2026 Subscription Price Hike Tracker: Every Service That Raised Prices This Year
Table of Contents
I woke up to another subscription price notice and realized it was getting harder to remember which services had changed, when the new prices applied, and what each increase meant over a full year.
After tracking my own subscriptions obsessively for years (it's literally my job as the founder of SubBuddy), I realized there was no single, comprehensive resource showing every major subscription price increase in 2026. So I built one.
This is that resource. Bookmark this page. I review it throughout 2026 as new price hikes are announced.
Last reviewed: October 23, 2026. Confirmed price changes are added after they are announced by the company or reflected on an official pricing page.
Changelog: October 23, 2026 added the September increases at Disney+ and Hulu (bundles and Live TV included), Peacock's August increase, Prime Video Ultra, The New York Times, The Washington Post's Core plan, NordVPN, Calm's Family plan, the move of Cursor and X Premium to The X Subscription, ChatGPT Pro 500, and Copilot's retired annual plans; corrected the Max, PlayStation Plus, Figma, YouTube Premium, Crunchyroll, AMC+, Tidal, Amazon Music, Google Workspace, Canva, Notion, Headspace, Peloton and Wall Street Journal figures to match our service data; and corrected OpenCode Go (first-month discount withdrawn, $40 Go Plus added) and the GLM Coding Plan (Pro $80, Max $168). August 29, 2026 added Apple's August 28 increase (Apple TV $12.99 → $14.99 monthly and $99 → $119 annual, Apple One Individual $19.95 → $21.95); rebuilt the AI section to separate real changes from tiers that were merely added, correcting the ChatGPT Business figure ($30 → $25 monthly, a cut, not the $25 rise previously listed) and adding OpenCode Go and the GLM Coding Plan; recorded PlayStation Plus's May 20 monthly increase and Xbox's April PC Game Pass cut; and marked the delivery memberships explicitly as unchanged. August 17, 2026 updated Apple Music and Apple One bundle price increases. July 10, 2026 corrected Nintendo Switch Online, PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, and New York Times records. July 8 added the Microsoft 365 commercial price increase and confirmed Peacock's current prices.
2026 Price Hike Summary: The Damage So Far
Before diving into the details, here's the brutal summary of what's happened to your wallet in 2026:
- Plan-level increases recorded for 2025-2026: 74
- Services with price increases in 2025-2026: 31 (many implemented in late 2025, then a second wave from Peacock, Disney+ and Hulu in August and September 2026)
- Average price increase: 17.3%
- Largest percentage increase: Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan (+100%)
- Largest dollar increase: X Premium+ ($22 → $40/month in February 2025, +$18), ahead of Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan, Creative Cloud Pro and Hulu + Live TV (+$10/month each)
- Combined annual impact: depends on your stack; the worked example below adds up to $138 a year on just six subscriptions
Let me be clear: subscription inflation continues to outpace regular inflation. While overall consumer prices rose about 3.2% year-over-year, many subscription services increased by 15-50%. Companies have discovered that once you're hooked, you'll pay almost anything to avoid the hassle of canceling.
Streaming Services Price Changes
The streaming wars have officially become the streaming tax. Here's every price change in 2026:
Netflix (two hikes in under two years)
Netflix raised US prices again in March 2026, its second increase in under two years. These are the current prices:
- Standard with Ads: $7.99 → $8.99/month (+13%)
- Standard (no ads): $17.99 → $19.99/month (+11%)
- Premium: $24.99 → $26.99/month (+8%)
- Extra Member (with ads): $6.99 → $7.99/month (+14%)
- Extra Member (ad-free): $8.99 → $9.99/month (+11%)
- Effective Date: March 26, 2026 for new members; existing members notified roughly a month before their billing date
Netflix again pointed to content investment, this time including live events and video podcasts. The earlier early-2025 hike had already taken Standard with Ads to $7.99, Standard to $17.99, and Premium to $24.99, so prices have now climbed twice in quick succession. One side effect of the 2026 increase is that the ad-free extra member at $9.99 now costs more than a whole Standard-with-Ads account at $8.99. We run that comparison in the household tax guide to extra-member fees.
