Although some people turn to video streaming services for mindless entertainment, others want movies and TV shows that teach and inspire. Curiosity Stream, a service from the founder of Discovery Channel, offers documentaries on many topics including ancient civilizations and space exploration. The viewing experience is stellar, with all titles available in either HD or 4K. It lives up to everything it promises: a wide documentary selection, stunning quality, and a steady flow of original content. Curiosity Stream offers unmatched value as a documentary streaming service, and for that, it earns our Editors' Choice award.
How Much Does Curiosity Steam Cost?
Curiosity Stream’s cheapest plan, which grants you access to all of the service’s HD documentaries, is just $4.99 per month. If you want to watch everything in 4K and enjoy additional channels like Da Vinci and Tastemade, you must upgrade to the Smart Bundle Monthly plan, which costs $9.99 per month. Documentary lovers who know they’ll use Curiosity Stream for the entire year can get the most value from HD Annual ($39.99 per year) or Smart Bundle Annual ($69.99 per year) plans.
Netflix's cheapest tier costs $6.99 a month with ads. Prime Video is $8.99 with ads. Disney+ and Hulu each cost $7.99 for their ad-supported base plans, but you can bundle them into a $9.99-per-month plan to save money. Apple TV+ costs $9.99 per month. The British-focused services we've reviewed, Acorn TV and BritBox, are $7.99 and $8.99 per month, respectively. Curiosity Stream’s base HD monthly plan beats them all in cost.
Curiosity Stream favorably matches up to rival documentary streaming services. MagellanTV costs $6.99 a month (and has 4K streams), but its content library is far smaller than Curiosity Stream's: 1,500 titles compared with more than 3,000. Dox Channel is just $2.99 a month, but the service doesn't mention the video quality. Kanopy is free with a participating library or university login. NASA+ is also free, but basic. Topic costs $5.99 per month, Nebula costs $4.99 per month, and PBS Documentaries costs $3.99 per month.
Similar Products
Kanopy
Netflix
Hulu
Amazon Prime Video
History Vault
MagellanTV
PBS Documentaries
GuideDoc
Mubi
Nebula
Ovid.tv
PBS Video
Although Curiosity Stream is first and foremost a video streaming service, it also fits into the edutainment category, given its focus. Other edutainment services are generally more expensive. MasterClass, for example, also offers informational content at a higher price point ($10 per month for an individual account). Although MasterClass is more instructive, Curiosity Stream is more informative: You apply the information acquired through a documentary differently than the information acquired from a series of instructional videos. The Great Courses Plus costs $20 a month, $45 for three months, or $150 for the whole year. It's comparable with Curiosity Stream and offers informational, documentary-style videos, some of which are produced in collaboration with National Geographic and the History Channel. We watched a few free video lectures from the Great Courses Plus, and while they sparked our interest, we don’t think we would pay nearly 10 times more each month than we would with Curiosity Stream for access.
Curiosity Stream is well worth its price, considering the impressive library it offers and how highly rated its documentaries are by viewers (everything we saw had a rating above 90%). Depending on what you’re looking for, however, another online learning service might be a better option.
Curiosity Stream is available on the web, mobile devices (Android and iOS), gaming platforms (PlayStation and Xbox), streaming media devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), and smart TVs. Curiosity Stream does not have a dedicated app on the Microsoft Store, something that Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix do.
What Can You Watch On Curiosity Stream?
Curiosity Stream’s library features an impressive 3,000 titles, 900 of which are exclusives. According to a representative, the company plans to expand its streaming library to more than 10,000 premium titles over the next few years, an ambitious undertaking that could make sticking with the service worthwhile. Currently, Curiosity Stream offers documentaries in categories such as History, Kids, Lifestyle, Nature, Science, Society, and Technology.
Some notable documentaries in the Curiosity Stream menu are Light on Earth and Ant Mountain, both hosted by David Attenborough; Dream the Future, narrated by Sigourney Weaver; the BBC history series Empire of the Tsars; the human origins series Out of the Cradle; and the paleontology series Amazing Dinoworld.
Explore food with History of Food and Happiness Is on the Plate. Dive into the physical aspect of who you are with The Body. For a sports series on two Florida high school football teams that battle for supremacy, look no further than 4th and Forever: Muck City.
An interesting topic that has captured public attention for years is whether there's an exoplanet that could support human life. The documentary Living Universe takes you on an interstellar adventure in an attempt to find a planet that could support complex life, including us.
