There are hundreds of Kodi addons available, but only a few are worth installing on your devices. We’ve reviewed and tested scores of popular and lesser-known Kodi addons, including third-party addons like Numbers, Seren, Fen, Gaia, Hummingbird, as well as official Kodi addons like YouTube, Xumo, and PlutoTV. The best Kodi addons that still work in 2021 might surprise you.
Whether you’re looking for movie or TV addons to stream, we’ve got you covered.
Our list sifts through the junk to help deliver the best Kodi addons still working in 2021. And this month, we’ve got a treat for gamers out there: an all-new Kodi add-on for Twitch!
Check back next month as well for more updates!
Quick links:
- JUMP STRAIGHT TO BEST OVERALL ADDONS FOR 2021
- JUMP STRAIGHT TO BEST MOVIES ADDONS
- JUMP STRAIGHT TO BEST SPORTS ADDONS
- JUMP STRAIGHT TO BEST ADDONS FOR TV SHOWS
Warning: Kodi should only be used for content to which you have the legal right to access. Neither the Kodi Foundation nor Comparitech advocates the use of Kodi for piracy.
Beware: New laws mean your internet provider can sell and share your browsing data
Your internet provider could sell and share details about the websites you visit, videos you download or stream and social media sites you use. By using a VPN whenever you connect to the web, you can encrypt your connection so your broadband provider doesn’t know what you’re doing. All your web activity will be hidden and can’t be shared, sold, or stolen.
We’ve tested the top VPNs for security, privacy, speed; IPVanish is our #1 choice for Kodi users.
Top unofficial Kodi addons (and the risks they present)
Please note these are the top unofficial Kodi addons based on popularity. It’s important to be aware of these addons and understand the risks they present as they populate many lists of so-called best Kodi addons.
Unofficial addons are more likely to contain malware, are less reliable, and will often carry pirated content. For these reasons, we recommend you avoid these and instead pick from our list of best official Kodi addons.
- Covenant – A once-popular movie and TV show addon
- Seren – A current addon that requires other integrations
- Exodus – One of the first, widely popular movie and TV show addons
- cCloudTV – A former and popular live TV streaming addon
- Gaia – A once-popular addon that infected users’ machines with malware
- Venom – An addon for streaming movies and TV shows on-demand
- Exodus Redux – A revised version of Exodus that is not maintained
- Real Debrid – A multi-hoster service that requires payment
- Premiumizer – Another multi-hoster service that requires a subscription
- Yoda – An on-demand movie and TV show addon
- Seren – Yet another multi-scraper that many users pair with real-debrid
- Fen – Another multi-scraper with real-debrid support for movies and TV shows
Many once-popular third-party Kodi addons have been killed off in the past few years. Anti-piracy efforts either drove their developers underground or forced many to leave the scene altogether. Most of the addons that are no longer available are already ones we tend to recommend users avoid anyway, which include Venom, Fen, FoxyStreams, Gaia, and others in those families.
33 best Kodi addons
There are the best official Kodi addons as of 2021. While some have regionally restricted content, you can unblock them from anywhere using a VPN like IPVanish.
- YouTube – On-demand and live content addon for YouTube
- Tubi – TV and movies-on-demand and completely free
- iPlayer WWW – Live TV and on-demand content for the BBC iPlayer
- Crackle – TV and movies-on-demand and completely free
- FilmRise – Movies on-demand and completely free to use
- Documentary Storm – Huge selection of free documentaries
- Classic Cinema – Free vintage and retro movies
- Popcornflix – Movies on-demand and completely free to use
- Black and White Movies – Movies on-demand and free of charge to use
- Netflix – TV and movies-on-demand directly from Netflix thanks to Kodi DRM
- Shout Factory TV – TV and movies-on-demand and broadcast live
- HGTV – TV on-demand for the popular HGTV channel’s content (free)
- Comet TV Live – Live TV focusing on action and sci-fi content
- Xumo – Live TV covering a large number of genres and completely free
- Dailymotion – Live and on-demand content spanning a massive number of genres
- Zattoo Box – Free live TV from major European and British TV networks,
- NewsOn – Live TV focused on local news from across the US
- DAZN – Sports content, including fight sports. Requires account
- Fite.tv – Sports content for fight sports. Free to use
- Sling TV – Live TV from major US networks.
