Streaming Service Prices Price History
2007–2025 · Company filings / press releases
Monthly cost of a standard Netflix streaming plan in the United States, used as a proxy for average streaming service pricing, tracked from 2007 to 2025. Streaming started as the greatest entertainment bargain in history and has been steadily becoming a more normal — and more expensive — part of the monthly budget. Netflix launched its streaming add-on at $5.99 in 2007, and for a while it felt like you were getting away with something. But the economics of content creation eventually caught up, and the price has tripled to $17.99 by 2025. And that's just one service in a landscape where most households subscribe to three or four.
Price in 2007
$5.99
Price in 2025
$17.99
Total Change
+200.3%
Years Tracked
18
Streaming Service Prices Over Time
Compare to inflation: The chart above shows nominal (not inflation-adjusted) prices. Use the toggle to switch to inflation-adjusted values when available, or try the inflation calculator to convert any amount between years.
Key Insights
- Netflix's standard plan has tripled from $5.99 in 2007 to $17.99 in 2025 — a 200% increase in just 18 years. That still looks like a bargain compared to cable, but the gap is narrowing fast, especially when you add up multiple streaming subscriptions.
- The 2011 price drop from $8.99 to $7.99 came after Netflix's controversial decision to split DVD and streaming into separate plans. The backlash was fierce, but it was actually the right long-term move that let them focus entirely on streaming.
- The biggest single-year jump was the $2 increase from $12.99 to $13.99 in 2020, when pandemic lockdowns gave Netflix historic subscriber growth and the leverage to raise prices without meaningful churn.
- Between 2014 and 2019, prices climbed 44% from $8.99 to $12.99 as Netflix pivoted heavily into original content production. The cost of making shows like Stranger Things and The Crown had to come from somewhere.
Year-by-Year Data
| Year | Price (USD per month) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | $5.99 | — |
| 2008 | $5.99 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | $8.99 | +50.1% |
| 2010 | $8.99 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | $7.99 | -11.1% |
| 2012 | $7.99 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | $7.99 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | $8.99 | +12.5% |
| 2015 | $9.99 | +11.1% |
| 2016 | $9.99 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | $10.99 | +10.0% |
| 2018 | $10.99 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | $12.99 | +18.2% |
| 2020 | $13.99 | +7.7% |
| 2021 | $13.99 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | $15.49 | +10.7% |
| 2023 | $15.49 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | $15.99 | +3.2% |
| 2025 | $17.99 | +12.5% |
Sources & Methodology
Netflix standard plan pricing used as the primary proxy for streaming service costs. Pricing sourced from company press releases and SEC filings. Figures represent the most popular non-premium, ad-free tier available to US subscribers at the end of each year.
Primary source: Company filings / press releases
For a full explanation of how we collect and adjust data, see our methodology page.