Streaming cost per hour calculator
Pick the services you pay for and how many hours a week you use each one. The calculator divides the monthly price by those hours, so you can see which subscription gives you the least for your money.
Prices are the US prices we checked, before sales tax; yearly plans are divided by 12. A month is 52 weeks divided by 12.
- Amazon Prime Video — Prime Video
- $0.41 an hour
- Amazon Music — Standard Family
- $0.39 an hour
- All services per month
- $25.98
- Hours per month
- 65
- Average per hour
- $0.40
Amazon Prime Video — Prime Video costs the most per hour you use it — the first one to pause or cancel.
How the calculator works
It takes what you pay each month and divides it by the hours you watch or listen in a month. A month here is 52 weeks divided by 12 — about 4.3 weeks — so 3 hours a week counts as 13 hours a month. The plans in the list come with the US prices we checked, before sales tax, and a yearly plan is divided by 12. If you pay a different price — an older rate, a bundle, your share of a family plan — choose “Other” and type your own.
What the number tells you
Cost per hour shows how much use you get for the money, which the price alone doesn’t. A $26.99 plan you watch 20 hours a week works out to about $0.31 an hour; an $8.99 plan you open for two hours a month costs about $4.50 an hour. The service with the highest cost per hour is the first one to look at. One you pay for and don’t use at all has no cost per hour — only a monthly bill.
Ways to bring it down
- Rotate instead of stacking. Most streaming plans are month to month, so you can keep one or two, cancel the rest and switch when a show you want comes out. Our cancellation guide shows where to cancel in each service.
- Look at the plan with ads. If you watch a few hours a week, the ad-supported plan of the same service usually costs much less per month — the reviews list both prices.
- Don’t pay up front for a service you use part of the year. A yearly plan pays off only if you use it every month; check it with the monthly vs. annual calculator.
- Share where the rules allow it. A family plan split between several people can cost each of them less than their own plan — see the family plan split calculator.
What the calculator doesn’t do
It doesn’t see your viewing history or your bank statement, so the result is only as accurate as the hours you enter. It doesn’t judge quality either: an hour of a show you love can be worth more than ten you half-watch.