YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime: Which Is Better For You?[2024]

YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime: The number of streaming choices is only increasing day-by-day. And it is becoming really confusing to choose the perfect service.

In this article, we’ll be talking about YouTube TV and Amazon Prime and make you understand how they compare.

YouTube TV and Amazon Prime are two popular streaming service that offer a wide range of content and have large device compatibility.

So, keep on reading to find out more about YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime;

YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime: Overview

YouTube TV: YouTube TV is a subscription streaming service that lets you watch on-demand, cloud-based DVR, and live TV from major broadcast and popular cable networks.

You can watch local and national live sports, breaking news, and must-see shows the moment they air. Besides, it includes unlimited cloud DVR storage space, which lets you record your favorites, and stream them wherever you go.

You also get 6 accounts per household, so share with your family members or roommates. Yet, it only allows up to three simultaneous streams.

Amazon Prime: Prime Video is a subscription video over-the-top streaming and rental service that is offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon’s Prime subscription.

It mainly distributes television series and movies produced by Amazon Studios or licensed to Amazon as Amazon Originals.

And it also hosts content from other providers, live sporting events, content add-ons, and video rental and purchasing services.

Furthermore, it offers a content add-on service in the form of channels, called Prime Video Channels or Amazon Channels that let users subscribe to additional video subscription services from other content providers within Prime Video.

YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime: What Do They Offer?

YouTube TV

The YouTube TV’s base plan includes over 85 live TV channels, which depends on your location, all you have to do is to enter your Zip code and find out what channels you can access.

YouTube TV’s popular channels are USA, FX, Bravo, and FX. As for news channels, it provides networks like MSNBC, CNBC, BBC World News, and Fox News.

Its other channels are Animal Planet, ABC, Discovery, AMC, CBS, Bravo, USA, Disney, Comedy Central, MLB Network, Investigation Discovery, Disney XD, National Geographic, Oxygen, TBS, and more.

Additionally, you can also choose from a variety of channel add-ons to view more entertainment options. What makes it more exciting that many add-ons even offer a free trial, which means you can test services like HBO Max for a week or so.

Since keeping track of every channel and package can be quite difficult, check out the table below where we made it easier for you to view your options.

Package	Price	Channels
4K Plus	$10 a month	4K playback of selected channels Offline viewing No limits on simultaneous streams at home
Sports Plus	$11 a month	Billiards TV, Fox Soccer Plus, GOL TV, MavTV, NFL RedZone, Outside TV+, Players TV, Poker Go+, Sports Grid, Stadium, Stadium Overflow 1, Stadium Overflow 2, Stadium Overview 3, Stadium College Sports Atlantic, Stadium College Sports Central, Stadium College Sports Pacific, TVG, TVG2, VSiN, BeIN Sports, BeIN Sports Xtra
Entertainment Plus	$30 a month	HBO, HBO 2, HBO Comedy, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO Signature, HBO Zone, Showtime (East), Showtime (West), Showtime 2, SHOxBET, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Next, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Women, Starz Comedy, Starz Cinema, Starz In Black, Starz Kids & Family, Starz Encore Action, Starz Encore Black, Starz Encore Classic, Starz Encore Espanol, Starz Encore Family, Starz Encore Suspense, Starz Encore Westerns
HBO Max	$15 a month	HBO, HBO 2, HBO Comedy, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO Signature, HBO Zone,
Showtime	$11 a month	Showtime (East), Showtime (West), Showtime 2, SHOxBET, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Next, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Women,
Starz	$9 a month	Starz Comedy, Starz Cinema, Starz In Black, Starz Kids & Family, Starz Encore Action, Starz Encore Black, Starz Encore Classic, Starz Encore Espanol, Starz Encore Family, Starz Encore Suspense, Starz Encore Westerns
Epix	$6 a month	Epix, Epix 2, Epix Hits, Epix Drive-in

Amazon Prime

Initially, Amazon Video started out as a place to purchase and watch TV shows and movies, now it has upgraded and Amazon has embraced the world of unlimited, for a single monthly fee.

Explore movies, TV shows, award-winning shows & movies, exclusives & live events. In addition, it has also started offering its original content, however, it is not as large as HBO Max’s or Netflix’s collection.

Its library also comprises popular movies or classic films and its genres range from romantic comedies to classics.

As for the kids’ content, you can discover a good range of content, from TV shows and movies to anime along with a large number of originals.

So, overall, you get Amazon’s original movies, shows, and other free-to-view content from Amazon Prime Video. Still, if you want more exclusive content, you’ll have to pay extra money for Prime Video channels.

Originals: Amazon Prime Video’s original shows include Catastrophe, Mozart in the Jungle, Modern Love, Flack, Patriot, Bosch, The Underground Railroad, Too Old to Die Young, Good Omens, The Tick, Forever, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Sneaky Pete, and more.

Its original movies or feature films include 7500, Radioactive, The Vast of Night, Blow the Man Down, Troop Zero, The Lie, The Voyeurs, Pass Over, Guava Island, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Selah and the Spades, The Lie, Without Remorse, Nocturne, Black Box, Bliss, and more.

