The Real Monthly Cost of Every Major Streaming Service (2026)

Streaming prices climbed again in 2026. Here's what every major service actually costs right now — ad-supported and ad-free — how fast it adds up when you stack them, and how to pay less without giving up your shows.

By Intermission · Updated July 2026

The "cheaper than cable" era is over. In 2026, Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and Paramount+ all pushed prices up again, and the ad-free tiers of the biggest services now cluster near $19–20 a month. If you're paying for four or five at once, you're spending more than a lot of old cable bundles cost — often for content you only watch a few months a year.

Below is the current monthly price of every major service, ad and ad-free, as of July 2026 — now expanded beyond the majors to cover sports, live TV, anime, British TV, and the niche services too.

How Much Does Each Streaming Service Cost in 2026?

In 2026, ad-supported tiers of the major services run roughly $8.99 to $11.99 a month, while the ad-free tiers of the biggest names cluster near $19–20. The cheapest standalone options are MGM+ at $6.99 and Peacock's $7.99 Select tier. The full table below lists ad, ad-free, and top-tier prices.

Prices as of July 2026, standalone monthly plans. *Prime Video standalone is about $8.99/mo, or included with an Amazon Prime membership ($14.99/mo or $139/yr); ad-free viewing is the "Prime Video Ultra" add-on at $4.99/mo (up from the old $2.99 add-on in April 2026). Starz raised to $11.99 and AMC+ moved to a $7.99 ads / $10.99 ad-free lineup in early 2026. Always confirm current pricing on each provider's site — see sources below.

How Fast Does a Streaming Bill Add Up?

Pick four ad-free services — Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu — and you're already near $76 a month, roughly $912 a year. Add Paramount+ and Apple TV+ and you clear $100 a month. The big ad-free tiers now sit within about a dollar of each other, so there's no longer a cheap premium option.

Four major ad-free services now sit within about $1.50 of each other, between roughly $18.49 and $19.99 a month. The "budget" tier is gone.

How Much Do You Save Going from Ad-Free to Ads?

Going ad-free costs roughly $7–$11 more per month than the ad-supported tier, so switching to ads is the fastest way to shrink a bill. But it's a smaller lever than it looks: dropping one $19 service to ads saves about $8–10 a month, while pausing a service you're not watching saves the whole thing.

That's the bigger opportunity, and it's the one most people never act on.

Why Do Streaming Prices Keep Going Up?

The streaming land-grab is over: investors now want profit over subscriber growth, and services have learned most people won't cancel over a dollar or two. So prices drift up yearly, and ad tiers get pushed because ads earn platforms more than the low subscription price. The smartest response is to stop paying for services you're not using.

None of that is going to reverse. We log every major increase in the streaming price increase tracker, and unpack the five structural drivers in why streaming prices keep going up.

How Can You Pay Less Without Cancelling Your Shows?

You don't have to choose between your shows and your budget. The move is rotation: keep one or two services active, pause the rest, and bring each one back only when there's something you want to watch. You still see everything — you just stop paying for five services in months you watch one.

You can do it by hand — our DIY guide walks through the six steps and the time each takes — or let a plan track the dates for you. Not sure which service is worth keeping this month? Our keep-or-pause verdicts are updated monthly.

We explain the whole approach in what streaming subscription rotation is and how it works. The quick math: if you pay for six services but keep two active at a time, you only pay for each rotatable service a fraction of the year — and the savings come entirely from the paused months.

Do Streaming Bundles Save More Than Rotating?

Bundles can genuinely lower the per-service price — the Disney+/Hulu (No Ads) bundle is $19.99 a month, and an AMC+/Starz/MGM+ bundle runs around $21.99. But a bundled service usually can't be paused on its own, so it's not a rotation candidate. Bundles fit services you'd keep year-round; for everything else, rotation saves more.

What Do Sports and Live-TV Streaming Services Cost in 2026?

Sports is the priciest corner of streaming in 2026: ESPN runs $12.99 (Select) to $29.99 (Unlimited), DAZN is $30.99, Sling starts at $45.99, and YouTube TV is $82.99. Because every sport has an off-season, these services also gain the most from season-by-season rotation.

Worth knowing for 2026: MLB.TV now sells through ESPN at $119.99 for the full season, every MLS match is simply included with Apple TV+ (no more separate Season Pass), F1 is now exclusively on Apple TV+ in the US, and every UFC event is included with Paramount+ — no pay-per-view. Details in our guide to watching live events without year-round subscriptions.

What Do Anime, British TV, and Niche Streaming Services Cost?

Specialty services are individually cheap — Crunchyroll starts at $9.99, HIDIVE and CuriosityStream sit at $6.99 and $4.99, and British services like BritBox ($10.99) and Acorn TV ($8.99) round out the niche. They're also easy to forget you're paying for, which makes them classic rotation candidates.

What About Gaming and Music Subscription Costs?

The streaming bill doesn't stop at video. Game Pass Ultimate is $22.99 a month and PS Plus tiers run $10.99–19.99 after 2026's increases — see how to rotate gaming subscriptions. Music services now cluster at $11–13/month after a year of hikes; that one usually deserves an anchor rather than a rotation, and here's the honest breakdown of why.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources, accessed June–July 2026: Tom's Guide — What streaming costs in 2026; ESPN — DTC plans & pricing; Sling — plans; MLB — MLB.TV on ESPN; Deadline — Streaming subscription prices & ad tiers; NerdWallet — How much does HBO Max cost; Hulu — Plans & pricing. Prices are subject to change; verify on each provider's official site.