If you’re in the market for a robust live TV streaming service, fuboTV and Hulu + Live TV may be on your radar. These two leading services offer an excellent way to stream live TV programming for a reasonable price. And they each have unique offerings that would appeal to different types of cord-cutters.
fuboTV, for instance, focuses more on providing a strong lineup of sports channels with a good mix of entertainment and news. So the service appeals more to hardcore sports fans and those who want to follow international sporting events. Though fairly new to the streaming service industry, it had amassed almost 316,000 paid subscribers by 2019, as we discussed in our fuboTV review.
Meanwhile, Hulu + Live TV gives you access to the entire Hulu on-demand library in addition to a well-rounded lineup of live TV channels. This makes it a comprehensive subscription service for entertainment fans who want to cut the cord. No wonder 3.2 million people had subscribed to Hulu + Live TV by the time of our Hulu + Live TV review.
So with both services being highly impressive in their own way, choosing between the two can be tough. Here, we give you a detailed breakdown of fubo vs. Hulu Live to make that decision a bit easier for you.
Enjoy the largest selection of live sports content! Get 100+ channels with up to 500 hours of online cloud DVR storage and the option to stream on multiple devices simultaneously.
Get 65+ channels along with a library of 80,000+ TV episodes and movies on-demand! Bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+ for even more great content.
Compare fuboTV vs. Hulu Live TV plans
| fuboTV | Hulu Live TV | |
| Monthly price | Starts at $59.99 | $54.99 |
| Free trial length | 7 days | 7 days |
| Number of channels | 100+ | 65+ |
| Number of simultaneous streams | 2 | 2 |
| Cloud DVR storage | 30 hours | 50 hours |
| Offline viewing | No | No |
| Ad-free option | No | Yes |
| Original content available? | No | Yes |
| Number of user profiles | 6 | 6 |
Which streaming service is right for you?
Hulu + Live TV and fuboTV both offer a comparable experience with fairly similar features. Both offer two simultaneous streams by default and let you create up to six user profiles, for starters. And their pricing is quite similar too, although fuboTV is a bit more expensive.
Learn more about this in our fuboTV pricing and packages guide. Then compare the overall value with Hulu + Live TV after checking our Hulu packages and pricing guide.
But based on the channel differences and the on-demand content availability, these are two starkly different live TV streaming options.
fuboTV is best for sports fans due to the expansive lineup of sports-focused channels — both national and international. Get a detailed breakdown of the lineup in our fuboTV channel list guide. Hulu + Live TV, on the other hand, is best for a combination of live TV and on-demand originals. Get a full picture of the programming availability in our Hulu channel lineup guide.
So let’s take a look at the detailed breakdown of Hulu vs. fubo to understand their differences and similarities.
User experience
fuboTV
The fuboTV user experience is sophisticated with a slick and minimal layout that’s easy to navigate. You’ll find the menu bar at the top, from where you can access your home screen, guide and recordings. To make things even easier, fuboTV also gives you shortcut tabs to quickly find different categories of content such as movies, shows and sports.
Under the “Guide” tab, you’ll find a typical grid-like TV guide from where you can view the programming schedule. You can also filter the guide by network or use the search bar to find the TV schedule for your favorite channel.
The fuboTV user experience is pretty consistent across all devices, except for small changes here and there based on screen size. For instance, you can access movies and shows on the mobile app under the “Entertainment” tab.
You can watch fuboTV from your web browser or using the app on any of the following devices:
- Amazon Fire TV (using Android 5.0 or higher)
- Android phones and tablets (using Android 5.0 or higher)
- Android TVs (using Android 5.0 or higher)
- Apple TV (4th generation or newer)
- Chromecast
- iOS devices (using iOS v10.0 or higher)
- Roku devices
- Samsung Smart TV (2015+ models)
- Xbox One
Check out our fuboTV compatible devices guide for more details.
Hulu + Live TV
The new Hulu + Live TV interface is clean and straightforward, so it’s easy to understand and navigate. From the top menu bar, you can navigate between your home screen, live TV, movies, sports and TV shows, as well as “My Stuff.” This is the tab where you can access your recordings and your favorites.
Accessing the TV guide is more complicated on Hulu + Live TV compared to other services. It doesn’t have a separate tab of its own, so you’ll need to press the “down” button on your remote or swipe up (on Apple TV) to pull up the guide. On the plus side, you can filter the guide by categories such as kids, movies, news, recent and sports.
