Keeping up with streaming service costs feels like a never ending task. Admittedly while I was working I didn’t pay much attention. But I’m much more aware of costs since I retired. In 2024 streaming services started cracking down on password sharing and that made me really mad. I’m talking to you Netflix and Hulu. Now I was paying attention. When I first signed up my daughter was still living at home. But then she went to college and then got a job and her own apartment. We kept sharing the services but it was still just the 2 of us using them. So when Netflix announced we could no longer share because we are in different households I was not happy about the increase in costs.
But here’s the thing. It led me to look at the different plans, something I hadn’t done before. I found I had their most expensive plan and was paying nearly $20 /month. So I switched to 2 plans with commercials (one for me and one for my daughter) that cost about $7 each/month. I’m saving $6 a month from before.
Then came Hulu. I had the Hulu bundle that included Disney and ESPN for $15. Now my daughter may be in her late 20s but she still loves her Disney shows and movies. And ok, I still like them too. But not enough to pay extra for them. And while I watch ESPN once in a while and think it’s nice to have, I don’t watch a lot of sports and don’t need it. So I dropped the bundle and we each got our own Hulu account for $8 /month for a total of $16. In this case combined we pay $1 a month more from before.
Changing Hulu was a little complicated because I paid for HBO Max through Hulu. The cost was $16 / month. Since we can still share that account (though that may change soon) it wouldn’t work through our separate Hulu accounts. So I looked around and found that I can get Max through Amazon and they have a version with commercials (Hulu does not) for $11/ month. Jackpot! That saved $5 per month. Max recently announced they may crack down on password sharing at the end of the year but for now we can still share.
Here’s a summary of the 2024 streaming service costs for my daughter and me with password sharing and without. My goal is not to give these companies any more money with these crackdowns and so far it’s more or less working.
| Streaming Service | Per month cost with password sharing | Per month cost for 2 accounts with no password sharing | Change in per month cost |
| Netflix | $20 | $14 ($7/account) | $6 |
| Hulu | $15 (for bundle) | $16 (Hulu only, $8/account) | -$1 |
| HBO Max (can still share but switched getting it from Hulu to Amazon) | $16 | $11 | $5 |
| Net savings per month | $10 |
So while I’m still annoyed at these companies, on the plus side it pushed me to look at my accounts and make changes to less expensive plans. The downside is I may have to watch a few more commercials (I don’t really care about that) and I no longer have Disney. I can live with that. Though I really love movies like Freaky Friday, Tangle, and….!
2026 Update: My Netflix plan increased to about $9 per month. Hulu increased to the point that I dropped it. But I resubscribed after several emails offering a low rate of about $5 per month for 3 months. Not sure what I’ll do when the 3 months are up. The way to really save money may be to drop services periodically and pick them up again when you get new offers. But this means staying on top of what you’re paying and being willing to do the work to unsubscribe and resubscribe.
See Money Matters for more tips.
