The State of Subscriptions 2026: How Much More Are We Paying?

Subscriptions Are More Expensive Than Ever — And the Pace Is Accelerating

The cost of the average UK subscription basket has increased by 47% since 2020. That is not a typo. If you have been subscribing to the same services for the last six years without reviewing your spending, you are paying nearly half as much again as you were at the start of the decade.

This is our annual report on the state of subscriptions in the UK. We track prices across 150+ services, analyse the trends, and tell you what is actually happening beneath the marketing spin.

The Numbers: 2020 vs 2026

Streaming services

| Service | Price in 2020 | Price in 2026 | Increase | |---|---|---|---| | Netflix (Standard) | £8.99/mo | £10.99/mo | +22% | | Disney+ | £5.99/mo | £7.99/mo | +33% | | Amazon Prime | £7.99/mo | £8.99/mo | +13% | | Spotify Premium | £9.99/mo | £10.99/mo | +10% | | Apple TV+ | £4.99/mo | £8.99/mo | +80% | | YouTube Premium | £11.99/mo | £12.99/mo | +8% |

The standout figure is Apple TV+, which has nearly doubled in price since launch. Apple initially priced it aggressively low to build a subscriber base, then raised prices once the audience was established. This is a pattern we see repeatedly across the subscription industry.

The "basket" calculation

We track a standardised basket of 10 common UK subscriptions. Here is what it costs today versus six years ago:

2020 basket total: £72.89/month (£874.68/year) 2026 basket total: £107.13/month (£1,285.56/year) Increase: £410.88/year (+47%)

That £410 per year is money that has quietly disappeared from household budgets without most people noticing, because each individual increase was small — a pound here, two pounds there — but the cumulative effect is enormous.

Why Prices Keep Rising

1. The "land and expand" playbook

Most subscription services launch at an artificially low price to acquire customers, then gradually raise prices once people are locked in by habit, data, and switching costs. Netflix launched at £5.99 in the UK. Disney+ launched at £5.99. Apple TV+ launched at £4.99. None of these prices were sustainable — they were customer acquisition tools.

2. Content costs are rising faster than subscription revenue

Netflix spent an estimated $17 billion on content in 2025. Disney spent over $30 billion across all its entertainment divisions. These costs are funded by subscriber fees, and as the easy subscriber growth plateaus in mature markets like the UK, the only way to fund rising content costs is to raise prices.

3. Ad-supported tiers are replacing low-cost plans

Rather than keeping prices low, services are introducing ad-supported tiers as the new "budget" option and pushing their ad-free plans higher. Netflix's ad-supported plan at £4.99 is now cheaper than its original ad-free plan was in 2020. The psychological trick: the ad tier exists to make the full-price tier feel more premium and justify price increases.

4. Investors demand profitability

The era of growth-at-all-costs is over. Investors now expect streaming services to be profitable, not just growing. That means higher prices, fewer promotions, and crackdowns on password sharing.

The Shrinkflation Problem

Price increases are only half the story. Many services are also reducing what you get for the same money:

• Netflix removed its Basic plan (the cheapest ad-free option) in several markets
• Disney+ restricted simultaneous streams on its cheapest plan
• Amazon Prime introduced ads to Prime Video and charges extra to remove them
• Spotify increased prices while keeping the same features and audio quality

This is subscription shrinkflation — you pay more and get the same, or pay the same and get less. Either way, the value per pound spent is declining.

How UK Subscription Inflation Compares to General Inflation

UK CPI inflation from 2020 to 2026 was approximately 28% (cumulative). Subscription prices over the same period increased by 47%. That means subscriptions have risen at 1.7 times the rate of general inflation.

The worst offenders — services whose price increases far exceeded general inflation:

1. Apple TV+ — +80% (2.9x CPI)
2. Disney+ — +33% (1.2x CPI)
3. Netflix — +22% (0.8x CPI — actually below CPI, unusually)
4. Amazon Prime — +13% (0.5x CPI — below CPI)

Netflix and Amazon Prime have been relatively restrained on headline pricing, but both have introduced ad tiers and reduced features to compensate.

What Consumers Are Doing About It

Based on data from GoCancelIt's community of users:

Subscription rotation

The most popular strategy. Instead of subscribing to three streaming services simultaneously (£30+/month), users subscribe to one at a time, binge what they want to watch, cancel, and move to the next. This cuts streaming costs by 60–70%.

Retention offer hunting

When you start the cancellation process, many services offer discounts to keep you. Based on our community data:

• Sky — 73% of users who called to cancel received a retention offer
• Virgin Media — 68% received an offer
• Netflix — 31% were offered a free month or reduced rate
• Spotify — 24% received a discounted rate

Check your odds with our Retention Offer Checker.

Switching to annual plans

For services you know you will use all year, annual plans save 15–20% over monthly billing. But they come with commitment risk — check our annual vs monthly calculator to see if the maths works for your situation.

Downgrading to ad-supported tiers

For price-sensitive users, ad-supported tiers offer 40–50% savings. The ad load on most services is light compared to traditional TV — typically 4–5 minutes per hour versus 15–18 minutes on broadcast TV.

Predictions for the Rest of 2026

Based on historical patterns and industry signals:

1. Spotify will raise prices again — likely in the second half of 2026. The music streaming market is consolidating and all major players are pushing prices up.
2. At least two major services will crack down further on password sharing — following Netflix's lead, which successfully converted millions of shared accounts into paid subscriptions.
3. Bundle deals will increase — Disney already bundles Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Expect more cross-service bundles as standalone growth slows.
4. More services will introduce ads — any service without an ad tier will likely introduce one in 2026–2027.

What You Should Do Right Now

1. Audit your subscriptions — most people are paying for at least one service they do not use
2. Check your total spend — find out how much you have actually paid each service since joining
3. Compare services — if you are paying for overlapping services, one of them can probably go
4. Check for student discounts — if you are a student, you could be saving hundreds per year
5. Set calendar reminders for every renewal date — never let a subscription auto-renew without a conscious decision

The subscription industry is betting that you will keep paying without thinking. The most powerful thing you can do is think about it once a year and act accordingly.