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Updated 2 hours ago, October 16, 2026

The dream of cutting the cord to save money is looking more complicated than it used to. The cost of going ad-free across streaming has climbed sharply in just a few years, and the companies behind those services have signaled they aren’t done raising prices. Here’s where the numbers stand now — and why they’ve moved so fast.

Keeping all 8 major streaming services ad-free now costs about $61 more each month than it did 4 years ago. Bought separately, those subscriptions add up to roughly $151 a month, compared with about $90 then.

Disney+ alone costs $21.49 a month without ads, up from its $6.99 launch price on November 12, 2019. Hulu’s ad-free plan is also $21.49. Both rose by $2.50 on September 23, 2026.

Netflix Standard reached $19.99 in March 2026, compared with $12.99 in January 2019. Apple TV launched at $4.99 a month in 2019 and reached $14.99 in August 2026.

Executives have described room to keep raising prices. In 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger said: “Every time we’ve taken a price increase, we’ve had only modest churn from that, nothing that we would consider significant.” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in 2025: “We think we’re way underpriced.”

Most households, though, aren’t paying for everything. Deloitte’s survey puts the average at about $69 a month for roughly 4 services, with 68% paying for at least 1 plan with ads. Asked about a $5 price increase, 61% said they’d cancel a favorite service.

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