Criminal Minds: You Can Watch Episodes For Free Online - But There's A Catch

For "Criminal Minds" devotees, there's only one thing better than watching their favorite procedural series — watching their favorite procedural series for free. Fortunately, there's currently a way for fans to take a trip down memory lane and stream episodes of the original show online without paying a dime. However, it's not exactly a perfect solution if you're looking to do a full watch-through or rewatch of the show.

As of the time of writing, the online service PlutoTV has several full seasons of "Criminal Minds" available to watch. These seasons are completely free to watch with commercial breaks, and the site doesn't even require users to create an account. The downside is that the service only hosts Seasons 7, 8, and 9, meaning that fans who want to do a full "Criminal Minds" rewatch — or brand new viewers who are looking to start from the beginning — are out of luck. Nonetheless, it's a quick, easy, and accessible method for fans to get a nice "Criminal Minds" fix in a pinch.

Outside of the free seasons offered on PlutoTV, fans who want the entire backlog of "Criminal Minds" content do have a couple of options if they are willing to pay (or can marathon the show in record time). 

Hulu and Paramount+, which both host all of the old seasons of "Criminal Minds," offer free trials for their paid subscriptions that allow users to access their library of content. As such, fans could technically sign up and use these free trials to watch a bunch of "Criminal Minds" at no cost. However, the trials are time-limited (usually to a single week) and require users to fill out payment information in case they keep the subscription after the trial period ends. Paramount+ has the added benefit of hosting the ongoing revival series "Criminal Minds: Evolution," so it's the top streaming service for "Criminal Minds" content. 

Fans can also opt to purchase individual episodes or seasons through digital storefronts like Amazon Prime Video, the iTunes store, the Google Play store, the Microsoft store, or YouTube.