How & Where to Watch The West Wing for Free in 2024
The West Wing was a big sensation in its day and if you’re looking for a way to relive the early days of the golden age of television by revisiting the White House drama, the first thing you’ll need to figure out is where to watch The West Wing. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, so keep on reading to learn all the options.
Written by Aleksander Hougen (Managing Editor)
Reviewed by Jackie Leavitt (Chief Editor)
Facts checked by Jasna Mishevska (Lead Fact-Checking Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-01-11T16:24:00+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
If you’re feeling wistful for an imagined past where public figures worked together and compromised to get things done, all while delivering eloquent quips and clever wordplay, chances are you’re just nostalgic for The West Wing. Keep reading to learn where to watch The West Wing and scratch that itch, all these years down the road.
Key Takeaways: Stream The West Wing Online
- You can stream The West Wing on Max in the U.S. (and other supported countries) or for free on All 4 in the U.K. (with ads).
- If you live outside the U.K. and Ireland, you’ll need a virtual private network (VPN) to watch The West Wing online.
- ExpressVPN and NordVPN are the best VPNs to access either streaming service, but if you want to watch The West Wing completely free of charge, Windscribe is the best free VPN that has U.K. servers.
Not available in your country?
Watch The West Wing now on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms.
Status checked 2024/04/10:
Unfortunately, The West Wing (starring Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlet) isn’t available on any global (or near global) streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, which makes finding it online potentially tricky, depending on what country you live in.
Luckily, there’s an easy way around this, as all you need to do is use a VPN with the ability to trick any streaming service into thinking you’re somewhere else. Keep reading for an easy step-by-step guide to stream The West Wing for free using a VPN.
Where to Watch The West Wing
The West Wing originally aired on NBC, but it was made by John Wells Productions for Warner Bros. Television. This is why the series isn’t on Peacock (NBC’s streaming service), but rather on Max (formerly HBO Max) in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the U.K. You can also purchase or rent all seven seasons on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV and Vudu.
Which Streaming Services Have The West Wing?
All seven seasons of The West Wing are available for streaming on Max (in the U.S. and other supported countries) and on All 4 in the U.K. and Ireland.
There’s no trial for Max, and you need a payment method from an associated country to create an account. If you don’t already have an account, you can check out our guide on how to watch Max to learn how to get around that requirement.
In the case of All 4, The West Wing is available free of charge, provided you’re located in Ireland or the U.K. (or connected to a VPN server in one of those countries). That said, the free accounts are ad-supported, which means four ads per episode of The West Wing.
Note that the 2020 reunion special recreating the season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing” is only available on Max.
How to Watch The West Wing for Free
If you want to watch The West Wing for free and don’t mind watching a few ads, you can do so with a combination of Windscribe (or any quality free VPN with U.K. servers, such as TunnelBear) and the All 4 streaming service. You can also use a premium VPN, like ExpressVPN, using the 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Download Windscribe
Go to Windscribe’s website, click on the green button that says “download Windscribe,” choose your operating system and run the file that downloads. Click “install,” wait for the installation to finish and then click on “get started,” which will take you back to the browser.
- Sign Up for a Windscribe Account & Log In
Fill in your desired username, password and email address, choose whether you want to enable R.O.B.E.R.T. (Windscribe’s ad and malware blocker) and click on “create account.” Go back to the VPN application and enter your username and password to login.
- Connect to a U.K. Server
Find a U.K. server in the list and click on it to connect.
- Go to Channel 4’s Website
Go to channel4.com, click on “search” in the top-right corner of the website and search for The West Wing. Click on it and start streaming.
How to Watch The West Wing Without Ads With a VPN
If you’d rather not deal with the ads, or already have an HBO subscription, then you can watch The West Wing on Max instead. However, you’ll still need to use a VPN if you’re located outside HBO’s service area. For this example, we’re using ExpressVPN, but any of the best VPNs for Max will do the trick.
- Sign Up for a VPN
Go to ExpressVPN’s website, click on “get ExpressVPN” and choose the plan that’s right for you. Then, fill in your payment details and email address to complete your registration.
- Download & Install the VPN Client
Go to ExpressVPN’s download page and choose the correct client for your operating system. Run the installation file that downloads and follow the instructions on the screen. Once it’s finished, log in to the account you just created in the previous step.
