These are the last weeks to watch Crunchyroll for free. The platform is ending its ad-supported streaming service

Crunchyroll will no longer offer free, ad-supported anime streaming after December 31, 2025. Starting January 1, 2026, a paid subscription will be required to watch anything on the platform – there will be no more free anime available.

Goodbye free Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll offers different subscription plans with benefits like larger anime selections, the ability to download episodes for offline viewing, and discounts on anime merchandise. They also used to have a free option where you could watch popular shows with ads. While new movies generally required a subscription, the free tier was important because it allowed many fans to watch older series without paying.

Recently, Crunchyroll has been limiting what you can watch for free, and increasingly older shows have become available only to paying subscribers. Removing free streaming altogether is the last part of Crunchyroll’s move away from offering anime without a subscription.

Okay, so I was trying to watch some anime on Crunchyroll, and I got this message popping up. Basically, they’re getting rid of free, ad-supported streaming at the end of 2025. The message was pretty clear – if you want to keep watching without interruptions, you’ll have to pay for a subscription. No official announcement on their site yet, but that’s what it said when I tried to watch something for free.

With Crunchyroll ending its free viewing option, fans are wondering what changes might come to the service. Some predict adjustments to the subscription plans, and even suggest that paid members could start seeing advertisements. It remains to be seen if these predictions will come true.

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2025-12-08 17:02