Has anyone else shifted to the 'one month at a time' strategy, and which streamer is actually worth a permanent year round subscription in 2026?

I wait for black friday deals that offer 12 months for 2.99 or something and use a raspberry pi to block ads. If there's something I want to watch on a service I don't subscribe to I might sub for a single month. Depends on the show.

One day, I realized I had been paying Netflix for like 10 years and really haven't been using it much. Nowadays I usually subscribe for a month or two and then shut it off and rotate to other services, this wasn't supposed to be more expensive than cable. The only one I keep year round is YouTube Premium, since the household account allows 5 people in there and it includes their premium music service.. it's the only one worth it to me and my family year round. (I know people will jump in and say just use an ad blocker or change your location with a VPN. I have no interest, I watch on my phone, on my TV, etc.. and it's basically the same price as Spotify family anyway which is nice for you tube and premium music)

I have Hulu year round because it has the most stuff I watch, and I will occasionally pick up a second streamer for a month or so if/when something gets released that I want to watch.

Netflix is typically the only service I pay for year round and that's 100% because of my wife (that's her go to). If it was just myself, I would always do the month to month plan for all services, including live TV.

It's all a money thing. If a new season can be watched in 6-8 hours, how many nights will that take you? You can just wait a few months for them to have several new seasons. You don't need to watch it day one.

Year round easily goes to Dropout. It’s one of the most ethically run companies on the market and I will continue supporting them for as long as that remains true.

Lol 🏴‍☠️

I have shifted tot he high seas. They have priced me out.

I've kept HBO for the longest right now. Got it for Peacemaker last September, decided to check out It Welcome to Derry and I liked it so I kept it until December. The Pitt was coming back so I kept it, got to enjoy AKotSK as well. I might cancel it soon though since The Pitt s2 ends this week. In comparison I had Peacock for two months to watch Twisted Metal s2, then cancelled. I got Netflix for a month to watch One Piece s2 and Stranger Things s5 and Paramount for a month to check out South Park. I honestly don't really think any of them are worth a full year, I feel like HBO has just been releasing a lot of bangers close together for me haha.

unsubscribed from all of them, i resubscribe when i find something i want to watch and then immediately cancel. i can do the same thing again in a month if im still watching. these things are a few buttons on my smartphone which im addicted to anyway. would i like to be rich enough to not manage subscriptions this way? of course, but this works for now.

99% of the time I subscribe for a month and then cancel. The services I usually subscribe to for more than a month are Spotify, Crunchyroll, and YouTube Premium; I've been subscribed to Spotify and YouTube Premium continuously for over a year now, Crunchyroll less so because sometimes I cancel and let a month go by. This year I've been subscribed to Spotify, Crunchyroll, HBO, Disney, Paramount, YouTube Premium, Prive Video (Adrenalin, Sony One, Lionsgate+, and BOOH!) for over a month now, and I got a year of Look separately because it was very c****. Yes, I know it's a lot, and no, I don't use even 10% of it, but I kind of got into a horror movie marathon a few months ago and ended up subscribing to several services and haven't canceled any because it hasn't been a financial burden, thank God. Regarding saving money, the best thing is to focus on what you use most frequently.

Dropout, Criterion, and Mubi are my year rounds that I pay for. My mom bought us an HBO Max subscription for Christmas. Take free prime when they give it to me and then shut it off after a month and im on the three month disney/hulu thing for a bit more from the oscars. But i pretty much just keep those top three

I’ve tried to prune back my streaming subscriptions and now I only have Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime, Paramount, Disney, and Apple. Family…

Same boat: everything’s gone from “channel” to “seasonal snack.” Only permanent one for me is Criterion, everything else is a rotation. Low-key tip: check your library’s DVD/Blu-ray section, it’s a goldmine.

I'm more like one streamer every few months. The only I keep continuously is Prime since I get that with my Amazon account. Currently I'm catching on up on Apple+. Maybe I'll catch up on Netflix or HBO near the end of the year.

