Quibi vs Netflix: What You Need to Know

Quibi is an all-new video service similar to Netflix, Disney+ or Hulu, but designed to deliver an exciting experience and amazing content quicker than everyone else. Think of it as a TV version of TikTok with short-form videos, movies, and news.

Instead of watching 1-hour episodes of The Walking Dead, you’re getting a 7-10 minute episode you can watch on the go, only using your phone. In this guide, we’ll quickly go over a few details, what to expect, what shows are on Quibi and how it compares to Netflix.

These days instant entertainment from Instagram stories, YouTube, and TikTok are taking over the internet, and this is an attempt to deliver Hollywood-level content in a similar fashion. It’s new and exciting, so tune in.

The slogan is “Quick Bites. Big Stories.” (Qui-bi, get it?) where you’re getting mobile-centric content and shows from some of the biggest stars in the world. Some of those include Idris Elba, Liam Hemsworth, Christoph Waltz, Chance the Rapper, Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy Teigen, and others.

Read: Best Online TV Streaming Services and Cable Alternatives 

At $5 per month with ads or $7.99 without, Quibi is expensive and you’ll need to decide if it’s worth buying on top of Netflix or instead of Netflix if you’re on a budget.

Quibi vs Netflix: Which One to Buy?

• Price and ads
• Content and Shows
• Ways to Watch
• Early Conclusion

The Quibi app is available on iPhone and Android. The service only works on your phone, so there is no iPad, Apple TV, browser support or smart TV app.

Quibi vs Netflix: Price and Ads

At this point, everyone knows about Netflix and likely already pays for it, which makes this comparison tough as people are set in their ways. At the same time, Quibi is fun, new, and exciting, while you’ve probably been bored of scrolling through Netflix menus for several years now. So, Quibi could be a great new alternative to Netflix.

• Quibi: $4.99 per month with ads; $7.99 ad-free
• Netflix: $8.99 per month, upgrades to $12.99 or $15.99

With Quibi you’ll get ads before episodes and shows, but they’re quick like you typically experience on YouTube, and often less than 10 seconds. Or, pay $7.99 per month for the ad-free experience.

As a comparison, Netflix costs more starting at $8.99 per month, but most people have the middle plan for $13 which gets you Ultra HD, and the option to stream on two devices at a time. Quibi has nothing like that, at least not yet, and only one person can use or stream on any account at any given moment.

Quibi is offering a 90-day free trial, instead of the typical 7-day trials we see from others, so you can enjoy all the shows and series for the next three months for free. Give it a try today.

Quibi vs Netflix: Content and Shows

Quibi and Netflix are the same in the fact that they both deliver movies, tv, and entertainment to mobile devices, but that’s about where the similarities end. Quibi is ONLY available for your phone, and it doesn’t have a massive library of thousands of shows they’ve acquired over the last decade like Netflix. As a result, these are two very different streaming platforms.

With Netflix you’re getting an absolutely insane amount of content, TV shows both new and old, movies, and more recently they have a growing list of original content. You’re probably very familiar with what Netflix has to offer so we won’t try to explain it or share a list.

On the other hand, Quibi is brand new, with TV series and movies no one has ever heard of or seen, so there’s a ton of entertainment waiting for you. Here’s a shortlist of shows, movies, and series available so far on Quibi.

• &Music
• Chrissy’s Court
• Dishmantled
• Fierce Queens
• Flipped
• Gayme Show
• Gone Metnal with Lior
• I Promise
• Memory Hole
• Survive
• Punk’d with Chance the Rapper
• Thanks a Million with Jennifer Lopez
• Most Dangerous Game
• All The Feels by The Dodo
• Around the World by BBC News
• Close Up by E!
• Fashion’s A Drag
• For the Cultura by Telmundo
• Fresh Daily
• No Filter by TMZ
• Pop5
• Night Gowns
• Nikki Fresh
• Murder House Flip

Obviously the list isn’t huge yet as this is a brand new service, but the Hollywood A-listers behind Quibi received over $1.75 Billion (with a B) in funding to create a ton of content, so this list will grow very soon.

Plus, Quibi promises to release at least 25 new episodes each day for more than three years worth of shows for fans to watch. They have everything from comedy, drama, news, reality TV and more. So far we’re seeing some very high-quality productions from Quibi, with short 10-minute episodes that are as good as anything else on Netflix, traditional cable, or even HBO for that matter. It’s definitely not TikTok quality.

I’m not going to lie, this morning I watched three episodes of Most Dangerous Game while enjoying my morning coffee on the patio, and I probably could have sat through at least 5 more. I’m sure I’ll watch others later tonight while exploring all of the content available. From what we’ve seen so far Quibi has plenty of excellent content that could potentially give Netflix and others a run for their money. It’s all high-quality production-level stuff.

We’ll update this list as more shows get added to Quibi.

Quibi vs Netflix: Ways to Watch

In case you don’t know yet, Quibi is nothing like Netflix, Sling TV, Hulu, HBO Now or anything else currently available. It’s ONLY available for your smartphone. You CANNOT watch Quibi on your MacBook, laptop, TV, smart TV and you can’t cast or mirror your screen either. The app prevents all of that. The entire experience is built specifically for quick bites and instant entertainment on your phone, on the go, or while sitting at home.

Netflix is available anywhere and everyone on almost every platform and device you can imagine. That’s obviously a huge benefit over Quibi, but Netflix also costs more. We’re not sure if they want to compete with Netflix and Disney+, or simply be another option people subscribe to in addition to the rest.

One thing to mention is that Quibi shows work in both horizontal and vertical video modes. This works thanks to a feature called Turnstyle, which lets you rotate your phone 90 degrees for a seamless transition, and it works wonderfully. I don’t think any app I’ve ever used rotates the content on the screen as fast or smooth as Quibi.

As a result, you can watch your show from a different angle, as the shows are shot for both portrait or landscape orientations. If you’re watching while holding your phone upright, then turn it longways (landscape mode) you’ll see more content, the entire room of the scene, or potentially more characters at that moment. It’s unique, but we’re not quite sold on it yet.

Quibi vs Netflix: Early Thoughts and Conclusion

So far reviews are mixed regarding if the Turnstyle viewing experience of Quibi is beneficial at all, and most of the complaints we’ve seen so far are from people that want to continue watching on a bigger screen or in the living room. With Netflix, you can watch part of a show on your phone then continue where you left off at home, or watch the next episode, on any device you own.

With Quibi, you’ll likely finish an entire 7-10 minute episode of your show, newscast or series on the way home so you don’t need to continue on a bigger screen. However, that doesn’t mean people don’t want to. I love what I’m seeing so far from Most Dangerous Game, and I’d love to watch it on my 75-inch 4K TV downstairs, but I can’t.

Right now Quibi is the exciting new kid on the block, and they’re trying to steal your attention away from TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram for 10-minutes at a time, and they might succeed.

When everyone goes back to work after the Coronavirus pandemic the way you consume Quibi will probably make more sense, and be more practical. For now, we’re excited about the possibilities and the endless all-new content and TV series to watch. That said, we’ll have to keep an eye on the platform as a whole to see how things progress.

Other content providers like Netflix, TikTok, or even Disey+ however, shouldn’t really worry, at least not yet. For now, Quibi is aiming at stealing a little bit of a user’s attention span throughout the day with exciting content, but that’s all. Those viewers will still tune into Netflix at night, make TikTok videos, and do the things they always do.

If Quibi starts stealing the biggest actors away from Netflix and manages to release a version for big-screen devices, however, then this discussion will start to change. For now, I’ll keep paying for Netflix and enjoy the 90-day Quibi trial, and we suggest you do the same.