JustWatch
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 5 movie databases by recommenders
People recommend it for finding which streaming service has a movie or show in their country, plus alerts when titles become available. Critics say it has grown ad-heavy and less clear.
People recommend it for finding which streaming service has a movie or show in their country, plus alerts when titles become available. Critics say it has grown ad-heavy and less clear.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Finds where titles stream by country
“Usually Justwatch should be able to tell you where something is available.”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” “my goto wayto find where you can stream something in each country”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “this took me less than a few minutes with classic non-LLM search”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” - Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again”
Watchlist and availability alerts
“they will even notify you when something you want to watch becomes available.”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” “maybe that site has its own watchlist feature?”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “The Rise and (Potential) Fall of Letterboxd” Trusted and useful most of the time
“I love JustWatch and most of the time it's given me the answer I need.”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” “Streaming is impossible without the efforts of things like JustWatch”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” “Which is a great idea and a great site”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “'Your Frustration Is the Product'”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Ad-heavy and less clear presentation
“JustWatch started feeling annoyingly advertising filled and it's Apple TV App was just broken”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” “they seem to be intentionally making their presentation _less_ clear so they can show ads”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again” Declining quality, enshittification
“JustWatch is alright but is succumbing to enshittification.”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Which streaming service was that on again”
Other movie databases people recommend
The four most recommended other movie databases, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letterboxd | 16 | 14 | 53% | 8 | — | — |
| Criterion Closet | 13 | 5 | 72% | 1 | — | — |
| JustWatchThis page | 11 | 3 | 79% | 5 | — | Approved |
| IMDb | 6 | 34 | 15% | 5 | — | — |
| CineCLI | 6 | 4 | 60% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“JustWatch started feeling annoyingly advertising filled and it's Apple TV App was just broken”
“Streaming is impossible without the efforts of things like JustWatch”
“JustWatch is alright but is succumbing to enshittification.”
“I love JustWatch and most of the time it's given me the answer I need.”
“they seem to be intentionally making their presentation _less_ clear so they can show ads”
“this took me less than a few minutes with classic non-LLM search”
“Usually Justwatch should be able to tell you where something is available.”
“they will even notify you when something you want to watch becomes available.”
“JustWatch will tell you where a movie can be found”
“maybe that site has its own watchlist feature?”
“you cannot search for movies by themes / use natural language”
“Which is a great idea and a great site”
“my goto wayto find where you can stream something in each country”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.