For science, some interesting titles are Redesign My Brain, a three-episode series that tests the new science of brain plasticity; Magic Numbers, three episodes that journey through the evolution of math; Ice Age Giants, three episodes that look at the remarkable creatures of the Ice Age; What is Reality? With David Eagleman, a brief look into how we perceive reality and how to expand that perception; and Exploring Quantum History With Brian Greene, three episodes exploring theoretical physics.
History buffs will surely enjoy The Celts: Blood, Iron & Sacrifice, an intriguing title for a three-episode series exploring the British islanders. Catching History’s Criminals: The Forensics Story, looks at 200 years of innovation in crime solving. Finally, Queen Victoria’s Letters: A Monarch Unveiled, is a psychological exploration of the woman, in her own words.
Technology is our bread and butter here at PCMag, so naturally, we were excited about the content Curiosity Stream has to offer in that area. Order and Disorder look great and explores how humans discovered the complex rules of the universe and mastered energy and information.
Kids get a dedicated category, too. The Beginning and End of the Universe, which explores the universe’s origin and where it’s going, will go far to enhance childlike curiosity about our origins. Nature documentaries, including The Secret Lives of Big Cats, can help kids understand the challenges facing natural habitats and their native species.
What Original Content Does Curiosity Stream Offer?
In terms of original content, Curiosity Stream offers 4th and Forever: Alcoa, an acclaimed original documentary series produced in partnership with Jupiter Entertainment. The eight-episode feature focuses on the history and impact of a town nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It explores the effect of diversity in Alcoa’s high school dynamic, including its sports program, and how the school pulled off a season that almost wasn’t possible.
Curiosity Stream partnered with Doclights to bring 50 original titles to its viewers around the world. These are natural history titles ranging between 30 and 60 minutes. They include Cheetah: Beating the Odds, These Birds Were Made for Walking, Monkey Mayhem, and a personal favorite, Sloth Bear: Birth of a Prince. I’ve never associated sloths with princes before.
Another original offering is a three-part series called The History of Home, which takes you behind the history of each room in featured houses. Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, narrates the series. As it turns out, he’s a master woodworker! The filmmakers went to 10 countries and filmed dozens of eye-catching homes.
It’s difficult to compare Curiosity Stream with other streaming services because it has a narrow focus. However, within that focus, the service sets itself apart with titles that appeal to a wide audience and a robust original title catalog. Netflix offers documentaries too, more than 500 of them, including Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Forensic Files. Prime Video houses the acclaimed BBC natural history series Planet Earth.
Web Interface
We tested Curiosity Stream’s web interface on the Google Chrome browser running on a Windows 10 desktop. You can sign in with an email address or phone number and password, or with a TV or internet provider. We opted to sign up using an email account. Curiosity Stream’s web interface is easy to navigate, and we didn't experience any performance issues in testing. The navy blue/dark yellow color scheme is pleasant.
The top navigation bar includes four menu options: Browse, Collections, Search, and your account name. If you hover over your account name in the upper section of the interface, a drop-down menu offers access to the Watchlist, Continue Watching, and History sections. In the My Account section, you can view Plan Details, Payment Information, Account Information, and Settings. Within Settings, there are options to only show kid-friendly content and adjust notifications.
The homepage features a highlighted program, add to the watchlist, or simply scroll past. Further down the page, we saw sections such as Newest Additions and Shows for You. As huge fans of personalized content, we particularly appreciate that latter section. Past those categories are sections dedicated to other genres, including Spooky Stuff, Ancient History & Dinos, and more.
The Browse section's drop-down menu enabled us to find content by category or duration. We really liked the duration option, especially if you know you only have a certain amount of time to watch something. Within each main category (Science, History, Technology, Nature, Society, Lifestyle, and Kids), subcategories make finding even more specialized topics easier. Under Society, for example, there was Entrepreneurship, Social Issues, Politics, Crime & Forensics, Economics, Business & Commerce, Democracy, and Current Events.
The Collections menu item leads to a page full of curated programs, including Women Rule, Coronavirus, and Hidden Gems. It feels like using a Spotify account, browsing through collections of films instead of playlists put together by the Spotify team.
When you hover over a show or movie’s thumbnail, you can add it to your watchlist via a button in the top right corner or view the episode count and rating in the bottom left. On a show or movie’s detail page, you can see which company produced it, if subtitles are available, and the rating.