I got the HBO/Disney/Hulu bundle for $30, which seems like an ok deal. Especially with a little girl who likes disney. Rest, not really worth it. Netflix, SUPER not worth it for what they are charging these days.

I switch to the everything free strategy.

"One month at a time" seems a bit high maintenance to me. I just regularly check in with my wife about what we're watching and if we're not using a particular service I cancel it. That said, Netflix never seems to get canceled.

Have you guys tried just using my mom’s Netflix?

I get Netflix and Amazon through my uncle so I have those year round for free. I get HBO Max via Google Play for free because I use Google Opinion Rewards and Google Play Reward. I get HBO Black Friday deal. I then get Apple and Disney with the Black Friday Deal for 4-5 months.

I pay year round for YouTube Premium since I watch a lot and I use YT Music. I have Peacock through Walmart+.  Everything else is a one month only.

From a fiscal point of view, I have to say Prime, because the streaming comes with the membership I'm already paying for. Second runner up would be Hulu for me, purely for IASIP.

Yeah, I keep a list of stuff i want to watch and rotate between streamers. Hulu is the one I keep all year, and Prime even though there's not a ton of series I watch on it. Mostly use it for movie rentals.

youtube premium is the only one I pay for.

I'm subscribed to Netflix, HBO Max and Apple tv. I would say Netflix is the most worth it to subscribe every month because their library of tv shows and movies is the biggest. But on the other hand HBO does have better quality and the Pitt is one of the best shows out there right now so I'm also keeping this subscription. Apple tv does have some hit shows like Severance or Ted Lasso but otherwise their content is limited. But I still am subscribed because I'm in the Apple ecosystem so I occasionally check what is good there. If I had to pick only one streaming service and subscribe all year long I would definitely choose Netflix.

I only use Prime Video because I am unfortunately reliant on Amazon Prime for delivery needs anyway.

I have Disney+ & Hulu year round to use my $25/mo entertainment credit on my Amex Plat. Otherwise I rotate. If you don’t care about watching new shows as soon as they come out it’s the way to go.

If it was just me, I'd probably do the one month at a time strategy, but I share with my folks who are in their 80s. If they can say the app name into the remote (they also have cable!). Keeping track of who is using what is just too time consuming right now for me. Amazon I have because I do order for work, etc. through that and so it is a side benefit of why I have Prime (I also have a Kindle and use Unlmited a lot) The one I'd probably keep year round is the one that we get free (for now) through said cable... Peacock! Bravo and some other shows are my comfort shows. I will even do a rewatch, and the algorithm of suggestions is pretty good on that app.

I keep Crave because my wife is obsessed with Friends and they have the best TV shows to start blind. I am also able to split it with a friend for now. Other than we cycle through as needed.

We do Prime Video because we use Amazon a ton (especially for my side business), so it's there by default-- and while my rest-of-the-year Prime Video watch time is approximately zero, for the duration of the NBA season it's in heavy rotation alongside Peacock (which we picked up for a $30 annual subscription). We picked up a c**** Black Friday Disney+/Hulu with ads bundle, and we'll likely keep doing so for as long as they're available... at the Black Friday pricing (which I think is like $2 or $3 per month?) there's enough content there for my wife and I for whenever we feel like putting something on in the background. So that's like $6 monthly (paid annually) between Disney+ and Peacock, and Prime gets used as a business expense so I don't really count that. Beyond that, we pay for YouTube Premium (family), which is another $25 or so. and also includes YouTube Music So all in, we pay $28 per month for streaming? Netflix doesn't interest us enough to subscribe, nor does AppleTV+. The bulk of our content streaming outside of the NBA season is just YouTube, honestly.

The only services I subscribe to are iQiyi and Wetv because most of what I watch is Chinese and Thai and those sites have a lot of what I need. They often have half price deals so you can get a year for about $50, much cheaper than any of the western streaming services.

