If you have kids, try PBS Kids. They have good stuff and it's free. Also, try telling your kids you can't afford streaming services anymore. They will be surprisingly understanding because, especially if they're small, they don't have money and know what that's like.

(This isn't really for kids, but for anyone else who has a similar question.)

Dropout.tv is by far the best value of any streaming service. If you can get into their kind of content (it's only Dropout originals), it's endless entertainment for $5/month.

Examples of what they make:

GameChanger ("the only game show that changes every show") is a cool concept where they come up with a new game show for every episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsDyNOB1hZs

Dimension 20 is a D&D actual play show with high production value and an insanely creative premise for every season. (Candy Land but Game of Thrones, Manhattan: firefighter is a paladin, ER nurse is a cleric, etc.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zZxCVBi7-k

They have tons of great shows.

I subscribe to Night Flight+ (https://www.nightflightplus.com/). It is very niche and I basically subscribed just for the music documentaries. It is on the cheaper end (~ $40/year) but it doesn’t seem like there is much content added and the app is lacking (at least on the Amazon Fire TV )

Kanopy. Get a library card and register at Kanopy for free.

+1 for Kanopy. I can't remember the film but I was looking for a movie and it wasn't on Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney, Hulu, Paramount, or even the Google Play Store (I have no apple products), and my options were to buy it for $25 and wait a while for it to arrive in physical format or to pirate it.

I remembered Kanopy and signed in for the first time in months, did a quick search, instantly found the movie, used 1 of my 10 monthly credits to check it out, watched it and that was that.

Kanopy is a great resource for light consumption of media.