How to Choose the Best Streaming Service for You

With several options available, knowing the best streaming service for you can be difficult. They each differ in terms of pricing, membership options, available content, and more. Knowing what works best for you is essential before committing to a service—so here are a few things you should consider.

1 Family Membership Setup

If you’re planning to share your subscription with others in your household, I recommend setting up different profiles. You probably don’t want to have films and TV series suggestions that are better suited for others, and this is one way to solve that problem.

Before signing up for a streaming service, check to see if the family options meet your needs. For example, Disney+ lets you create as many as seven profiles including yours. Max, on the other hand, only lets you make five.

If you plan to share the account with people outside your household, you should check whether the service allows this. While a service may allow multiple concurrent streams and family sharing, it may lock you out of your account if members outside your household use the account.

2 Available Content

You must also ensure that your chosen streaming service has the content you’re looking for. I must admit that many of the bigger services disappoint me with their selection these days, and for this reason, I also suggest looking at some niche streaming services with more focused content.

Think about the types of movies and TV series you’re the most interested in. For example, if you love Marvel movies, Disney+ is your best choice. Max, on the other hand, is great for big TV series like Game of Thrones. Netflix is many people’s preferred choice for original titles.

Choosing a streaming service based on content can be very challenging because many change what’s on offer intermittently. For this reason, many people sign up for streaming services and cancel them when something they like is offered elsewhere. Consider getting a streaming bundle to save money.

You should also remember that some streaming services may not make all titles available on some plans. For example, if you’re based in the US, Netflix locks some TV shows and movies on its Standard with ads plan. It’s also worth looking at streaming services with live events if you’re a sports fan.

3 Value for Money and Pricing

Something isn’t necessarily good value for money just because it’s cheap. At the same time, however, you’ll probably want to think about pricing when choosing a streaming service. So, you should treat both of them with equal importance.

When looking at pricing, consider whether you’re willing to tolerate ad-supported tiers. Personally, I’m not; the biggest reason why I choose most subscriptions is to avoid seeing ads that I don’t want to. If you see a streaming service you like, but you don’t want to get a subscription with ads, paying for the non-ad-supported version is a better choice.

Picking a service within your budget is also important. You’ll find plenty of movie streaming services with a student discount, too, if you’re at school or college.

Value for money is more subjective than pricing. Weigh up the pros and cons of each platform, based on your needs, and determine whether you think you’ll use the service enough.

4 Device Accessibility

Most major streaming platforms let you use their services on mobile, laptop, and desktop. Nonetheless, you should double-check that you can access everything you need from your most frequently used devices before subscribing.

Also worth checking is how many devices can use the same subscription simultaneously. This will vary depending on your pricing tier, and you can normally find this information on your streaming service’s pricing page.

5 User Friendliness

You also want to choose a streaming service that’s easy to use, and to do this, you’ll probably have to try multiple options yourself. I personally like Disney+ the most for its easy navigation, but your opinion may differ.

When testing different services, think about how intuitive you find the user interface. You should also have very few issues trying to find the shows and movies you need. The learning curve normally isn’t very big, but you’ll want to consider whether you think it’s worth sticking around for.

Choosing the right streaming service requires thinking about multiple aspects. The content available is, of course, important. But beyond that, you should also consider the value for money and on which devices you can access your movies and TV shows. It’s also worth determining whether the service will be good enough for your family.