Basically, Amazon Prime has the most movies and shows than any streaming service, but when you filter for the quality, other streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Paramount, etc., have better options.

Sports: Apart from its on-demand content, Amazon Prime Video has also embraced live sports.

For instance, it will be the exclusive broadcaster of Thursday Night Football starting this year, and it even started streaming WNBA games.

That means Prime Video will be the exclusive broadcaster of Thursday Night Footballing that will start in 2022. In addition to one of various other NFL streaming services, football fans will have to subscribe to Prime.

Moreover, Amazon also lets its users add sports-centric channels like NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, and PGA Tour Live to their subscription. However, these channels will cost extra to your monthly or annual subscription.

From the home page, you can find live events, including sports in the ‘Live and Upcoming section. And use X-Ray for live sports to have access to real-time stats.

Prime Video Channels: Prime Video Channels are the Amazon Prime benefit which allows you to choose your channels and Amazon Prime members can add channels with no cable needed.

However, these channels are additional subscriptions that let you watch the content you want just like YouTube TV. So, keep in mind that you have to pay extra to add the content you want from the third-party premium network and other streaming entertainment channels.

And some channels also offer Watch Live, which gives you the option to live stream programming on supported devices at the same time that it’s broadcast on TV. Moreover, you can cancel this anytime.

YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime: How They Stack Up!

Price

YouTube TV:

• It costs $64.99 per month.
• Offers over 85+ channels of live sports, entertainment, news, and many more.
• Best of all, Youtube TV Subscription offers unlimited cloud storage to record every live TV Shows or Movie to watch according to your perfect time.
• This subscription offers streaming on 3 different devices at once.
• This subscription also offers 6 separate accounts to run different categories of content as per choice made by you.
• No cable box, contracts, or hidden fees.
• No equipment rentals or install appointments are required.
• Add on sports and premium networks for an additional monthly charge, including SHOWTIME, FOX Soccer Plus, STARZ, and more.

While YouTube TV is fully-featured, initially, it used to be one of the most expensive services, but now another popular streaming service – Hulu + Live TV, also charges the same.

Even if other TV services like Sling TV or Philo are available at lesser prices, their channel line-ups are limited and offer less content.

Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime costs $12.99 a month or $119 a year, plus taxes. It provides discounts to students under a Prime Student membership that costs $6.49 per month.

For people who wish to use Amazon Prime sometimes or don’t want to make a long-term commitment; the monthly plan can be a perfect choice for them.

If you are a Prime member, you also get access to Prime Day discounts on everything.

Compatible Devices

YouTube TV: You can watch YouTube TV on any supported device. You can download YouTube TV on your smartphone (both iOS and Android), Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku players and TVs, Apple TV and TiVo Stream 4K, Vizio SmartCast TVs, HiSense TVs, Samsung & LG smart TVs, Apple TV 4K, and more.

You can also stream YouTube TV to your smart TV by using Google Chromecast, Android TV, Google Smart Displays, or AirPlay for Apple TV. Or watch directly on the web at tv.youtube.com/ 

As for the gaming consoles, it includes Xbox One S, Xbox s, Xbox One X, Xbox X, Xbox One X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Roku.

Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime is compatible with a wide range of streaming devices, such as PlayStation, Roku, Chromecast, Wii console, Xbox, Amazon Fire TV, Fire Tablets, Blu-ray players, Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Samsung TV, Vizio Smart TV, Nvidia Shield, Android, and iOS mobile devices.

Interface

YouTube TV: As you might think, YouTube TV’s interface is quite similar to the regular YouTube app or site.

Depending on your watching habits and the content that is present in your DVR, it takes you to the home screen where it offers Top Picks.

Access its search tool for finding content to watch for a certain channel or genre from the top right corner. And from the settings panel, you can manage subscription details, subscriptions to add-on channels, and billing information.

The Home section is where you can view the content that you want to watch. Beyond the Home Screen, you primarily get two top-level tabs –Library and Live.

Through the library section, you can access everything you’ve recorded, scheduled recordings, and all other recordings, which you can sort by recentness, content type, alphabetically, and popularity.

From the Live section, scroll down the list of available channels to view what is currently playing. If you want to watch something, you can simply click on the live preview.

Amazon Prime: Both the Amazon Prime Video app and the Amazon site look identical. And you can see that the app is similar to various other video streaming services.

Its interface is user-friendly and users can log in using any Amazon Prime account and create video profiles for up to six people.

Once you sign in, at the top, you can view the options like Originals, Home, Movies, TV Shows, Sports, and Kids. You also get a bottom menu for navigating between the channels, store, search, and my stuff sections.

It will also make some recommendations depending on your previous watches. And if you can’t find anything to watch on the home page, you can use the search bar to explore certain content by release date, title, or genre.

Most importantly, in addition to the standard play, forward buttons, and rewind option, it also has a streaming quality and subtitle option on the Now Playing Screen.

Moreover, you can have full control of your streaming service with the download quality, a list of registered devices, settings for the stream, parental control, and the ability to clear video search history.

Video Quality

YouTube TV: YouTube TV has debuted numerous 4K streams for NBC and the Golf Channel. Though it costs $19.99 per month extra, don’t worry, it’ll be discounting the first year of payments and offer its services at just $9.99 a month.

