Reelgood vs. JustWatch vs. Plex: Battle of the streaming guides – TechHive

In a perfect world, you wouldnt need apps like Reelgood, JustWatch, or Plex to keep track of your streaming TV options.

But while streaming platforms such as Roku and Apple TV have their own search and guide features built in, none of them fully achieve the kind of universal streaming guide that cord-cutters deserve. They dont fully integrate with Netflix, for instance, and theyre often more interested in upselling you or promoting their own content than connecting you with relevant recommendations.

Thats where the aforementioned streaming guide apps come in. Each of them can suggest things to watch from the streaming services you actually use, and they offer watchlists to help you remember everything youve been meaning to check out. They also offer their own apps on streaming TV devices, so you can use them as a kind of alternative menu during moments of indecision.

Even so, Reelgood, JustWatch, and Plex each have their own flaws, so before you start using them for all your TV needs, take a moment to consider which one might be best for you.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Reelgood has always been the slickest of the universal guide apps. It does a great job suggesting new movies and shows to watch, with recommendations based on your viewing habits along with menus for different genres. Each movie or show is clearly labeled with the streaming service its currently available on, along with ratings from both IMDb and Reelgood itself. The website also has a handy leaving menu so you can catch movies or shows before they become unavailable on your streaming services.

Tracking your shows is easy with Reelgood as well. Whenever you add a show to its watchlist, you can choose the most recent episode youve seen, and you can quickly mark additional episodes as watched as you go. The more you add to your list, the better Reelgoods recommendations get.

Unfortunately, Reelgood has decided to stop development on its TV apps. While the Android TV/Google TV version still works, the Fire TV app is now riddled with error messages, and the Apple TV version can no longer launch playback in other apps.

Reelgood does offer a Play to TV function in its mobile apps, letting you launch content on your TV through a phone or tablet. Still, Ive only gotten this to work on Roku devices, and having to use your phone for navigation isnt always ideal. (Apparently this is a known issue thats being worked on.) Without TV app support, Reelgood isnt as useful as it once was.

Available on: Web, Android, iOS, Android TV/Google TV (for now)

Jared Newman / Foundry

Compared to Reelgood, JustWatch is a step down on the design front. Its apps offer no easy way to browse by genre, and your watchlist is tucked away behind a secondary menu tab when it really ought to be the first thing you see. Individual show pages are also much sparser, with no supplemental info on actors, directors, or related programming.

That said, JustWatch is the most reliable service Ive tested when it comes to selecting a show on your TV and having it launch in the appropriate streaming service. This deep-linking functionality worked without issue across Fire TV, Android TV/Google TV, and Apple TV.

JustWatchs mobile app is another matter. While it claims to offer a Play on TV function, attempting to use it caused repeated crashing on my iPhone 13 Pro Max. And for mobile viewing, JustWatch wont link to other streaming apps on an iPhone unless Safari is set as your default web browser.

Available on: Web, iOS, Android, Android TV/Google TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TVs, LG TVs, Xbox.

Jared Newman / Foundry

While Plex is better known for its media server features and free content catalog, it also entered the universal guide fray earlier this year. Through the apps Discover section, you can find new movies and shows to watch and add them to a watchlist, which also has its own dedicated tab on the Plex home screen.

Plexs relative inexperience in this arena shows. The app makes no attempt to recommend content based on your viewing habits, and it doesnt have any way to browse by genre. You also cant view IMDb ratings or the source of a particular program without clicking through to its info page.

Linking from Plex to other apps is also inconsistent across platforms. It doesnt work at all on Fire TV (even though it did at launch), and I had trouble linking out from Peacock and Paramount+ on a Chromecast with Google TV. Plexs Apple TV app fared better overall, but linking to Paramount+ content still didnt work.

The upside is that Plexs guide also works with any content on your media server, so if youre using Plexs over-the-air DVR features or pulling in videos from other sources, that content will appear in your watchlist alongside everything else.

Available on:Web, iOS, Android, Android TV/Google TV, Apple TV. (Plex is also available on other platforms, but without deep linking capabilities.)

Reelgood, JustWatch, and Plex arent the only universal guide services, but I focused on them because they all offer ways to browse for content on your TV (and, in some cases, to jump into that content in the corresponding app). If the above options leave you wanting, you can also check out Trakt, TV Time, or Simkl.

Or, you can join in me in hoping that the likes of Roku, Apple, and Amazon improve their own universal guide systems and make these third-party tools unnecessary. Its bound to happen eventually, right?

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Reelgood vs. JustWatch vs. Plex: Battle of the streaming guides - TechHive