The year is 2024. Streaming services have taken over the world. There was a time when they looked to be the saviors of media, a killer to the evil known as cable. Over time the streaming services began to get greedy and all the major companies (except Sony for some reason) decided they needed their own streaming service just like Netflix and Hulu. Yes, there was a time when it was simple and it was mostly a choice between Netflix, Hulu, and maybe a premium cable channel like HBO or Showtime. Back in those days, the content each service had was plentiful, with tons of hit shows and movies from all kinds of studios being on just one service like Netflix. These days you also have to choose between all of these lovely services at what seems like always increasing prices and gimmicks. Here's a list of all the current big-name streaming apps:
NETFLIX: 7-23$ a month, the lowest tier has ads and non-HD with no multiple screens. The highest tier is 4 screens (in one household) with 4K and zero ads.
MAX: 10-20$ a month. The lowest tier has ads and the 16$ has no ads. The 20$ tier is just for a 4K upgrade.
Hulu: 8 or 15$ a month. The price difference is just for ads or no ads.
Disney +: 8 or 14$ a month. Much like Hulu, the only difference is ads or no ads.
Amazon Prime Video: 9$ a month or included in Amazon Prime subscription. Amazon will charge an additional 3$ starting soon for ad-free streaming. Gross.
Apple TV+: 10$ a month. No tiers.
Paramount+: 6 or 12$ a month. Basically another ad-free option if you pay more.
Peacock: 6 or 12$ a month, again... ads or no ads is the difference.
The total you would pay to have all of these at once at the lowest tier: 64$ a month
Total for having them all with no ads: 106.50$ a month... cool. That's not even including the 4k upgrades for Max and Netflix. Also not including some of the less popular services like Showtime and Starz. And there are also more specific services like Crunchyroll for anime and ESPN+ for sports that could be added to that list. But that's just the prices, not what the actual content in them includes. So here I will rank them based on how much I hate them, starting with the least hated to the most hated. Mostly focusing on original content, but bonus points for having great libraries of other non-original content.
Don't hate: APPLE TV+
okay, well besides the fact that they just doubled the price from 5 dollars to 10 a month. That was a dumb thing to do, but of course, they were going to eventually do it with the amount of content increasing over time and them wanting to make more high-budget shows and movies to put on the service. Besides the annoying price though, I think this service has some of the best original shows and movies out there. Really the only weakness with this platform is that you can only use it to watch shows made by Apple and nothing else. I suppose there is an option to rent any movie on it, but that's extra money and I'm not counting that as included in the service. Some of my favorite shows of the last 5 years have been on this service though and they keep making some really great content that spans many genres. Shows like Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, Foundation, The After Party, and Bad Sisters are some of the best things I've watched in a very long time. So just for having the best original content, it's hard to really hate this streaming service.
Favorite Show: Bad Sisters / For All Mankind
Barely hate: Hulu
Much like Apple TV+, this is another good stop for original content. The last few years alone they've had The Bear, Reservation Dogs, and Only Murders in the Building. That plus a large library of older originals and a huge library of shows and movies released by Fox and Disney. This is probably the best overall experience in my opinion with the amount of great things to watch. The fact that it's been around for so long helps.
Favorite Show: Devs
Annoys me: Max
At one point in time, HBO was the king of original content. Some of the best shows of all time were exclusively here like Game of Thrones, Sopranos, The Wire, The Leftovers, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Still to this day, they have some fantastic shows like House of the Dragon, Barry, The Last of Us, and White Lotus that are ongoing. The thing that's been so frustrating about this service has been the changes they've made in the last few years. With new leadership, they decided to get rid of the iconic HBO name and make it the boring MAX. That alone should be enough to get people fired. One thing that the company has started to do frequently is remove original shows from the app completely making it so there is nowhere to watch them on any service. To save money they deleted the great shows West World and Raised By Wolves in their entirety. That, plus scrap fully completed movies to get a tax write-off, like they did with Batgirl and a recent Looney Tunes movie. It's all headed in a bad direction, but they still manage to put out some great original content at the same time. That's why I find myself more annoyed than anything with MAX.
