Remember when streaming services actually competed on price? That's done. After the past year's round of increases, four of the big ad-free plans now land between $18.49 and $19.99 — a $1.50 spread. Everything costs twenty bucks. So the real question isn't which service is cheapest anymore. It's which twenty works hardest for you.
What the bill looks like now
The hikes came fast. Netflix raised every tier in late March — Standard with Ads to $8.99, Standard to $19.99, Premium to $26.99. Disney had already moved in October: an extra $2 a month on the ad tiers of Disney+ and Hulu, $3 more on Disney+ Premium, and the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Select bundle up from $17 to $20 with ads ($27 to $30 without). HBO Max joined in with Basic with Ads at $10.99, ad-free at $18.49, and Premium at $22.99.
The cheap seats cluster together too: Hulu and Peacock at $7.99 with ads, Netflix at $8.99. Apple TV+ stays stubbornly different — $12.99, no ad tier, take it or leave it.
Same price, very different value
Here's the twist. Prices have converged, but what you get for them hasn't. Reelgood's 2026 value scorecard crowns Netflix among the traditional streamers: 251 movies and 186 shows per dollar. And despite an 11% price hike, its value ratio actually improved this year — the catalog grew faster than the price did.
Disney+ made the biggest jump. Movies per dollar went from 94 to 110, and shows per dollar leapt from 42 to 69 — up 64% — even with a 19% price rise. Now, catalog math isn't everything; one show you love beats a thousand you'll never open. But it kills the lazy assumption that a price hike automatically means you're getting ripped off.
Matching the service to the person
Forget the ads and match the subscription to how you actually watch.
Big household, TV on every night, tastes all over the map? Netflix's depth still buys the most hours per dollar. Kids, Marvel, Star Wars, or live sports in the mix? The $20 Disney bundle with ads is still the most sheer content in streaming. Mostly prestige dramas and films? HBO Max ad-free at $18.49 comes in under Netflix Standard with a better hit rate per title. And if you only watch a handful of great shows a year, Apple TV+ at $12.99 might quietly be the best per-show deal around, tiny library and all.
The move that actually saves money
The best strategy in 2026 isn't picking the right service — it's refusing to be married to any of them. Every one of these runs month to month. Subscribe for the show you came for, finish it, cancel, rotate. Households that do this cut their streaming spend by close to half, and the cheap ad tiers make the rotation math even better.
The streamers all decided your loyalty costs about twenty dollars. Your advantage is that you never promised loyalty in the first place.
Image: Kaboompics, via Pexels
