Streaming keeps getting more expensive: all the latest price hikes
Netflix has raised the cost of its subscription repeatedly in recent years. Disney Plus, Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, Peacock — practically any service you can name — charges more per month than it did a few years ago, and many of them have introduced ad breaks. As customers cancel cable more quickly than anyone expected, the studios and distributors are looking fora way to make up the lost revenue. Good shows, live sports, and movies are more in demand — and thus more expensive — than ever.
And after a decade of spending money like it was going out of style because all investors cared about were subscriber numbers, companies are looking for any way they can to improve their bottom line. They’re cracking down on password sharing, canceling shows for the tax breaks, and even selling prized content to other platforms. But the most common strategy is simply to charge you, the viewer, more.
We’re tracking all the price increases and other changes from streaming services so you can make sure you’re only paying for what you want. (We’ll also include discounts and deals, though those seem to happen less and less.) Here’s the latest:
Emma Roth
Netflix’s prices just went up, with its cheapest, ad-supported tier now reaching $8.99 / month (up from $7.99 / month), according toan updated support pagespotted earlierbyAndroid Authority. The standard and premium plans are also getting a hike, going from $17.99 to $19.99 / month and $24.99 to $26.99 / month, respectively.
The streaming giantlast raised its prices in January 2025and has made a number of updates to its platform since then, including getting intovideo podcasts, continuing a pushinto live events, and revamping its interface onboth its TV appandmobile. It alsonearly acquired the Warner Bros. studioand its streaming service, HBO Max, before getting outbid by Paramount.
Emma Roth
Starting April 10th, Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video subscription will be rebranded as Ultra as its price increases to$4.99 per monthfrom the current $2.99. Once it launches, it will also be the “exclusive” way to access 4K/UHD streaming, removing 4K streaming access from Prime subscribers who don’t pay extra.
Paying the extra five bucks for Ultra will also get you support for up to five simultaneous streams and up to 100 downloads, as well as access to both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. There are upgrades for Prime subscribers without Ultra after April 10th that will bring Dolby Vision (in 1080p) backafter Amazon removed it from the plan in 2024, plus increases for both downloads (going up to 50 from 25) and simultaneous streams (going up to four from three).
Jay Peters
Crunchyroll is raising its prices in the US and “select international markets,” including the first price hike to its lowest-priced tier since 2019.
Here are the price changes,according to Crunchyroll:
Emma Roth
Paramount Plus is going up in price again. As part of itsearnings report releasedon Monday, Paramount announced that it will raise prices for subscribers in the US on January 15th, 2026, bringing the ad-supported Essential plan from $7.99 to $8.99 per month, while the ad-free Premium plan will go from $12.99 to $13.99 per month.
Paramount says the price increase will “fuel continued reinvestment in the user experience and deliver an even stronger slate of programming” going forward. Like many other streamers, Paramount has hiked the price of its streaming service on an almost yearly basis.Paramount Plus raised pricesin 2023 beforehiking them further last June. It also recently raised prices in Canada and Australia.
Richard Lawler
Another day, another price increase for a streaming service, and this time it’s HBO Max, which hashigher prices for everyoneat the same time that its parent companyputs everything up for sale. The first price hike for HBO Maxhit in early 2023before the service changed its name, and while that decision wasrolled backin are-re-branding, the prices still keep going up even afterlast year’s increasefor ad-free plans.
If you subscribe to the Basic with Ads package, your price is going up by $1 per month or by $10 for full-year subscriptions, taking the prices to $10.99 and $109.99, respectively, as reported earlier byVariety.
Emma Roth
Apple is raising the price of its streaming service. The company announced on Thursday that its $9.99 per month subscriptionwill now cost $12.99 each month, marking a $3 price increase.
The price increase will go into effect immediately for new subscribers, while existing ones will see the changes reflected 30 days after their billing cycle ends, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr confirmed in an emailed statement toThe Verge.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Today, Roku announced the forthcoming arrival ofHowdy, a new monthly subscription service that will give its users access to a massive catalog of