Netflix Plans and Prices 2026: Which Plan Should You Pick?

Netflix has three plans in the US in 2026: Standard with ads at $8.99/mo, Standard at $19.99/mo and Premium at $26.99/mo (US prices checked in October 2026). Every plan went up by $1 to $2 on March 26, 2026. If you watch alone or as a couple and can live with ad breaks, the ad plan covers you; Premium only pays off with a 4K TV or a full house.

#How much is each Netflix plan in 2026?

US prices checked in October 2026; tax may apply depending on where you live. Features from Netflix's plans and pricing help page.

The old Basic plan has been discontinued, so Standard with ads is now the entry point. Premium also includes Netflix spatial audio. Billing is monthly on every plan. You can follow current prices on Netflix in Subfaro.

#What changes from one Netflix plan to the next

#Ads: a smaller gap than you'd think

Look at the first two rows of the table. Standard with ads and Standard have the same Full HD picture, the same 2 streams and the same downloads. The extra $11.00 a month ($132.00 a year) buys you two things: no commercial breaks, and the option to add an extra member.

If ads don't bother you, this is the easiest saving on your whole streaming bill.

#Resolution and streams: what only Premium gets

The real quality jump is Premium: 4K with HDR, spatial audio and 4 streams at once. You only see 4K on a compatible TV or streaming device with a fast enough connection. On a 1080p TV, you'd pay $7.00 more a month for a picture you can't see.

For many families, streams matter more than resolution. With 2 streams, the third person waits until someone stops watching. With 4, the whole household is covered.

#Extra members: for people outside your home

A Netflix account is meant for one household. To include someone who lives elsewhere, the account owner pays for an extra member: $7.99/mo with ads or $9.99/mo without ads. Standard allows 1 extra member and Premium up to 2.

A few rules from Netflix's extra member help page:

• extra members can't be added to ad-supported plans;
• the extra member has to be activated in the same country where the account owner created it;
• you can transfer an existing profile, with its viewing history and My List;
• some packages and third-party billed accounts can't add extra members.

For more on sharing costs fairly, see splitting subscriptions and family plans.

#How much did Netflix raise prices in 2026?

The new prices hit new members on March 26, 2026. Existing members got them over the following months, with an email from Netflix about a month before their bill changed, as TechCrunch reported.

Extra members went up too, by $1 each: from $6.99 to $7.99 with ads and from $8.99 to $9.99 without ads, according to BGR.

The longer view is steeper. Standard cost $15.49 in January 2022 and costs $19.99 now (29.1% more). Premium went from $19.99 to $26.99 over the same period (35.0%). The ad plan launched in November 2022 at $6.99 and is up 28.6%. Every step, with sources, is on the Netflix price increase history.

#Which Netflix plan should you choose?

It comes down to three questions: how many people watch at the same time, whether you have a 4K TV, and whether someone outside your home uses the account.

A few numbers that help:

• Per stream, Premium is the cheapest ad-free plan. It works out to $6.75 per stream, versus $10.00 on Standard. If your household really uses 4 streams, it earns its price.
• An extra member with ads costs less than a separate account. The person outside your home pays $7.99 instead of $8.99 for their own ad plan. The catch: the account owner must be on Standard or Premium.
• Light viewers rarely need more than the ad plan. Same picture as Standard for less than half the price.

#How to pay less for Netflix

1. Try the ad plan for a month. If the breaks don't bother you, you save $132.00 a year versus Standard.
2. Check how many streams you use. Plenty of people keep Premium out of habit while only two people watch at once. Dropping to Standard saves $84.00 a year.
3. Rotate. There's no contract, so you can subscribe for the months a show you care about comes out and drop it the rest of the year. Our streaming rotation guide shows how.
4. Check who bills you. If Netflix comes through your phone, internet or TV provider, prices and rules can differ from the table above, and you cancel with that provider.
5. Compare before you renew. If the increase stung, see our ranking of the cheapest streaming services in 2026.

To leave, the direct cancel page is netflix.com/cancelplan, and you keep watching until the end of the period you paid for. The full walkthrough is in how to cancel Netflix.

#How Subfaro helps

Subfaro is a subscription tracker. When you add Netflix, you pick your plan and the price fills in on its own. Prices for more than 100 services are checked every week, and you get an automatic alert when one changes, like Netflix did in March.

It also alerts you before each charge, so you can switch plans before paying a higher price. The free plan has no time limit and covers up to 10 subscriptions. To try it, create a free account.