Disney+ / Hulu / ESPN Bundles (second hike in a year)
- Disney+ Basic (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/month (+4%)
- Disney+ Premium (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/month (+13%); annual $189.99 → $214.99 (+13%)
- Hulu (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/month (+4%)
- Hulu (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/month (+13%)
- Hulu + Live TV: $89.99 → $99.99/month (+11%)
- Disney+, Hulu Bundle Duo (with ads): $12.99/month (unchanged)
- Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium (no ads): $19.99 → $21.99/month (+10%)
- Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select Trio (with ads): $19.99 → $21.99/month (+10%)
- Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle: $19.99 → $21.99/month with ads (+10%) and $32.99 → $34.99/month ad-free (+6%)
- Extra Member: unchanged at $6.99 with ads and $9.99 ad-free
- Effective Date: September 23, 2026 for new subscribers (September 17 for the ESPN Select Trio); existing Disney+ subscribers pay it from their first bill on or after October 21, existing Hulu subscribers from their next bill
The October 2025 round had already taken Disney+ Basic from $9.99 to $11.99 and Premium from $15.99 to $18.99, and Hulu from $9.99 to $11.99 with ads and from $17.99 to $18.99 without. This time the ad-free tiers took the biggest rise, so the gap between Hulu with ads and without is now $9 a month, up from $7. The Duo with ads is the one bundle price that held, and at $12.99 it is the cheapest way to keep both services. Disney's aggressive pricing reflects their pivot to profitability over subscriber growth.
Max (formerly HBO Max)
- With Ads: $9.99 → $10.99/month (+10%)
- Standard (Ad-Free): $15.99 → $18.49/month (+16%)
- Premium: $19.99 → $22.99/month (+15%)
- Annual plans: $109.99 (with ads), $184.99 (Standard) and $229.99 (Premium)
- Effective Date: October 2025 for new subscribers; no change since
Warner Bros. Discovery continues its quest to squeeze every dollar from subscribers while simultaneously removing content from the platform. Classic move.
Paramount+
- Essential (with ads): $7.99 → $8.99/month (+13%)
- Premium (with Showtime): $12.99 → $13.99/month (+8%)
- Effective Date: January 2026
- Free trial: no longer offered on direct sign-ups since early 2026; only partner trials remain
Paramount+ continues to raise prices as it prioritizes profitability over subscriber growth.
Peacock (two hikes in a year)
- Select (with ads): $7.99 → $8.99/month (+13%); annual $79.99 → $89.99
- Premium: $10.99 → $12.99/month (+18%); annual $109.99 → $129.99
- Premium Plus: $16.99 → $19.99/month (+18%); annual $169.99 → $199.99
- Effective Date: August 18, 2026 for new and returning subscribers; existing subscribers pay it from their first bill on or after September 17
This follows the August 2025 round, when Premium rose from $7.99 to $10.99 (+38%) and Premium Plus from $13.99 to $16.99 (+21%). Premium Plus now costs $7 a month more than Premium.
Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+)
- Monthly: $12.99 → $14.99/month (+15%)
- Annual: $99 → $119/year (+20%)
- Effective Date: August 28, 2026 for new subscribers; existing subscribers get about a month's notice before their renewal
- Scope: the US, Brazil, Chile and Mexico only. European prices were untouched
- Bundle: Apple TV plus Peacock Premium (with ads) costs $17.99/month, up from the $14.99 it launched at in October 2025
This is the fourth increase in four years and the steepest run on this page: Apple TV launched at $4.99 in 2019 and now costs $14.99, a 200% rise. The annual plan is where the gap has opened up, at $119 against $179.88 for twelve monthly payments.
Amazon Prime (includes Prime Video)
- Monthly: $14.99/month (unchanged since 2022)
- Annual: $139/year (unchanged since 2022)
- Prime Video Ultra (ad-free add-on): $2.99 → $4.99/month (+67%), or $45.99/year
- Effective Date: April 10, 2026 for new sign-ups; existing ad-free subscribers moved to $4.99 from April 19
Prime itself did not change in 2026, but removing Prime Video ads now costs $4.99 a month instead of $2.99, the steepest percentage rise among the streaming services in this tracker. Counted as a separate line on your card, the add-on now costs $24 more a year.
