Updated on April 10, 2022
The increasing number of streaming services in recent years has also seen an increase in some concerns. Specifically, a growing number of price hikes, plus every media and tech conglomerate wanting their own streaming service. The increase in conglomerate-specific services has also seen said companies yank programming off popular catch-all ones like Netflix. (See “Peanuts” and Apple TV+.) And on top of all that is the expensive nature of live streaming services that’re cable TV replacements, like Hulu Live or YouTube TV. Thus, some are wondering if we were better off with a traditional cable TV subscription, given all of the above. But is this really the case? Are streaming services cheaper than cable?
Below is a look at different streaming options, where I’ll try to answer these questions.
Assumptions
I’m making several assumptions for the following:
- For on demand services, I’m only looking at the most prominent ones: Netflix; Amazon Prime Video; Hulu; Disney+; ESPN+; HBO Max; Apple TV+; Peacock; and Paramount+. Sorry, fans of PBS Passport, Shudder, or Boomerang.
- I’m counting the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle as one “service,” but otherwise not looking at any deals (such as cell phone company bundles).
- I’m also not looking at free services (Pluto TV, Tubi, Kanopy, etc.).
- For live streaming services, I’m mainly using YouTube TV as an example.
- For cable TV and broadband, Consumer Reports reported in an October 2019 survey the average monthly bill for such is $217.42. While the results don’t split out which bills they surveyed are “double play” or “triple play” (i.e. cable/broadband or cable/broadband/phone services), the cost difference between the two seems negligible. It’s also in line with anecdotal observations of people complaining about what their cable/broadband bills run.
- For just broadband service, Reviews.com reports an average monthly bill of $79. That seems to fit my own observations of what I’m paying, plus impending rate hikes.
There’s several price hikes coming within the next month or so of the time I wrote this post, so I’m factoring those in now.(Update: prices current as of July 2021)
Situation #1: Standard tier services
Looking at the standard (or most popular) tiers of these services:
- Netflix (HD tier): $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Apple TV+: $5
- Peacock (full programming tier, with ads): $5
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- YouTube TV: $65
- Total: $131
- Total with broadband cost: $210
Situation #2: High-end streaming service versions
For the enthusiasts that want the highest quality streaming services, i.e. ad-free and/or 4K quality:
- Netflix (4K tier): $18
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (no ads)/ESPN+: $19
- HBO Max (no ads): $15
- Apple TV+: $5
- Peacock (full programming tier, no ads): $10
- Paramount+ (no ads): $10
- YouTube TV: $65
- Total: $155
- Total with broadband cost: $234
Situation #3: Only standard tier on demand services
If we ignore live streaming and only look at standard tier on demand services:
- Netflix (HD tier): $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Apple TV+: $5
- Peacock (full programming tier, with ads): $5
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Total: $66
- Total with broadband cost: $145
My recommendation: Pick only several services or set a streaming budget
Finally, there’s what I actually recommend, either:
- Limit yourself to several services at the most, and ignore/rent/binge for only a month anything else, or…
- Use a set monthly budget for streaming services.
If going with a set budget, several possible examples are below:
$25/month (budget)
At this tier, you’re limited to one major service plus one or two inexpensive ones, but this still can provide plenty of programming. Going with Netflix as the base major service helps.
- Netflix: $14
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Apple TV+: $5
- Total: $24
- Total with broadband cost: $103
Another option’s Hulu, covering two of the major services:
- Netflix: $14
- Hulu (with ads): $6
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Total: $25
- Total with broadband cost: $104
Yet another option is going with HBO Max’s ad-supported tier:
- Netflix: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Total: $24
- Total with broadband cost: $103
Finally, if Netflix isn’t important, there’s the Disney+ bundle, including Hulu and ESPN+:
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Total: $24
- Total with broadband cost: $103
$50/month (moderate)
At this tier, the traditional “big three” streaming services (Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu) can be covered.
- Netflix: $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Hulu (with ads): $6
- Total: $33
- Total with broadband: $112
Throwing in a few extra services (such as the Disney+ bundle and Paramount+) provides:
- Netflix: $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Total: $46
- Total with broadband cost: $125
Another option at this tier’s an inexpensive live streaming service. Sports fans might want Sling TV’s Orange service, which provides ESPN:
- Sling TV Orange: $35
- Netflix: $14
- Total: $49
- Total with broadband cost: $128
$75/month (luxury)
At this amount, various options are available, including one of the pricier live streaming services.
- YouTube TV: $65
- Apple TV+: $5
- Peacock (full programming tier, with ads): $5
- Total: $75
- Total with broadband cost: $154
There’s also cheaper live streaming options like Sling TV:
- Sling TV (Orange and Blue tiers): $50
- Netflix: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Total: $74
- Total with broadband cost: $153
Another cheaper live streaming option’s Philo TV. It offers a small package of mostly Viacom-owned cable channels (Nickelodeon, MTV, etc.), but no local over-the-air channels or sports channels (thus its cheaper price):
- Philo TV: $25
- Netflix: $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Total: $71
- Total with broadband cost: $150
Finally, there’s going with all of the on-demand streaming options listed under Situation #3 above:
- Netflix: $14
- Amazon Prime: $13
- Disney+/Hulu (with ads)/ESPN+: $14
- HBO Max (with ads): $10
- Apple TV+: $5
- Peacock (full programming tier, with ads): $5
- Paramount+ (with ads): $5
- Total: $66
- Total with broadband cost: $145
I set $75/month as a top tier option. Anything more than that (say, at the $100 mark) likely won’t save much money over a standard cable TV/broadband package.
Conclusion
To answer the question “are streaming services cheaper than cable?”: streaming services can cost as much as what cable TV costs… but mostly if you’re buying all of them, and especially if you’re also adding a live TV service. If carefully picking services, it’s still much less than what many cable TV/broadband packages run—even if throwing in a few secondary ones like the aforementioned Boomerang, Shudder, and PBS Passport.
Live TV services are mostly aimed at sports fans (thus their steep prices), or those that absolutely need local channels/live programming; if those aren’t your cases, sticking with on demand options will be much cheaper.
Thus, the answer’s not to go back to Comcast for TV; instead, you should carefully pick which services are needed. Contrary to the hype, you don’t need to buy every streaming service under the sun.
“HBO Now Apple TV” by Harrison Weber is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / cropped from original)
(Updated 9/5/21)