- Cartoon Network – Kids TV shows and cartoons, free to use
- Comedy Central – All the latest shows from Comedy Central, free of charge
- Indigo – Maintenance addon for maintaining your Kodi addon settings
- Trakt – Watchlist tracking for TV shows and movies
- Indy Darlings – A hot new option for wrestling fans, including AEW broadcasts
- National Geographic – A Kodi addon scraping directly from the NatGeo website with free content available
- Vimeo – Offers thousands of free short films, documentaries, and videos examining everything from fashion to anime and more.
- ConTV – A Kodi addon for free comics, TV shows, movies, anime, and much more
- NHK World TV – Complete live and on-demand access to NHK World content
- Disney+ – The Kodi add-on for access to Disney+ on Kodi
- Freeform – Access to FreeForm’s free content (no account required!)
- Buzzr Live – Game shows to your heart’s content, both new and old
- Twitch.tv – Full access to Twitch video game and other streaming channels
Before We Start: Always use a VPN with Kodi
Although Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are sometimes used by people trying to hide their illegal activities from their ISP, there are many valid reasons law-abiding Kodi users should use one too.
If a Kodi addon were to be hijacked, the user’s computer would be at the mercy of the attacker. By using a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack, hackers have access to all of the victim’s internet history, saved browser information, and even login credentials.
Also, several internet service providers (ISPs) have been known in the past to deliberately limit the download speeds of their customers in an effort to combat online video streaming. This could leave you with speeds far below those that you pay for.
A VPN can help secure your computer against corrupted addons used for spying purposes. You will also find a solid VPN will help eliminate spying from your ISP and reduce instances of buffering and speed throttling.
We recommend using IPVanish. It’s not only fast with top-level security and no-logging policies in place, but it also is one of the few that have working apps for the Amazon Firestick. Best of all, this service has no connection limit. In other words, you can secure every device you own simultaneously.
BEST VPN FOR KODI:IPVanish is our top choice. Has a large uncongested network of servers and achieves good speeds. Strong security and privacy features make IPVanish a favorite for Kodi and Amazon Fire TV Stick users. Try it risk-free with the 30-day money-back guarantee.
IPVanish includes a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can cancel if you are unhappy for any reason.
Our favorite new Kodi addon: Twitch.tv
Any gamer worth their plats knows about Twitch (even if they don’t watch streamers). If you want quick and easy access to your favorite Twitch channels, you can get it through the Kodi addon. What’s more, the Twitch.tv slims out the UI, making it much easier to navigate around and find channels. And because of how it works, Kodi cuts out all of the annoying advertisements you’d normally have to wade through on the Twitch.tv website and app,
You can install this addon from the official Kodi Addon Repository.
Warning: This addon only works with Kodi installations prepped for Python3. At present, that means you can only use it with Kodi Version 19 Alpha 1 or Version 19 development builds.
Best Kodi addons for movies
Some of the most popular Kodi addons are the ones that offer a wide selection of movies and TV content.
The official Kodi repository offers addons that not only allow you to browse a large collection of free movies but also expand that collection by integrating with your other streaming subscriptions.
While testing, we’ve found many of the movie addons only offer content in a select few countries. So if you’re traveling abroad you can use a VPN to bypass those region blocks and access all of the content library available in your home country.
Crackle
Crackle is a streaming service that has a varied selection of films and TV shows. It’s free to use and offers some better-known titles, like 2003’s Underworld. Crackle region-locks their content, so to watch, you’ll need to connect your VPN to an American server.
Location: eracknaphobia Addon Repo
FilmRise
FilmRise is a distributor of TV shows and independent films. This company offers two addons: FilmRise, which contains six of their TV shows, and FilmRise – YouTube, which also includes free to watch movies. Note that the YouTube addon (and thus, FilmRise) now requires you to create your own API key — see our YouTube entry further down for more information on how to do this.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Documentary Storm
As you might expect, Documentary Storm provides dozens of feature-length documentaries covering everything from true crime to politics. This addon is free-to-use and accessible from anywhere.
Location: MetalChris Addon Repository
Popcornflix
Popcornflix has a large selection of free-to-watch movies spanning every conceivable genre. While most of these films aren’t well known, some, like Korean horror Train to Busan and We Need to Talk about Kevin are critically acclaimed. Note: although Popcornflix is technically available worldwide, this addon won’t work unless you have a US IP address.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Tubi
TubiTV is one of the largest streaming video-on-demand websites around. The service boasts a library of over 50,000 titles, from movies to TV shows. Additionally, there is no fee to use TubiTV It offers the service as a free, ad-supported option.