YouTube Premium
- Individual: $13.99 → $15.99/month (+14%)
- Family: $22.99 → $26.99/month (+17%)
- Student: $7.99 → $8.99/month (+13%)
- Premium Lite: $7.99 → $8.99/month (+13%)
- Effective Date: April 10, 2026 for new subscribers; existing subscribers from their June 7 bill
Starz
- Standard monthly: $10.99 → $11.99/month (+9%)
- Effective Date: June 8, 2026
AMC+
- With Ads: $6.99 → $7.99/month (+14%)
- Ad-Free: $9.99 → $10.99/month (+10%); annual $95.88 → $109.99
- Effective Date: February 11, 2026 for new subscribers; existing subscribers from March 13
Crunchyroll
- Fan: $7.99 → $9.99/month (+25%)
- Mega Fan: $11.99 → $13.99/month (+17%)
- Ultimate Fan: $15.99 → $17.99/month (+13%)
- Effective Date: February 2026, weeks after the free ad-supported plan disappeared
Services with NO Price Increase (Yet)
- Tubi: Still free (ad-supported)
- Pluto TV: Still free (ad-supported)
Music Streaming Price Changes
Spotify
- Individual: $11.99 → $12.99/month (+8%)
- Duo: $16.99 → $18.99/month (+12%)
- Family: $19.99 → $21.99/month (+10%)
- Student: $5.99 → $6.99/month (+17%)
- Effective Date: February 2026
Spotify's third price increase since 2023. They've also removed lyrics access from the free tier and are pushing audiobook bundles nobody asked for.
Apple Music
- Individual: $10.99 → $11.99/month (+9%)
- Family: $16.99 → $19.99/month (+18%)
- Student: $5.99 → $6.99/month (+17%)
- Effective Date: July 2026
Amazon Music Unlimited
- Individual (Prime members): $10.99 → $11.99/month (+9%); annual $109 → $119
- Individual (non-Prime): $11.99 → $12.99/month (+8%)
- Family: $19.99 → $21.99/month (+10%); annual $199 → $219
- Effective Date: February 3, 2026 for new customers; existing subscribers from their first bill on or after March 5
Tidal
- Individual: $10.99 → $11.99/month (+9%)
- Family: $16.99 → $19.99/month (+18%)
- Student: $5.49 → $6.99/month (+27%)
- Effective Date: August 2026, the first increase since HiFi and HiFi Plus were merged in 2024
YouTube Music Premium
- Individual: $10.99 → $11.99/month (+9%)
- Family: $16.99 → $18.99/month (+12%)
- Also listed: an Individual annual plan at $119.99 and a Student plan at $5.99
- Effective Date: April 10, 2026 for new subscribers; existing subscribers from their June 7 bill
Apple One
- Individual: $19.95 → $21.95/month (+10%)
- Family: $25.95 → $27.95/month (+8%)
- Premier: $37.95 → $39.95/month (+5%)
- Effective Date: July 20, 2026 for Family and Premier; Individual followed on August 28 in the US, Brazil, Chile and Mexico
Software & Productivity Price Changes
This is where it really hurts, especially for freelancers and small businesses.
Adobe Creative Cloud
- Creative Cloud Pro (All Apps): $59.99 → $69.99/month (+17%)
- Creative Cloud Standard (New tier): $54.99/month
- Photography Plan: $9.99 → $19.99/month (+100%)
- Single App: $22.99/month (unchanged)
- Effective Date: June 2025
- Annual Impact: +$120/year for Creative Cloud Pro
Adobe restructured their plans in 2025, renaming "All Apps" to "Creative Cloud Pro" and introducing a new "Standard" tier. The Photography Plan saw the biggest increase because it was the last "affordable" Adobe offering.
