Sling TV and YouTube TV are two of the country’s most eminent TV streaming services. They can be the perfect option to ditch conventional cable TV without sacrificing your favorite TV channels.
However, choosing between two popular platforms is never easy. On one side is Sling, which has attractively cheap plans, and on the other is YouTube TV, the most popular TV streaming service.
Well, I have done the homework for you. In the next few minutes, I will share a detailed breakdown of Sling TV vs. YouTube TV. Read it until the end to find the perfect TV streaming service.
Sling TV vs. YouTube TV: Quick Comparison
Sling TV and YouTube TV differ in several aspects—from pricing, plans, and channel lineup to add-on channels, on-demand content, and other benefits. Here’s a brief tabular summary of the comparison:
| Parameters | Sling TV | YouTube TV | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $40/month | $72.99/month | Sling TV |
| Free Trial | ❌ | ✔️ | YouTube TV |
| Channel Count(without add-ons) | Up to 46 channels | 100+ channels | YouTube TV |
| DVR Space | 50 hours FREE;200 hours at $5/mo | Unlimited FREE | YouTube TV |
| Add-on channels | 9 packages for different channel categories; 36+ premium channels | 3 packages for Sports and Spanish; Premium channels | Both good |
| On-Demand Content | ✔️ | ✔️ | Both good |
| Simultaneous Streams | 3 devices (with Sling Blue) | 3 devices with all plans;Unlimited with 4K Plus add-on | Both good |
I have compared three of the most important aspects:
- Plans and pricing,
- Channel lineup, and
- Add-on plans
While I have also added my verdict for each factor, your personal preference may differ, and that’s alright!
Now, let’s quickly dive into the comparison without further ado.
1. Plans And Pricing
Sling TV and YouTube TV have different pricing structures. While the former has two core plans and one combined plan, the latter only has one base plan.
| Subscription Details | Sling TV | YouTube TV |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Not Available | Available for new users (durations vary) |
| Starting Price | $40/month for Sling Orange | $72.99/month for Base Plan |
With that said, let me take you through the plans and pricing of each platform in depth.
Sling TV Plans And Pricing
Sling TV offers two core plans for its live-streaming services—Sling Orange and Sling Blue—and a third, combined plan that bundles the services of the two plans.
There are no annual contracts for any plan, which means you can discontinue anytime you wish!
| Plans | Price | Channel Count | DVR Space | Simultaneous Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | $40/month | 34 | 50 hours | ❌ |
| Blue | $45/month | 45 | 50 hours | 3 devices |
| Orange & Blue | $60/month | 52 | 50 hours | 3 devices |
1. Sling Orange
The Sling Orange plan is the most affordable plan on Sling. It costs $40/month and offers about 34 popular channels across different categories. Seven of these channels, including Disney, ESPN, and Freeform, are exclusively available on this plan.
However, the plan has a major catch: It does not let you stream on multiple devices simultaneously.
2. Sling Blue
Sling Blue is a more comprehensive plan, offering about 45 channels at $45/month. While it does not offer the 7 channels available only on the Orange plan, it has its own list of 18 exclusive channels, such as Fox News, MSNBC, TLC, and more.
And the best part? Unlike the Orange plan, this plan lets you stream on up to 3 devices at a time.
3. Sling Orange & Blue
Sling also offers a third plan called Orange & Blue for $60/month. As its name suggests, the plan combines the benefits of the two core plans, offering all 27 common channels as well as the 25 exclusive channels from both plans.
This way, the plan gives you the best of both worlds, including the ability to stream on 3 devices simultaneously.
Does Sling TV Offer A Free Trial?
Currently, Sling TV does not offer a free trial on any of its streaming plans.
Sling TV Discounts
While there is no free trial on Sling, the platform offers discounts on its plans for new users and some add-on offers, too:
- New users get a flat 50% discount on all three plans for the first month.
- Sling offers Sweepstakes rewards for watching free content on Sling Freestream. Rewards range from $10,000 in gift cards to a free 1-month subscription to Sling.
YouTube TV Plans And Pricing
YouTube TV’s subscription plans are considerably different from those of Sling.
| Plans | Price | Channel Count/Description | DVR Space | Simultaneous Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Plan | $72.99/month | 100+ | Unlimited | 3 devices |
| Spanish Plan | $34.99/month | 30+ | Unlimited | 3 devices |
| NFL Sunday Ticket | $119.75/month for 4 months | All out-of-market Sunday NFL games | Unlimited | |
| NFL Sunday Ticket + Base Plan | $158.99/month for 4 months | All out-of-market Sunday NFL games | Unlimited | 3 devices |
1. Base Plan
There is only one core plan, called the Base Plan, which provides access to over 100 news, sports, entertainment, and on-demand content channels. The plan is priced at $72.99/month and has no annual contract. You can also stream on up to 3 devices at once.
