Every Streaming Price Increase in 2026, Tracked (and What to Do About It)

The short version

• Four big services raised US prices during 2026: Paramount+ (January), Netflix (March 26), Peacock (August 18), and Apple TV (August 28).
• Peacock and Apple TV are the fresh ones. Every Peacock tier went up on August 18, 2026, its fourth increase in four years; existing subscribers get hit on their first bill dated on or after September 17. Apple TV followed ten days later, to $14.99/month.
• A lot of “2026 price hike” coverage is wrong. HBO Max and the standalone Disney+ and Hulu plans raised prices in late 2025. You’re feeling them in 2026, but they aren’t 2026 increases — and that distinction matters when you’re deciding what’s about to change next.
• The ad-supported tiers absorbed the smallest increases almost everywhere. That’s not an accident; it’s where the services want you.
• The counter-moves still work: downgrade, rotate, cancel before the date, and use free services for filler.

Streaming price increases stopped being news and became a schedule. The useful question isn’t “did prices go up” — they did, they will again — it’s which ones changed, when the change actually reaches your card, and what you can do in the window before it does. Here’s the accurate version.

What actually changed in 2026

Peacock — August 18, 2026

The most recent move, and the one likely to show up on your bill next. Peacock raised all three tiers:

Annual plans moved to $89.99 / $129.99 / $199.99 respectively. New and returning subscribers pay the new rates as of August 18; existing subscribers keep their old price until their first billing date on or after September 17, 2026. That gap is the single most actionable fact in this guide — see the playbook below.

This is NBCUniversal’s fourth Peacock increase in four years, and the $3 jump on Premium Plus is the steepest single-tier move of 2026 so far.

Apple TV — August 28, 2026

Apple (which dropped the ”+” from Apple TV+ in late 2025) raised its US prices for new subscribers on August 28:

It’s Apple’s second increase in almost exactly a year — the monthly plan was $9.99 until August 2025 — so the service has gone up 50% in twelve months. The annual plan still works out well below twelve monthly payments ($119 against $179.88).

Netflix — March 26, 2026

Netflix raised every US tier:

New members paid the new rates from March 26; existing subscribers were migrated over the following billing cycles. Ad-free Standard crossing $20/month was the psychological line here — a single service now costs roughly a quarter of an average cable bill.

Paramount+ — January 2026

The year opened with Paramount raising new-subscriber pricing by a dollar on both tiers: Essential to $8.99 and ad-free Premium to $13.99. Modest, and it set the pattern the rest of the year followed — small increases on ad tiers, larger ones on ad-free.

Disney’s legacy bundle — September 17, 2026

Not a broad Disney increase, but worth knowing if it’s you: the legacy Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Select bundle moves from $24.99 to $27.99 for bills dated on or after September 17, 2026. This is the grandfathered bundle, not the current retail one — if you’ve been holding an old bundle price, this is where it ends. Our streaming bundles guide has the math on whether the current bundles still beat buying apps separately.

The hikes that weren’t actually 2026

This is where most roundups mislead you, and it’s worth being precise, because “when did this last change” is how you predict what changes next.

• HBO Max — announced October 21, 2025, reaching existing subscribers on renewals on or after November 20, 2025. Basic with Ads went to $10.99, Standard to $18.49, Premium to $22.99. Those are the prices you’re paying in 2026, but the increase is a 2025 event.
• Apple TV+ — went from $9.99 to $12.99 in late August 2025, a 30% jump, with the $99 annual plan left alone. That one really was a 2025 event — but Apple went again on August 28, 2026 (above), so it belongs on both lists.
• Standalone Disney+ and Hulu — raised October 21, 2025, when ad tiers on both went from $9.99 to $11.99 and Disney+ Premium went to $18.99.

Why does the distinction matter? Because HBO Max and Disney are now roughly a year past their last increase, while Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, and Apple TV have just taken theirs. If you’re deciding where to lock in an annual plan, recency is a genuine signal.

What’s not worth doing about it

Candor time — some of the standard advice is bad.

• Don’t switch services purely to chase a lower price. Moving from a $19.99 service you watch to a $12.99 service you don’t isn’t a $7 saving, it’s a $12.99 waste. The only subscription that’s expensive is the one you don’t open.
• Don’t prepay an annual plan just to dodge an increase you haven’t been told about. Locking twelve months to avoid a hypothetical $2 is a bad trade if your viewing changes in month three. Annual plans are worth it for services you’ve demonstrably used all year — Apple TV at $119/year, against $179.88 billed monthly, is the clearest example.
• Don’t assume the ad tier is always the answer. It usually is for casual viewing. But on services where the ad tier drops resolution, downloads, or simultaneous streams, you may be buying a materially worse product to save a dollar. Check what the tier actually removes before you downgrade — our ad-free streaming device guide covers the same principle on the hardware side.
• Don’t bother with “cancel to trigger a retention offer.” Some services do it, most now just let you leave. Plan around actually leaving.

The playbook that actually saves money

1. Use the notification gap. Nearly every increase reaches existing subscribers weeks after new ones — Peacock’s gap runs to September 17, 2026. If you were already lukewarm on a service, that window is a free look: cancel before the new rate lands and you never pay it once.

2. Downgrade before you cancel. Moving Peacock Premium Plus to Premium saves $7/month at the new prices. For a service you watch with the TV half-ignored, ads cost you less than the money does.

3. Rotate instead of stacking. The single biggest lever, and the least used. Four services at once is the expensive pattern; one or two at a time, cycled as shows land, gets most of the value for a fraction of the annual spend. Our real cost of cutting the cord study puts real numbers on the difference.

4. Fill gaps with free. Tubi and Pluto TV are $0 and have absorbed a lot of the catalog that used to justify a fourth subscription. They’re a legitimate part of a 2026 stack, not a consolation prize.

Run your own combination through the streaming cost calculator with the numbers above — the annual total is usually the moment the rotation strategy stops sounding like effort and starts sounding like the obvious choice. If you’re weighing the bigger question, is cutting the cord still worth it in 2026 works through the full math against a cable bill, and our cord-cutting hub collects the rest.

FAQ recap

Which services raised prices in 2026? Paramount+ (January), Netflix (March 26), Peacock (August 18), and Apple TV (August 28), plus Disney’s legacy bundle moving to $27.99 from September 17. HBO Max and standalone Disney+/Hulu raised prices in late 2025, not 2026.

How much is Peacock now? $8.99 Select, $12.99 Premium, $19.99 Premium Plus monthly; $89.99 / $129.99 / $199.99 annually.

What does Netflix cost after the March 2026 increase? $8.99 with ads, $19.99 ad-free Standard, $26.99 Premium.

What’s the single best move? Rotate rather than stack, and use the gap between the announcement and your billing date to cancel anything you were already lukewarm about.

Prices are US rates as announced by each service and reported at the time of each change; check the service before subscribing, since promotional and grandfathered rates vary. Apple TV prices updated October 7, 2026; others last verified August 24, 2026.