I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to find the best free alternatives to things I pay for — these 7 recommendations worked the best
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I was pleasantly surprised when I booted up my PS5 and went to the streaming apps tab to find something entirely new called “Live TV on PS5.” At no extra charge, that feature lets me watch a vast collection of movies, TV shows, anime, and gaming-related content (sitting through some mandatory ads and keeping tabs on what’s coming on when are just two minor annoyances I have to deal with here).
After sitting through a few episodes of Death Note and Hunter x Hunter, my brain immediately went to “I gotta find some other free ways to enjoy all the stuff I like to watch, read, and play.” With that money-saving thought in mind, I cooked up this prompt and input it into ChatGPT and Gemini to help me out:
“Recommend 7 of the best free things I can do online based on my hobbies and interests. My hobbies and interests include video games, anime, professional wrestling, comic books, music, and movies.”
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Both chatbots recognized my desire to enjoy the more cost-effective parts of my hobbies and interests, so they listed a bunch of alternatives to the paid ones that hit my checking account every month. I took four suggestions from ChatGPT, three recommendations from Gemini, and ended up enjoying all of them.
ChatGPT’s recommended picks
Here are the four best alternative options that ChatGPT provided me with:
- Build your own retro gaming museum with the Internet Archive: This is probably the biggest rabbit hole on the list. The Internet Archive has an enormous collection of digitized software, games, movies, music, books, and other media. Explore old computer games, check out classic gaming magazines, dig through forgotten game soundtracks, explore vintage gaming commercials & TV recordings, and just browse through old gaming history.
- Read manga for free on MANGA Plus: This is the official Shueisha manga service, and its free offerings include popular series such as One Piece, Chainsaw Man, Boruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, Dandadan, and others. Depending on the title, you can read the first and newest chapters for free, while the app also offers a “First Read Free” system for eligible ongoing series.
- Turn your movie obsession into a giant free movie scavenger hunt: Free, ad-supported streaming services have become surprisingly useful for movie fans. Tubi, Pluto TV, and similar services offer legitimate free movies and TV without requiring a paid subscription.
- Make a free “comic book vacation” with digital libraries: If your local library participates, Hoopla can be a fantastic way to read comics, graphic novels, and manga digitally using a library card.
Imagine my surprise when I did some digging in the Internet Archive and was greeted by a smorgasbord of classic arcade games I didn’t know I could play again and digital versions of GamePro I used to read as a wee lad. I spent plenty of time playing the likes of WWF WrestleFest, Astro Blaster, Bloody Roar 2, and other classic games once I got the hang of their controls (this guide definitely did the trick).
To fulfill my desire to read a bunch of manga and comic books for free, I did a deep dive into MANGA Plus and Hoopla—I got to read a few chapters of Sakamoto Days for free and found a nice selection of graphic novels to read once I input the required information for my local participating library to access them.
And thankfully, I found plenty of cult classic films to watch on Tubi—Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn, Tank Girl, and Masters of the Universe definitely kept me entertained for a few hours. Having to deal with some commercial breaks to enjoy all that free cinema doesn’t bother me at all.
Gemini’s suggested picks
And here are the three strongest alternative options Gemini gave me:
- Stream Legal Anime on Tubi and Pluto TV: While Crunchyroll requires a paid subscription for many ad-free catalog titles, legal, free, ad-supported platforms like Tubi TV and Pluto TV offer massive anime libraries (both classic titles like Yu Yu Hakusho and Inuyasha and modern series) with no sign-up required.
- Read Golden and Silver Age Comics via Comic Book Plus: Comic Book Plus is the web’s largest legal archive of public-domain comic books. You can read thousands of original Golden Age and Silver Age titles, early superhero runs, sci-fi serials, and classic horror anthologies straight through their online viewer.
- Dive Into Webcomics on WEBTOON & Tapas: WEBTOON and Tapas offer tens of thousands of free digital comics across action, fantasy, and superhero genres—many of which feature anime-inspired art styles and have gone on to get official anime adaptations (like Tower of God and Solo Leveling).
Paying for Crunchyroll has become a thing for me because I need my weekly fix of new anime series making their debuts and dropping new episodes. But Gemini’s suggestion of checking out Tubi and Pluto TV’s anime archives gave me the pleasure of tapping back into my nostalgia with marathon viewing sessions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X, Sailor Moon, and Monster Rancher.
Comic Book Plus offers an easy (and most importantly, free) way to access superhero comic books from before my time, such as Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, and Moon Girl. WEBTOON surprised me when I came across its Disney-themed offerings, which included a wealth of quality Marvel Comics series runs, plus digital graphic novels connected to the Alien and Predator franchises.
As for Tapas, its readable content lineup didn’t really appeal to me as much as WEBTOON’s did. But I’m sure some of you reading this right now may find something on there to enjoy (it has a pretty robust selection of romance-themed comics, if any of you are into those).
The takeaway
My hobbies are definitely costly—I’m sure I’d be shocked at how much I spend on video games, streaming services, and comic books on a monthly basis. While I’ll never completely abandon the paid options that let me enjoy the latest and greatest pieces of entertainment that fuel my interests, I’ll be sure to make better use of all the free sites and streaming services that do just as much to keep me entertained.
The Internet Archive, Tubi, Pluto TV, Manga Plus, Hoopla, Comic Book Plus, and WEBTOON have a wealth of content for me to peruse without worrying about spending any extra money. Thanks for putting me onto all those freebies, ChatGPT and Gemini.
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