Best way to watch Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
Downton Abbey is a wildly popular series that received recognition from Guinness World Records in 2011 for its high critical review ratings for a TV show. If you’re wondering where to watch Downton Abbey, you have quite a few streaming, renting or purchasing options. But there’s one service for watching the popular British period piece that exceeds the rest. We recommend streaming Downton Abbey on Amazon Prime Video since it includes every episode with its service as well as methods to buy and rent.
Prime Video is part of the Amazon Prime Membership, which costs $12.99/mo. or $119 annually. In addition to watching episodes of Downton Abbey, you’ll also get free two-day shipping for packages and groceries brought right to your door with Amazon Fresh. Or, for those of you who’d rather have Amazon Prime Video without a membership, then good news. Amazon Prime Video is available for $8.99/mo. Sign up today to start watching Downton Abbey.
All the ways to watch Downton Abbey online
A period piece set in the fictional estate of Downton Abbey, the series follows the aristocratic Crawley family as they navigate the turning of the 20th century. The series takes place during key historical moments such as the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and the breakout of the Spanish Flu — making it a mindful and nourishing experience for lovers of history.
You can catch Downton Abbey streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Britbox and NBC’s new streaming service Peacock. Or, if you’d prefer to purchase episodes, there are online services for that as well, including Amazon Prime Video.
Downton Abbey lived on PBS’ Masterpiece for its tenure within U.S. broadcasting; however, it’s no longer featured in its programming. On the other hand, if you’re looking for the movie adaptation, you’ll find it available on HBO Max and Hulu.
| Streaming service | Price |
| Amazon Prime Video | $8.99/mo. |
| Britbox | $6.99/mo. |
| Peacock | $5/mo. |
Streaming Downton Abbey
As we mentioned, you have three options for catching a Downtown Abbey stream — Amazon Prime Video, Britbox and Peacock.
Amazon Prime Video
As a subscriber to Amazon Prime Video, you’ll have hundreds of thousands of titles at your fingerprints to watch, rent or purchase. Priced at $12.99/mo. for a Prime Membership or $8.99/mo. just for Prime Video, Amazon’s video-on-demand (VOD) service costs less than HBO Max ($14.99/mo.) and Netflix Premium ($15.99/mo.).
Every episode from all six seasons of Downton Abbey is available for free with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Britbox
With a lineup of hit British TV shows, documentaries and more, Britbox provides programming from BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV. These include episodes of Downton Abbey along with comparable series such as Aristocrats, Casualty 1900s: London Hospital and Pride and Prejudice: Restored in 4K.
Britbox is one of the more affordable streaming services focusing on British-themed movies and shows. You can decide to pay $6.99/mo. or $69.99 for the entire year. Impressively, you’ll be able to share your subscription, as Britbox allows up to five concurrent streams. And if you’re going to be away from Wi-Fi, you can download episodes to watch offline.
Peacock
Peacock is NBC’s new streaming service with three plans to choose from. The first and most affordable plan is actually free. That’s right, you’ll have access to NBC programming for nothing. But if you want complete access to the streaming service, including Peacock originals and access to full seasons, then you can subscribe to Peacock Premium for $4.99/mo. or $49.99/yr. Similar to CBS All Access, Peacock also offers a no-ad solution in the form of Peacock Premium Plus for $9.99/mo. or $99.99 annually. To put that in perspective, CBS All Access costs $5.99/mo. with ads and $9.99/mo. without. So, it’s similarly priced for the most part.
Peacock also includes other popular series within its programming, such as Heroes, New Amsterdam, Parenthood and Yellowstone.
Renting vs. buying Downton Abbey
There are several places online where you can rent or buy Downton Abbey. You might choose this option if you want to permanently add the show to your collection or just want a quick refresher on important episodes.
Amazon Prime Video
You have the option to purchase individual episodes and entire seasons with Amazon Prime Video. It prices standard definition (SD) episodes at $1.99 and high definition (HD) at $2.99. You can also own entire seasons electronically on your Amazon account in both SD ($12.99) and HD ($14.99).
Vudu
Vudu offers episodes from all six seasons of Downton Abbey in SD and HD video qualities. The prices are exactly the same as Amazon Prime Video — SD episodes are $1.99 and HD episodes are $2.99. Also, keep in mind, the seasons themselves aren’t all priced identically. For instance, season one costs $12.99 in SD and $14.99 in HD, while season six is priced at $14.99 in SD and $19.99 in HD.
Vudu is a one-stop-shop to buy or rent movies and shows directly over the internet. Vudu also provides a section of movies and TV shows for free with ads.
YouTube
As long as you have your billing information linked up with your YouTube account, you’ll be able to rent movies directly from the most visited site in the world. Episodes of Downton Abbey can be found on regular YouTube for $1.99 per episode. YouTube also sells the series by complete seasons. And no surprise, it matches the prices of both Amazon Prime Video and Vudu.
Our hot take
There’s no shortage of ways to watch Downton Abbey — stream, rent or purchase. But when it comes down to it, our preferred way to catch every episode is with Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video takes a serious edge against its competitors with its wealth of content and premium features such as offline downloads.
As we approach the holiday season, there’s far more to take away from a subscription to Amazon Prime than any other service. That’s because you’ll receive free two-day shipping on top of your favorite episodes of Downton Abbey.Try out Amazon Prime for 30 days before you commit to buy. Simply navigate to Amazon’s website and select “Try Prime” to start your trial period.
