DO you love nothing more than a night in cuddled up on the sofa, watching your favourite shows on TV?
You might think by staying in you’re saving money, but you could actually be nearly £170 worse off this year than you were in 2020.
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That’s if you have Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+, as well as a TV licence and a music and cloud storage service.
Many subscription services have steadily increased their monthly charges, and while it might be a couple of quid here and there, it can still all add up.
Here, we break down exactly how much your favourite services have increased their monthly payments – and reveal how you can keep your bills down and beat the price hikes too…
TV streaming
In the age of blockbuster-style content from the comforts of your sofa, TV streamers are increasingly pumping money into bigger and better content.
This, of course, requires bigger and better budgets – which companies pass on to consumers through subscription price hikes.
And like everyone else, streaming companies and production houses have also been hit by inflation, which they often cite when raising prices.
Netflix
- 2020: Standard £8.99 / Premium £13.99
- 2025: Standard £12.99 / Premium £18.99
Disney+
- 2020: Standard £5.99 or Annual £59.99
- 2025: Standard £8.99 or Annual £89.90 / Premium £12.99 or Annual £129.90
Prime Video
- 2020: Prime Monthly £7.99 / Annual £79
- 2025: Prime Monthly £8.99 / Annual £95
Apple TV+
- 2020: Standard (single tier) £4.99
- 2025: Standard (single tier) £8.99
How much more are you paying?
Across these four streamers alone, households are paying £12 more per month for standard subscriptions in comparison to five years ago.
That’s the equivalent of £144 per year.
“Unfortunately, everyone’s costs are going up. It can’t be blamed or squarely pointed at one area,” Paolo Pescatore, tech analyst at PP Foresight, told The Sun.
He also points out that some prices may have been tactically positioned at the lower end when services first launched, so a rise was inevitable.
Disney+, which only launched UK subscriptions in 2020 at the modest price of £5.99 a month, has since ballooned to £8.99.
“This could be due to looking to gain subscribers,” he added. “In time prices naturally increase to ensure they are profitable.”
Save on streaming
Utilise FAST channels and apps
There are tons of free ways to watch TV and movies out there – and I’m not talking about piracy.
An increasing number of FAST – free ad-supported television – platforms are making their way to smart TVs and streaming sticks.
Try these out for size:
Accept ads
Ad-supported plans are often cheaper than their Standard or Premium counterparts.
If you’re not fussed about an ad-break, or are tight on cash, consider dropping your streaming plan down to an ad-supported tier.
Evaluate your spending
Take a moment to write down all the subscriptions you have and check if you’re using all of them regularly.
If there’s some apps where you feel like you’ve watched all the best content, cancel them.
Hop between services
When you’re sucked into a binge-worthy TV show – chances are you’re only paying attention to one streaming app at a time.
While having access to a huge library of content may seem appealing – it can also be costly.
Try only subscribing to one streaming app at a time to trim down your streaming bills.
BBC licence fee
- April 2025: TV licence fee to rise by £5, to £174.50 per year
- April 2020: £157.50 per year
How much more are you paying?
From April this year, households will pay £17 more for their BBC licence fee than they did in 2020.
Uswitch TV and streaming expert Max Beckett told The Sun: “One of the likely reasons for this price increase is changing viewing habits, with more people switching to on-demand viewing.
“This has made the traditional model harder to sustain which in turn leads to cost increases. Inflation will also play a part in price increases.
“As a TV license is a significant cost, it’s worth checking whether you have to pay this.
“You don’t need one if you only watch streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime.”
You could be entitled to a free TV licence
Money raised from the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services – from radio and podcasts, to the BBC’s website, TV and iPlayer.
You need a TV licence to watch any live channels on any TV or streaming service – including BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and live events on Netflix.
But if you’re over 75 and receiving Pension Credit you’re entitled to a free TV licence.
To apply for a free TV licence, simply call 0300 790 6117.
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Music streaming
Apple Music
- 2020: Individual £9.99 / Family £14.99
- 2025: Individual £10.99 / Family £16.99
Spotify
- 2020: Student £4.99 / Individual £9.99 / Duo £12.99 / Family £14.99
- 2025: Student £5.99 / Individual £11.99 / Duo £16.99 / Family £19.99
YouTube Premium & Music
- 2020: Student £4.99 / Individual £9.99 / Family £14.99
- 2025: Student £5.49 / Individual £10.99 / Family £16.99
Amazon Music
- 2020: Student £4.99 / Single Device Plan £3.99 / Individual £9.99 or £7.99 for Amazon Prime members / Family £14.99
- 2025: Student £5.99 / Single Device Plan £4.99 / Individual £10.99 or £8.99 for Amazon Prime members / Family £17.99
How much more are you paying?
Unlike TV streaming services, people tend to pick one music streamer and stick with it – often for life.
Subscribers of Apple, YouTube and Amazon Music are better off than their Spotify-listening counterparts.
Spotify customers have shouldered price hikes of £2 to £5 per month depending on their package.
Whereas listeners of rival services from Apple, YouTube and Amazon have typically only taken on an extra £1 to £3 between their Individual and Family plans.
Beat music streaming hikes
Opt for free services
Some services offer free music streaming options that are supplemented with adverts – like the radio.
These include:
- Spotify
- Amazon Music Free
- Deezer
- SoundCloud
- Jango
Take advantage of free trials
Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and Amazon Music all offer free trials from time to time.
Be sure to take advantage of these.
Utilise family plans
Make sure your family members aren’t all signed up to the same music service individually.
If they are, you could all be missing out on monthly savings.
Instead, you could sign onto a family subscription plan and split it.
You can even team up with friends with the same goal.
Cloud storage
When your pictures, videos and files can’t be stored on your device, they are sent up to the cloud.
Now, the cloud isn’t some mythical vessel in the sky – it’s actually made up of giant data centres on the ground.
These data centres get hot, and require a lot of energy to cool – meaning consumers may have to swallow rising costs in energy.
Apple’s iCloud
| 2020 | 2025 |
| 50GB: £0.79 per month | 50GB: £0.99 per month |
| 200GB: £2.49 per month | 200GB: £2.99 per month |
| 2TB: £6.99 per month | 2TB: £8.99 per month |
| NA | 6TB: £26.99 per month |
| NA | 12TB: £54.99 per month |
Google Drive
| 2020 | 2025 |
| 15GB: Free | 15GB: Free |
| 100GB: £1.59 per month | 100GB: £1.99 per month |
| 200GB: £2.49 per month | 200GB: £2.99 per month |
| 2TB: £7.99 per month | 2TB: £8.99 per month |
How much more are you paying?
At most, iCloud customers are paying at extra £2 per month in 2025 than they were in 2020.
Unless they’re taking advantage of Apple’s newer plans.
While Google Drive users are paying no more than £2 more per month than they were five years ago.
Save on cloud storage bills
Before you go forking out on extra storage, head into your settings to see if you can free up space.
Declutter your phone
Optimising your storage use is the most effective way you can trim your cloud storage bills.
You can do this by:
Delete old backups
One of the big reasons why your cloud storage might be running low is old back-ups you don’t need anymore.
This can save up to 90GB of storage space, The Sun’s Head of Technology & Science, Sean Keach, recently discovered.
