As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — the two Prime Video Channels links in the rotation section (HBO Max and Apple TV) go through Amazon and can earn us a fee. Every other link goes direct to the company, including the HBO Max and Apple TV links where we cite their prices, and pays us nothing. Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+ earn us nothing in this article. See our methodology.
In December 2020, the ad-free version of six major streaming services cost $62.94 a month combined. Today the same six cost $116.44 a month. That is $1,397.28 a year, up from $755.28 — an increase of 85% in under six years.
General prices rose about 29% over the same stretch. Streaming rose nearly three times as fast.
Every 2026 price below was read today from the company’s own pricing page. Every 2020 price comes from the same companies’ own pages as they were captured at the time by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine — not from news reports or listicles, which is where most “price history” tables get their numbers. Sources are listed at the end so you can check them.
Seven services, then and now
| Service | Dec 2020 | Oct 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix Standard (no ads) | $13.99 | $19.99 | +43% |
| Netflix Premium (4K) | $17.99 | $26.99 | +50% |
| Disney+ (no ads) | $6.99 | $21.49 (Premium) | +207% |
| Hulu (no ads) | $11.99 | $21.49 (Premium) | +79% |
| HBO Max (no ads) | $14.99 | $18.49 (Standard) | +23% |
| Apple TV (then Apple TV+) | $4.99 | $14.99 | +200% |
| Peacock Premium Plus (no ads) | $9.99 | $19.99 | +100% |
| CBS All Access → Paramount+, cheapest plan | $5.99 | $8.99 (Essential) | +50% |
Current prices: Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV, Peacock and Paramount+, each read from its own site on 29 October 2026. Disney+ and Hulu’s figures are the prices for new subscriptions from 23 September 2026; existing subscribers move to them on or after 21 October.
Two of these tripled. Disney+ launched as a cheap add-on at $6.99 and is now priced like Netflix. Apple’s service went from $4.99 to $14.99, an increase of $120 a year, and its name lost the plus along the way.
The smallest rise belongs to HBO Max. In 2020 its single plan cost more than anything here except Netflix’s 4K tier; today it is one of the cheaper ad-free options.
The arithmetic, so you can check it
The ad-free stack — Netflix Standard, Disney+, Hulu without ads, HBO Max, Apple TV and Peacock Premium Plus:
- 2020: $13.99 + $6.99 + $11.99 + $14.99 + $4.99 + $9.99 = $62.94 a month, or $755.28 a year
- 2026: $19.99 + $21.49 + $21.49 + $18.49 + $14.99 + $19.99 = $116.44 a month, or $1,397.28 a year
- Difference: $53.50 a month, $642 a year
Paramount+ is left out of this one because CBS All Access’s commercial-free price wasn’t on the captured 2020 page, and we would rather drop a row than fill it from memory.
Now adjust for inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index (CPI-U, all items) stood at 260.474 in December 2020 and 336.940 in September 2026, the latest month published. That is a rise of 29.4%. Had streaming tracked general prices, the 2020 stack would cost $62.94 × 1.294 = $81.42 a month today.
It costs $116.44. The gap above inflation is $35.02 a month — $420.24 a year — and that is the real price rise, the part that isn’t just money being worth less.
The cheap tiers rose less — because they added ads
The picture changes if you take each service’s cheapest paid plan instead:
| Service | Cheapest, Dec 2020 | Cheapest, Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | $8.99 — Basic, no ads, no HD | $8.99 — Standard with ads, 1080p |
| Disney+ | $6.99 — no ads (only plan) | $12.49 — with ads |
| Hulu | $5.99 — with ads | $12.49 — with ads |
| HBO Max | $14.99 — no ads (only plan) | $10.99 — Basic with Ads |
| Apple TV | $4.99 | $14.99 |
| Peacock | $4.99 Premium (a free plan also existed) | $8.99 — Select |
| CBS All Access / Paramount+ | $5.99 | $8.99 |
| Total | $52.93 | $77.93 |
That is up $25.00 a month, or $300 a year — 47%. Still well above inflation, but less than the ad-free stack.
Look at what moved, though. In December 2020, the archived pages show Disney+ and HBO Max each selling a single plan at a single price — neither had an ad tier yet. Netflix’s cheapest plan had no ads either, just no HD. Today the entry ticket for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max includes commercials. HBO Max’s cheapest plan really did get $4 cheaper, but only by adding ads.
So the honest summary is: the price of avoiding ads went up 85%, and the price of streaming at all went up 47% while ads moved in. Netflix is the clearest case — the $8.99 that bought ad-free streaming in 2020 now buys streaming with ads. Removing them costs another $11 a month, which we priced on its own in Netflix ad tier vs ad-free.
Peacock’s case is similar from the other direction. Its 2020 homepage described a free plan alongside Premium; its current price page lists Select, Premium and Premium Plus, and no free option.
Bundles didn’t escape it
In December 2020 Hulu’s own sign-up page offered Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ together for $12.99 a month. The closest equivalent on Disney’s price list today — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select, all with ads — costs $21.99, up 69%. Our streaming bundles breakdown works through which current bundles actually save money against buying separately.
Annual plans followed too. Disney+’s $69.99 a year in 2020 has become $214.99 a year for Premium, the ad-free plan. Hulu’s annual plan with ads went from $59.99 to $124.99. An annual plan still saves money on the services that offer one, but it locks the higher base in for twelve months — our annual vs monthly billing guide covers when that trade is worth it.
What to do with a 2020 budget in 2026
If you spent $63 a month on streaming in 2020 and still do, you are getting a little over half the services you used to. Two ways to respond:
Rotate. None of these services requires a contract on monthly billing. The six ad-free services average $19.41 a month each today ($116.44 ÷ 6). Hold two at a time and you pay about $38.81 a month, $465.76 a year — $931.52 less than keeping all six, and below the full 2020 stack. You see everything; you just see it on a schedule. HBO Max and Apple TV can both be run through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels — HBO Max on Channels, Apple TV on Channels — which puts the cancelling in one place. Whether that beats subscribing direct is a separate question, answered in Prime Video Channels vs subscribing direct.
Accept ads where they’re cheap. Taking the ad tier on Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Hulu instead of ad-free saves $11.00, $7.50, $9.00 and $9.00 a month — $36.50 a month, $438 a year. That alone covers more than the inflation-adjusted gap.
Verdict
Who should keep the full ad-free stack: a household that genuinely watches across five or six services every month, and for whom $1,397 a year is a deliberate entertainment budget rather than a number they haven’t added up. Plenty of households fit that, and the prices are what they are.
Who should not: anyone still paying for every service they signed up to around 2020 on the assumption that streaming is the cheap alternative to cable. On these figures, the ad-free stack now costs $1,397 a year, and it has risen almost three times as fast as everything else since then. If you can’t name what you watched on a service last month, it should not be on next month’s statement. Our look at how much Americans spend on subscriptions shows how easily these totals drift.
Sources
2026 prices: each company’s own US pricing or help page, linked above, read on 29 October 2026.
2020 prices: the same companies’ own pages, as captured by the Wayback Machine — Netflix plans and pricing, 9 Dec 2020 (US dollar table), Disney+, 16 Dec 2020, Hulu, 16 Dec 2020, HBO Max, 4 Dec 2020, Apple TV+, 16 Dec 2020, Peacock, 28 Oct 2020 and CBS All Access, 16 Dec 2020. Peacock’s is the closest usable capture to December; the nearest capture of its plans page showed a region block instead of prices.
Inflation: BLS CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted, series CUUR0000SA0.
Prices are US, before tax. Verified 29 October 2026.