However, here is what I consider the biggest benefit of this plan: It lets you share the membership with 6 people who live at the same address. Each member can log in with their account and have their own recommendations and DVR library. Sling does not provide any such benefit.
2. Spanish And Standalone Plans
YouTube TV offers other plans in addition to the base plan. There is a Spanish Plan worth $34.99/month that offers the same benefits but only with 30+ Spanish-language channels. If you only want some specific channels, YouTube TV also lets you pick and pay for those channels.
3. NFL Sunday Ticket
YouTube TV also offers a special for you if you are an NFL enthusiast: NFL Sunday Ticket. This plan gives you access to all the Sunday afternoon out-of-the-market NFL games not broadcast on local channels.
You can purchase this premium plan either with the Base Plan ($158.99/month for 4 months) or as a standalone pack ($119.75/month for 4 months).
Does YouTube TV Offer A Free Trial?
Yes, YouTube TV offers a free trial for new users. The trial duration varies across users and usually lasts for a few days.
YouTube TV Discounts
Besides the free trial, YouTube TV is offering additional discounts for new users.
- New users get a flat $8 discount on the Base Plan for the first four months, making the price $64.99/month during these four months.
- Eligible users get 4 months of Max Ad-free membership when purchasing an NFL Sunday ticket.
Winner
Sling TV’s plans are much more affordable but have limitations on simultaneous streaming, DVR space, and channel count.
2. Channels
When it comes to the channel lineup, YouTube TV is ahead of Sling by a significant margin. Depending on availability, YouTube TV gives you access to over 130 channels in the Base Plan alone, while Sling TV only offers 52 channels in its most premium core plan.
Let’s look at popular channels and their availability on the two platforms.
| SR. NO. | Channels | Sling TV (Orange + Blue Plan) | YouTube TV (Base Plan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ABC | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 2 | Animal Planet | ❌ | ✔️ |
| 3 | Bloomberg Television | ✔️ | ❌ |
| 4 | CBS | ❌ | ✔️ |
| 5 | Comedy Central | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 6 | CNN | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 7 | ESPN | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 8 | FOX | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 9 | Food Network | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 10 | History Channel | ✔️ | ❌ |
| 11 | Lifetime | ✔️ | ❌ |
| 12 | MSNBC | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 13 | Nickelodeon | ❌ | ✔️ |
| 14 | TLC | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 15 | TNT | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Sling TV Channels
While the range of channels on Sling TV is not as wide as that of YouTube TV, Sling offers a focused selection of many of the country’s most popular networks.
The Orange plan currently offers about 34 channels and includes some leading Sports and Family networks, including ESPN, Disney, QVC, and Freeform. The Blue plan contains many other popular channels, such as ABC, FOX, and NBC, as well as Discovery, TLC, and SYFY.
Additionally, both plans offer 27 mass favorites. From leading networks like CNN, Vice, and BBC to kids’ favorites like Cartoon Network and Nick Jr. — Sling offers a good range of channels, even with its limited range.
However, Sling’s core plans miss out on many other channels. These missing channels include CBS, Animal Planet, and Comedy.tv, Newsnation, and Nickelodeon.
YouTube TV Channels
With its expansive list of over 100 channels, YouTube TV offers a much wider range of options for your streaming needs. Unlike Sling TV, YouTube TV offers a much more comprehensive channel lineup with its Base Plan.
You will find most of the leading news networks, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as some top Sports channels, including ESPN, FS1, and FS2.
The Entertainment channel lineup on YouTube TV is also much richer, as is the Kids channel lineup. You’ll get networks like FX, MTV, and FXM, as well as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and TeenNick.
With that said, YouTube also has its share of popular-yet-missing channels. You won’t find big names like MLB Network, History TV, Vice, and Bloomberg Television.
The Winner:
YouTube TV is miles ahead of Sling TV in terms of channel count and variety.
3. Add-ons And Extra Plans
Like every streaming platform, Sling and YouTube TV offer add-on plans in addition to the core plans. However, Sling TV provides a much wider range of budget-friendly add-ons in news, sports, entertainment, and other categories.
| Parameters | Sling TV | YouTube TV |
|---|---|---|
| Special Add-on Plans | Sports Extra, Entertainment Extra, Kids Extra, News Extra, Lifestyle Extra, Hollywood Extra, Heartland Extra, 4 Extras bundle, Total TV bundle | Entertainment Plus, NFL Redzone with Sports Plus, Spanish Plus, Filipino Plus |
| Premium Channels | Individual plans for 40 Premium Channels | Individual plans for over 50 Premium channels |
| Extra Features | DVR plus add-on offering 200 hours of DVR Space | 4K Plus add-on offering 4K support, unlimited simultaneous streams, and offline downloads-watching |
Sling TV Add-ons And Extras
The add-ons on Sling TV compensate for many channels you might miss on the core plans. While these channels cost you extra bucks, they are pretty focused and let you choose channels from specific categories.
