cine.to
So, if you're looking for a specific movie to stream for free, it's best to check several sites until you find one that has it available. There's no one site that is definitively perfect for this purpose.
There are lots of great free movie streaming sites out there, some that are good at finding new blockbusters, others that are more focused on obscure indie projects or foreign films, and still others only have a limited number of documentaries to browse.
Therefore, finding the best free movie streaming sites is less about looking for a specific site to rely on for your every movie-watching need and more about becoming familiar with several of the best free movie streaming sites that the internet has to offer. Then, you can choose the right one for each search.
The site we are looking at today, Cine.to, is a free movie streaming site that you will definitely want to add to your arsenal. With a substantial selection of free movies to stream, a diverse spread of genres available, and remarkable site design and organizational structure that is rare to find in a free movie streaming site, Cine.to has quickly risen the ranks to become one of my favorite sites to stream free movies.
Unfortunately, it appears as if Cine.to is not available in the United States. However, there is a clever little workaround for my fellow Americans.
To access Cine.to using a VPN, all you need to do is find a suitable virtual private network (VPN). If you're not familiar with VPNs, I've compiled a list of the best ones for you to read in my review.
With a VPN, you can connect to foreign internet servers, which will trick websites into thinking that you are in another country. All you have to do is connect to a server in Paris, France, and Cine.to will suddenly become available.
Let's take a look at everything that Cine.to has to offer. Let's see whether this is the right free movie streaming site for you, shall we?
Design
Upon landing on Cine.to's home page, I was impressed. The site has a very understated, clean, and organized (but modern and professional) look to it. In short, Cine.to does not look like a free movie streaming site - it looks more like a well-maintained website with premium features that require an upgrade or membership to use. As I browsed on my first visit, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop; I kept waiting for the site to tell me that I had to register or upgrade in order to watch movies for free.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was not the case. There is no catch here. Cine.to is a prime example of what a free streaming site should look like- it's clean, simple, and free of ads. It's proof that free movie streaming sites don't have to be so sloppily put together or annoyingly heavy with ads. There are ads, sure, but they're nowhere near as invasive or annoying as many other free streaming sites I've visited.
I like how the site is condensed. The left-hand side has a concise menu that lets you browse by genre. You can also browse by a brief list of tags, rating, and release date. You can adjust your filter to your liking and watch the gallery of thumbnails to the right instantly change and rearrange accordingly.
Upon clicking on a movie thumbnail, Cine.to pops up the information page (with plot, rating, credits, links, etc.) over the top of the main page. That's essentially the user experience on Cine.to: one page. I really love how convenient and simplistic the site design is.
Content and Features
So, it should probably be noted here that Cine.to does not host movie streams on its site itself. I know that free movie streaming search engines are not really for everyone. It can be a little unsettling to have to click into a new and unknown free streaming site. However, after spending a bit of time here, it doesn't seem as if Cine.to links to any sites that are too sketchy or potentially dangerous.
This site is well-known for providing high-quality streaming links for movies. Every link I clicked into worked and provided an adequately fast and high-quality stream. This site appears to have a lot of quality control going on, which is a big positive.
There seem to be a lot of people who enjoy dramas and thrillers, so the selection of free movies here is mostly focused on those genres. But there are also hundreds of other movies to watch, including action flicks, horror films, comedies, biopics, sci-fi, war movies, and more.
However, for the most part it just feels like an easy way to watch movies.
There are not many user features on Cine.to other than rating movies and watching them. It is made to quickly help you find your movie and watch it. That is about it. It would be nice if Cine.to had some kind of user features, but for the most part it just feels like an easy way to watch movies.
I would like to see Cine.to add the ability to save films to customizable lists, for example. A watch-later feature, at the very least, would be nice. Additionally, a request feature could be really helpful in expanding the site's offerings. However, these features would really just be the icing on an already exquisite cake.
Mobile and Desktop Experience
The mobile site for Cine.to is decent. The interface changes slightly when you access it on a smartphone or tablet, so that it better suits the smaller screen. Instead of a 4-thumbnail-wide gallery of movies in the search results, the Cine.to mobile site slims this down to singular thumbnails stacked on top of one another, still with the filtering menu to the left.
I wouldn't say that the mobile experience is perfect. I think that they could have done more to really play up the strengths and address some of the limitations of mobile browsing (I have to do a little more scrolling up and down than I would prefer). However, if you are ever in a pinch, finding and streaming free movies on Cine.to is an easy enough thing to do.
Suggestions that I have for Cine.to
I would like to see the index of free movies grow over time. Although this site has thousands of free movies, more would be great. I think that Cine.to should focus on expanding its options for classics and older films.
Aside from that, the only other real suggestion I have is what I just mentioned: tweaking the mobile site a bit will go a long way. An app would be the ideal move here?