You can stream TubiTV on Kodi via the Tubi addon from the TVAddon repos. This service is ad-supported but due to the way Kodi works, it automatically blocks advertisements. This means that you can enjoy your streams quite easily and without interruption. If you want to unlock Tubi, you will need a VPN, however, as it only works in the US.
Location: TVAddons repo
Shout Factory TV
Perhaps one of the best addons to come around in a long time, Shout Factory TV provides users access to dozens of cult classic TV shows and movies. This free addon is completely legal to use and offers up a huge load of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, Rifftrax episodes, movies and TV shows across a dozen genres, and even stand-up comedy routines.
The developer has noted that this addon works properly with Kodi 19, and announced that moving forward, older versions of Kodi will not be supported by this addon.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Black and White Movies
Classic movies are available for streaming and downloading using the Black and White Movies addon. This addon focuses purely on classic movies that are made free thanks to expired copyright licenses. The quality and speed of the streams are also top-notch
Location: MetalChris repository.
Netflix
Netflix users can now access their Netflix streams directly through Kodi. As of Kodi 18, Kodi offers Digital Rights Management support (DRM), which is essential to allowing account logins for subscription-based services like Netflix.
You can download and install this addon from Asciidisco’s GitHub page.
Classic Cinema
A quality, free streaming service, Classic Cinema has a ton of old movies. Better still, this service is completely free to use, and can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository.
Best Kodi addons for TV shows
When it comes to watching TV shows, Kodi users have several options. There are several legitimate content providers that offer collections of well-known shows. These are usually free to watch, although there are a few that have additional costs.
TV show addons often pull from sites that use geographic content blocking, so be sure to check out whether it makes sense to bypass content blocks to help access your streams.
iPlayer WWW
The iPlayer WWW Kodi addon takes content from the BBC’s iPlayer streaming platform. It offers live and on-demand TV shows, radio stations, and movies. iPlayer WWW is free to use but requires a valid UK TV License. Additionally, its content is region-locked, so to watch from outside of the UK, you’ll have to connect your VPN to a British server.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
NewsON
NewsON is the best Kodi addon for US news. It groups its live streams by state and shows which regions each station covers. Streams load quickly and while it’s a US-only news addon, there’s no region-locking. This means that it can be watched from anywhere in the world.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Zattoo Box
Hands down one of the best options available on Kodi, the Zattoo Box Kodi addon offers easy access to Zattoo Box, the free live TV service available in Europe. You’ll find that this service requires an account to work, but you can sign up for free on the Zattoo Box website. Note that if you’re outside of the main region where Zattoo Box is available, you will need a VPN to both sign-up and stream content.
Available channels include the BBC and ITV. There are over 200 channels for free, with a paid option as well.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Comedy Central
With clips and full episodes from a wide range of Comedy Central shows (including The Colbert Report and Futurama), the Comedy Central Kodi addon is a must-have. What’s more, this service is free-to-use and you don’t even have to create an account before diving in.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Xumo
Similar in style and scope to Pluto TV, Xumo has over 100 completely free channels you can watch on your web browser or via an app. It’s also 100 percent legal, making it a great IPTV option for Kodi. The addon is brand new as well from developer Lunatix, making it a solid entry in the official Kodi addon market.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Comet TV Live
Comet TV Live is a unique and free live TV addon that offers up a host of movies. From cult classics to some really high-quality gems, you’ll find a lot of interesting sci-fi TV shows and movies streaming live to your Kodi installation.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
HGTV
HGTV stands for Home and Garden Television, and the network hosts full episodes of its shows online. These episodes can also be viewed from within Kodi using the HGTV addon. There are 17 different shows available, all in high-definition, so you can watch DIY programming to your heart’s desire.
Note: This addon was recently rebuilt for Py3 and as such, will only work on Kodi versions 19 and up.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
National Geographic
Outside of the BBC, with its hand-crafted nature documentaries, nobody does nature docs like National Geographic. Kodi users who love Nat Geo’s content can now enjoy it directly through Kodi thanks to developer Fraserc.