I’ve gotten the best mileage out of Hulu with HBO Max. You also get Disney+ with that subscription. I think it’s like $25/month which is on the high end but there is a LOT to watch.

If you have kids it’s Disney, just because you’ll be watching the same shit over and over for years It used to be HBO Max until it became Max and started self-sabotaging

This is what we do. I get netflix twice a year and easily watch everything thing we want in that time. Right now we have peacock and apple on some deal my wife got. I also have the hbo black friday deal.

I Only keep the ones that are free. I get HBO max from AT&T Hulu Disney+ I get through my Amex card and paramount I get from Walmart+… which I also get from Amex Netflix when I need I sign up for Netflix for Turkey and use a vpn… think it’s like 7 a month

I don't use a TV anymore, usually on my pc for everything, but it's the pirates life for me. If you're really wanting to pay though, noon are really worth keeping all year, just sub a month at a time when you got a few things to watch on a service (make a list)

As a fan of scripted shows, I subscribe to Hulu year round as it has the most variety from ABC/FOX to FX original programming. It occasionally has premium cable shows like True Blood, Godfather of Harlem, and Power. I subscribed to HBO Max through the Black Friday deal, and I may cancel at the end if I am not actively watching at that time. I am currently watching Hacks and The Righteous Gemstones on HBO Max. I just finished Snowfall via FX on Hulu.

I mention this from time to time, but it doesn't seem like many other people do this. You can just pay for a vpn and download torrents for all of the shows you like. Vpn costs me about $5 a month. Whenever I see a new show came out, I'd just download it, put all of the episodes onto a usb stick and plug that in my tv. I can see why a lot of people don't want to do it, but I find it the best instead of subscribing to a streamer for one or two shows that I would finish in 2 to 3 days.

Historically it was D+ because I like having movies on in the background. Lately, I've cancelled everything for AMC stubs, but I should cancel that, too.

I do that for Apple TV. There are a handful of shows I like but not worth subscribing a full year. I wait until the new seasons have aired and binge full seasons of several shows in a month. Though it doesn’t always work. My month “was up” when I started watching the new Pluribus show. Loved it. Now I have to wait until later this year to finish it.

I would've said (up until about 2024) that HBO is consistently worth paying for. They always have at least one great show that a lot of people are talking about. I still consider it the all around best, but this year I'm fully done being $10 dollar'd to death by these streamers. This year I downloaded the 3 or 4 shows that I watch every day and spun up a jellyfin server to serve them. Couldn't be more satisfied with the decision. r/selfhosted r/piracy r/datahoarder ETA: protip: you can cancel right after signing up to avoid being charged past the month you paid for.

Peacock is my year round because I consume an unhealthy amount of Bravo content. We are on a Black Friday schedule where we renew anything that has an annual deal then and give up anything that doesn’t.

Netflix for the wife. And I do HBO Max for one of the weekly political shows. While I like it, the market for topical political shows that are free on YouTube is getting pretty competitive, so that may not be forever. For the others, it's one month at a time. Right now I have Hulu for the Scrubs revival, but I'll be cancelling after it's over. Hopefully they see metrics for that and it helps get a next season green-lit.

I rent TV series and movies from the public and university libraries who have big collections. Cancelled Netflix as it has so little now.

Does nobody on listnook have a family? Children? Roommates? I see this sentiment pop up constantly. Yeah it works if you live alone or whatever, but people tend to have different tastes. I NEVER watch Netflix, but I have people that do.

I’ve shifted to a different strategy, but the mods are not gonna like it.

I just get the ad plans and keep prime and disney. Prime because i like the benefits other than prime video and disney for futurama/ family guy/ american dad. Its like $20 a month to keep both on the ad plans, shoutout Tubi and Pluto though because i might use those more than any.

AFAIC, none of them offer value enough for my money, so I go without. I think the last time I had a Netflix sub was in 2022.

