Streaming was pitched as the cheaper alternative to cable. For a while it was. But most major services have raised prices at least once a year for several years running, usually by a dollar or two per tier at a time — small enough that no single increase feels worth cancelling over, large enough that the cumulative effect is real. Netflix raised all three of its tiers at the end of March 2026, the latest in that pattern.
The pattern behind the increases
- Content licensing and production costs keep climbing, and subscription price is the primary lever services have to cover it.
- Password-sharing crackdowns have pushed a lot of households that were splitting one account onto full-price individual plans, which functions like a price increase even when the sticker price doesn't move.
- Ad-supported tiers, originally positioned as the budget option, have started seeing their own price creep now that they're an established part of the lineup rather than a new promotional tier.
- "Temporary" pricing rarely reverts. Introductory or promotional rates typically convert to standard pricing rather than being extended.
Where prices stand right now (July 2026)
| Service | Cheapest current plan |
|---|---|
| Netflix | $8.99/mo (with ads) |
| Hulu | $11.99/mo (with ads) |
| Disney+ | $11.99/mo (with ads) |
| Max | $10.99/mo (with ads) |
| Apple TV+ | $12.99/mo |
| Prime Video | $8.99/mo (with ads) |
| Paramount+ | $8.99/mo (Essential, with ads) |
| Peacock | $10.99/mo (Premium, with ads) |
These are each service's cheapest generally-available tier as of this writing. Ad-free and premium/4K tiers run higher on every service listed, and tend to move independently of — and often faster than — the ad-supported baseline.
What tends to increase fastest
Ad-free and premium tiers have historically absorbed larger and more frequent increases than entry-level ad-supported plans, since ad-supported tiers still need to stay competitively priced to keep subscriber counts up. Annual plans get repriced less often, but eventually catch up to whatever the new monthly rate implies — an annual plan locked in a year ago doesn't guarantee that rate at renewal.
The practical takeaway: a lineup that was cheapest six months ago isn't guaranteed to still be cheapest today. The individual moves are too small to notice one at a time, but they add up — which is exactly the kind of drift that's easy to miss doing this math from memory.
How to stay ahead of it
Re-check pricing before any renewal rather than assuming last year's rate still applies. If you're weighing a bundle against subscribing to services separately, re-run that comparison after any price change on either side — a bundle that wasn't worth it six months ago can become worth it (or stop being worth it) after just one price move. And treat your streaming lineup as something to revisit periodically, not a one-time decision.
StreamStretch re-verifies pricing directly against provider pages rather than relying on stored numbers, so your comparison reflects what things actually cost right now, not what they cost when you last checked.
FAQ
Will prices keep going up?
Based on the pattern of the last several years, incremental annual increases are more likely than not to continue. There's no indication that's reversing.
How often should I re-check my lineup?
Every time you get a renewal notice, and at least once a season if you rotate subscriptions — prices and available bundles both shift often enough that a lineup worth re-checking every few months rather than set-and-forget.
Do bundles protect against individual price hikes?
Not automatically — bundle prices can and do change too. But because a bundle is priced as a single unit, it's one price to re-check instead of two or three, which makes it easier to notice when something's changed.
Get today's cheapest lineup for your watchlist
StreamStretch checks current pricing every time — no stale numbers.
Check my lineup