Many video streaming services cost as much as a regular cable subscription, defeating one of the main reasons viewers like me have cut the cord. Lifestyle- and entertainment-focused service Philo offers more than 70 live channels starting at a relatively cheap $25 per month. However, Philo is not in the business of creating original content like Netflix or Prime Video. Likewise, it doesn't aim to replace cable entirely, as Editors' Choice winners Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV do—it has few news channels and no sports content. Still, Philo performs well across many platforms and might make sense if you're into its entertainment offerings.

Plans and Prices: A Low-Cost Way to Stream Live TV

Philo's offerings now start with the pleasingly inexpensive Essential plan ($25 per month). It grants access to the core library of Philo streaming channels and on-demand titles, as well as one year of unlimited DVR. For $33 per month, which is still very affordable compared with Hulu and YouTube TV, you can explore the full Philo library and select other streaming services (AMC+, Discovery+, and HBO Max) with the Bundle+ plan. Philo also offers a decent collection of add-ons. For instance, the $11-per-month Starz add-on bundles the Starz, Starz Encore, and Starz Kids & Family channels. Likewise, Movies & More costs $3 per month and features five channels and their on-demand libraries: Cinémoi, HDNet Movies, MGM HD, Reelz, and Sony Movies.

For comparison, Sling TV's Orange or Blue plans cost $45.99 each, or $60.99 per month for the combined bundle. Despite their slightly higher price, Sling TV's plans have several popular news and sports channels and are a better choice than Philo for most audiences. Hulu + Live TV costs $89.99 per month, YouTube TV starts at $82.99 per month, DirecTV Stream starts at $101.98 per month, and Fubo starts at $84.99 per month.

On-demand video streaming services are much more affordable than live services. For instance, Apple TV costs $12.99 per month, Disney+ charges $11.99 per month, and Prime Video costs $8.99 per month. Netflix's Standard plan (the lowest tier I recommend) and HBO Max are more expensive at $19.99 per month and $18.49 per month, respectively.

If you don't want to pay for your entertainment, check out the best free video streaming services. Some services, like Tubi, focus on mainstream movies and on-demand shows.

What Can You Watch on Philo?

With Philo, you can stream more than 70 channels, including Animal Planet, BBC America, BET, Cooking Channel, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, IFC, Lifetime, Logo, and the Travel Channel. As mentioned, a Philo Bundle+ subscription also grants you access to Discovery+ and HBO Max's appealing streaming libraries.

Note that Philo's entire lineup works regardless of your location in the US; none are subject to location restrictions. On the flip side, you don't get any local channels, unlike Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV.

(Credit: Philo/PCMag)

As with other live TV services, you can watch much more than just live feeds. If a show or movie runs on a channel, you can likely watch it on demand. In terms of on-demand TV series, the number of available episodes and seasons varies with each show—sometimes you can only watch the current season; other times you can watch the full run. Since Philo offers many popular movie channels, it makes our roundup of the best movie streaming services. However, cinephiles may want to consider The Criterion Channel or Mubi, as both have larger, actively curated libraries.

Philo also offers a Free Channels section. Here, anyone can watch 100 free channels featuring preprogrammed content, including Bloomberg Television, Gusto TV, and Revry. Pluto TV and Xumo offer similar channels.

Philo focuses on entertainment and lifestyle channels, so you won't find sports networks in its lineup—one way it keeps costs low. For example, CBS Sports, ESPN, FOX- and NBC-owned RSNs, and league-specific channels, such as the NFL Network and NBA TV, are not available. If you are interested in sports, check out our roundup of the best sports streaming services. Philo has sparse news content, but it offers BBC News, Cheddar, and Newsy. Cable mainstays such as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS are all missing. Most other live TV streaming services offer far more sports and news channels (in addition to the entertainment channels that Philo has). To be fair, those services also cost significantly more money per month.

The Sign-Up Process and Platforms

Philo is unique because you can sign up and log in to your account with your phone number or email address. However, Philo does not require a password for your account. Instead, it sends you an SMS text or email with a six-digit code (depending on the method you used), which you enter to gain access. This is slightly more secure than a traditional sign-in method because it requires you to have access to the secondary method, but it's not quite true multi-factor authentication. Traditional implementations require you to sign in with a username and a password first, before sending an additional login token to a linked account.

Philo offers dedicated apps for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and Roku), and browsers, but not for game consoles.

Watching Philo on the Web

Philo uses a dark design with blue and white accents. Across the top, the interface displays three top-level header items: Home, Guide, and Saved. The search bar and the profile settings section are accessible from the upper-right corner of the screen. When you enter a query, it searches for channels, movies, shows, and episodes as well as descriptions. The full-screen search results page is useful because it lets you drill down into search results by content category.

The User section is divided into two sections, Settings and Account, but both are a bit bare. From the Settings page, you can edit your name, email address, or phone number. You can toggle two settings here: Start Channel Playback From Live (instead of from the beginning) and Do Not Sell My Personal Information (which relates to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018).

(Credit: Philo/PCMag)

The Home section highlights noteworthy shows in a top-level slider, while side-scrolling lists of different program categories populate the page below. For example, one row contains new content from shows you've saved, and another displays trending series.

One cool part of the interface is that the play button (which appears above the content thumbnails) shows the live programming's playback progress. For example, an episode that is a quarter of the way through will show a circle around the play button with a quarter of it highlighted. Clicking the icon in the bottom-left corner of a thumbnail lets you view more info about the programming and browse through related content.

In the Guide section, you can browse all the channel offerings for current, past, and future programming. Channels are listed alphabetically down the left-hand side of the screen, with easy-to-read programming blocks in the middle. Philo lists the programming date if you scroll away from the current one, but there’s still no easy way to jump back. Oddly, scrolling through past and future content happens on a per-channel basis; the rest of the guide still shows the current programming for all the other channels.