I like channel surfing, so I have DirecTV Entertainment genre pack ($35 per month). It currently includes Disney+/Hulu and HBO Max. That gives me enough channels to surf and enough streaming to watch. However, I also subscribe to Walmart+ for fuel savings. It comes with Paramount+ (you can swap between it and Peacock). Amazon is Amazon and I sub for 2-day shipping. It comes with Prime Video. I will rotate a service in when there is something I want to watch but currently not subbed to anything else.

This year our family went to a DVD player and DVDs from the local library. Cut all subscriptions completely. Surprisingly it has gone very well, haven't felt the need to resub to a single one.

Arrr, matey. Sounds like a fine plan.

No streaming service is worth a full year. Except tubi.  But i get sick of each service i have.  Disney, netflix, crave, bell. Pluto, but i always go back to tubi. Not only is there interface great.  I suggest shows and they get them!!  They have enough of the old things i like plus new things that i actually enjoy!

I keep lists of stuff on each streaming service. Then I wait until there’s a d******* or free trial, binge my list, and cancel when the trial’s over. AppleTV gives out free trials randomly: I’ve gotten trials from buying airpods, from buying off ticketmaster, from my phone provider. The only thing I perma-sub too is youtube bc i watch so much.

I switch from month to month, I even pause during late February since it's a short month. I time them to 4 weeks before the season finale I plan to watch. I keep Prime since I get other benefits, mainly no foreign transaction fees and 5% back. Firefox with uBlock gives you ad-free on a computer, but you need to suffer them in apps/Fire stick.

I generally keep Netflix full time because I use it the most and my family gets really irritated when I cancel it ha. I also have apple tv just because it came with my apple phone - but I think i would buy it anyway because there are pretty good shows on it! Then I might alternate the other streaming apps if I feel like it. but We are starting to get into the getting physical copies of stuff and using those more.

Another W for physical media

I stopped subscribing to everything and I won’t buy future hardware that needs subs to work. All these live service apps can fade away. I’m over it.

Netflix and YouTube

One day I expect them to start locking you in to a minimum year contract or some such BS.

I did the peacock 39.99 year trick a week ago. I said I recently talked to someone about it but got disconnected and wanted to know if they would still honor it. They wanted proof that I didn't have so I said no worries I'll just stay unsubscribed. Then they said wait and offered me the 39.99 for the year. https://www.listnook.com/r/cordcutters/s/DfhOazQEL3

I got Apple One for music and video. Their sci-fi stuff is so strong that I don’t feel bad supporting them year round. I’ve paid for prime, netflix and Disney in the past but cancelled them all and pirate anything outside of Apple.

They all suck. Some more than others.

Right now Apple TV is worth monthly because they are doing a good job of staggering shows I enjoy. Like Shrinking recently ended, but For All Mankind is back. I'm hoping Silo is announced as FAMK is wrapping up so I can roll right into that.

☠️Never pay.

Watching on pirate sites mostly because of convenience

The only video streaming subscription I have at this point is YouTube Premium, because I watch more YouTube than anything else and I hate ads. Any other show on other services I want to watch, I pirate it. Not worth paying so much for like four different services for a single show each.

I currently have HBO, Disney+ (with Hulu & ESPN) cause I bought an annual subscription on Black Friday for about $10/month. Would not renew at the current price. Just cancelled Peacock Prime + NBC sports because basketball season is over. Have Amazon only because it comes with Prime - it’s the weakest one by far and I don’t pay the now $4.99/month to go ad-free. I have Apple because I subscribe to the family plan - a great deal at $38/month (the cost of 3 Spotify subs) because you get TV, Music, News and 2TB cloud storage for 4 people, and they don’t care that my two kids don’t live with us anymore. Netflix is the best to do 1-2 months once a year, to binge watch the 2-3 shows they have worth watching.

Netflix has been implementing multiplayer games which kind of makes it a bit more worth it. It's the only service I use year round, whereas I'm on and off with Crave if there's weekly release shows airing.