Favorite Show: The Leftovers
Mild hate: Amazon Prime
With this new addition of a no-ad tier for an extra 3$ a month, it's hard not to be mad at this service. Can't just leave things alone and let everyone enjoy the service for what it is... you have to upcharge for no adverts like everyone else has done at this point. Amazon's original content has always been hit or miss for me. Seems like for every great show, they make one that's easy to miss. With great shows like The Boys, The Expanse, Fleabag, and Invincible, it's easy to fall in love with this platform because of its high quality. But all that goes away with big disappointments like A League of Their Own, Carnival Row, Paper Girls, The Romanoffs, and that one Lord of the Rings show that they spent a billion making. It feels very hit-or-miss for me, but I think the good still outweighs the bad here. They also offer a decent amount of movies and shows from other networks/distributors that help make their library a little bigger.
Favorite Show: The Expanse
Growing Hate: Peacock
The best thing about this service is that it doesn't have a + in the title? But honestly, when it comes to original content this one feels a bit dry. Yeah, it's a newer service when compared to a lot of the other ones, but that's not an excuse when Apple TV is also pretty new and has plenty of great content to watch. There are a few hits here like Poker Face, Twisted Metal, and Dr. Death recently. The rest of it just feels like filler and content I wouldn't have much interest in if there was nothing else to watch. I guess if you like reality TV this one is great, but that's not my cup of tea. The only thing saving this service for me is the live sports they show because if not for that I'd be out in a second. That and I guess having the Universal library of shows and movies is kind of nice?
Favorite Show: Poker Face
A good amount of hate: Netflix
The one that started it all (kind of). Netflix has gone through so many changes in the last decade that it's nothing close to what it once was (for better and worse). The painful price increases along with the strict no-sharing policy they added really make this the most annoying service of them all. I mean the thing that really gets me is them charging 23$ a month for anyone who wants to watch on more than 2 devices at once in their own house. Oh, but they have an option to pay an extra 8$ on top of the 23$ if you want to share your account with someone who doesn't live with you. Cool.
But besides the horrible pricing, the amount of content Netflix has is pretty crazy. Crazy how much of it is filler and easily skippable content. Yes, when it comes to quantity, Netflix is the king of streaming services, as they drop new content weekly for subscribers. The problem is that most of the content they drop isn't very good. Every now and then they will get a big hit movie or show that everyone will talk about for a month, but most of the time the content they release will be forgotten about forever. I mean when you make 100s of original movies and shows a year, of course, there will be a few that become big hits. If this were just about the number of things to watch then this would be the best streaming service. Also, the fear of finding a great show on Netflix only for it to be canceled after 2 seasons is always there.
Favorite Show: Bojack Horseman / Mindhunter
Don't want to hate, but can't stop hating: Disney+
A service that provides a lot of great memories with childhood classics. The idea of Disney+ is better than the actual service actually is at this point. The massive library of all Disney content is useful to have if you are a parent or take care of kids, for sure. Looking for original content on this thing has been pretty bad though. The main focus here has been taking turns releasing original shows that take place in the Star Wars universe and then a show in the Marvel universe. Rinse and repeat. If you are not a fan of either of those two franchises then you probably won't get a lot of content for you here at the moment. The focus of this app is of course family content and most of it isn't that great. Really, most of it isn't worth watching if you don't have kids to watch it with. While there are some fantastic shows on here like Loki, Andor, and that Willow show they erased, most of the content is easily skippable. It doesn't look like that's going to change much either, with tons of Marvel and Star Wars shows scheduled to come out in the next few years. Bleh.
Favorite Show: Andor
Yeah I hate you: Paramount+
I guess it's unfair to put this one at the bottom since it's the newest one on this list, but that's what makes it so easy too. If you are looking for great original content this is the worst place to look. Not to say everything they have is awful because that's not true. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Mayor of Kingstown, and 1923 are all good shows.... but that's about it on the service. If you love Yellowstone, then this is a must-have service, because they got countless spinoffs of that show coming to Paramount. This is more of a problem of just not being around long enough to really have a great library of original content on top of the fact that it's just another service that feels like it doesn't really need to exist.
Favorite Show: Star Trek Strange New Worlds
So that's it. Every service seems to have some great content in it, but for most services, it's a lot of forgettable content thrown in alongside that great stuff. Everyone will have different opinions based on their interests, but it's my opinion and it's the right one. So yeah... cancel Paramount+ already. (Unless you get it for free like I do).