Subscriptions have been used for many current companies of streaming services. Each service themselves have made decisions on increasing pricing, receiving backlash for these moments.
As of March 2026, Netflix has increased their prices for all three options available to be purchased, Standard with Ads, Standard and Premium. Each section has increased by $1 or $2 in the past year and recently on March 26, 2026. The option of the Basic plan has been removed as of 2023,
Most streaming services themselves have increased their pricing over time for a magnitude of reasons. Some of the services want to be profitable, achieve growth in their production or for investors interested in most situations.
From 2025 multiple others have increased their pricing as well, hiding some features behind paywalls for usage.
In February of this year Spotify increased their pricing in premium individual plans by $1 and premium duo and family by $2. The music streaming service did allow users without premium to play any song in their playlist without premium from January until March with an update.
Users on Tiktok and Instagram have been posting online about these feature changes since 2025, noting how Spotify has done it more than once in the past years. Overall there stands a negative view on Spotify’s decision to make features available for free then move it to a paywall.
These pricing changes have kept some of the users who continue with the service see the reasoning behind the changes, seeing it as a necessity to provide better service for other users. “The price increase for Netflix seems okay, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” said Josue Manriquez (12).
Some services such as Netflix have thought of their users, providing them with alternative plans to use. “An ad-supported experience allows you to enjoy Netflix at a lower price,” said Netflix discussing their new standard with ads plan.
The plan itself is much less than the standard plan and viewing of some but not all shows and movies on Netflix. With the change some people have seen the benefits of the plan for pricing while others see it as corporate greed being seen in the plan invention, removing the basic plan for this new plan. “Streaming services for me become a large decision to purchase or not because of all these price changes and options,” said Miguel Angel Caudillo Gonzalez (11).
There are some ways people have been able to work together to handle the streaming service inflation while also making changes to other services with better pricings.
Hulu and Amazon Prime video have been considered to be better alternatives to some of the current streaming services. Hulu has their own bundle working with Disney+ and HBO Max providing a large catalog from all three service providers for only $19.99 with ads and $32.99 without.
Apple music also is another service seen as the alternative for spotify, providing a less cost heavy price for their plans. Some users have been noting the change and swapped over to the service.
Streaming services will continue to be important to how some people see their entertainment but if the pricing continues to change so will subscribers’ entertainment providers.
