The best streaming free trials in Canada

For this week’s No More Ls column, we’re looking at the free trials Canadians can take advantage of, and how to click unsubscribe before the bills start coming in.

If the best things in life are free, then shouldn’t you be loading up on free trials right now? All kidding aside, free trials let you try before you buy, comparison shop and, in some cases, get everything you want from a product or service without paying a cent for it. But as many consumers have learned the hard way, most free trials convert to paid subscriptions the moment they expire.

In one survey of U.S. consumers, 64.8% of respondents said they have been locked into at least one paid subscription after forgetting to cancel its free trial. Another survey found that of U.K. residents who’d taken out an “accidental subscription” in the previous year, 39% forgot to cancel the free trial, and another 40% didn’t know the free trial would automatically renew as a paid subscription. It’s a costly mistake to make, especially if you end up having to pay for a full-year subscription or don’t notice the error until you’ve made multiple payments.

Fortunately, there are simple ways to avoid the free-trial trap. Free trial terms can change anytime, so always check the fine print to confirm. To help you load up on free trials without financial regret, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best free trial offers in streaming video, music, reading, and fitness, along with some tips on how to get more out of free trials—without becoming an accidental subscriber.

Free video streaming trials

1. Apple TV+

Free trial term: 7 days (standard) or two months through the Walmart app

Cost: $14.99 per month

You’ll never scroll away an evening searching for something to watch on Apple TV+, because its catalogue of TV and film titles still numbers in the hundreds. But they’re all exclusive to Apple TV+ and some of them are just so good. Besides, you’ll be hard pressed to get more than a seven-day free trial from other video streamers, whereas Canadians can get two months of Apple TV+ through Walmart’s app until mid-September 2027. (No Walmart purchase necessary.)

2. Amazon Prime Video

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $8.25 a month or $99 a year

Let’s clear up a common misconception: although they’re usually bundled together, Prime Video is a standalone video streaming service; Amazon Prime is a subscription bundle that includes Prime Video plus free Amazon delivery, music and reading apps, cloud-based photo storage, video games and DashPass, which gets you free DoorDash delivery and reduced service fees. And if you’re a student or aged 19 to 24, you can subscribe to Amazon Prime at half price.

3. AMC+

Free trial term: 7 days

Cost: $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year 

Sure, you’ll find top AMC shows like The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul on other streaming services—but they don’t usually offer a free trial. The “plus” in AMC+ includes BBC America (British TV), plus Shudder (horror) and Sundance Now (indie films and original TV series), which alone would cost $8 to $9 each per month. If you doubt you can watch all 130+ hours of The Walking Dead during the free seven days, promo codes are offered occasionally that could give you 30 days. 

Free music trials

1. Amazon Music Unlimited

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $12.59 a month ($11.54 for Prime Members)

Don’t confuse this premium service with Music Prime, which is part of the Amazon Prime subscription bundle. Amazon Music Unlimited is a fully fledged music streaming app with high-quality audio, more than 100 million songs, loads of popular podcasts and access to the entire Audible audiobook library—although subscribers are limited to one title per month.

2. YouTube Premium

Free trial term: 1 month

Cost: $12.99 a month ($7.99 a month for students)

It’s not just for watching videos anymore: YouTube Premium turns the video streaming platform into a kick-ass music app that offers more than 100 million songs, including remixes, old TV performance and esoterica you’d be lucky to discover in a thousand visits to used record stores. Plus, the YouTube upgrade is ad-free and doesn’t stop when your phone is in sleep mode.

3. Apple Music

Free trial term: 1 month (standard), or 4 months through the Walmart app

Cost: $10.99 a month

Thanks to its massive music catalog, ultra-high-quality audio, time-synced lyrics and even translations on some foreign-language songs (Bad Bunny, anyone?), Apple Music is a contender for best music app honours. But if social sharing features are crucial to you, try Spotify Premium free for three months, $12.69 a month thereafter.

Free reading trials

1. Readly

Free trial term: 1 month

Cost: USD$12.99 a month

You know those glossy, oversized magazines that look and feel fabulous—until you see the newsstand cover price. Readly lets you flip through an impressive collection of them, plus thousands of other magazines and bookazines from around the world, on your digital device.

