If you want to cut your spending in 2024, you're in the right place. Subscriptions to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are becoming increasingly expensive, if not downright unaffordable. That's why an indoor digital TV antenna, which gives you access to a wide range of free broadcast TV channels, is a good alternative or supplement to streaming.
With the NCAA Basketball's March Madness series starting on March 19th and continuing into April, now is a perfect time to pick up an indoor antenna. Your local CBS station will broadcast select games from the men's tournament, and ABC will broadcast select games from the women's tournament. You can watch those games for free with an antenna connected to your TV.
Al Griffin, Senior Editor – Home Entertainment
The best indoor TV antennas let you receive free over-the-air broadcast TV channels without having to install a large outdoor antenna on the roof of your home. You’ll find that the main difference between models lies in their ability to pull in signals from stations at various distances, and our guide will explain how closely each model meets its distance specification.
Most indoor antennas have a compact form and are intended to be installed either on a flat surface next to your TV or on a wall behind it. Depending on how fussy you are about interior design, the look of the antenna may be a factor in your buying decision, so that’s another aspect we’ll cover.
We test antennas at a semi-rural location with broadcast TV stations located from 15 miles to 70 miles away – an average range for indoor antenna use. For an antenna to appear on this list, it needs to hit its distance spec during testing, and also meet our standards for design and usability.
The best indoor TV antennas for 2024
For a mid-price antenna that delivers rock-solid HD channels within its 50-mile radius, your search stops here. The trade-off is that it's not exactly a small unit – that big, thin panel could cover most of a window – but if that's not a problem then it's great value and our pick for the best overall indoor antenna.
In our testing, we found that it pulled in 48 channels, where more expensive and powerful antennas could receive 54 channels. But in terms of the picture quality and stability of the channels it did receive, including the HD ones, many of them were in just as good quality as more powerful options provide.
That's helped partly by the in-line amplifier, which you can switch on and off at will. The 12-foot coaxial cable is a decent length – you can get a bit longer out of the box from some other options, but this will probably cover most people.
Setup is easy, partly thanks to the free Antenna Point app, which tells you where cable stations are located, so you can point your antenna in the right direction to pick up the most stations.
Read more: Antennas Direct ClearStream Flex review
Mohu’s Arc indoor antenna is easy to set up, fairly compact, and nice-looking enough to blend with a range of decors. Its clip-on bracket allows wall-mounting or tabletop use – though the latter arrangement is a bit tippy.
The Arc’s construction could be more robust, and its clip-in installation could be better. But despite its compact format and passive, un-amplified design, we encountered impressive signal-pulling performance.
Note that the Arc is not amplified, so if you need to extend its feed to a more-distant TV set, an amplified model like Mohu’s own Arc Pro is likely a better bet. But for a simple installation in an urban or suburban locale of reasonable terrain and elevation with desired signals in multiple directions – within the range of, say, 40 miles or even a bit more – the Arc should be an effective choice.
Read more: Mohu Arc review
Winegard’s FlatWave Amped Pro TH-3000 antenna offers good performance, and uses an effective app for initial setup that shows you real-world reception potential prior to installation.
The TH-3000’s fully flat, zero-footprint, on-window/on-wall design will appeal to the decor-conscious, and it can be relied upon to pull in digital TV stations from as far off as 60 miles. You can find antennas offering similar performance for less, but they are likely to be bulkier and less easily hidden from sight.
Read more: Winegard FlatWave Amped Pro TH-3000 review
The Mohu Leaf Supreme Pro Amplified Indoor TV Antenna is, in many respects, very good at its job. A 15db amplifier helps pull in a dozen or more channels that load up fast and don’t have much noticeable artifacts or pixelation. Its wide design, although a bit unwieldy and not the most eye-catching, is effective and simple to set up, too.
Like most good tools, though, the Mohu Leaf Supreme Pro does cost more than the average HD antenna that should only set you back between $20 and $30 and may not always offer a significantly improved experience for those of us who already live close to broadcasting stations. Overall, however, folks who live 30 to 45 miles out of town should certainly consider it as a great alternative to the cheaper and weaker models out there.
Read more: Mohu Leaf Supreme Pro review
If you live far from a broadcast source and/or you've had trouble with other antennas, the Antop HD Smart Bar (AT-500SBS) could solve your issues—if you're willing to pay a steep price and tolerate the very large size.
