Redbox | CordCutting.com

A solid option for digital rentals and free on-demand content

7.6 / 10 Review Rating

On This Page:
Content
Devices
Pricing
Deals
Free Trial
Contracts
Cancelling
Recap

You probably know the name Redbox because of those famous red kiosks that let you rent DVDs and Blu-rays outside your favorite grocery store, convenience store, or other retailer. More recently, though, Redbox has branched out into on-demand streaming media and even live streaming channels. Like Netflix before it, Redbox is branching out beyond DVDs and into streaming!

Want to find out what Redbox’s newer services have to offer? Let’s take a look.

What Can I Watch on Redbox?

Before getting into individual titles, let’s take a look at how Redbox’s service works. None of Redbox’s offerings require a subscription. We have two main services to talk about here: Redbox On Demand and Redbox Free Live TV.

Redbox On Demand gives you a range of movies and TV shows that you can stream from or download to your device (full list of compatible devices in the next section).

For most movies, you will be given the option to rent or buy via the Redbox On Demand service, and, in many cases, you will also see an option to rent or buy a physical copy (DVD or Blu-ray) at a local Redbox kiosk. TV shows can generally only be purchased, not rented, via Redbox On Demand. Any titles you purchase from Redbox On Demand can be viewed on up to five devices at once. Rentals, on the other hand, are limited to only a single device at a time.

Although they offer both movies and TV shows, the focus for Redbox On Demand is definitely new and popular movies. Their selection of TV shows is fairly small – less than 30 total shows as of this writing. Redbox On Demand’s movies are primarily from the past few years, although they do have some older movies available as well.

Make sure you are aware of the time limitations before you rent. Once you rent a movie, you’ll have 30 days to start watching it. Furthermore, once you hit play, you’ll only have 48 hours to complete the movie before the rental expires.

Here are some examples of the movies and TV shows available via Redbox On Demand:

Movies

Antebellum
Scoob!
Bad Boys for Life
Trolls World Tour
Hard Kill
The King of Staten Island
Justice League

TV Shows

Bob’s Burgers
This Is Us
Fargo
The Good Doctor
Archer
Timeless
Star

That covers what you can watch on Redbox On Demand. What about Redbox Free Live TV?

Redbox Free Live TV offers several channels of livestream content. You can access it even without logging into a Redbox account. As this is a livestream, the limitations are very similar to watching cable TV without a DVR – you can choose from amongst the channels they have available, but you cannot rewind, pause, or watch any content that is not currently playing.

The content that Redbox Free Live TV has available via its livestreams includes older movies (My Favorite Martian) and TV shows (Johnny Carson TV), news (Bloomberg’s Getting Political), game shows (Family Feud), sports (Utah Trout), and children’s content (Gummibar and Friends). Don’t expect any familiar cable networks, here — Redbox Free Live TV’s channels are original creations, not cable or satellite networks.

What Devices Can I Use With Redbox?

Movies and TV Shows that you rent through Redbox On Demand or Redbox Free Live TV are available on a range of devices via the Redbox app and Redbox website.

Let’s take a look at the major devices that support Redbox.

Streaming platforms and devices

Android TV
Apple TV
Chromecast
Roku

Video game consoles

Xbox One

Mobile devices

Android
iOS

Other

In-browser app (Mac, Windows, and more)
Select Blu-Ray and DVD players
Select smart TVs

How Much Does Redbox Cost?

Because there is no subscription fee, the cost for Redbox On Demand will depend on how many movies and TV shows you rent or purchase.

You can generally expect the rental and purchase prices to be impacted by the age of the content, with older content being cheaper than newer content.

Movies on Redbox On Demand typically cost $19.99 to buy and $5.99 to rent when they are new, with some exceptions. Theatrical home releases – movies that are still available while still in theaters – can cost as much as $24.99 to purchase and $19.99 to rent (although rare, theatrical home releases are more common in this time of pandemic-related shutdowns). For older movies, expect to pay $10-15 to buy and $3-6 range for rental.

The TV shows that Redbox On Demand offers will typically cost $2-3 per episode or $20-30 per season to purchase. As mentioned previously, there is no option to rent TV Shows via their service.

As for the live content on Redbox Free Live TV, it’s just like the name says: free!

Deals on Redbox

Redbox On Demand offers several revolving “deals of the week.” Along with a grab-bag of assorted discounts, these deals will sometimes favor a particular genre (like sports movies or comedies) or a range of movies related to a calendar event (like Halloween or Hispanic Heritage Month). Discounted movies will often be $4-6 to buy and $2-3 to rent.

If you already use Redbox kiosks and have a Redbox perks account, any movies you rent or buy via Redbox On Demand will provide you with more points that can be redeemed for free rentals at the kiosk. At this point, you cannot redeem points for Redbox On Demand rentals.

Redbox often runs deals paired with corporate partners such as 7-Eleven, Showtime, and T-mobile. At this moment, though, those deals only offer free rentals via a kiosk. If they make the jump to streaming, we’ll cover them here, so stay tuned!

How to Get a Redbox Free Trial

Because there is no subscription fee, there is no free trial for Redbox. When you sign up, you will only pay for the movies and TV shows that you choose to rent or purchase.

Although not technically a free trial, Redbox On Demand does offer 10-minute previews. This feature lets you watch the first 10 minutes each of several of Redbox’s On Demand movies completely free – giving you a chance to try them out before you pay to rent or purchase them. We should note that you don’t need to worry about going over your 10-minute preview and accidentally paying for the movie – at the end of the 10 minutes, the video simply stops.

Redbox Contracts

There is no need to worry about contracts with Redbox, because they don’t have any! You can simply stop using the service at any time, and the movies and TV shows you have purchased will still be yours to keep.

The fine print with a service like this lets them pull movies and TV shows out of your library if they want to. That almost never happens, but it’s technically the case with all services like this, including iTunes, Amazon, and FandangoNow. In very rare situations, this technicality can come into play. Generally, though, we wouldn’t give it much thought!

How to Cancel Redbox

Since there is no subscription, there is no need to cancel your Redbox account. If you would like to completely delete your Redbox account, there is no way to do this on the website or app at this point. You can, however, contact Redbox to have them delete your account. If you do this, remember that you will lose access to any movies you have purchased and any currently active rentals.