Amazon Prime: Based on the device you are using; Amazon Prime supports up to 4K and HDR streaming.

Besides its original content, other titles support 1080p streaming with Dolby Digital Plus audio. And the titles that are available for purchase, the HD option is usually accessible at an additional price.

Playback Experience

YouTube TV: With YouTube TV, you can stream live channels in 1080p/60fps as well as get support for Dolby 5.1 sound on selected devices.

And with the YouTube TV’s 4K Plus add-on, you can watch major sports events and live content from ESPN and NBC.

However, the streaming resolution will depend on the source. For instance, as the football game is broadcasted by Fox Sports, it is limited to 720p/60fps.

Well, because YouTube TV is a substitute for the traditional cable service, you’ll still get to see the same ads. Though, one of the major advantages of YouTube is that its DVR functionality lets you fast-forward ads in your recordings. 

Amazon Prime: Even though Amazon Prime might take a couple of seconds to enhance to the best quality, it remains consistent throughout the video once it does.

Unlike Peacock, it does not insert ads in between the shows, but it does advertise in-house content at the beginning of a movie or show.

What makes it more interesting is that it let users co-watch Prime Video content with up to 100 people, but remember that they should all have an account and are located in the United States.

Ads

YouTube TV: You might have to face ads on a few different places in YouTube TV, such as when you’re watching live TV or video on-demand. You can visit here for more information.

Amazon Prime: Even though Amazon Prime Video does not show ads in the middle of shows, it does advertise Amazon’s original content at the beginning of a movie or show, which you can easily skip.

User Profile

YouTube TV: With YouTube TV, you can share your account with up to five other users at no extra cost. The best part is that your preferences, viewing history, and DVR won’t be shared with the new users.

Amazon Prime: With Amazon Prime Video, you can create up to six profiles per account. Moreover, you can also create a separate kids account that automatically blocks any movie or TV show that isn’t rated for 12 or under.

Number of Streaming Devices

YouTube TV: You have the ability to use YouTube TV on up to three devices at the same time. And watch on a mobile device and a computer at the same time is counted as two of the three available devices.

Amazon Prime: Prime Video lets for up to three simultaneous streams. However, you can only stream the same title on two devices at once.

And you can also download many titles to your phones and tablets. Yet, similar to the simultaneous stream limitations, you can’t download the same title on more than two devices at the same time. 

Youtube TV vs Amazon Prime: Free Trial

YouTube TV: YouTube TV has a free trial of executive seven days straight with all access to the premium features. Youtube TV is giving second thoughts to increasing the free trial period to two weeks which is straight for 14 days, but it is not yet confirmed.

To know more about Youtube TV Free Trial, click here.

Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime allows you a free trial of 30 days with all access to Prime Video,  Exclusive Deliveries, and Prime Music. Once you have completed your free trial, your subscription will be converted into a paid membership. You can choose to end it or continue with the paid version.

To know more about Amazon Prime Free Trial, click here.

Youtube TV vs Amazon Prime: Comparison Table

Features	Youtube TV	Amazon Prime
Free Trial Duration	Youtube TV offers 7 days free trial.	Amazon Prime offers 30 days free trial.
Live Streaming	Youtube TV is known for the live streaming of many shows.	Amazon Prime has a limited live streaming option.
Platform Expansion	Youtube TV is limited to live TV streaming.	Amazon Prime has a wide range of movies, shows, originals with live TV streaming.
Supporting Devices	Youtube TV has minimal supporting devices compared to Amazon Prime.	Amazon Prime has a huge collection of supporting devices.

Youtube TV vs Amazon Prime: People’s Opinion

According to people’s opinion, Youtube TV is a cable option that wants live streaming more and less of over-the-top platform category to watch. Whereas, Amazon Prime is more of original content like shows, movies, etc, and less of live TV streaming.

To know more in detail about people’s opinions, you can visit here.

Final Words: YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime

Since there is a lot of information available out there, we have kept this article really simple by mainly comparing the content, cost, device compatibility, interface, user profile, and the number of streaming devices.

Moreover, both services offer on-demand content and live streaming TV, so you can watch content online in real-time, such as sports, news, and more.

So, it entirely depends on your requirements that which streaming service can meet your needs. If you are more into live streaming then Youtube TV fits in for you, but if you are more of binge shows and movies and original content then Amazon Prime is a full-fledged package of happiness for you.

Hopefully, the above article has helped you to clearly understand everything about YouTube TV vs Amazon Prime.

FAQs

YouTube TV vs HBO Max: Complete Comparison [2022]
YouTube TV vs Apple TV+: Comparison [2022]
Discovery Plus vs YouTube TV: Comparison [2022]
YouTube TV vs Peacock TV: Complete Comparison [2022]
YouTube TV vs Paramount Plus: Comparison [2022]
Peacock vs Amazon Prime: Comparison [2022]
Amazon Prime vs Paramount Plus: Comparison [2022]
Roku vs Youtube TV: What’s the Difference? & Dispute 
YouTube TV vs FIOS TV: Which one is Best to Use? [2024]