The Antop HD Smart Bar is a hard-plastic antenna that measures 2.5 feet wide and can be mounted on your wall like a soundbar, or you can use the included base stand to prop it up vertically. In any case, it's much more visible than nearly any other indoor antenna on the market, but the trade-off is a much longer promised range of 80 miles. It also has a 4G signal filter, an FM tuner, and the ability to connect to a second TV, plus the reception was excellent in our testing. However, with a $119 price tag, we recommend trying cheaper alternatives first to see if they'll meet your needs.
Read more: Antop HD Smart Bar AT-500SBS review
How to choose an indoor TV antenna
.When choosing an indoor antenna, your first consideration should be its distance specification. The reach of indoor antennas can extend up to the 80-mile range, depending on the model. If you live in a rural area, your home is likely to be much farther away from broadcast TV stations than an urban or suburban dwelling, and will consequently require a more powerful antenna with a 60-mile or better range. But if your home is in or near a city, you can usually get away with using a basic, inexpensive antenna with a 20-40 mile range specification.
There are online resources such as AntennaWeb, a site sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), that can help you determine the best antenna choice for your location. Using AntennaWeb’s search tool, you enter the zip code of your location and it shows a list of nearby broadcast TV stations, along with their distance and a color code to help you select an optimal antenna type for receiving specific stations.
Design is another factor to consider when choosing an indoor antenna. Some models have a compact design and can be stashed behind a TV. Others are designed for mounting directly on a window and can be easily covered by curtains. The reality is that most indoor antennas aren’t much to look at, especially the larger ones designed for 60-plus mile reception, so you’ll also want to consider their looks.
What is ATSC 3.0?
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ATSC 3.0, also known as "NextGenTV" is the next-generation digital broadcast TV standard in the US. As of February 2024, stations transmitting using ATSC 3.0 reach 80% of US viewers, and they can be located on this interactive map created by Pearl TV, a US broadcasting business organization. Pearl TV’s map further features a search engine to locate ATSC 3.0 TV channels in your area.
A key difference between the older digital TV standard and ATSC 3.0 is that the former is limited to HD resolution and 5.1-channel audio, and the latter supports 4K resolution with high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos audio.
To receive ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, your TV needs to have a built-in ATSC 3.0 tuner. This feature can be found in select sets sold in the US dating back to 2020, with models from LG, Samsung, Sony, and Hisense providing it. In 2024, TCL will join those makers in adding ATSC 3.0 support to new TVs. If your TV doesn't have a built-in ATSC 3.0 tuner, external tuners that connect to a set using HDMI are available. A list of those devices can also be found on the Pearl TV site mentioned above, along with current TVs that feature ATSC 3.0-compatible tuners.
The good news for anyone shopping for an indoor TV antenna is that all models are compatible with the new standard – there is no such thing as an “ATSC 3.0 antenna.” But since only select recent model TVs feature an ATSC 3.0 tuner, if your set lacks that feature it will instead receive signals using the older ATSC 1.0 broadcast standard. For now, stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0 are required to simulcast in ATSC 1.0. That situation will eventually change, though there is currently no government-mandated timeline to sunset ATSC 1.0.
How to position an indoor antenna
Just because your indoor antenna has a distance specification doesn’t mean your TV can tune in all stations within that range. Several factors can affect reception, including the terrain between your home and nearby broadcast towers, and if you live in an urban area, surrounding buildings. For that reason, the setup and positioning of the antenna are crucial and will give your TV the best shot at pulling in the maximum number of digital channels and sub-channels.
The first step is to consider the location of the stations you want to tune (the AntennaWeb and Pearl TV interactive maps mentioned above will help here) and orient the antenna in that direction. It’s also recommended to mount the antenna in a window, though that may not always be possible due to the location of your TV or design considerations. All antennas come with a coaxial cable to connect to your TV’s RF input. This is typically only 2 meters, or even shorter, so you may want to replace it with a longer cable to permit better positioning flexibility.
To tune in local broadcast TV channels, first run the auto-channel scan option in your TV’s setup menu, which will show the number of channels received, along with station names and channel numbers when complete. If you don’t see a full list of your local channels, re-position the antenna and run auto-channel scan again. It may take several tries to find an optimal position for the antenna using this process, but the location that pulls in the most channels with the highest signal strength wins.
If you’re unable to tune in a sufficient number of channels after repeated attempts, you may want to consider using an outdoor antenna. This is a pricier option that typically gets installed on your home’s roof, but it will have stronger reception capability than an indoor TV antenna.