Mobile Apps
We tested Curiosity Stream’s mobile app on an iPhone 13. After logging in (Curiosity Stream gives you the same login options as on the web), we noticed a familiar home screen, featured content, and categories. The mobile app is almost a direct reflection of the web platform. The app plays a splashy trailer for whatever it highlights on the main page.
The menu items at the top of the website appear as icons at the bottom of the iOS app. In Settings, you have the option to turn on Kids mode under Account. When you press My Stuff, you'll see Watchlist, Continue Watching, History, and Saved.
The mobile app has the episode count or documentary duration and the rating available right on the screen. On the web, you must hover over a thumbnail to find the same information. Underneath an episode, the mobile app shows other episodes in the series. Underneath films, Curiosity Stream lists recommendations for other titles.
Offline viewing is available on the Android and iOS apps. You can save up to 10 hours of content at a time.
Playback Quality
Curiosity Stream’s playback interface on the web defaults to the highest available resolution. It has volume and playback speed options, as well as 15-second rewind and fast-forward options via the arrow keys on a keyboard. In the video player's bottom right corner is an option to add closed captions and change the audio track option. Some content is available in other languages, but the vast majority is English only—a bit disappointing considering the global audience. There’s also a panel with more episodes and a summary of the episode or film underneath the video player. The mobile app playback screen is similar; the only difference is that it has a Save button and the rewind and fast-forward buttons are accessible on the screen.
In terms of user feedback options, you can use thumbs-up and down buttons to rate content, get more personalized recommendations, and see what other users liked. Most of the content had ratings in the high 90s (out of 100%), with feedback from thousands of users.
We experienced no lags in playback or stutters, and the audio synced up well. Curiosity Stream recommends download speeds of 25Mbps or higher for uninterrupted 4K viewing, so the home Wi-Fi network (100Mbps download) we used was more than adequate. The audio adjusted seamlessly when we tried changing the audio tracks option from English to Spanish and back again. The 4K video quality was excellent, too.
Curiosity Stream supports simultaneous streaming on an unlimited number of devices. In testing, we were able to access Curiosity Stream simultaneously from a laptop and a phone with no issues. For reference, NBC, Max, and Disney+ allow for three simultaneous streams, while BritBox supports five.
For more on streaming, check out five reasons to ditch your video subscription and keep cable.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
The content we watched included closed captions, which you can customize to make more legible. That puts the service above KweliTV and its inconsistent subtitles for international films. However, none of the content supports Audio Descriptions. Apple TV+, Prime Video, and Netflix all include titles that support this feature, an accessibility option that provides an audible narration of on-screen events that are not discernible through dialogue alone.
As mentioned, Curiosity Stream has a kid-specific category filled with child-friendly titles. You can instruct your young ones to limit themselves to the titles within that channel. There’s also the option to turn on Kids mode, which you can access through the My Account page. However, this option applies sweepingly to your entire account. Disney+, Max, and Netflix support multiple viewing profiles with individualized content restriction options.
Can You Watch Curiosity Stream With a VPN?
A virtual private network (VPN) is an excellent way to secure your data online. When you turn on a VPN, it routes all of your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel between you and a remote server controlled by the VPN company, thus hiding both your identity and your location. This can be troublesome for video streaming services that may block VPN traffic altogether based on geographic location to avoid complications.
We tried streaming content on Curiosity Stream after connecting a PC to both US- and Sweden-based Mullvad VPN servers. We had no issues streaming over either connection. That's surprising for video streaming in general but unsurprising for Curiosity Stream, as we've even seen Curiosity Stream and VPN services bundled together.
Even if your VPN and video streaming service currently work together without issues, there’s no guarantee that they will continue to do so. Video streaming services continue to find new ways to detect and block VPN traffic.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
Verdict: Low Cost, High Value
Curiosity Stream offers great value to millions of subscribers in dozens of countries. There’s no better place to go for high-quality documentaries that cover thousands of topics, with new titles added regularly. World travelers will also enjoy that it’s available globally with no restrictions. Curiosity Stream deserves our Editor's Choice award for the thousands of hours of viewing it offers a curious, nonfiction-minded audience—just be aware that most of its content is in English.
Sherin Shibu contributed to this review.
Documentary-dedicated streaming service Curiosity Stream has all the content you need to satisfy your hunger for knowledge and inspire new adventures.
Like What You're Reading?
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Sign up for other newsletters
