The cheapest streaming services in the US start at $8.99 a month in 2026. That price gets you a standalone Prime Video membership or Paramount+ Essential, both with ads. Next come HBO Max Basic with Ads at $10.99 and Disney+ with ads at $12.49.
Before you pay for anything, open Tubi: free movies and TV shows with ads, 100% legal, no credit card. The catch is geography. Tubi works in the US and a handful of other countries, but in the EU it greets you with a “not available in Europe” message, which matters the moment you travel.
Every price below is a monthly US price from the service’s own pages, checked on October 26, 2026. HBO Max notes that its prices exclude taxes.
Here are the regular monthly prices of the big paid services in the US, from cheapest to most expensive. Bundles and intro deals come further down.
Cheapest plans in the US | Price per month |
|---|---|
Prime Video (standalone) | $8.99 |
Paramount+ Essential | $8.99 |
HBO Max Basic with Ads | $10.99 |
Disney+ with ads | $12.49 |
Paramount+ Premium | $13.99 |
Amazon Prime | $14.99 |
Apple TV | $14.99 |
HBO Max Standard | $18.49 |
Disney+ Premium | $21.49 |
Source: official service price pages, October 26, 2026 | |
Two plans tie for first place at $8.99. The standalone Prime Video membership is Prime Video alone, with limited ads. Paramount+ Essential also runs ads. If you already shop on Amazon, full Amazon Prime costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year and includes Prime Video with the same limited ads, plus shipping and the other Prime perks. Apple TV at $14.99 has no ad tier at all.
Netflix isn’t in the chart. Its Standard with ads plan cost $8.99 in the US according to Netflix’s Q1 2026 shareholder letter of April 16, 2026, and we couldn’t verify a newer US price or the current Standard and Premium prices. If you’re curious how much Netflix costs in other countries, we track that in a separate guide. For everything you can subscribe to at home, see our list of streaming services available in the United States.
Tubi costs nothing. Its help center calls it “100% free, 100% legal”: no subscription, no credit card, just short ad breaks, and there’s no ad-free option. Outside the US, Tubi works in Canada, Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and the United Kingdom. Open it in Paris, Rome or Berlin and you get this instead: “We are not available in Europe due to changes in EU laws.”
That’s where a VPN from our table belongs on your packing list. Connect to a server in the US and Tubi sees you at home again, with the full lineup of free Tubi movies and TV shows ready to play. The same US server brings back the subscriptions you already pay for at home, like Paramount+ or HBO Max, so a vacation in Europe doesn’t mean a break from your shows. The VPN only changes your virtual location: Tubi stays free, and your paid plans stay at your usual price.
| VPN Service | Price | Tubi | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ExpressVPNBEST | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 24 | Try it |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Open |
 Surfshark | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ~ Partial | October 24 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ~ Partial | October 25 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ~ Partial | October 24 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works~ Partial~ Partial~ PartialThe ranking in the table is based on StreamFix data, and our VPN ranking methodology explains how we build it.
Pick a VPN from the table above and install it on your phone, laptop or streaming device.
Connect to a server in the United States.
Open the Tubi app or website. You don’t pay anything, and Tubi never asks for a credit card.
Choose a movie or show and press play. Short ad breaks run just like they do at home.
Not sure where to start? Here’s what to watch on Tubi right now.
An ad tier is the cheapest way into almost every big service. Here’s what going ad-free costs, using only price pairs we could verify on October 26, 2026:
Disney+: $12.49 with ads, $21.49 for Premium. You pay $9.00 more a month, or $108 a year. Disney notes that Premium still shows ads in select live and linear content.
HBO Max: $10.99 for Basic with Ads, $18.49 for Standard. That’s $7.50 more a month, or $90 a year.
Paramount+: $8.99 for Essential, $13.99 for Premium. The step up is $5.00 a month, or $60 a year, and Premium adds your local live CBS station. Live TV still carries ads on Premium.
Prime Video: ads are the default. Prime Video Ultra removes them for $4.99 a month on top, replacing the old $2.99 ad-free option. By our math, the standalone membership plus Ultra comes to $13.98 a month, and Amazon Prime plus Ultra to $19.98. Live TV, sports and some other ad-supported content can still show ads.
Our tip: keep the ad tier on services you open once or twice a week and pocket the difference. Pay for ad-free only on the one app your household watches every night. Compare the tiers in our Paramount+ streaming guide and our Disney+ guide.
Bundles pay off when you’d subscribe to both services anyway. These are the US bundles we could verify:
Disney+, Hulu Bundle with ads: $12.99 a month, or $11.99 a month for the first 6 months. That’s only $0.50 more than Disney+ with ads on its own, and Hulu with ads comes along.
Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium without ads: $21.99 a month, or $19.99 a month for the first 6 months, again $0.50 above Disney+ Premium alone.
Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max with ads: $21.99 a month. Disney says that saves $13 a month compared with paying for each one. Without ads it’s $34.99, a saving of $26 a month according to Disney.
Apple TV and Peacock: plans start at $17.99 a month, and Apple says that saves over 30% compared with subscribing to each one. The entry tier is $3 more than Apple TV alone.
We couldn’t verify standalone prices for Hulu or Peacock, so the Disney+, Hulu Bundle is the cheapest verified way into Hulu’s lineup of series and movies. Our tip: if Disney+ with ads is already on your list, take the bundle for 50 cents more.
You can watch plenty legally without paying a cent. These services run on ads, public funding or your local library:
Tubi: free movies and TV shows with ads, no credit card and no ad-free option.
Samsung TV Plus: free on Samsung Smart TVs released after 2016, Galaxy devices and Smart Monitors.
PBS: many videos on the PBS website and app play without a fee or account. Passport, a benefit for station donors, unlocks more.
Kanopy: films through your library card, if your public library takes part.
If you miss channel surfing, three services give you live channels for free. Pluto TV offers hundreds of free live channels with news, sports and movies, plus thousands of on-demand movies and shows. The Roku Channel adds more than 500 live channels, Roku Originals and free movies and shows on Roku devices, the web and mobile; our The Roku Channel streaming guide has the details. Plex lists more than 600 free channels, and its free account needs no credit card.
We didn’t verify prices for paid live TV services. If you want a live network inside a paid plan, Paramount+ Premium at $13.99 includes your local live CBS station.
Pay yearly where you can. Amazon Prime at $139 a year instead of 12 months at $14.99 ($179.88) saves $40.88. HBO Max Basic with Ads at $109.99 a year saves $21.89, and Paramount+ Essential at $89.99 a year saves $17.89 compared with monthly billing.
Choose the ad tier. On Disney+ alone that’s $9.00 a month back in your pocket.
Rotate your subscriptions. Sign up for one service, watch the shows you came for, cancel and move to the next one. You rarely need every app at once.
Check discounts. Prime for Young Adults costs $7.49 a month, and Prime Access is $6.99 a month for eligible government assistance recipients.
Start with free services. Tubi, PBS and Pluto TV cost nothing, and Tubi never asks for a credit card.
The cheapest setup in 2026 is free: Tubi for movies and series, PBS for public TV and Pluto TV for live channels. When you want a specific show, add one $8.99 plan and switch it every few months. Heading to Europe? Tubi won’t open in the EU, so install a VPN from our table before you fly and connect to a US server to keep watching for free.
Compare providers in our ranking of the best VPNs for streaming, read how to watch US streaming services from anywhere, or browse our full directory of streaming platforms. To pick a provider, read our guide to the best VPN for Netflix. Our guide to the cheapest VPN for streaming compares what each one costs per month.
TubiPartly available11 of 194tracked countriesIn the US, the cheapest paid plans are the standalone Prime Video membership and Paramount+ Essential at $8.99 a month each, both with ads. HBO Max Basic with Ads follows at $10.99. Prices as of October 26, 2026.
Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Plex and Samsung TV Plus are free with ads, and many PBS videos play without a fee or account. With a participating library card you can also stream films on Kanopy.
Prime Video (standalone) and Paramount+ Essential, at $8.99 a month. Netflix Standard with ads cost $8.99 in the US according to Netflix’s shareholder letter of April 16, 2026; we couldn’t verify a newer US price.
Often, yes. The Disney+, Hulu Bundle with ads costs $12.99 a month, just $0.50 more than Disney+ with ads alone. Disney says the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max bundle with ads at $21.99 saves $13 a month compared with separate subscriptions.
Tubi also works in Canada, Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and the United Kingdom, but not in the EU. There, connect to a US server with a VPN from our table and Tubi plays for free as it does at home. Our explainer on what a VPN does for streaming covers the basics.
Yes, the ones in this guide are. Tubi calls itself 100% free and 100% legal, and it pays for itself with short ad breaks. PBS, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel and Plex are official services too.
VPNs are legal in most countries, and many people use one every day for privacy and travel. A VPN only changes your virtual location, so you watch Tubi abroad just as you do at home.
For free live channels, try Pluto TV, The Roku Channel with more than 500 live channels, or Plex with more than 600. In a paid plan, Paramount+ Premium at $13.99 a month includes your local live CBS station.
BBC iPlayer stops streaming the moment you leave the UK, even on holiday. Downloads made at home keep playing, your TV Licence still applies, and a VPN from our table with a UK server brings back live channels and new episodes.
English rarely goes missing on Netflix, but other languages often do once you travel. Here are the four causes Netflix names, what one library really offers, how profile language hides titles, and how to change audio language so it sticks.
Netflix Standard costs $2.89 in Pakistan and $27.44 in Switzerland, a gap of 9.5 times. We ranked 242 countries and territories, broke down US plans and sales tax, and explain what Netflix says about why prices differ.
