I made a post almost two years ago now where I ranked the major streaming services based on how much I hate them. It's actually changed a lot in just two years, not just my opinion, but prices and content have too. I thought it would be a good idea to check in on the services, see how much they cost now and how much they actually have to offer overall.
Last time I did this, I found that owning all the major streaming services would cost around 64$ a month if you get the lowest tiers on all of them and about 106$ to get them all ad-free. Let's see how that's changed in two years.
Netflix - $8 lowest tier, $18-$25 for no ads and 4K support.
Hulu - $12 lower tier, $19 no ads
Disney+ - $12 lowest tier, $19 no ads (Hulu/HBO/Disney bundle 20$/33$)
Amazon - $9 lowest tier, $12 no ads
HBO Max - $11 lowest tier, $18.50-$23 for no ads
Peacock - $11 lowest tier, 17$ for no ads (Apple TV bundle $15/$20)
Paramount+ - $8 lowest tier, $13 for no ads (includes Showtime)
Apple TV+ - $13 (Peacock Bundle $15/$20)
That would be 65 dollars a month to get all of these in the lowest tier (if you use their bundle offers). Without the bundles, it's 84 dollars a month. I think it's fair to try to just get the bundle offer because it actually saves a lot of money there. It's actually only a dollar more than it was two years ago, thanks to those bundles.
On the no-ads side of things, you would be paying 96 dollars a month by using the bundles and 117 dollars without the bundles. It's actually 10 dollars less than two years ago with those bundles, so again, it's worth it to get those if you want all of these services. But this does not include the other, more niche services like Crunchyroll for anime or the new ESPN service that's about 30 dollars a month for sports.
Well, with the prices out of the way, what do these services have to offer these days? I'll rank them here by how much I hate them.
Don't Hate? - Apple TV
This is still by far the best service for original content. Though that 3-dollar price increase honestly hurts it a lot, because Apple TV does not have the same content library that all the other services have. This service is strictly Apple TV exclusives and does not have any other movies or shows that aren't produced by Apple itself. While the shows they make are some of the best out there, their movies aren't as good, usually, and often fall flat (with the exception of the awesome F1 movie this summer). Apple is still producing some amazing shows, and it looks like they have plenty of great content coming in the next few years, so that's why I can't hate on this service too much, despite the gross price increase.
Annoys Me - Netflix
It's funny, Netflix has grown on me a lot over the last two years, with some fantastic original content on top of the giant library of movies and shows they rotate every month. Again, the price increase sucks, but I can literally say that about every service on this list, so I can't really keep using that as a reason one service sucks more than the other. The thing about Netflix that always annoyed me was how they just spew out content on a weekly basis, and it's honestly more bad than good. Netflix was using quantity over quality in their content instead of actually making sure all the content was actually worth watching. This is still a problem, but one I've gotten better at ignoring since they actually do have really good originals in the last few years on top of the insane amount of choices for third-party movies and shows. That alone kind of makes this a must-have service. Though I have to deduct points for making me excited about The Electric State, only for it to be one of the biggest disappointments ever.
Starting to Hate - HBO Max
A service that seems to keep getting more and more annoying is HBO Max. I mean, the new leadership and all the mergers have made this service a bit of a mess. Really, Warner Bros in general is a huge mess. There's still some fantastic shows on here, like the new Welcome to Derry and Peacemaker, but the HBO name just doesn't hold the same weight it used to. Still, it's nice to have the big Warner Bros library and all the new releases go from the theater to HBO Max in just a few months.
Mild Hate - Amazon Prime Video
Here's a service that's been drying up on good original content for the last few years. Still got some decent shows like the recent Gen V season and the surprise hit Fallout show. Where they've been failing pretty hard these last two years is more on the movie side of things; there have been some stinkers. The recent War of the Worlds reboot was one of the worst movies I've seen in a while, and the new Chris Pratt movie called Mercy looks awful, too. But this service still has a solid collection of movies from other studios and that alone can make it worth keeping around (especially if it's included in your Amazon Prime account anyway).
Don't Care Enough to Hate - Disney+
Ah, here's a service I barely use. Honestly, over the last two years, I feel like I've barely even wanted to get on this app because there's just not much here for me. I grow tired of all the Marvel and Star Wars shows being dumped onto this service every year, with not much else happening. I mean, the only reason to get this app is if you have kids or are obsessed with Disney properties, because it doesn't really have much else to offer.
Shouldn't Hate, but I Do - Hulu
It's actually frustrating how bad Hulu is as an app, because they actually have some good original content. This is more about how bad their interface is and how bad it is to watch anything on this app. I have so many problems just launching the app, as it sometimes takes forever to log in and gets stuck on the home screen with a bunch of blank images where the shows/movies should be. That on top of having the most/longest ads of any streaming service, just makes me hate watching anything on this app. It suck because they actually have some great shows like Shogun, Paradise, Only Murders in the Building, and Alien Earth. So this has more to do with the actual app/interface than it does the content they put out, but it's incredibly annoying.
You Are Boring, and I Hate You - Peacock
Outside of the Universal movie library, I feel like Peacock just doesn't have much to offer in original content. I mean, their most anticipated show of the year, The Paper, which was the big follow-up to The Office, was just fine. If your most hyped show ends up just being a very mediocre show, that's a problem. Outside of being able to watch new Universal movies a few months after they leave theaters, I don't know what else to really use this for. Even one of their big selling points, which was having a WWE partnership, is now over as ESPN took that from them. Though I will say they recently started streaming NBA games on Peacock, so maybe things can turn around.
Oh, You Still Exist? - Paramount PLUS
Yeah, I don't use this service much. Honestly, the only reason I still use this app is to watch Champions League games, but other than that, there's not much else to see. None of their original content really calls out to me, especially since they are competing with the other 7 services and just don't have anything that looks that great. Something just seems to be lacking here; even with all the Paramount movies they have to watch, it still feels like the app needs more. It just feels like this is clearly the app that's in last place here, and they don't really have that one show that gets everyone talking. They are desperately missing a show like Stranger Things, The Boys, Shogun, Peacemaker, something that people are talking about and watching on a weekly basis together. Tulsa King just ain't gonna cut it.
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