Every major streaming service except Amazon raised prices in 2026 — Netflix’s top plan now runs $26.99 a month, and the typical household is juggling four subscriptions at once
A year ago, Netflix’s Premium plan cost $22.99 a month. Now it costs $26.99. And Netflix is not the only service that got more expensive. Since late 2025, Disney+, Max, Peacock, Hulu, and Paramount+ have all pushed ad-free prices higher, leaving Amazon’s Prime Video as the lone major holdout. For the typical U.S. household subscribing to four streaming services at once, the combined monthly tab has quietly crept into territory that looks a lot like the cable bundle everyone was trying to escape.
Netflix makes it official at $26.99
Netflix disclosed the Premium plan increase in a Q1 2026 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The hike took effect during the first quarter, lifting the ad-free, four-screen plan from $22.99 to $26.99, a 17% jump.
In the accompanying shareholder letter, the company said it is “adjusting pricing to reflect the value we deliver to members while continuing to invest in great storytelling.” Translation: Netflix thinks its originals are worth the premium, and it is betting that most subscribers will grumble but stay.
Because SEC filings carry legal weight and companies face penalties for material misstatements, the $26.99 figure is about as solid as consumer pricing data gets.
The rest of the industry followed the same playbook
Netflix was not hiking in isolation. Between late 2025 and early 2026, nearly every major competitor raised ad-free prices:
- Disney+ moved its ad-free tier to $17.99 a month in October 2025, up from $13.99 the year before, according to Disney’s own pricing announcement.
- Max raised its ad-free plan to $16.99 in mid-2025, per Warner Bros. Discovery’s press materials.
- Peacock increased its Premium tier to $13.99 in July 2025, confirmed during Comcast’s earnings call.
- Hulu and Paramount+ also raised ad-free rates in the same window, with most plans landing between $15.99 and $17.99.
The pattern is consistent: platforms are raising ad-free prices more aggressively than ad-supported ones, nudging cost-conscious viewers toward cheaper tiers that generate advertising revenue. It is a deliberate two-pronged strategy, and it is happening almost everywhere at once.
Why Amazon is the exception
Amazon has not raised its streaming rates this cycle. Prime Video remains bundled inside the broader Prime membership, which has held at $14.99 a month (or $139 a year) since its last increase in February 2022. Amazon treats streaming as one feature inside a membership that also covers free shipping, grocery discounts, and other perks. Revenue from e-commerce and advertising helps subsidize the content budget, giving the company room to hold the line while competitors raise theirs.
Whether that restraint lasts through the rest of 2026 is an open question. Amazon has made no public commitment to keep rates flat, and content costs across the industry continue to climb. But for now, Prime Video is the one major service that did not get more expensive.
Four subscriptions and a growing bill
Research firms including Antenna, Kantar, and Parks Associates have consistently placed the average U.S. broadband household at roughly four paid streaming subscriptions. The exact number varies by survey and methodology, and any given household might subscribe to two services or six depending on income, family size, and viewing habits. But four is a reasonable midpoint, and it is the figure most analysts use.
Run the math on four mid-tier, ad-free plans and the monthly total lands somewhere between $55 and $75, depending on which services a household picks. Take one common combination: Netflix Standard ($17.99), Disney+ ($17.99), Max ($16.99), and Peacock ($13.99). That is $66.96 a month before tax. Add a live-TV package like YouTube TV ($82.99) and the number crosses $140, well above what many households paid for cable a decade ago.
The promise of streaming was choice and savings. The reality in 2026 is that households are paying comparable amounts for a more fragmented experience spread across multiple apps, each with its own login, library, and billing cycle.
How households can trim the streaming bill before Q3 earnings season
In past years, individual price increases produced short-term subscriber churn that faded within a quarter or two. But when nearly every service raises rates at the same time, households face a different calculation. They are not choosing between a slightly pricier Netflix and a cheaper alternative. They are staring at a higher total bill across the board, which may push some to drop a service outright rather than rotate from month to month.
Ad-supported tiers are the industry’s pressure valve. Platforms are counting on price-sensitive subscribers to trade down rather than cancel. How well that bet is paying off should become clearer when second-quarter earnings calls arrive in July and August 2026, bringing fresh subscriber-mix data with them.
Households looking to cut costs before those numbers land have a few concrete options. First, audit which services actually get used each week; any platform untouched for 30 days is a candidate for cancellation or a downgrade to its ad-supported tier. Second, check for bundle discounts: Disney offers a combined Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ package, and some wireless carriers include streaming perks with certain plans. Third, rotate rather than stack. Subscribing to one or two services at a time and switching every few months can cut the annual bill by a third or more without permanently losing access to any library. The strongest proof that the old pricing era is over sits in Netflix’s own SEC filings, and the broader pattern of near-universal hikes is backed by public announcements from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Comcast. Treating streaming like a monthly budget line item, not a set-and-forget expense, is the most practical response to an industry that now raises prices every year.
