Fandango at Home Review (2024)

Not every video streaming service operates in the same fashion. Some gladly let you watch their shows for free, while others lock their content behind paywalls. Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) recognizes this reality and says, “Why not both?” Not only can you stream a wide selection of ad-supported movies and shows, but you can also rent or purchase Hollywood's biggest hits. The interface could be better, and you won’t find exciting exclusives, but Fandango at Home is an appealing service for watching blockbuster flicks and popular television programming. If you want the absolute best of premium and free streaming, though, check out Editors' Choice winners Netflix and Tubi, respectively.

(Credit: Fandango at Home)

What Can You Watch on Fandango at Home?

Instead of focusing on a niche, Fandango at Home's library has comprehensive mainstream entertainment. When you pay, you can stream many recent movies and shows, including Better Call Saul, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Paw Patrol. You can buy entire runs of Friends, Game of Thrones, The Office, and Rick and Morty. This makes sense considering Fandango is a popular online portal for buying movie tickets. More on pricing in a bit.

Of course, the free, ad-supported library is significantly smaller, but it has more than 10,000 movies and shows. There’s a lot of direct-to-video schlock like Medusa, a movie about a lady with snakes in her hair. However, it has known commodities like Alf, Hell's Kitchen, Snowpiercer, and Under the Skin (and even some anime like Naruto). Fandango at Home's free library is worth exploring, as it's not just a supplement to the à la carte marketplace. Don’t be surprised if the library changes as the service grows.

That said, Fandango at Home has zero original movies and shows. Popular, licensed content is exciting, but the service lacks anything that would make you loyal to the brand. I found two movies under the Vudu Originals banner, and one was a remake of Mr. Mom. By way of comparison, Tubi's free, growing catalog is worth watching. Likewise, The Roku Channel picked up exclusive rights to Quibi's bonkers library.

(Credit: Fandango at Home)

How Much Does Fandango at Home Cost Per Month?

Fandango at Home initially costs nothing. You must create an account (or log in with your existing Fandango or Walmart account), but entering your payment information is optional if you don’t plan on buying anything. Along with buying and renting movies and shows, you can also buy gift cards. If you’ve purchased a film on physical media that includes Movies Anywhere DRM, you can redeem it and add it to your Fandango at Home streaming library. Combining free ad-supported streaming with purchases and rentals makes this feel like using Freevee and Prime Video under your same Amazon account.

Like The Roku Channel, Fandango at Home has no premium subscription tier. You can’t pay a monthly fee to remove ads or unlock more of the library like you can with Hulu or Peaco*ck. There’s no live TV, and you can’t subscribe to premium channels within the Fandango at Home ecosystem. All you can pay for is a la carte shows and movies. Those prices vary. An episode of TV costs roughly $2, renting a current movie is about $6, and buying an older movie on sale could cost $15. You can even pre-order upcoming releases. Fandango at Home's free, on-demand streaming option means you don’t have to rely on purchases like with Angelika Anywhere.

Fandango at Home is available on a wide variety of platforms including web browsers, mobile devices (Android and iOS), Blu-ray players, smart TVs, video game consoles (PlayStation and Xbox), and streaming media devices (Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku).

(Credit: Fandango at Home)

Fandango at Home on the Web and Mobile

Fandango at Home's web interface isn’t especially attractive, but it's serviceable. The main page shows what’s available by highlighting new releases, free shows, and ongoing sales and bundle deals. Fandango at Home also has useful, detailed search filters. You can browse by genres, but you can also filter by Rotten Tomatoes ratings, release year, and even film studios. Individual pages show the synopsis, trailer, cast, and crew, along with the community rating. The service also recommends movies and shows you might like.

Fandango at Home supports up to three simultaneous streams—a standard limit for paid services. For the free material, though, you can easily get around that limit by making multiple accounts. Video playback was satisfactory over my home Wi-Fi connection (60Mbps download), but the player didn't let me skip forward or back a few seconds when watching content in a web browser. You also can’t adjust video quality; that’s determined when you purchase content since the resolution influences the price. Older, free shows tend not to have the highest resolutions, but you can specifically search for 4K UHD movies.

Fandango at Home looks a little nicer on mobile than on the web. Spotlight, Search, Free, and Settings have cute icons at the bottom of the screen. The mobile player lets you skip forward or back 15 seconds. In addition, you can download purchases for offline viewing (but not on a PC). You have 30 days to start watching rental, and between 24 and 48 hours to finish watching once you begin.

(Credit: Fandango at Home)

Accessibility and Parental Controls

Fandango at Home lets you turn on subtitles, but you can’t customize them. The subtitles are easy to miss due to their small size and tendency to move around the screen. However, Fandango at Home is one of the few video streaming services with audio descriptions that explain the on-screen for people with hearing issues. Not everything in the library supports this feature, but you can include it in your search filters.

Parental controls are tricky with free services, since there's nothing in place to stop a clever kid from making an account. Still, Fandango at Home displays age ratings and lets you turn on a Kids Mode to restrict certain content behind a PIN code. We also like that you can block ad-supported content.

Can You Watch Fandango at Home With a VPN?

If you watch videos online, you should us a VPN. They’re your best defense for safeguarding online data. The only catch is that VPNs don’t always work well with video streaming services, although some are better than others.

I tested Fandango at Home with a Windows PC connected to ProtonVPN servers. While using the US-based servers, I streamed movies and TV shows without issue. However, Fandango at Home forcibly logged me out of my account and later refused to recognize my password when connected via overseas VPN servers. Even streaming services that play nice with VPNs may not stay that way forever.

Verdict: Fandango at Home Is Worth Exploring

Fandango at Home is an easy way to purchase familiar movies and shows, plus enjoy no-cost streaming. It covers a lot of your streaming entertainment bases.If you prefer a traditional subscription and want access to exciting original shows along with other perks, stick with our Editors’ Choice winners Netflix (for original shows), Hulu (for live and on-demand content), and Tubi (for free TV shows and movies).

For more on streaming, check out five reasons to ditch your video subscription and keep cable. Learn how to pick streaming services that fit your budget, and enjoy all sorts of reality show trash. Finally, check out our recommended streaming video guides if you don’t know what to watch.