Remember when streaming services were going to help you slay the cable dragon and drastically reduce your monthly costs? Yes, we were all innocent once.
Now, US consumers spend an average of $69 a month on streaming in the US, according to a Deloitte study, and companies are trying their best to prevent you from sharing passwords with friends and family to save a buck.
Netflix’s more affordable, ad-free tier is long gone. HBO Max removed features from its cheapest, ad-free tier. Peacock no longer has a free option. Even Prime Video, a service whose cost flew under the radar because most people get it bundled with Amazon Prime, added commercials and is charging $2.99 a month to get rid of them.
So, what can you do when you want to keep your streaming options open but your wallet closed? We’ve got some options.
1. Ditch Live TV Streaming Services
(Credit: Pluto TV)
Live TV is usually the most expensive part of any streaming plan. But if you can wait a day or two to catch up with your favorite shows on Hulu or Peacock, dropping live TV can save you a few bucks.
That doesn’t mean you have to forego the thrill of channel flipping. If you have a Roku, you can watch hundreds of live channels on The Roku Channel. Just open the app and choose from what’s on. Even if you don’t have a Roku, you can download the app or go to TheRokuChannel.com and watch on your computer or mobile device.
Pluto TV, which has free streaming, also has a full lineup of live TV channels that you can watch on its site or via its apps for smart TVs, phones, tablets, and streaming devices.
2. Downgrade to a Lower Streaming Tier
Netflix plans (Credit: Netflix/PCMag)
The most expensive streaming tiers offer perks such as more concurrent streams, better video quality, and the ability to download shows and movies for offline viewing. If that’s not crucial to your viewing experience, consider dropping down a tier. You might have to deal with ad breaks or do without Ultra HD, but the savings could be worth it. For instance, Hulu with ads is $9.99 a month, whereas without ads, it’s $18.99 a month. And Netflix’s cheapest, ad-free tier is now $17.99 per month. To check or change a streaming plan, you may have to log on via the web (versus the app). Head to the account section and look for a Subscription menu item.
3. Compare Annual vs. Monthly Prices
Max annual plans (Credit: HBO Max/PCMag)
Paying for a plan month by month offers flexibility, but it’s also likely to add to your bill. If you know you’ll be sticking with a streaming service for more than a few months, an annual plan makes more financial sense. While Netflix only has a monthly option, lots of other services—from Max to Hulu to Disney—have annual ones. For Hulu, the savings for its lowest, ad-supported tier is about 17% ($9.99 a month versus $99.99 a year). Just make sure to keep tabs on when that annual charge renews in case you get your fill of The Pitt or Tell Me Lies.
4. Take Advantage of Free Trials
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)
This is perhaps an ethical gray area, but if you’re interested in a service for just one show, you can wait until the full season is posted, sign up for a free trial, binge-watch, and then cancel. Free-trial lengths vary, so check the latest offers. Most services also require you to be a new customer.
In general, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video have the longest at 30 days. Apple TV offers a 7-day free trial (longer if you buy a new Apple device).
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Others are catching on to the grift. Disney+ ended free trials in 2020 ahead of the Hamilton debut; Netflix followed suit a few months later. More recently, Paramount+ also nixed free trials. Peacock ditched its free tier in 2023 and no longer offers free trials.
5. Put Subscriptions on Pause
(Credit: Netflix/PCMag)
You can only watch so much TV at once, so consider putting some subscriptions on pause. The benefit of pausing over cancelling is that you’ll retain your queue, so you won’t have to search for all your shows and movies once you return.
Like free trials, pausing policies vary by streaming service. Hulu monthly plans can be paused for up to 12 weeks (Account > Pause Your Subscription > Pause). Netflix does not let you pause a basic plan, but you can put others on hold for 30 days (go to the cancel page and click Pause for 1 month). Other services, like HBO Max and Apple TV, do not have any pause options. Of course, you can always cancel your subscriptions and resubscribe, based on your watching patterns and available shows.
6. Find Bundled Subscriptions
(Credit: Apple/Peacock)
Just like buying in bulk at Costco can save you money, so it is with streaming subscriptions. Corporate overlords and mergers mean some of these services are cheaper if you subscribe to more than one. A bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, for example, is $19.99 per month (with ads); it’s $12.99 if you drop ESPN+. Showtime is now bundled with Paramount+ for $13.99 per month, while the Warner Bros. Discovery merger means Discovery content is available on HBO Max, though the standalone Discovery+ ($5.99) lives on for all your 90 Day Fiancé needs. You can also get Apple TV and Peacock as a bundle, starting at $14.99 a month.
Recommended by Our Editors
Prime Video also lets you add subscriptions to smaller streaming services like Starz, MGM+, and BritBox via something it calls Channels. There’s no discount, but billing for all the services is handled via Amazon, so you don’t have to log into multiple platforms to manage your accounts.
7. Look for Discounts
Who doesn’t love a discount? Well, the companies that offer them for one, so they’re not always well-advertised. It literally pays to do a search for deals from your streaming services. Those offered via the aforementioned Amazon Channels, for example, are often discounted on shopping holidays like Prime Day or Black Friday.
While you’re at it, check if your cellphone plan has a deal. If you have T-Mobile, depending on your plan, you can get ad-supported Netflix or Hulu for free; Apple TV is also available at a discount for six months. Currently, with some plans on Verizon, you can add the Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) for $10 a month or Netflix and Max together, also for $10/month. (All of them with ads, of course.)
Students have the best chance of finding a deal. They can get Hulu for $1.99 a month and can even throw in Spotify Premium for just $6.99 a month for both. Amazon offers Prime for Young Adults, which includes many exclusive Prime benefits and Prime Video for those aged 18-24 at $7.49 a month or $69 a year. Paramount+ offers 50% off.
8. Get Cash Back
(Credit: NerdWallet)
While you might hate looking at all the streaming services on your credit card statement every month, it’s possible that your card itself will pay for them. NerdWallet maintains a list of cards that will help you save on streaming. Its current best pick is the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express, which offers 6% cash back on select streaming services and $10 back per month on a Disney-Hulu-ESPN bundle.
9. Take Advantage of Free Streaming
The biggest way to save is to turn to free streaming. We mentioned The Roku Channel and Pluto TV above with live TV, and they both offer lots of on-demand content as well. There’s also Tubi, Kanopy, PBS Video, and more, all of which add new movies and shows every month.
About Our Expert
Chandra Steele
Senior Features Writer
Experience
My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme.
I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light.
Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.
Making incomprehensible tech news easy to understand
Expanding the boundaries of topics covered in the industry
Figuring out tips and tricks in apps and on devices and letting you know about them
Putting together gift guides for everyone in your life
All that gadgets is gold for me: my iPhone 11 Pro, my fifth-generation iPad that I use only for streaming videos and music, my iPad mini 4 that I like to take with me whenever I carry a bag that can fit it, and my MacBook Pro. Why are they all different shades of gold, though? What’s going on, Apple?
None of them quite live up to my two past loves: my LG Lotus LX600 phone and my Sony Walkman NW-E005 MP3 player.
I’ve never given up wired earbuds so I was ahead of all those trend pieces. I use a Mangotek Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter to connect them to my phone.
I have had so many ebook readers, but I prefer paper to them all. Still, my Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for traveling or when I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be released in paperback.
Read Full Bio
