For all of the anime fans out there, Funimation is one of our top picks for streaming the Japanese art form, but what do you get with a Funimation free account?
Available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, New Mexico, and Brazil, Funimation offers a few tiers of subscription plans, so we're going to walk you through what the free account offers to help you decide if it's worth paying for a monthly subscription or not.
- Read more: our guide to the best TV streaming services
What is a free Funimation account?
A free Funimation account seems to do what it says on the tin - let you watch anime completely free. But it isn't quite that straightforward. When you go to the Funimation website you can watch some content without signing in, so why make a free account?
Registering for a Funimation free account with your email address and password lets you access mature content, bookmark episodes and create a watchlist to keep track of all your favorite anime movies and shows. On top of that, you can download the Funimation app and log into your free account to watch anime anywhere, anytime - as long as you have an internet connection.
However, Funimation does offer paid for subscription plans too, so there are some things a free account can't offer you. The Funimation free account gives you limited access to the anime content on the site. You'll also find that not all the free content is dubbed in English, so you'll have to make do with subtitles for some episodes.
The number of screens you can watch on changes with between a free account and paid-for options too. If you're looking to watch on one screen at a time, then the free account does just that, but when you pay for a monthly subscription you can stream on up to five screens simultaneously. And for those users who want to watch offline, you'll need a Premium or Premium Plus plan.
There is a 14-day Funimation free trial available on the website, but don't confuse this with a Funimation free account. The free trial lets you try out the perks of the Premium or Premium Plus plans before committing to the Funimation cost.
How to sign up to a Funimation free account
If you want to sign up for a free account, we've broken down the process into a step by step guide for you to follow:
- Go to the Funimation homepage
- Click the blue 'Watch Now' button
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, past the plan options
- Click the red 'Sign up for a free account' text that is in a white box
- Enter your email address and a password
- Click the red 'Continue' button
- That's it - your free account has been created!
If you don't think the free account is for you, you can check out all of the paid subscription plans and what they have to offer instead.
What can I watch with a Funimation free account?
The anime streaming service hosts over 600 shows but with a free account you can only access some of these. The titles you can watch for free are usually the older ones, with trailers or sneak peeks available for newer content.
The first one or two episodes of some newer series, such as Skate-Leading Stars and Tamayomi: The Basketball Girls, are available with a free account but after that, you'll need to pay for a subscription to watch the rest of the episodes.
Anything that requires a paid subscription has a red subscribe button in the top left corner of the thumbnail, so it's easy to work out what you do and don't have access to.
We've had a browse through the Funimation recommended tab to see what you can actually watch with a Funimation free account and here's what we found.
The likes of Toradora! and Naruto do require a paid subscription, unsurprising as these are some of the most popular shows on the streaming service. Attack On Titan is another popular series, and the whole of season one and the first two episodes of season two are available with a free account. Not every episode is dubbed in English but if you don't mind reading English subtitles you're still good to go with this one.
We were impressed to find over half of the first season of the popular series Black Clover available to watch for free. The first two episodes of seasons two and three are dubbed and subbed in English and available to watch for free as well.
If you're looking for access to every episode of a series, you can watch both seasons of the science-fiction comedy, Assassination Classroom without a subscription.
Is it worth subscribing to Funimation?
If you're new to anime and are looking for a taster of this genre of animation then a Funimation free account could be enough for you. You can get a feel for the type of content that Funimation has and see if you're into it before committing to a monthly subscription. However, if you're already an anime fan and are looking for binge-worthy anime access, then a paid subscription is worth it in our opinion.
For those of you who are happy to put up with ad breaks and know the show you want to watch is available for free, it'll do the job. However, we did find the ad breaks a little annoying. There were on average three ad breaks in a half-an-hour episode, and each ad break had three individual ads in it. Subscribing to Funimation is worth it if you don't want a half-an-hour episode to double in length.
Yes, some episodes aren't dubbed in English with a free account, but from what we have seen this is on limited episodes. Plus, there are English subtitles available anyway, so for many it may not be a big issue. The main reason to pay for a Funimation subscription is for access to the entire library, otherwise you could find yourself getting hooked on a series and be unable to find out what happens next. If you still can't decide if a Funimation subscription is worth it, make use of the 14-day free trial to help with your decision.