Microsoft 365
- Personal: $6.99 → $9.99/month (+43%)
- Family: $9.99 → $12.99/month (+30%)
- Business Basic: $6.00 → $7.00/user/month (+17%)
- Business Standard: $12.50 → $14.50/user/month (+16%)
- Premium (top consumer tier): $19.99/month ($199.99/year), a newer tier rather than a price rise
- Effective Date: Early 2025
Microsoft justifies this with "AI features in Copilot." Whether you use those AI features or not, you're paying for them.
Microsoft 365 (commercial plans, July 2026)
- Office 365 E3: $36 → $39/user/month (+8%)
- Microsoft 365 E5: $57 → $60/user/month (+5%)
- Frontline plans: increases of roughly 25-43% depending on the plan
- Business Premium and Office 365 E1: unchanged
- Effective Date: July 1, 2026, globally, for new and renewing customers; existing subscriptions keep their price until renewal
This second wave targets business and enterprise suites rather than the consumer plans, and Microsoft again framed it around added security and AI value. If your business renews after July 1, check the quote line by line: existing customers keep current pricing until their renewal date, which makes the weeks before renewal the only window to renegotiate seats or step down a tier. Full details are in Microsoft's licensing update.
Google Workspace
- Business Starter: $6 → $7/user/month on a yearly commitment (+17%); flexible $7.20 → $8.40
- Business Standard: $12 → $14/user/month (+17%); flexible $14.40 → $16.80
- Business Plus: $18 → $22/user/month (+22%); flexible $21.60 → $26.40
- Effective Date: January 2025 for new customers (existing customers from March 17), when Gemini was bundled into every Business plan
Notion
- Plus: $8/user/month → $10/user/month (+25%), January 2026
- Business: $15/user/month → $20/user/month on annual billing (+33%), May 2025, when unlimited Notion AI was folded in
Canva
- Pro: $15/month → $18/month (+20%)
- Pro annual: $120/year → $144/year (+20%)
Figma
- Professional Full seat (billed annually): $15 → $16/month (+7%)
- Professional Full seat (billed monthly): $18 → $20/month (+11%)
- Organization Full seat: $45 → $55/month (+22%)
- Effective Date: March 11, 2025, when Figma moved to Full, Dev and Collab seats; no further change in 2026
1Password
- Individual: $2.99 → $3.99/month (+33%)
- Families: $4.99 → $5.99/month (+20%)
- Effective Date: March 2026
NordVPN
- Basic (month-to-month): $12.99 → $14.99/month (+15%)
- Complete (month-to-month): now $19.99; Prime: now $29.99
- Two-year promos (now 27 months): Basic $3.49, Complete $4.49 (it was $6.49) and Prime $7.49 a month
- Plus tier: discontinued in the US and folded into Complete
- Effective Date: June 2026
Dropbox
- Plus (2 TB): $11.99/month or $119.88/year (unchanged since 2019)
- Professional (3 TB, one user, formerly Essentials): no longer sold on dropbox.com in the US; it survives only in the iOS and Android app stores at $19.99/month
- Standard (3 TB): now has no minimum number of users, at $18/month or $15/month billed annually
- Effective Date: July 2026
X Premium (now The X Subscription)
- Plus: $8/month ($80/year) for the checkmark
- Premium: $30/month ($300/year), with the full Premium+ benefits plus Grok, Grok Bot and Cursor, instead of the old $40 Premium+
- Super: $100/month; Ultra: $200/month
- Legacy plans: Basic $3, Premium $8 and Premium+ $40 stay only for existing subscribers, and Basic has no successor
- Effective Date: October 12, 2026 for new customers; Premium+ had risen from $22 to $40 in February 2025
AI Tools & Services Price Changes