I like that Philo lets you favorite channels (hover over the channel logo and select the heart icon), which moves those channels to the top of the list for easy access. The See More button is also useful for getting more details about the upcoming programming for a specific channel. If you click a channel’s logo, you'll see the current programming guide on a branded page and browse top shows and movies.

The last section, Saved, groups together all the shows and movies you save in one area. When you click a show, as in any other section, it displays all the available content. In a later section, I explain how Philo's DVR storage works in more detail.

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Watching Philo on Android and iOS

I had no issues signing into the Philo app on an Android smartphone. Philo's Android and iOS apps are nearly identical and maintain the web interface's attractive look, sporting the same dark background with blue and white elements. The app performs well, and I didn't experience any lag or stuttering while navigating its sections or streaming content.

(Credit: Philo/PCMag)

A bottom navigation bar houses six icons: Home, Guide, Top, Saved, Search, and one for your account profile. All these categories are functionally identical to their web counterparts, but the account section is pretty bare. You need to visit Philo's website to update your subscription settings. You cannot download saved shows for offline viewing.

The Playback Experience

The web playback interface is clean and simple. In addition to the standard playback and volume controls, there are buttons for saving a show via DVR, toggling closed captions, and setting the playback quality (auto, low, medium, or high).

When you launch a live stream, you either need to start at the very beginning or jump to the live broadcast; you can only select a point in between once you reach it through playback. Philo includes a Start Over and Live button on either side of the screen. Philo’s mobile playback interface resembles the desktop one. The only difference is that you can drag your finger from either side to scrub through programming.

(Credit: Philo/PCMag)

Philo does not list any network speed requirements for streaming purposes. According to a company representative, it supports all common browsers and should run fine on most internet connections.

Live TV streams top out at 720p/30fps, while on-demand content supports up to 1080p. Many on-demand video streaming services offer some content in 4K, as do Fubo and YouTube TV for live streams. Philo supports standard Surround 2.0 audio. Note that because Philo uses live channel streams, you must watch all the ads that appear in those broadcasts.

I tested Philo's performance on a home Ethernet network (200 Mbps download). When I selected a live broadcast of the Animal Planet show My Cat From Hell, the stream launched quickly and continued without any stutters. Switching channels did not trip up the service, either. Similarly, after I saved Godzilla (2014) to my account, Philo had no trouble starting or maintaining the stream at high quality.

DVR and Other Features

Philo works differently from other services when it comes to DVR content. Instead of adding a single episode or program at a time, you add entire shows, and Philo makes all the available content ready for binge-watching. Philo does not impose storage limits on your DVR content and retains content for up to a year.

Again, Philo does not let you download saved shows for offline viewing. Many on-demand video streaming services, including HBO Max, Netflix, and Prime Video, support offline downloads, but I have not tested any live TV services that allow you to download DVR content offline.

You can save shows and movies for up to two weeks, but previously aired shows are available for playback only if they were broadcast in the past 72 hours. In any case, saving a TV show or movie makes it easier to determine if and when it will air again.

One thing to note is that some saved shows and movies still include ads, so you'll still have to deal with annoying interruptions. For example, the actual runtime for Captain Phillips is only 2 hours and 14 minutes, but the playback bar shows a total runtime of 2 hours and 32 minutes (a lot of ads). Philo's help page details how your ability to skip ads depends on the channel and whether the programming is available on demand. A representative from Philo explains, "When you save a show or movie, anything currently airing or scheduled to air will be recorded to your DVR, and you can skip the ads. You cannot skip ads on anything that aired before you saved it."

For comparison, YouTube TV imposes no DVR storage limit and keeps shows for nine months. Fubo lets you record up to 250 hours of content and keep it as long as you subscribe. Hulu lifted its storage limits. Sling TV's base DVR limit is 50 hours. DirecTV Stream limits you to 20 hours of storage by default. You can pay to upgrade the storage capabilities of DirecTV Stream, Fubo, and Sling TV.

(Credit: Philo/PCMag)

Philo supports up to three concurrent streams, which is about average. DirecTV Stream lets you stream on up to 20 devices on your home network simultaneously. You can add up to 10 profiles to Philo, which makes it ideal for larger households. Each profile gets personalized recommendations and distinct saved content libraries. Disney+, Netflix, and Prime Video also support multiple viewing profiles.

Previously, Philo discussed plans to introduce social features, such as co-watching, but nothing is currently available. In the meantime, Hulu, Netflix, Plex, and Prime Video have all added co-watching features.

Accessibility and Parental Controls

Philo offers a Closed Captioning (CC) toggle on its playback screen. On the web, you can't change the text's size, color, or positioning. Other platforms include some customization options. YouTube TV offers more consistent options across platforms. Netflix and Prime Video go one step further with their audio description features, which provide audible narration of scene changes and other on-screen actions.

Although it lets you create profiles, Philo lacks parental control options. Sling TV is among the few live streaming services to offer parental control tools for restricting content by rating. Many on-demand streaming services, including Disney+ and HBO Max, implement such features.

Can You Watch Philo With a VPN?

If you're concerned with privacy and security, you should use a VPN on all your devices and at all times. Unfortunately, some video streaming services don't work if you are connected to a VPN, sometimes due to content licensing deals or geographic restrictions. Philo, for example, is only available to users in the US. You could try to find a VPN that works with all your favorite services, but remember that access may be inconsistent. Some video streaming services are strict about blocking VPN traffic and may implement new policies that prevent access.

I tested Philo by connecting an Android phone and a desktop PC to a US-based Mullvad VPN server and trying to stream content on Philo. I did not have any issues launching live streams or watching saved content. When I tried a server in Sweden, Philo blocked my access. Again, your experience may vary.