Netflix Price Increase in 2025 Pushes Users Towards Free Streaming Options

Streaming content is about to get a lot more expensive with Netflix announcing another subscription price increase in 2025. And with the cost of everything rising these days, movie fans and television are angry.

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“Netflix is ​​going to be $30 soon,” posted @55mmbae on X. “I’m afraid the platform isn’t worth it.” The January 22, 2025 post has 60.1k views, 696 likes and 263 shares.

“I don’t think it’s worth the price because other streaming services with better options are cheaper,” @55mmbae told the Daily Dot. The user was already put off by Netflix and prefers what competing streaming services like Apple TV have to offer.

Why is Netflix raising its prices again?

According to CNN, Netflix’s price increase was announced “in a letter to investors” and will see their “standard monthly subscription without ads increase from $15.49 to $17.99, while a standard account with ads will increase from a dollar to $7.99.”

The last time Netflix shook subscribers was in 2024, when it began phasing out its ad-free Basic subscription. Users were unhappy about paying extra for a service that would now cost them even more if they wanted to be completely ad-free.

The investor’s letter said many of the changes this year were due to competitors like Disney, Max and Peacock raising their own subscription prices.

How are people reacting to Netflix’s price increase?

Some business analysts have pointed to the huge profits generated by the new change and how they compare to other culturally significant events, like the tax cuts of President Donald Trump’s first term.

Robert Reich, a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, has posted about the correlations with his 1.4 million followers on X:

“5 years of Netflix profits in the United States: $15.1 billion. 5 years of salary of Netflix executives: $652 million. 5 years of taxes paid by Netflix: $236 million. In the five years since the Trump tax cuts, Netflix paid its top executives three times what it paid in federal income taxes. Yesterday, Netflix announced another price increase.

According to Reuters, “Netflix’s revenue rose 16% from the same period last year to $10.2 billion” and “annual operating profit topped $10 billion for the first time in the company’s history.

Other accounts took the opportunity to mock the streaming company while highlighting their own economic value. A post from @DrinkAriZona, Arizona’s iced tea X account, went viral on January 22, 2025 with 18.4 million views, 640,000 likes, and 6.6,000 comments.

“AriZona Iced Tea still costs 99 cents,” the soft drink company posted on X, in a sharing of an article from @DiscussingFilm.

Author Tara Dublin replied: “Can you start a streaming service right away? to which Arizona replied, “Yeah, I diffuse AriZona in my mouth.”

Something about the reactions to companies raising prices while reaping record profits

What are some free alternatives to Netflix?

Is there somewhere one can turn to for entertainment in their own home without breaking the bank? Fortunately, a few thrifty internet users are offering cost-effective alternatives to the mogul streaming service, and the good news is that some of them are completely free.

A media company called Kanopy posted shortly after the news broke, with a pitch for those looking for streaming alternatives.

“We know a way to mitigate rising costs,” the company’s X-post began, further announcing “access to a catalog of over 30,000 movies, TV series and documentaries without ads or subscriptions” . through participating libraries and universities. The post has over 520.7K views, 4.1K likes and 1.1K shares.

Their website features Academy Award-winning hits like Moonlight And Lady Bird and the content focuses primarily on movies, with a wide selection of kid-friendly entertainment as well.

Many supported the idea of ​​watching content with the help of the local library, many of which offer access to movies and TV as well as free books.

“I think if more people knew that they can get a Netflix for free, except the content is really good, there are no ads and you just need a library card, they would be happier,” wrote user X @cerealburrito above the Kanopy repost.

The publication resonated across the entire X platform, with 305,700 views, 12,000 likes, 2,200 shares and 470 comments.

X user @therealwilsn also came to the rescue with a screenshot of the Notes app that included over 15 resources for free or low-cost streaming content.

“WHY Worry about paying for Netflix when you can watch them for free,” they explained in an

AI business creator @TrungTPhan subtly/not-so-subtly suggested his X followers to opt for piracy services instead of Netflix, with a screenshot of several mainstream media services including logos were manipulated with the word “torrent”.

Some X users were quick to point out that advertising on pirate websites may not be the best alternative given _________________________

“Netflix execs are trying to figure out which piracy sites to target and are seeing an entire list go viral on Twitter,” wrote user X @eternalcumslime, along with a Spider-Verse meme.

The Daily Dot reached out to X users @55mmbae and @therealwilsn via direct message X and Kanopy via email for comment.

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