This category moved more than any other in 2026, and almost none of it was a straight price rise on an existing plan. OpenAI, Google and Anthropic added rungs above and below the plan you were already on rather than repricing it, Cursor replaced its plans outright, and two of the year's largest moves were cuts. The entries below say explicitly which prices changed and which have simply held, because a list of current prices is not a list of increases.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Plus: $20/month — no change since February 2023
- Go (new tier): $8/month (8 € in Spain after a cut from 9,99 € by August 2026), rolled out globally January 16, 2026
- Pro 100: $100/month for 5x Plus usage, added April 9, 2026
- Pro 200: still $200/month, but since September 29, 2026 it includes 10x Plus usage instead of 20x (existing subscribers move on October 30), which is a price rise per unit of usage
- Pro 500 (new): $500/month for 25x Plus usage, launched September 29, 2026 (510 € in Spain)
- Business (renamed from Team): $30 → $25/user/month on monthly billing, $25 → $20 on annual — a cut, not a rise
- Effective Date: April 2, 2026 for the Business reduction
Claude (Anthropic)
- Pro monthly: $20/month — no change since September 2023
- Pro annual: $200/year ($16.67/mo equivalent)
- Max (added April 2025): $100/month for 5x Pro capacity or $200/month for 20x — no change since launch
- Claude Code runs on the same Pro or Max plan and shares its limits; it is not a separate subscription line on your card
Google Gemini (sold through Google One)
- AI Plus: $7.99 → $4.99/month (−38%), with storage doubled from 200GB to 400GB
- Effective Date: June 2026
- AI Pro: $19.99/month with 5TB — no change in 2026
- AI Ultra: $249.99 → $199.99/month (−20%) for the 20x tier, with a new $99.99 tier at roughly 5x Pro usage, 20TB and a full YouTube Premium plan added beneath it
- Effective Date: May 2026, announced at Google I/O
Perplexity
- Pro: $20/month ($200/year) — no change since launch
- Max (new tier): $200/month or $2,000/year, added July 2, 2025
- Worth checking before you pay: Perplexity has given away 12-month Pro codes through carriers, banks and PayPal, and those expire silently rather than billing you
Cursor (now sold through The X Subscription)
- New plans: Plus $8, Premium $30, Super $100 and Ultra $200 a month ($80, $300, $1,000 and $2,000 a year), sold together with Grok, Grok Bot and X Premium; Teams from $30 a seat
- Legacy plans: Pro ($20), Pro+ ($60), the old Ultra and Teams Standard ($40 a seat) are closed to new sign-ups; existing subscribers keep them until they switch or cancel
- Like for like: Cursor maps Pro to Premium and Pro+ to Super, so a new customer pays $10 more than the old Pro price ($20 → $30, +50%)
- Billing: new plans are managed at grok.com, legacy plans stay in cursor.com billing; no free trial is listed, and the free tier is called Free
- Effective Date: October 12, 2026
GitHub Copilot
- Copilot Pro (formerly Individual): $10/month, no change
- Copilot Pro+: $39/month; Copilot Max: $100/month, launched June 2026
- Business: $19/user/month, no change
- Annual plans retired: in April 2026 the $100/year plan stopped being sold to new subscribers; existing annual subscribers keep it until it expires, then move to Copilot Free
- What did change: June 2026 moved individual plans onto metered AI credits (Pro 1,500, Pro+ 7,000, Max 20,000 a month). The headline fee held, but the flat plan now sits on top of usage that can be billed separately, which is the pattern to watch across this whole category
Midjourney
- Basic: $10/month ($96/year), Standard: $30 ($288/year), Pro: $60 ($576/year), Mega: $120 ($1,152/year)
- No change on any tier in 2026.
