Korean dramas, or K-dramas, enjoy high popularity and demand thanks to their intense plotlines and incredible production value.
There are plenty of streaming services presently available where you can watch K-dramas, with a different selection for each one. Looking at their individual features can tell you which one offers the experience you’re looking for.
In this article, we’ll look at:
- 11 of the best streaming services for Korean dramas
- Whether these services are free or come with a subscription
- How expansive the K-drama library of these services is.
With their library of content and unmatched services, any one of these streaming giants is sure to meet your K-drama needs.
Contents
1. Viki
If you want to focus solely on Asian dramas, Viki is the streaming service for you. Here, you’ll find an assortment of Chinese dramas, Japanese dramas, and, of course, Korean dramas. Viki shines especially bright with its wide selection of K-dramas.
As an added benefit, Viki is free to use with ads. However, there is also a paid subscription plan called Viki Pass available which removes ads, allows HD-quality videos, and gives access to exclusive shows.
Compared to streaming services that don’t focus much on Korean dramas, Viki has a better selection, recommendations, and even genre categories.
It’s easily one of the best options when it comes to streaming services for Asian drama fans – especially because it’s free.
2. AsianCrush
AsianCrush streams TV shows from all over Asia. Of course, Korean dramas are included in the mix.
It’s free to use, but you can also opt for a paid subscription to remove ads. As far as Korean dramas go, AsianCrush focuses on web series but still also has a sizable number of Korean films as well.
Keep in mind that it can be difficult to search only for K-dramas on this platform. However, since there are plenty of Asian shows in general, this is still a go-to site for many. The service even offers live TV streaming.
3. Kocowa
Korean broadcasting stations KBS, MBC, and SBS have joined forces to deliver the streaming service Kocowa. This platform solely focuses on Korean shows, which include K-dramas, variety shows, and even K-pop shows.
If you’re keen to watch mostly Korean dramas and shows, Kocowa is one of the more specialized services available.
It offers some of its drama series and TV shows for free with ads. Otherwise, all of its content can be watched freely a year after the original broadcast date.
A paid subscription is also available and will give access to HD video quality, all dramas and shows, streaming device compatibility, and ad removal.
The service is based in the USA and currently serves only North and South America. This means there are also Portuguese and Spanish subtitles on some of the shows and a few with Spanish dubs.
4. iQiyi
Though it focuses on Chinese shows, iQiyi has a good selection of Korean dramas and other Asian shows as well. The streaming platform even holds some exclusive licenses for K-dramas.
iQiyi has paid and free options. With a paid plan, you gain access to exclusive content, better video quality, no ads, and more features.
However, don’t think you’ll need a subscription to tune in. Even with a free plan, there are plenty of K-dramas to fuel your viewing experience. You can even download them for offline consumption, which is a rather rare feature for a free plan.
iQiyi is one of the few internationally available services, which makes it notable if you live outside a typically-supported area. It offers subtitles in many languages, though it’s important to note that some appear to be machine-translated.
5. Netflix
Many people already have a subscription to the popular streaming service Netflix, courtesy of the wide variety of shows on offer. They’ll be pleased to find there’s a good selection of Korean dramas on the platform as well.
There’s a category just for Korean dramas on Netflix that’s split into categories and hosts popularity-based recommendations. The selection is excellent, and you’ll often find the hottest and most popular K-dramas here.
Aside from that, there are also Netflix-original shows you can’t catch elsewhere.
Netflix is one of the best streaming services for Korean dramas, considering the range and quality of shows available. However, it’s also one of the most expensive options compared to other services.
6. Hulu
Hulu is another popular streaming service with a good general variety of shows. While the selection of Korean dramas is quite limited, Hulu does offer some of the more popular ones.
Hulu is a subscription-only service that allows you to choose between ad-free and with-ad plans. These have a 30-day free trial, which is useful if you’re only interested in a few Korean shows.
Aside from its K-drama library, Hulu also has an expansive selection of content in other genres, making it a great option.
7. Tubi
Tubi is a streaming service with over 50,000 movies and shows. It’s available on a wide range of devices, from its website to mobile and smart TV apps.
Since Tubi is free, there will be ads while you watch. You might also find that its selection of K-dramas and the ability to specifically search for one might not be comparable to a paid service.
However, for all its faults, Tubi is an excellent option if you’re just looking to watch some K-dramas at no extra cost.
You can find Tubi’s selection of Korean dramas in the Foreign TV category or through the search bar. Since Tubi also hosts non-Korean shows and movies, it’s a good all-in-one free streaming service overall.
8. Amazon Prime Video
The streaming service Amazon Prime Video can also be used for watching Korean dramas. It’s available with an Amazon Prime subscription or as a separate subscription altogether.
Amazon Prime Video has a lot of variety in shows in general. Compared to other paid services, however, the selection of Korean dramas available can be a little limited. Still, Prime Video has some popular shows if you don’t need access to a larger library.
Like Tubi, an Amazon Prime Video subscription is a great choice thanks to its variety of non-Korean content. The streaming app for this service is available on mobile phones and smart TVs.
9. Apple TV+
Apple TV+ offers access to its original productions and some older shows and movies, including a range of Korean dramas.
If you’re interested, you get three months of Apple TV+ for free when you buy an Apple device.
There’s also a seven-day free trial available, which can be long enough to watch an exclusive show or two. If it isn’t, you can instead grab a month-long free trial of Apple One, which will include access to Apple TV+.
While an Apple TV+ subscription is a great opportunity to watch K-dramas (especially several exclusive originals), the service doesn’t particularly focus on this genre. As such, you might find that its current K-drama selection is quite limited.
10. Disney+
Disney+ may be focused on content produced by Disney, but you’ll still find some Korean dramas in its range of shows. The advantage of Disney+ is that many people likely already have a subscription thanks to its popularity.
With that said, Disney+ is best for streaming K-dramas when you have a subscription for other reasons already. The Korean dramas which you can watch on Disney+ will depend on your region and can be very limited.
If the K-drama you want isn’t available on Disney+, you might want to consider checking if it’s available on Hulu instead.
11. Paramount+
This streaming service from Paramount Global also has its fair share of K-dramas available. And because of Paramount+’s existing partnership with many other services, such as Walmart+ and Xbox, this platform is appealing to many people.
Aside from its range of K-dramas, Paramount+ has also joined forces with a Korean entertainment giant to produce original series for your enjoyment.
It’s not just K-dramas that Paramount+ has in its expansive library, however. There are also popular, classic shows from different genres, making the platform an excellent choice for casual viewers and film junkies alike.