Regarding Premium channels like Paramount+, Discovery+, and MGM+, Sling offers about 40 premium channels starting at $3 per month. In addition, a DVR Plus add-on gives you 200 hours of DVR space for $5 per month.
In addition to the premium channels, you can choose add-on plans in seven categories: News, Sports, Entertainment, Kids, Lifestyle, Hollywood, and Heartland.
The News Extra plan gives you 10 channels that are not available in any core plan. Similarly, the Entertainment Extra plan comes with 11 channels. Special plans are also available, like Heartland Extra, which contains a curated list of channels about sports and the American lifestyle.
However, one thing I like about Sling’s add-ons is that bundle add-on plans, the 4 Extras Deal and Total TV, offer the benefits of multiple plans at discounted prices.
YouTube TV Add-ons And Extras
YouTube TV has a longer list of premium channels you can buy individually monthly. Depending on your region, there are about 51 add-on channels.
The Sports Plus add-on comes with about 16 live sports channels, including NFL Redzone, Fox Soccer Plus, Players TV, and more. The Premium add-ons let you add individual premium channels at a per-channel-per-month pricing.
With the Entertainment Plus add-on, you can bundle Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, and STARZ for $29.99/month. And the Spanish Plus add-on gives you over 28 Spanish channels at $14.99/month.
Besides offering channels, YouTube TV offers a 4K Plus add-on, which offers additional features like unlimited simultaneous streams, offline viewing of recordings, and a 4K viewing experience.
The Winner
Both YouTube TV and Sling TV offer various add-on channels, including premium ones. The winner mainly depends on the channels you wish to watch.
4. Compatibility, Parental Controls, And More
We have discussed some of the most critical features of Sling and YouTube. However, there are more characteristics of the two platforms that you must not miss considering.
So, let me take you through five of these features.
a. Device Compatibility
Device compatibility is another important factor, and Sling and YouTube give each other tough competition.
Both YouTube TV and Sling TV can be run on almost every common device that can stream videos and is connected to the Internet. You can stream them on your Android or Apple phones, browsers, smart TVs, and various streaming devices.
However, I found Sling TV to be lagging in one aspect: Access across all gaming consoles, Sling can be streamed on Xbox Series X, Series S, and Xbox One consoles, but not on PlayStation. YouTube TV is playable on all these devices.
Winner: YouTube TV wins by a small margin thanks to its support for PlayStation 4 and 5.
b. User Interface And Experience
If there is one thing that can kill your overall experience on a streaming service, even with all the other great features, it’s a lousy user interface.
Fortunately, though, I can safely say that you don’t have to worry about it on either of the two platforms. Both of them have intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces that will rarely (if ever) make it difficult to watch your favorite shows or find a specific feature.
While YouTube TV is just as smooth to use as most other Google services, Sling TV has improved its UI quite a bit in the past couple of years. So you can rest assured that your streaming experiences will be a breeze.
Winner: It’s a tie.
c. Parental Controls
This factor may be crucial if you have kids in your house. You don’t want them to watch anything they should not. Well, the good news is that both Sling TV and YouTube TV understand this.
YouTube TV lets you control the availability of content based on their TV rating. You can filter programs by enabling the “Allow TV-Y, TV-G, G, and PG only” option in the Rating Filter section of your YouTube TV settings.
When this setting is enabled, any content that is not rated TV-Y, TV-Y7, VT-Y7-V7, TV-G, G, or PG will disappear from the feed and search results.
Sling TV also offers a similar option. A dedicated Parental Controls setting lets you lock content based on their ratings. Unlike YouTube TV, though, Sling does not remove the content but simply puts a lock icon, making them playable only via a PIN.
Winner: It’s a tie again, as both offer similar parental control settings.
d. Customer Support
A robust and round-the-clock is necessary when you run into issues with your subscription, playback, or any other technical glitches.
You get support on both YouTube TV and Sling TV. Both platforms have a Help Center containing answers to common queries and allow users to contact support in real-time, 24*7.
However, I found YouTube TV’s support center much easier to navigate. It contains many more articles and an easier way to reach out for live support.
Winner: YouTube TV has a better customer support system.
e. Refund And Cancellation Policy
If you buy a subscription to YouTube TV or Sling TV but change your mind later, you can easily cancel it.
None of the platforms offer a refund if you cancel your plan midway. Instead, your plan will continue to run for the stipulated one-month period before expiring.
Winner: It’s a tie.
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The Verdict: YouTube TV Wins This Comparison!
After weighing the two platforms on all these parameters, I find that YouTube TV leaves Sling behind in many aspects. While it is the pricier, it offers many more channels, an uncapped DVR space, unlimited streaming options, and more premium add-ons.
However, Sling TV can also be an excellent option if you are okay with the limited DVR space and a few specific channels on the platform.
Remember that your final choice depends on your personal preferences. Consider the parameters that are relevant to you and discard the rest. And once you’ve made the choice, drop your verdict in the comments.
