I Like Movies vs JustWatch
This page is written by the developer of I Like Movies. A comparison written by one side is not neutral, so it names where the other app is the better choice and does not score anything.
I Like Movies as a JustWatch alternative
JustWatch calls itself The Streaming Guide, and that is exactly what it is. It is a where-to-watch search engine with a watchlist attached, on the web, on your phone and on the TV in your living room, across more than a hundred countries. You search a film or show, it tells you where it streams, rents or buys, filtered down to the services you actually pay for, and it can alert you to price drops and new releases. It records what you want to watch, not what you have already seen.
I Like Movies is a phone app built for the record after you press play as much as the search before it, films and TV together, tracked per episode, private, shared with the people you live with. The two overlap on the watchlist and on the where-to-watch line under a title, and part ways on almost everything else. This page lays the split out.
Where JustWatch is better
Everywhere, including the TV
JustWatch runs on the web and on living-room TV, Fire TV, Samsung, LG, Apple TV and Xbox, as well as iPhone and Android. I Like Movies is a phone app, Android only today. When you want to check where something streams from the TV you are sitting in front of, JustWatch is there and we are not.
Broader where-to-watch data
Finding availability is JustWatch’s whole job, and it does it across thousands of providers in more than a hundred countries, with a filter for only the services you subscribe to. That is wider coverage than the streaming line we show on each title, which is a helpful add-on rather than the main event.
Prices and deals
JustWatch tracks rent and buy prices and runs a daily Price Drops feed, and it can tell you when a watchlisted title lands on a service you already have. I Like Movies shows where a title streams in your country, but it does not track prices or run a deals feed.
Nothing to sign up for
JustWatch is free, and you can look up where to watch something without making an account, so a quick where can I stream this tonight is instant. I Like Movies asks you to sign in because it keeps your library, ratings and history for you.
What is different in I Like Movies
It remembers what you watched
This is the real split. JustWatch keeps a watchlist of titles you mean to get to, and does not record your viewing history or which episodes you have seen. I Like Movies keeps a watched library and tracks TV per episode, so it knows a series that has ended from one that is waiting between seasons.
Films and TV in one library
Films and shows sit in one place, each show tracked episode by episode rather than marked watched as a single lump. JustWatch is a finder, not a library you fill, so there is no watched shelf to keep in the first place.
A household shares one library
The people you live with share a single watchlist and watched history, so a film added on one phone is already there on the other before you sit down. A JustWatch watchlist belongs to one personal account.
Private by default, friends not strangers
Your ratings and notes are private, there are no public reviews, and you can follow friends to compare taste without a feed of strangers. JustWatch surfaces outside ratings from IMDb, and Rotten Tomatoes on the web, as decision signals, but it is not a place you rate or review.
Recommendations from your own ratings
Each month I Like Movies rebuilds Discover collections from your ratings, your most-watched genre and a director or actor you keep returning to, and you can ask an assistant in plain language for something to watch, filtered against what you have already seen. JustWatch organizes suggestions by streaming service and popularity, its What’s Hot rows.
Feature by feature
| Feature | I Like Movies | JustWatch |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Android (iOS in development), phone only | Web, iOS, Android, TV (Fire TV, Samsung, LG, Apple TV, Xbox) |
| Price | Free, no ads | Free with ads; optional Pro removes ads |
| Watched history | Yes, films and TV | No, records intent not history |
| Per-episode tracking | Yes | No |
| Ratings and notes | Yes, private | No (shows external ratings) |
| Household sharing | Yes, one shared library | No, personal watchlist |
| Streaming availability | Per country, on every title | Core product, thousands of providers, 100+ countries |
| Prices and deals | No | Yes, rent/buy prices and daily Price Drops |
| AI recommendations | Yes, from your ratings, plus an assistant | No (What’s Hot by service and popularity) |
| Imports | Letterboxd .zip, IMDb .csv | Not applicable, no library to import |
Moving your library
There is nothing to move across. JustWatch keeps a list of titles you mean to watch, not a history of what you have seen or how you rated it, so there is no export to carry over. Your watched library starts fresh in I Like Movies.
If your history happens to live on Letterboxd or IMDb, that is the part you can bring in, a Letterboxd .zip or an IMDb .csv, and nothing else. Anything that is only on JustWatch you would add here as you go.
What I Like Movies does not do
- There is no iPhone app yet. I Like Movies is Android only today; an iOS version is in development.
- There is no automatic tracking. Nothing scrobbles from a media server, a browser or a streaming app; you mark things watched yourself.
- There are no public reviews. Notes are private, and there is no feed of strangers to read.
- There is no web app. The library lives on the server, but you reach it from the phone app.
- There is no offline mode. The app needs an internet connection.
- Imports read a Letterboxd .zip or an IMDb .csv only. There is no importer for Trakt, Simkl or TV Time exports.
The honest verdict
If the question you keep asking is where can I watch this tonight, JustWatch is the better tool and this page will not pretend otherwise. It reaches the web and the TV in your living room, not just your phone, it covers more providers in more countries than any tracker’s built-in availability line, and it tells you when a title lands on a service you have or drops in price. As a where-to-watch finder it is hard to beat.
I Like Movies is for the other half of the habit, remembering what you watched and what you thought of it. Films and TV in one library, tracked per episode, private by default, shared with the people you live with, with monthly recommendations rebuilt from your own ratings and an assistant you can ask in plain language. The two are not really rivals, plenty of people keep a finder and a tracker side by side. It is on Android today, with an iPhone version in development.
Questions people ask
What is JustWatch?
JustWatch is a streaming-availability search engine with a watchlist attached, which it calls The Streaming Guide. It works on the web, on iPhone and Android, and on living-room TV, in more than a hundred countries. You search a title and it shows where to stream, rent or buy it, filtered to the services you subscribe to, with price-drop and new-release alerts. It is a where-to-watch finder, not a diary of what you have seen.
Does JustWatch track what I have watched?
No. JustWatch keeps a watchlist of titles you intend to watch and does not record your viewing history or your progress through a season. If you want a watched history for films and TV, tracked per episode, that is what I Like Movies does.
Is I Like Movies a JustWatch alternative?
Partly. Both show where to stream a title in your country. Beyond that they do different jobs. I Like Movies is a private tracker with a shared household library and recommendations built from your own ratings. JustWatch is a where-to-watch finder with the broadest availability data and a deals feed. Plenty of people use both.
Can I import my JustWatch list?
No. JustWatch has no watched-history export, and I Like Movies imports only a Letterboxd .zip or an IMDb .csv. Your library starts fresh here, and you add titles as you go.
Which one shows where to stream a film?
Both. Every title in I Like Movies shows streaming availability for your country. JustWatch does this across more providers and more countries, and it adds rent and buy prices with a daily deals feed, so for pure availability it goes deeper.
Is I Like Movies free?
Yes, it is free with no ads and nothing to upgrade. JustWatch is also free to use, supported by ads, with an optional Pro purchase that removes them.
More comparisons: Letterboxd, Trakt, Simkl, IMDb, Serializd, Maimovie, Moviebase, Matinee. Or browse every guide and watch order.