Streaming price increases: what everything costs now

Seven of the biggest US streaming and music services raised prices between October 2025 and June 2026. Netflix Standard is now $19.99, Disney+ Premium $18.99, YouTube Premium $15.99. The table below has all seven, with US list prices checked on 12 August 2026 and the dated increase behind each one.

By the Subby team·Last updated September 2, 2026

What streaming costs in 2026

Every figure in the table below is a standalone consumer list price in US dollars, before sales tax. No bundles, no introductory rates. Each row shows when that plan last went up and the source we read it from.

Ten months of increases in one basket

We priced one plan from each of the seven services, before and after this round of rises.

The same seven services now cost $12.50 more a month, or $150 a year, a rise of about 12.5% in ten months. That total is our own arithmetic on the dated list prices above. No survey published it, and it says nothing about what any one household pays.

The streaming price increases, in the order they landed

• 21 October 2025, Disney+ and Hulu. Disney+ with ads and Hulu with ads each rose by $2 a month, Disney+ Premium by $3. New subscribers paid from that date, existing subscribers from their first bill on or after it (Variety, September 2025).
• 21 October and 20 November 2025, HBO Max. All three tiers rose, monthly and annual. New subscribers moved on 21 October, existing subscribers from 20 November on their next billing cycle (HBO Max Help Center).
• 15 January 2026, Paramount+. Essential and Premium each rose by $1 a month, with steeper increases on the annual plans (Variety, December 2025).
• February 2026, Spotify. Individual, Duo, Family and Student all went up, the third US increase in four years. Spotify announced it on 15 January 2026 (CNBC, January 2026).
• March 2026, Netflix. All three US plans rose, the ad-supported tier included (Variety, March 2026).
• April to June 2026, YouTube Premium. YouTube announced it in April for new subscribers. Existing US subscribers saw it on their June statements, after at least 30 days' notice (Variety, April 2026).

Why your bill won't match the list price

• Annual plans lag. A year paid up front holds the old price until it renews, which can be months after the announcement.
• Bundles move separately. A bundle is its own product on its own schedule, so it rarely changes on the day the standalone plan does.
• Third-party billing. Subscribe through Apple, Google Play, Amazon Channels, Roku or a carrier and that company bills you instead of the service. It can pass the increase on later, and it is the only place you can cancel.
• Tax. List prices exclude sales tax, which varies by state.
• Introductory rates end. A six-month promotional price runs out on a date nobody reminds you about.

What to do when a price goes up

73% of consumers say they're frustrated by entertainment services constantly raising prices, and 61% say they'd cancel their favourite service over a $5 monthly rise (Deloitte Digital Media Trends, 2026). Six steps to decide whether to keep paying:

1. Find your next renewal date for that service. The new price reaches you on that day and not before.
2. Check the tier you pay for against the tier you use. Ads, stream counts and 4K are the usual difference between two prices in the table above.
3. Compare the annual option against twelve monthly charges. Only some of these services sell an annual plan, and the table shows which.
4. Decide per service on the annual cost rather than the monthly one. A $2 rise is $24 a year.
5. If you cancel, cancel where you subscribed. Anything you bought inside an app store, you cancel in that store's own subscriptions list. Our step-by-step guides cover how to cancel Netflix and how to cancel Disney+.
6. Set a reminder before the renewal date, so the next increase reaches you while you can still do something about it.

Streaming is one line on a bigger bill. Our page on the average subscription cost lines up the competing published totals with the method behind each one. To put your own number next to them, see what they cost you a year in Subby.

How this tracker is maintained

We review this page every quarter. Last reviewed 12 August 2026. Next review November 2026. Where a service publishes its own pricing or help page, we read the price straight off it. HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+ and Spotify all publish theirs. Netflix is the exception. Its plan page is region-locked, so those rows rest on dated trade reporting instead, and each row names the source. Anything we can't verify against a source we can link to, we leave out rather than guess.