Chinese dramas are easier to watch legally than many viewers expect. Several services stream them with English subtitles, some of them free with ads, and many shows reach international viewers while they are still airing in China. The catch is that every service has a different catalog in every country, and rights change often. This guide explains where to look and what you'll pay.
The main services
Netflix licenses a rotating selection of Chinese dramas. Some arrive after they finish airing in China, and others add episodes during the Chinese run. Every Netflix plan is a monthly subscription, and the ad plan doesn't include every title.
Viki specializes in Asian dramas and is popular with fans for its community-made subtitles, which often cover many languages. Of the Chinese dramas we track, it carries the most. Much of the older catalog is free with ads, and a paid Viki Pass removes ads and unlocks newer titles.
iQIYI, WeTV, and Youku are the international services of three big Chinese streaming companies. They carry their own productions, and many airing dramas stream there at the same time as in China. Each has a free tier with ads and a VIP membership.
YouTube has official channels run by Chinese platforms and studios. For the dramas we track, those channels have posted the first episode as a free sampler rather than the whole series. We only link to channels run by the rights holder.
Prime Video has a small selection. In the US, we found one drama free with ads and one available through an add-on channel rather than Prime itself.
Free vs. VIP on the Chinese apps
On iQIYI, WeTV, Youku and Mango TV, free viewers usually get only the start of a drama. When we checked from the US in October 2026, most dramas we track had somewhere between one and five free episodes, and the rest were marked VIP. That was true for many finished dramas too, not just airing ones, so on these apps you shouldn't count on watching a whole drama free by waiting.
There are exceptions. A few titles had no VIP episodes at all, and some older dramas that need VIP on a Chinese app are free with ads on Viki. That's why each drama page lists every official option we found, not just one.
These seven, for example, were free with ads in full on Viki in the US when we checked, while iQIYI kept most of their episodes for VIP:
A Love So Beautiful2017 · 23 eps
Ashes of Love2018 · 63 eps
Glory2025 · 36 eps
Go Go Squid!2019 · 41 eps
Mobius2025 · 16 eps
Rebirth2026 · 40 eps
Story of Yanxi Palace2018 · 70 eps
VIP perks differ by service. On iQIYI, for example, the VIP privileges page says VIP skips some pre-roll ads but not ads inside the video, and gets early access to the latest episodes.
Why availability changes by country
Streaming rights are sold country by country. A drama can be on Netflix in the US but not in the UK, or on one service in Canada and missing in Australia. Rights also expire, so a show you watched last year may have moved.
C-Drama Compass covers the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and every listing shows the date we last checked. We check from the US. Where we haven't been able to check another country ourselves, the listing is marked as not confirmed. When you visit a drama page, we show your country first, and you can change it with the picker at the top of the page.
Subtitles and dubs
All the services we list use official subtitles. Viki's come from a volunteer community and often cover many languages; the others use their own translations. On every iQIYI, WeTV and Youku drama we checked, English was listed. Our where-to-watch panels list subtitle languages when we've confirmed them.
English dubs are still rare for Chinese dramas, though Netflix offers them for some titles.
Watching airing dramas
If you want to keep up with a drama while it airs, the Chinese platforms' international services are usually the fastest legal option, since many release episodes at the same time as China. Netflix and Viki carry some airing dramas too. Our release calendar lists premieres and finales with the services showing each drama in your country.
How to spot an unofficial site
Unofficial streaming sites are easy to find, but they don't pay the people who make these shows, and they can come with aggressive pop-ups and malware. A legitimate service will have its own app in the major app stores, clear subscription terms, and a recognizable company behind it. If a site promises every drama with no account and no ads, it's not an official source.
Every watch link on C-Drama Compass goes to an official service. If you find a listing that's wrong or out of date, use the Report a problem link on that page, and we'll recheck it.
Quick checklist
- Look up the drama on our site and find your country in the where-to-watch panel.
- See whether the listing is free with ads, subscription, or VIP.
- On the Chinese apps, note how many episodes were free when we checked.
- Note the "last checked" date, and whether the listing is marked as not confirmed for your country.
For help with the vocabulary you'll meet once you start watching, read our beginner's guide to C-drama terms.