How much do your favourite streaming services really cost?

Netflix has announced it will be increasing its subscription prices by 17%, another price hike for UK households on top of the already skyrocketing cost of living. 

But with so many online streaming services on the market, would you be better off elsewhere? To find out, our experts have put together a handy guide to help you see if the service you’re using truly offers value for money. Here’s how Netflix’s mid-level subscription prices will stack up against rival services:

Notes: We’ve compared the monthly cost of Netflix’s Standard subscription plan with the following products: Amazon Prime Video (£7.99 per month if paid for monthly as part of Amazon Prime), Apple TV+ (£4.99 per month or one year free if you buy a qualifying Apple device), Disney Plus (£7.99 if paid for monthly), Now TV (Entertainment membership: £9.99 per month) and BritBox (Standard membership: £5.99 per month)

Subscriptions to streaming services in the UK have continued to rise in the past year, with Ofcom reporting that almost half of Brits (49%) now consider streaming services their main way of watching TV and film.

The experts at money.co.uk have crunched the numbers to work out the average cost per hour of content watched on each of the most popular streaming services.

We took the average amount of time per week spent on watching online streaming services, which came in at one hour and five minutes per dayaccording to Ofcom**, and then crunched the numbers to calculate how much each streaming service costs to watch per hour of content.

So how does Netflix compare to its rivals using this measure?

• Netflix: 34p an hour

• Amazon Prime Video: 25p an hour 

• Now TV: 31p an hour 

• Disney Plus: 25p an hour 

• Apple TV Plus: 15p an hour 

• BritBox: 18p an hour 

It’s worth bearing in mind that each service offers something slightly different. For example, if you want to watch any Star Wars movies you’ll have to subscribe to Disney Plus, as they are the only streaming platform that offers this content.

Meanwhile, Now TV offers a range of different streaming packages called TV Passes. While the Kids TV Pass is the cheapest at £3.99 per month (after a seven-day free trial), the Entertainment Pass, which offers hundreds of box sets and thousands of movies, is £9.99 per month. 

While Apple TV Plus offers the lowest cost per hour viewed, it has a very limited number of available TV shows and movies. As one of the newest players on the streaming market, Apple TV is looking to increase their original offering over time.

For a strong all-rounder, Netflix could still be a worthwhile pick with a basic package costing only £6.99 per month, although you’ll be limited to watching on one device in standard definition. 

In depth - How do the services compare?

Netflix 

• Price £10.99 a month, £6.99 for basic (new prices) 

• Catalogue size: Over 5,000 movies and more than 2,000 TV shows

Disney Plus 

• Price: £7.99 a month

• Catalogue size: Over 1,300 movies and more than 500 TV shows

Amazon Prime Video

• Price: £7.99 a month with an Amazon Prime membership

• Catalogue size: Thousands of movies and TV shows, with even more on the way, but many require extra money to watch

Apple TV + 

• Price: £4.99 a month or free for three months with a new iPhone, iPad, Mac computer or Apple TV

• Catalogue size: More than 60 TV shows and 25 movies, with more launching every month

Now TV

• Price: £9.99 a month, £9.99 for Now TV Sky Cinema

• Catalogue size: More than 350 TV shows. Over 1,000 movies with Now TV Sky Cinema

BritBox

• Price: £5.99 a month

If you are looking to subscribe to a new streaming service, you may want to consider using a credit card to pay for your subscription. Take a look and compare credit cards to find the option that is best for your financial circumstances.