2. Kindle Unlimited

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $11.99 a month

As you’d expect from a reading app owned by Amazon, Kindle Unlimited has a massive library of more than 5 million ebooks, audiobooks and magazines that you can read on your Kindle, PC, smartphone a tablet. (FYI Amazon started as an online book store in 1995.) If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you already have a reading app, Prime Reading—but it offers just a few thousand titles.

3. KoboPlus

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $9.99 or $12.99 a month

If you’re keen to support Canadian businesses—at least ones that are headquartered in Canada—then KoboPlus is the reading app for you. The Rakuten Kobo app offers three plans: $12.99 a month for access to both 1.5 million ebooks and 150,000 audiobooks; $9.99 a month gets you one or the other.

Another option is your local library. Although not a local library, you can get borrow digital books, too.

Free fitness trials

1. Apple Fitness+

Free trial term: 1 month (standard) or two 2 months through the Walmart app

Cost: $12.99 a month

The bad news about this highly regarded app, which offers a wide range of on-demand workouts, is that it’s available only on Apple devices. 

The good news is that you can get a two-month free trial through the Walmart app. Create a Walmart account, sign in, click on the Savings tab, then Partner Offers.

2. Peloton App+

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $34.99 a month

Although Peloton is known for its proprietary bikes, treadmills and rowing machines, its App+ offers guided workouts using your own equipment or none at all, plus live cardio classes. If $34.99 is more than you want to spend on fitness each month, Peloton App One is more basic but will still help you sweat for $16.99 a month. 

3. Strava

Free trial term: 30 days

Cost: $99.99 a year

Designed for runners and cyclists, Strava lets you set and track custom goals, create group challenges and choose between auto-generated routes or designing your own.

How to find free trial offers

Although some services and apps for Canadians rarely or never offer free trials, many have a standing offer you can claim during the regular sign-up process. These offers tend to be modest and available year-round—until they’re replaced by special promotions that can greatly extend the free-trial period. So, if you’re not sufficiently wooed by a standing offer, keep checking.

Some extended free trials are promoted to specific audiences, who can claim the offer at a specially designated webpage or by redeeming a promotional code during the normal registration process. Often, you can uncover these targeted offers with a quick web search or by scanning websites and community forums where money-saving tips and promo codes are shared. Even easier, you can automate the process using browser plug-ins like Coupert and Honey, which collect promo codes from across the web and apply them as you shop online—although with mixed results. 

While you’re at it, why not create group chats dedicated to sharing free-trial and referral info among your friends and family members?

Finally, you probably belong to at least one organization that rewards its members or account holders with special access to third-party offers. Take advantage of these opportunities for all kinds of discounts, including extended free trials like the Walmart-Apple offers mentioned above.

Can you sign up for the same free trial repeatedly? Sort of. Most free-trial offers are for new users or returning paid subscribers—who are usually identified by their email address, rather than name, address or payment details.

How to avoid the free-trial subscription trap

If a free trial doesn’t ask you to provide payment information up front, you’re in luck: the provider has no way of charging you if you forget to cancel before the end of the trial period. But most free trials require you to provide payment information, such as a credit card—meaning you must cancel the trial before a designated time unless you want to start a paid subscription. 

Unfortunately, a lot of free trials don’t make cancellation as simple as logging in to your account and clicking an obvious “Cancel your subscription” button. You can try the app store on your device to cancel, like Google Play and App Store, vut you may have to reach out directly to customer support. Another problem is unclear or misleading language about the cancellation deadlines and the precise length of free-trial periods.

For instance, does a seven-day free trial last seven days on the calendar, including the day you subscribe—or does it last 168 hours (seven full days) from the moment you sign up? Can you cancel any time before your free trial expires, or must you provide 24 hours’ notice? Some services, including Apple services and Strava, charge you if you don’t cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Don’t rely on the promotional language that lures you into a free trial; read the fine print, too. 

Also, very few free trials will remind you, via email or in-app messages, of upcoming deadlines. They want you to pay. Rather than relying on your memory alone, program your calendar app to give you daily reminders that start a few days before the cancellation deadline. If you’re the kind of person who likes to snooze a few alerts before acting, use a precise and detailed subject line, like this one: “Cancel AMC+ free trial on or before March 26.”

In many cases, free trials remain active till their expiry date even after they’ve been cancelled. So, try cancelling free trials immediately after you start them. It’s the surest way to avoid accidental subscriptions while enjoying a few of the best things in life.