Best on Hulu › Documentary
Included with subscription · US · updated October 29, 2026
Best documentaries on Hulu right now, ranked
The highest-rated documentaries you can stream with a standard Hulu plan in the US today: 5 movies and 7 series, checked title by title. Titles that need a paid add-on channel, a rental or a purchase aren’t counted.
How this is ranked: when a title has at least 5 ratings from Wochly users, its score is their average (green). Otherwise we use TMDB’s user rating weighted by how many people voted (marked “TMDB, weighted”), so a title with a handful of votes can’t outrank an established favorite. Talk, news and reality shows are left out. Availability comes from JustWatch via TMDB and is re-checked every few hours.
Best documentary movies on Hulu
- 1
Free Solo (2018)
Documentary, Adventure
Follow Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's 3,000 foot high El Capitan wall. With no ropes or safety gear, this would arguably be the greatest feat in rock climbing history.
7.6TMDB, weighted
- 2
Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
Music, Documentary
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.
7.5TMDB, weighted
- 3
Fire of Love (2022)
Documentary
A doomed love triangle between intrepid French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, and their beloved volcanoes.
6.9TMDB, weighted
- 4
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Music, Documentary, History
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.
6.9TMDB, weighted
- 5
Minding the Gap (2018)
Documentary
Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.
6.8TMDB, weighted
Best documentary shows on Hulu
- 1
MythBusters (2003)
Documentary
MythBusters is a science entertainment television program created and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The show's hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.
7.4TMDB, weighted
- 2
The Men Who Built America (2012)
Documentary
Influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States, a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen. The Men Who Built America is the story of a nation at the crossroads and of the people who catapulted it to prosperity.
7.1TMDB, weighted
- 3
How It's Made (2001)
Documentary
Have you ever wondered how the products you use every day are made? How It's Made leads you through the process of how everyday products, such as apple juice, skateboards, engines, contact lenses, and many more objects are manufactured.
6.9TMDB, weighted
- 4
The First 48 (2004)
Documentary, Drama, Crime
The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.
6.9TMDB, weighted
- 5
Ancient Aliens (2010)
Documentary, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Did intelligent beings from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago? From the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the US, each episode gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, first-hand accounts and grounded theories surrounding this age old debate.
6.8TMDB, weighted
- 6
Forensic Files (1996)
Crime, Documentary
Real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world are solved by experts using scientific laboratory analysis which helps them find previously undetectable evidence. Brilliant scientific work helps convict the guilty and free the innocent.
6.8TMDB, weighted
- 7
Life After People: The Series (2009)
Documentary
Life After People is a television series on which scientists, structural engineers, and other experts speculate about what might become of Earth should humanity instantly disappear. The featured experts also talk about the impact of human extinction on the environment, and the vestiges of civilization thus left behind.
6.8TMDB, weighted
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Start rankingStreaming availability by JustWatch. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.