All the streaming apps that raised prices this year so far
Once upon a time, streaming was considered a cheap alternative to cable. Now, depending on the services you subscribe to, "cheap" is hardly the word.
So far in 2026, several apps have undergone price increases, to the point where it's hard to keep up. That's where we come in. Here are the major streaming services that have hiked up their prices in 2026 so far.
Prime Video
In March, Amazon changed the pricing structure for Prime Video, downgrading its cheaper options and locking important features behind its premium tier. The basic cost of Amazon Prime is still $14.99 a month or $139 a year, but that tier now only has access to 1080p streams on Prime Video.
To see 4K Prime Video content, you now need to pony up an extra $4.99/mo for a new "Ultra" tier that also gets rid of ads. Prime Video Ultra also allows for more simultaneous streams and more downloads. But at a 33% premium to the regular price, is it worth it in this economy?
Paramount Plus
Back in January, Paramount Plus upped the prices of both its available tiers by an additional $1 per month.
The cheaper, ad-supported Essential tier is now $9 monthly or $90 annually (up from $60), while the ad-free Premium tier is now $14 monthly or $140 annually (up from $120).
Crunchyroll
Anime fans are not immune to price hikes, either. Crunchyroll, the biggest name in anime streaming, increased its prices in February. The cheapest Fan tier went from $7.99 to $9.99 per month, the middle Mega Fan tier went from $11.99 to $13.99, and the Ultimate Fan tier went from $15.99 to $17.99.
This was the service's first real price hike in years, and it didn't come without some perks: Users can now download content to watch offline, for one thing. Sadly, the free, ad-supported Crunchyroll tier was killed earlier this year — so if you want to watch the best in anime, you'll probably have to pay.
Spotify
Spotify increased the price of its Premium plan from $11.99 to $12.99 per month in February. The cheaper Student plan went from $5.99 to $6.99. Duo and Family plan users saw $2 hikes. The former went from $16.99 to $18.99 per month, while the latter jumped from $19.99 to $21.99.
Sling TV
Sling TV is the only service on this list that was explicitly supposed to replace cable. Unfortunately, it also became the victim of a price hike earlier this year. There are too many tiers and permutations of Sling to list here, but the TL;DR is that prices went up by $4 per month for many users.
YouTube Premium
Last but not least is YouTube Premium, lowkey one of the better investments you can make if you really, truly hate ads on YouTube. This service got a $2 a month price increase, going fro $13.99 to $15.99 in April.
Sadly, there don't seem to be any extra perks to go along with this price increase.