Best Documentaries on Netflix 2026 (Ranked by IMDb & RT Score)

Documentary is one of the strongest categories in Netflix's library, and one of the most consistently undersurfaced by its algorithm, which tends to push scripted originals. If you browse Netflix casually, you likely encounter a fraction of the exceptional documentary content actually available. This list ranks the 15 best documentaries currently on Netflix by combining IMDb user ratings and Rotten Tomatoes scores — the same composite approach we use for our genre film rankings.

Top 15 Documentaries on Netflix (April 2026)

Note: Netflix availability changes monthly and varies by region. Ratings are stable historical scores. Install CineMan AI to see up-to-date ratings on whatever is currently in your library.

The Nature Documentaries: Our Planet & My Octopus Teacher

Our Planet (2019) — IMDb 9.3, RT 97%

David Attenborough-narrated and produced by Silverback Films (the team behind Planet Earth), Our Planet is the highest-rated documentary on Netflix by a significant margin. It covers all of Earth's major habitats across eight episodes, with cinematography that consistently exceeds what previous nature documentary series achieved. The 9.3 IMDb score puts it in territory occupied by very few productions in any format. If you have not watched it, it is the most straightforward recommendation on this list.

My Octopus Teacher (2020) — IMDb 8.1, RT 90%

A filmmaker spends a year free-diving in a South African kelp forest and forms a relationship with a common octopus. The premise sounds slight; the result is a meditation on attention, grief, and the nature of consciousness that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. One of the most unexpectedly moving films — documentary or fiction — of the past five years.

The True Crime Documentaries

Making a Murderer (2015) — IMDb 8.6, RT 97%

The series that defined the true crime documentary renaissance. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos spent ten years following Steven Avery's case — exonerated after 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, then convicted of murder in a case surrounded by significant procedural questions. It is not a comfortable watch, but it is an exceptional piece of investigative filmmaking. Season 2 (2018) is worth watching as a follow-up.

The Keepers (2017) — IMDb 8.4, RT 97%

Seven episodes investigating the 1969 murder of a nun and the decades-long cover-up by the Baltimore Catholic Archdiocese. Harder and more disturbing than Making a Murderer — the abuse uncovered is systematic and the institutional failures are worse. Among the most important pieces of investigative documentary journalism produced in the streaming era.

Wild Wild Country (2018) — IMDb 8.2, RT 98%

The story of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the Rajneeshee commune's establishment in rural Oregon in the 1980s — culminating in the largest bioterror attack in U.S. history. The documentary is so strange that it repeatedly feels like fiction. What makes it exceptional is its refusal to reduce its subjects to simple villains or victims: the commune members, the Oregon locals, and Ma Anand Sheela all emerge as complex, contradictory, and human.

The Sports Documentaries

The Last Dance (2020) — IMDb 9.1, RT 96%

Ten episodes covering Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' final 1997-98 championship season, with extraordinary archive footage. You do not need to be a basketball fan for this to work — it is a portrait of competitive obsession, organizational dysfunction, and the specific psychology of greatness. The 9.1 IMDb score reflects how far beyond sports-documentary conventions it reaches.

Free Solo (2018) — IMDb 8.2, RT 100%

Alex Honnold's free solo (no ropes, no safety equipment) ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite. The film has a 100% RT score and a well-deserved Academy Award. The technical achievement of filming the ascent is as remarkable as Honnold's own, and the documentary's portrait of Honnold as a person — his relationships, his unusual neurology, his relationship to fear — makes it genuinely moving rather than simply a spectacle.

Icarus (2017) — IMDb 7.9, RT 96%

Bryan Fogel sets out to make a personal film about doping in amateur cycling. Midway through, his Russian contact becomes a key whistleblower in the exposure of Russia's state-sponsored Olympic doping program. The film pivots from lighthearted personal experiment to international espionage thriller and political crisis. The most gripping documentary narrative on this list, in terms of pure story momentum.

Social Justice and Politics

13th (2016) — IMDb 8.2, RT 97%

Ava DuVernay's examination of the 13th Amendment's exception clause and the pipeline from slavery through mass incarceration. One of the most important documentaries produced this decade. The argument is rigorous, the evidence is overwhelming, and the filmmaking is of the quality you expect from DuVernay. Essential viewing regardless of your prior knowledge of the subject.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016) — IMDb 7.9, RT 99%

Raoul Peck's adaptation of James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript about the civil rights era through the lens of three assassinated friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. The 99% RT score is one of the highest for any documentary in the database. Samuel L. Jackson reads Baldwin's words. It is a short film (93 minutes) with the density and intellectual force of a full course of education.

How to Find Documentaries on Netflix

Netflix's browse interface is notoriously bad at surfacing documentary content, which is typically prioritized far below scripted originals. A few approaches:

• Use the Documentaries genre filter — accessible from the Browse dropdown or directly via genre URL. This shows Netflix's full documentary catalog rather than the hand-curated rows on the homepage.
• Install CineMan AI — the free extension overlays IMDb and RT scores on every documentary title as you browse, making it trivial to spot high-quality content at a glance.
• Search by title — for specific docs you have heard about, Netflix's search is reliable even if its browse is not.