Developer-only plans worth knowing about
Two subscriptions show up on developers' cards without ever appearing in a consumer roundup, because neither has a chat app of its own:
- OpenCode Go: $10/month for open coding models (the $5 first month is gone), plus a $40 Go Plus tier added by October. Usage is a monthly dollar allowance per model, capped at 20% per 5 hours and 50% per week. The setting to watch is Use balance, which lets it spill over into your prepaid credits instead of stopping at the cap
- GLM Coding Plan (Z.ai): $18/month Lite, $80 Pro, $168 Max, plugged into Claude Code, Cline or OpenCode. Pro and Max rose from $72 and $160 after Z.ai's July 30 move to a credits-based plan; renewals are charged at the price on the charge date. The widely quoted $12.60 is Lite's per-month price on annual billing, not a monthly rate
Fitness & Wellness Price Changes
Peloton
- App One: $15.99/month or $159.99/year
- App+: $28.99/month or $289.99/year
- All-Access: $44 → $49.99/month (+14%)
- Effective Date: October 2025, when App One and App+ also moved to their current prices
Apple Fitness+
- Monthly: $9.99/month (unchanged)
- Annual: $79.99/year (unchanged)
- Effective Date: No change in 2026
Calm
- Premium annual: $69.99 → $79.99/year (+14%)
- Premium monthly: $14.99 → $16.99/month (+13%)
- Premium Family (annual, 6 accounts): $99.99 → $119.99/year (+20%)
- Effective Date: February 2026 for individual Premium; October 2026 for the Family plan
Headspace
- Monthly: $12.99/month (unchanged)
- Annual: $69.99/year (unchanged)
- Effective Date: No change in 2026
Strava
- Monthly: $11.99/month (unchanged)
- Annual: $79.99/year (unchanged)
- Also listed: a Strava + Runna bundle at $149.99/year
- Effective Date: No change in 2026
Gaming Subscription Price Changes
PlayStation Plus
- Essential: $10.99/month, $27.99/3-mo, or $79.99/year (monthly went up from $9.99 in May 2026; annual held at $79.99)
- Extra: $16.99/month, $44.99/3-mo, or $134.99/year (monthly went up from $14.99)
- Premium: $19.99/month, $53.99/3-mo, or $159.99/year (monthly went up from $17.99)
- Effective Date: May 20, 2026 for monthly/3-month tiers; annual rates held
Xbox Game Pass
- Essential (formerly Core): $9.99/month (unchanged)
- Premium (formerly Standard): $14.99/month (unchanged)
- PC Game Pass: dropped to $13.99/month in April 2026
- Ultimate: rose from $19.99 to $29.99 in October 2025, then dropped to $22.99/month on April 21, 2026
Nintendo Switch Online
- Individual: $3.99/month or $19.99/year (unchanged)
- Family: $34.99/year (unchanged)
- Expansion Pack: $49.99/year individual or $79.99/year family (unchanged)
- Effective Date: No US price increase in 2026
News & Media Price Changes
The New York Times
- All Access: $25 → $30 every four weeks (+20%), about $390 a year
- All Access Family: $30 every four weeks for up to four accounts (unchanged)
- Effective Date: mid-January 2026; the $4 every four weeks first-year offer stayed
- Important: promotional and legacy rates vary by account; check the renewal amount shown in your subscription settings
The Washington Post
- Core (replaced All-Access Digital): $12 → $14 every four weeks (+17%); $120 → $140/year, or about $182 a year if paid every four weeks
- Premium (new tier): $19 every four weeks or $190/year
- Introductory offer: still $4 every four weeks for the first year
- Effective Date: by June 2026
The Wall Street Journal
- Digital All-Access: $4/month introductory, then $38.99/month at the standard rate
- Effective Date: no 2026 change recorded
Food Delivery & Memberships Price Changes
This is the quiet corner of the tracker: the two big delivery memberships have not raised their headline fee in years. What changes here is the fee structure underneath, and whether the membership still pays for itself at your order volume.
DoorDash DashPass
- Monthly: $9.99/month — no change
- Annual: $96/year, which is $23.88 less than paying monthly
- Student: $4.99/month ($48/year)
Uber One
- Monthly: $9.99/month — no change
- Annual: $96/year
- Student: $4.99/month (where available)
Costco
- Gold Star: $60 → $65/year
- Executive: $120 → $130/year
- Effective Date: September 1, 2024 — still the most recent change, and the first in seven years
Calculate Your Personal 2026 Price Hike Impact
Here's how to figure out exactly how much more you're paying in 2026:
- List your current subscriptions (or use SubBuddy to see them all)
- Find each service above and note the price increase
- Calculate the monthly difference for each service
- Multiply by 12 for your annual impact
For example, a typical "tech-savvy millennial" might have:
- Netflix Premium: +$2/month = +$24/year
- Spotify Family: +$2/month = +$24/year
- Disney+ Premium: +$2.50/month = +$30/year
- ChatGPT Plus: unchanged at $20/month
- Peacock Premium: +$2/month = +$24/year
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: +$3/month versus early 2025 = +$36/year
Total 2026 Impact: +$138/year on just 6 subscriptions.
