Netflix will always have Netflix originals. My number one recommendation from Netflix is the animated movie Klaus. Netflix has also spent years building out its own Christmas-themed rom-com universe, which now includes this year’s Hot Frosty.
Best Christmas Movie on Apple TV+
While Apple TV+ has a couple of holiday movies here and there, the service’s major selling point around the holidays is having every Charlie Brown special. That does include A Charlie Brown Christmas Special, which was an annual must-watch in my household. If that’s not enough to sell you on the Apple service, you could try and tide yourself over with this compilation of Charlie Brown moments from Arrested Development.
Free Christmas Movies
In the spirit of Christmas, a couple holiday classics are available to watch for free online, no subscription required. Miracle on 34th Street, Die Hard (certified Christmas classic), and It’s a Wonderful Life are available for free year-round, but for a limited time, you can also stream Christmas With the Kranks for free on Prime Video. Encountering ads will just bring back those fond memories of watching classic holiday movies on cable.
Am I missing anything? Did you find your favorite Christmas movie on the most niche service of all time? Let us know what you’re watching over the holidays in the comments below.
