Philo vs. Vidgo: Which Service Is Better for You?

Philo and Vidgo sit at opposite ends of the price spectrum of live-TV streaming services. With 70+ channels and the lowest live-TV plan on the market, Philo is best for the budget-minded. While Vidgo’s 110+ channels include one of the best selections for college sports fans. However, if local TV is what you’re after, you may want to look elsewhere. But we’ll get into that and more below as we pit Philo against Vidgo to help decide if either service suits you.

Philo and Vidgo compared

Pricing and plans

Price is Philo’s biggest selling point and rightly so. Its single plan is almost 40% cheaper than Sling TV, its closest competitor in terms of price. It comes with 70+ channels, including cable TV mainstays like A&E, TLC and BET. It’s also the cheapest way to get the Paramount Network — and the current season of Yellowstone.

There are 3 add-ons available:

• MGM+ ($6/month): 3 MGM+ channels
• STARZ ($9/month): 4 STARZ channels
• Movies & More ($3/month): HDNet Movies, Reelz, Sony Movies, FMC

Price used to be a selling point for Vidgo as well, but it kept increasing, and it now costs the same as YouTube TV. There are 3 plans to choose from, and they increased in price last month.

• Plus: 110+ live English channels
• Premium: 150+ live English channels, DVR
• Ultimate: All English and Spanish channels, DVR
• Mas: 45+ Spanish channels

Channels compared: Philo vs. Vidgo

Philo is best for people on a budget who aren’t looking for local TV or sports. Vidgo is best for college sports fans who aren’t picky about which local channels they get.

Local channels compared

Philo’s biggest downside is that it has no local channels. However, it’s cheap enough that you could sign up for other services with local channels and still be saving money. For example, adding the Peacock and Paramount+ premium plans would get you your local NBC and CBS channels for about $20/month more.

Vidgo only has ABC and FOX, but that may be enough for some people. However, YouTube TV costs the same and includes all big 4 networks, plus PBS and Telemundo.

Sports channels compared

Philo doesn’t have any sports channels.

Sports is where Vidgo shines. The entry-level plan includes 5 college regional sports networks (RSNs), 8 channels between ESPN and FOX Sports, 3 major league networks and more. They include:

• ACCN, BTN, Longhorn Network, PAC 12, SECN
• ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, FS1, FS2, FOX Deportes
• MLB Network, NFL Network, NHL Network

Which has the better on-demand library?

Philo states it has 75,000 titles available in its on-demand library. However, shows and movies in the VOD library have ads that you cannot skip through — and there is no ad-free upgrade like with Hulu. Although, you can fast-forward through ads in your DVR recordings.

With 14,000 titles and 10,000+ hours of on-demand content, Vidgo claims to add 100+ hours to its on-demand library every day. You’ll find everything from Deadpool to Gone Girl in the movies section, but not too many brand new releases.

Neither service has original content, but Vidgo is looking at producing and licensing it in the future.

Do both services have a free trial?

Philo offers a 7-day free trial. You can also try each of the add-ons free for 7 days during your Philo free trial or with a current subscription.

Vidgo no longer offers a free trial.

Other features compared

Price and content are only half the battle when when choosing a streaming service. Here a few other important features to consider when choosing between Philo and Vidgo.

Cloud DVR

Philo comes with unlimited cloud DVR storage and keeps your saved shows for up to 1 year. In addition to your personal recordings, Philo’s 72-hour Rewind feature lets you watch most shows that aired in the past 3 days.

Vidgo doesn’t put a time limit on your saved shows, but it only gives you 20 hours of storage. And once that’s filled up, Vidgo will record over your oldest saves. It’s arguably the worst DVR in the industry, but if you don’t record much, it might be good enough.

Simultaneous streams

Both Philo and Vidgo allow up to 3 simultaneous streams, which is on par with YouTube TV and Sling TV, and 1 more than Hulu + Live TV.

Philo gets the edge here though, as its 3 streams can be on any device (including TVs). With Vidgo, 2 of those 3 streams are “on-the-go”, meaning any stream not on the home network can only be on a mobile device.

Supported devices

Neither Philo or Vidgo is Netflix when it comes to device support, but they both cover the major bases that most people watch on. That means Android and iOS mobile devices, Apple TV, Fire TV and Roku streaming devices, and Android TV smart TVs.

Add Samsung smart TVs to the list for Philo, and Roku Smart TVs for Vidgo. Both can be watched in most major web browsers as well.

Our verdict: Philo is better than Vidgo

Until recently, Vidgo’s main advantage over its closest competitors — Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV — was that it was at least $10/month cheaper. But that’s no longer case. Unless you’re looking for college sports, everything else is a better option than Vidgo. But read our full Vidgo Review before making your final decision.

While Philo raised its price $5/month last year, it still offers one of the lowest prices in live-TV streaming. You can even tack on all 3 add-ons, and it will only cost a buck more than Sling TV. However, if you’re in the market for local channels or live sports on a budget, check out the 12 cheapest live TV services to find your perfect match of price and content.

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