What You Can Do About Rising Prices
You have more power than you think. Here's your action plan:
1. Audit and Eliminate
Price increases are the perfect excuse to cancel services you're barely using. That Disney+ you haven't opened in 3 months? Premium now costs $2.50 more per month. Cancel it.
2. Downgrade Tiers
Do you really need Netflix Premium 4K? Standard HD is $7/month cheaper. Can you tolerate ads on Hulu? That's $9/month in savings.
3. Rotate Services
Instead of paying for 5 streaming services year-round, subscribe to 2 at a time and rotate quarterly. You'll save 50%+ and never run out of content.
4. Hunt for Bundles
Apple One bundles Music, TV, Arcade, iCloud, Fitness+, and News+ starting at $21.95, after Individual rose $2 on August 28, 2026. If you're paying for 3+ Apple services separately, you're overpaying.
5. Lock in Annual Plans
Before the next price hike, switch to annual billing on services you definitely keep. You'll lock in current rates for 12 months.
6. Use SubBuddy to Track Everything
When prices change, you need to know immediately. SubBuddy's renewal alerts tell you before you're charged, giving you time to decide if that $2/month increase is worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are subscription prices increasing so much?
Three main reasons: 1) Companies are pivoting from "growth at all costs" to profitability, 2) Content and development costs are rising, 3) They've trained consumers to accept regular increases without canceling.
Will prices keep going up?
Almost certainly. The subscription model incentivizes regular price increases. Netflix has raised prices 7 times since 2014. Expect 1-2 increases per service per year.
How can I get grandfathered pricing?
Some services (like Spotify historically) have honored old pricing for existing subscribers. The best strategy is to never cancel; pause instead if available.
Are ad-supported tiers worth it now?
Ad tiers rose too, but the gap to ad-free varies a lot: $11 a month at Netflix ($19.99 vs $8.99), $9 at Disney+ and Hulu ($21.49 vs $12.49) and $7 at Peacock ($19.99 vs $12.99). Calculate the time value of ads you'll watch vs. the cost difference.
When will the next price increases happen?
Historically, Q4 and Q1 see the most price increases (holiday → new year timing). Disney+, Hulu, Cursor and Calm have already moved this autumn, so expect more in November-January.
Sources and Review Notes
Download the data. Every price change on this page, plus the current US and Spain plan prices from our service guides, is available as one table with the official source page and the check date on every row: CSV, JSON, and the collection method and dated snapshots. Cite a row, not a screenshot.
This tracker is maintained from public pricing pages, provider billing notices, and official help or plan pages where available. Prices and bundles can change by region, account status, taxes, promotions, and app-store billing channel, so always confirm on the provider's checkout or account page before making a cancellation decision.
Alex Coca
Alex Coca is the independent developer behind SubBuddy. He researches subscription billing, cancellation patterns, and recurring-spend workflows by building the product and reviewing real subscription audits from users and his own accounts.
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How Much Does the Average American Spend on Subscriptions? What the Best Data Shows
There is no single perfect subscription average. Current public studies measure different baskets, from $219/month across subscription services to $69/month for four paid streaming services.

The Ultimate Streaming Wars Guide: Which Services Are Actually Worth It in 2026?
With Netflix, Disney+, Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, and more all fighting for your wallet, which streaming services actually deserve your money? We break down every major platform.

The True Cost of Streaming in 2026: How Much Are Families Actually Spending?
Streaming was supposed to be the affordable alternative to cable. But in 2026, the average household is spending more than ever. We break down every major service's pricing and reveal what American families are really paying.