- Connect to a U.S. Server
Select a U.S. server from the server list and click on the big power button to connect to it.
- Start Streaming The West Wing
Open the Max app or go to the website, search for The West Wing and start streaming any season or episode.
The Best VPNs for Watching The West Wing
The best VPNs for watching The West Wing are the best VPNs for Max if you’re watching it there, or the best free VPNs with U.K. servers if you don’t want to spend any money. Here are some of the top options, starting with ExpressVPN.
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is the best overall VPN. It has great speeds no matter where you are in the world and is also fully capable of unlocking all major streaming services, including both featured in this article.
It comes with all the advanced features you’d expect from a premium VPN, such as a kill switch and split tunneling, and despite some questions about its ownership it has an ironclad no-logs policy and submits itself to independent audits on a regular basis.
The biggest drawback to ExpressVPN is its price, as even its cheapest plan (one year plus three months free) works out to $6.66 per month for the full 15 months. Luckily, you can try it out yourself risk-free using the 30-day money-back guarantee. If that sounds like too much hassle, you can read our ExpressVPN review instead.
- Unlimited GB
- 8
- Yes
2. NordVPN
NordVPN is the second-best VPN for streaming. It has most of the features offered by ExpressVPN and can also unlock almost every major streaming service, though it sometimes gets hung up with BBC iPlayer.
Plus, it usually has even better speeds and latency, provided you’re not connecting to a very distant server. Unfortunately, there’s no split tunneling on macOS, which is a significant weakness if that’s your platform.
One of the best parts of NordVPN is its price. The Standard plan, which includes just the VPN, costs just $3.48 per month on the two-year plan, and there’s still a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you’re feeling unsure. Check out our NordVPN review to learn more.
- *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
- Unlimited GB
- 6
- Yes
- *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
- Unlimited GB
- 6
- Yes
- *The prices are charged in the first billing cycle only. Renewal prices vary.
- Unlimited GB
- 6
- Yes
3. Windscribe
Windscribe is the best free VPN to watch The West Wing, as it will get you into both All 4 with its U.K. servers and Max with its U.S. servers. That said, you only get 10GB of data for free (15GB if you tweet about the service), so there’s a limited number of episodes you’ll be able to watch per month before you run out.
If you need more data but still like using Windscribe, you can upgrade using its novel “build-a-plan” option where you choose the server locations you want, starting at $3 per month.
There’s also a more traditional Premium plan for $5.75 per month on the one-year plan that comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can read our Windscribe review for more information.
- Up to 15 GB free with email confirmation and Tweet
- 15GB
- Unlimited
- Unlimited GB
- Unlimited
- Yes
Plot, Cast & Characters: The West Wing
Created by Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing follows the professional and personal lives of the members of the administration of fictional Democratic president Josiah “Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen).
Aside from the president and Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), the classic drama series follows characters like Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) and Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney).
For a full list of series regulars, see the list below.
- Martin Sheen as Josiah “Jed” Bartlet
- John Spencer as Leo McGarry
- Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
- Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler
- Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn
- Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
- Dulé Hill as Charlie Young
- Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
- Stockard Channing as Abbey Bartlet
- Moira Kelly as Mandy Hampton
- Joshua Malina as Will Bailey
- Mary McCormack as Kate Harper
- Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos
- Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick
- Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott
Final Thoughts
That brings us to the end of our West Wing streaming guide. Max subscribers in the U.S. and other supported countries already have everything they need to watch the series, but everyone else will probably need a U.S. VPN server to access the streaming service.
If you don’t mind a few ads in exchange for paying nothing, you can use a U.K. VPN service to watch The West Wing for free on All 4. ExpressVPN is the best VPN for streaming, but Windscribe offers a free plan.
As a bonus, check out our article on where to watch ‘Band of Brothers.’
What did you think of our guide? Did you manage to stream The West Wing on either Max or All 4? What do you think of the show? Do you enjoy the fast dialogue and quips as the members of the Bartlet administration tackle their professional duties, or do you find Sorkin’s writing style annoying? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading.
FAQ
You can watch all seasons of The West Wing on Max or All 4. You can also buy them on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play and Vudu.
No, The West Wing is not available on Netflix in any country.
The West Wing is available on Amazon Prime for purchase and rent, but not as part of the regular Amazon Prime Video library.