This addon works immediately after download, no login required. There’s a load of free content available, although you may need to go back to your web browser if you want to log in with your streaming provider’s credentials.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
NHK World TV
NHK World TV gives you direct, HD access to all of the content currently available from NHK World. Still in beta, this addon works extremely well. Tons of on-demand content is available, and you can get access to NHK’s live stream, as well. You can also adjust a few settings to customize the experience.
As of this time of writing, this addon is available from the NHK World TV Development Repository.
Our favorite new Kodi addon: Buzzr Live
Your love of game shows can now be satisfied with Buzzr Live. This Kodi addon has no on-demand TV viewing options, which is a bummer, but it does provide an endless stream of game show episodes for your enjoyment. The shows are a mixture of new(ish) and old game shows, including many of the somewhat funny and sometimes racy game shows from the 1970s.
You can install this addon from the official Kodi Addon Repository.
Warning: This addon only works with Kodi installations prepped for Python3. At present, that means you can only use it with Kodi Version 19 Alpha 1 or Version 19 development builds.
Best Kodi addons for sports
There are many Kodi addons aimed at sports fans. These provide live and on-demand sporting coverage, however, a VPN may be needed since this content is almost always region-locked.
This is not our full list of sports Kodi addons. For more, check out our longer guide on the 20 best Kodi addons for sports, updated for March 2021.
Fite.tv
Featured as our favorite addon when it launched last year, Fite.tv is a streaming service that offers 10,000 hours of free fight sports video. You can install this addon directly from GitHub.
Location: ArberDev Addon Repository
DAZN
DAZN is a subscription service that costs $20 a month. It covers a wide range of different sports but is currently only available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan. As such, you’ll need to connect your VPN to a server in one of these countries in order to watch anything
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Sling TV
A perfect addon for those who want US TV, the Sling TV addon connects to your official Sling TV account, even when you’re using the free trial period. Major networks are available, including ESPN, Fox Sports, HGTV, AMC, and more.
You’ll find the Sling TV addon in the official Kodi addon repository, and you’ll need to connect it to your account using your username and password.
Sling TV is only available in the US. However, you can access it from abroad using a VPN.
Indy Darlings
An excellent Kodi addon for wrestling fans, Indy Darlings is your best option on Kodi for professional and amateur wrestling broadcasts. This addon pulls videos from publicly-available YouTube feeds, so while it won’t allow you to watch any paid content, it is a great way to stay up-to-date with numerous different organizations including AEW, CWF Worldwide, Defiant Loaded, MLW Fusion, and Ohio Valley Wrestling.
You can install this addon using the following instructions:
- Click here to download the Indy Darlings video plugin zip file
- Open Kodi
- Go to Addons
- Click on the package symbol (top left)
- Click on Install from zip
- Locate your download folder in the file explorer
- Find the plugin.video.indydarlings Kodi addon and click to install
FreeForm
Warning: This addon will ONLY work on Kodi v19 « Matrix » and above!
Formerly known as ABC Family, FreeForm is primarily a cable TV network that you can only access with a paid subscription. However, the service offers loads of free content that you can access through its website—or even better, through its Kodi addon.
So why use Kodi for the content? No ads! If you watch via the web browser version, you’ll either need to create an account for an ad-free experience or get ads. Enjoy the anonymous streaming option through Kodi, ad-free.
This addon exists in the Official Kodi addon repository. (Warning: This addon will ONLY work on Kodi v19 « Matrix » and above! If will not show up in the repository unless you have v19+.)
Best Kodi addons for cartoons and anime
Whether you’re into anime or are just looking for something to keep the kids occupied, there is a Kodi addon that provides most of what you’re looking for. Below, you’ll find the best, most popular Kodi addons for cartoons and anime in 2020.
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network offers on-demand access to a wide selection of high-definition children’s TV shows. It’s completely free to use, and no registration is required. Cartoon Network’s content is only available from within the US, so overseas Kodi users will have to connect to an American server in order to watch.
Location: TVAddons repository
Funimation Now
Funimation is one of the best official sources of dubbed anime. It costs $5.99 a month, but there’s a 14-day free trial so you can see if it’s right for you before committing. A premium account is required to use the Funimation Now Kodi addon, but once you sign up you’ll have access to hundreds of classic and newly released anime.
