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If you are cutting cable to save money, Philo and Sling TV are the two services you will seriously consider. Both are cheap by live-TV standards. Both ditch the $60-plus price tags that come with YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. But they are built for completely different households, and choosing the wrong one means paying for channels you'll never watch — or discovering too late that the game you wanted to watch isn't there. This guide breaks down the honest tradeoff so you can stop comparing plans side-by-side and just pick.
Philo vs Sling TV: At a Glance
| Feature | PhiloBest for Entertainment | Sling TVBest for Sports & News |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $28/mo | From $45/mo |
| Local Channels (ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox) | None | Select markets (Blue plan) |
| ESPN / Live Sports | None | Yes (Orange plan only) |
| News (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC) | None | Yes |
| Entertainment Channels | 70+ | 30–50 depending on plan |
| Cloud DVR | Unlimited (1-year storage) | 50 hrs free; more with add-on |
| Simultaneous Streams | 3 included | 1 (Orange) or 3 (Blue) |
| Free Trial | 7 days | No trial; discounted first month |
| Buy Now | $28/mo → | From $45/mo → |
The Quick Call
Philo is the right choice if your household watches entertainment TV — reality shows, cable dramas, HGTV, Lifetime, AMC, Discovery — and does not care about sports, live news, or local broadcast stations. You get 70-plus channels and unlimited cloud DVR for $28 a month. That is genuinely hard to beat.
Sling TV is the right choice if you need at least one of these: ESPN, live news, or local channels. The $45 Blue or Orange plan does not match Philo on entertainment depth, but it unlocks the sports and news content Philo simply does not carry. If your household has even one sports fan or one news watcher, Philo will frustrate them within a week.
Channel Lineup: Entertainment vs. Everything Else
Philo's channel list reads like a cable entertainment package from the golden era of cord-cutting promises: A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network, FX, HGTV, History, IFC, Lifetime, MTV, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, OWN, Paramount Network, TLC, Travel Channel, VH1, and more. For households that use TV primarily as background entertainment or appointment viewing of cable dramas and reality competitions, Philo covers the full catalog.
Sling TV splits its lineup across two base plans. Sling Orange ($45/month) gives you one stream and includes ESPN, ESPN2, Disney Channel, and Freeform — but no Fox or NBC. Sling Blue ($45/month) gives you three streams, Fox and NBC in select markets, and news networks like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and HLN — but no ESPN. Orange + Blue ($60/month) gives you both. Sling's entertainment offering overlaps with Philo in some areas — A&E, AMC, and a few others appear across plans — but Philo's depth of lifestyle and entertainment channels is significantly broader for the price.
Try Philo Free for 7 Days →The Real Cost: Add-Ons Change the Math
Philo's pricing is unusually clean. You pay $28 a month and that is it. There are optional add-ons for premium channels like Starz, Showtime, and Epix, but the base plan stands on its own. No tricks, no partial-market disclaimers, no tiered stream limits. For budget-conscious households, that simplicity is a real feature.
Sling TV's headline price looks comparable, but the real cost creeps up quickly. If you want both ESPN and Fox or NBC, you need Orange + Blue at $60/month. Add on a sports news pack, an extra DVR storage upgrade, or a regional sports network add-on, and you are closing in on $75 to $85 a month — not far from more fully-featured services. The key discipline with Sling is to stay honest about which add-ons you actually need before subscribing, because the base plan alone is intentionally incomplete for many viewers. For a full picture of what services charge, see our
streaming service price comparison for 2026 .
Philo
$28/mo
70+ entertainment channels. Unlimited DVR. No commitment.
Sports, Locals, and News: Where Philo Draws the Line
Philo made a deliberate choice to exclude sports, local broadcast channels, and live news in exchange for its low price. This is not a bug — it is the business model. Removing ESPN, the regional sports networks, and the major broadcast affiliates is what lets Philo charge $28 a month. If any of those categories matter to your household, Philo will not work for you, full stop.
Sling Blue includes Fox and NBC in markets where the affiliates are available — but not CBS or ABC on any plan. If you need all four major locals, Sling is not a complete solution either. You would need to pair it with an indoor antenna for local channels . For a full rundown of your options, our guide to the cheapest ways to watch live TV without cable covers every combination worth considering.
See Current Sling TV Plans →DVR and Simultaneous Streams: Philo Wins Clearly
Philo's cloud DVR is one of the best in the budget live-TV category. Unlimited storage with a one-year lookback window means you can record everything and never worry about space. Three simultaneous streams are included in the base plan with no upgrade required.
Sling TV gives you 50 hours of free cloud DVR storage — enough for casual use but tight for heavy recorders. Upgrading to 200 hours costs an additional $5 to $15 per month depending on the plan. Sling Orange limits you to one simultaneous stream, which is genuinely frustrating in a household with multiple viewers. Sling Blue gives you three streams, but if you want Orange for ESPN and Blue for locals, the combined plan only gives you four total — and at $60 a month, that is a real money-per-stream tradeoff.
Which Household Should Pick Which Service
Choose Philo if: Your household watches cable dramas, reality TV, lifestyle channels, and cooking shows. Nobody in your house follows a sports team closely or needs ESPN for any reason. You do not watch live local news or network events on broadcast. You want the cleanest, simplest budget streaming bill possible. Philo at $28 a month with unlimited DVR and three streams is the best pure-entertainment value in live streaming today.
Choose Sling TV if: Someone in your household needs ESPN or live sports at least occasionally. You want live news coverage — CNN, Fox News, MSNBC — on demand. You are in a market where Sling Blue carries your local Fox or NBC affiliate. Before you commit, read our full Sling TV review and our comparison of Hulu + Live TV vs Sling TV to make sure Sling's plan structure fits your viewing habits before you pick a tier.
Sling TV
From $45/mo
Live sports, news & entertainment. No long-term contract.
The Bottom Line
Philo and Sling TV are both legitimate budget live-TV services, but they serve different viewer profiles. Philo is the smarter choice for entertainment-first households that never miss sports or local news. Sling TV is the right call when you need at least one of ESPN, news networks, or local affiliates — but go in with eyes open about how the add-ons affect the final bill. If neither feels like a clean fit, compare them against YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream, and Hulu + Live TV before deciding. The right live-TV service is the one that covers what your household actually watches — not the one with the best headline price.