The user experience is more or less similar across all devices with a few minor variations. For instance, to pull up the TV guide on mobile, you need to turn your device vertically or exit full screen during playback. On the web, you can access the guide during playback by clicking on the three lines icon on the lower part of the player.
You can watch Hulu + Live TV using the following devices:
- Amazon Fire tablets
- Amazon Fire TV devices
- Android phones and tablets
- Android TV (select models)
- Apple TV (4th generation or later)
- Chromecast
- Echo Snow
- iPhones and iPads
- LG TV (select models)
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4 and 5
- Roku devices (select models)
- Samsung TV (select models)
- VIZIO SmartCast TVs
- Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Learn more about this in our Hulu supported devices guide.
Personalization
fuboTV
fuboTV offers some level of personalization, giving you content suggestions based on your viewing history. The service allows you to add channels to your “favorites,” so it’s easier to find them in the TV guide. You can also reorder your favorites to further personalize your experience.
The service supports up to six user profiles, so you can create a personalized experience for multiple users. But you won’t have the option to restrict certain content that’s inappropriate for kids since it doesn’t come with parental control settings.
Hulu + Live TV
Hulu + Live TV also gives you content suggestions personalized according to your unique interests and viewing behavior. And you can personalize this experience for up to six different users. It even lets you create a Kids Profile, which will restrict the account to only kid-friendly content, functioning as the service’s parental controls.
The service also lets you create your own personal space within the Hulu app under “My Stuff.” Here, you can add your cloud DVR recordings and save your favorite channels, movies and shows. For sports fans, this section allows you to add your favorite leagues to keep tabs on upcoming games.
Extras
fuboTV
- DVR storage expansion
- Screen limit expansion
- Channel and premium network add-ons
The Standard fuboTV plan only has 30 hours of cloud DVR storage. But if you want an upgrade, you can get the Cloud DVR 250 add-on for $9.99/mo. for 250 hours of storage. Alternatively, this add-on comes by default with the Family plan, which will set you back by $64.99/mo. For even more storage, get the Cloud DVR 1000 add-on for $16.99/mo. and increase it up to 1000 hours.
If the two simultaneous streams you get by default with the Standard plan aren’t enough, get one more with the Family Share add-on for $5.99/mo. This feature comes by default with the Family plan. If this still isn’t enough, get up to five simultaneous streams with the Family Share Max add-on for $9.99/mo.
Besides this, fuboTV offers plenty of add-ons for premium networks and channel packages:
- Adventure Plus
- AMC Premiere
- Entretenimiento Plus
- Fubo Cycling
- Fubo Extra
- International Sports Plus
- Latino Plus
- Portuguese Plus
- RAI Italia
- Showtime
- Sports Plus with NFL RedZone
- TV5MONDE
Check out our guide on fuboTV deals to see if there are any offers to help you save a bit of money on the service.
Hulu + Live TV
- Ad-free option available
- DVR and screen limit upgrade
- Channel and premium network add-ons
To enjoy the Hulu on-demand library without ad interruptions, you can get the Hulu (no ads) + Live TV plan for $60.99/mo. This gets rid of the ads on content from the Hulu on-demand library.
Plus, you can upgrade the default features such as viewing limit and DVR storage. The Enhanced Cloud DVR add-on gives you up to 200 hours of storage for $9.99/mo. And you can stream simultaneously from as many devices as you want with the Unlimited Screens add-on, also for $9.99/mo. Or you can get both for $14.98/mo.
Besides this, Hulu + Live TV also lets you add a few additional networks and premium channels to your subscription:
- Cinemax
- Entertainment add-on
- Espanol add-on
- HBO Max
- Showtime
- STARZ
Read our Hulu deals guide to see if there are any offers to help you save some money on the service.
Disadvantages
fuboTV
fuboTV isn’t a great option for households with kids as it lacks a robust parental controls feature. And it doesn’t have an on-demand library of its own, unlike Hulu. You can still watch movies and shows on-demand from some of the channels in its lineup, but you won’t get original programming exclusive to the service.
Hulu + Live TV
Compared to fuboTV, the Hulu + Live TV sports selection is a bit more limited. So it’s not the best choice for diehard sports fans. Plus, the offline viewing feature is only available with the ad-free plan and for content in the Hulu on-demand library.
Our hot take
For sports fans who want to cut the cord, fuboTV is a much better option due to its expansive selection of sports-focused channels. But Hulu + Live TV makes more sense if you like binging on TV shows and want a mixture of on-demand originals and live TV.
Sign up for a free trial to fuboTV and Hulu + Live TV to see which one’s a better choice for you.