Disney+
It’s finally here! The Disney+ Kodi addon is finally available, and it’s beautiful in all of its streamlined form. This addon cuts through the messy and slow interface that’s currently available on Disney+, making it easier to navigate Disney+ and get to the content you want.
As a reminder: the Disney+ Kodi addon will only work if you have a Disney+ account.
You’ll find the Disney+ Kodi addon in the Sly Guy repository.
Best Kodi addons for general video
The following addons provide access to libraries of content that don’t fit neatly into one of the classifications above. They cover everything from vlogs to viral content to cutting-edge documentaries, so they’re great for when you can’t decide what to watch.
YouTube
Everybody knows YouTube – it’s the largest video sharing platform on the internet. The YouTube Kodi addon maintains most of the functionality of the website and allows you to access your playlists, watch history, and channel subscriptions.
NOTE: YouTube recently changed the way that their API works, which broke the YouTube Kodi addon, and any others that relied on this (FilmRise, Documentary Storm, and so on). If you can’t wait for an official fix, it’s possible to use these addons as normal after setting up a personal API key. This only takes a few minutes!
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Dailymotion
Dailymotion is another user-driven content platform, which means it’s perfect for those times when you’re not sure quite what you want. With thousands of hours of content being added every day (as well as live streams spanning every conceivable genre), you’ll never be short of something interesting to watch.
Location: Kodi addon repository
Vimeo
Vimeo is a little like YouTube, but it has a larger focus on culture and society. For instance, you’ll find plenty of indie documentaries, cooking shows, and artistic short films. A great choice for anyone interested in learning something new.
Location: Kodi addon repository
ConTV
You’ll love this new Kodi addon if you also like free movies, TV shows, anime, cartoons, and other geek culture items. Formerly known as Viewster, this addon (and website) underwent a change of hands and branding in the past few months. It is now known as CONTV and delivers free content across a variety of genres.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository
Best miscellaneous Kodi addons
The addons below don’t contain any of their own content. Rather, they provide additional functionality to Kodi or enhance the user’s experience in some way.
Trakt
Trakt is an online service that keeps track of your media consumption. When you use the Trakt Kodi addon, it automatically adds movies and TV shows you’ve watched to your Trakt profile. This allows you to easily find the last episode you watched, even when using Kodi on a different device.
Location: Kodi Addon Repository (program addons)
Third-party addons for miscellaneous
The following addons are popular but are not contained in the official Kodi repository. This means that they may provide access to unlicensed content in some way, or provide functionality that has not been sanctioned by the Kodi development team. We advise our readers to use the following addons at their own risk.
Indigo
Indigo (previously known as Fusion) is an addon that allows you to install additional addons and perform maintenance, similar to the Ares Wizard. However, since TV Addons relaunched with its new legally-focused addon policy, it only contains non-infringing addons. Indigo also has a dedicated section for Kodi skins, so it’s a good choice for people looking to change the way Kodi looks without installing a build.
Click here to read our interview with TV Addons following their intense legal battle.
Location: Fusion Addon Repository
Lastest Kodi developments
In January 2021, the Kodi team finalized a series of updates to the way installed addons are maintained. Many of these were technical changes, but there was one in particular that’s worth making a note of. Simply, addons that you manually install from a zip file or URL will no longer be updated.
To get the most recent version, you’ll have to delete the old version and choose to install the new one for yourself. This provides a little more security and prevents (for example) a hacker from using a recently-deleted developer’s GitHub account to push out a malicious update.
In August, Team Kodi released the Alpha 1 build of the next Kodi iteration, Kodi 19.x « Matrix ». Matrix does not have an official planned release date, but you can give the new Alpha build a try.
The biggest change coming with Alpha is the complete adoption of Python 3 for all addon scraping. This change means many addons you currently have installed won’t work with 19.x « Matrix ». Most addons in the official repository will (hopefully) be updated to work with the newest version when it releases.
To learn more about Kodi updates, check the official development team’s regularly-updated blog section.
Keeping up with Kodi addons
The best thing that can happen to the Kodi community is, well, little to no news. After a rocky few years thanks in no small part to the third-party add-on community, Kodi is back on track to being a silent but growing app for media playing.
Keep on up the latest changes to current Kodi versions. You can read more on that directly from the Kodi Foundation changelog.
Want to stay ahead of addon releases? Check out the Kodi Foundation’s video addon forum.
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