Compare the true cost of cable TV vs streaming services. Find the cheapest combination to watch everything you want.
Cable TV averages $100-150/month, but most households only watch content from 4-6 networks. Streaming services let you pick exactly what you watch, but stacking multiple subscriptions can creep past cable prices without you noticing. Many households now pay for several streamers at once, sometimes while still carrying a cable bill too.
Our TV Alternatives Cost Calculator lets you build your ideal streaming stack, compare it against your current cable bill, and see the annual savings from cord-cutting. It tracks the real monthly and yearly cost of each service, accounts for ad-supported vs ad-free tiers, and shows you how long it takes to recoup any antenna or equipment costs.
Cut the cord with confidence by seeing the actual numbers before you cancel. Or discover you're already spending more on streaming than cable would cost because too many small subscriptions have quietly piled up. The calculator makes that tradeoff easy to see in one place.
Use this calculator to price the streaming mix you actually want instead of guessing whether cord-cutting saves money. It makes it easier to compare cable, live-TV streaming bundles, and smaller on-demand stacks before you cancel or add another subscription. That way the monthly total stays visible before the bill starts creeping up.
Monthly Streaming Total = Σ(Service_Price for each selected). Monthly Savings = Cable_Bill - Streaming_Total. Annual Savings = Monthly_Savings × 12. Breakeven Months = Equipment_Cost / Monthly_Savings. 5-Year Savings = (Annual_Savings × 5) - Equipment_Cost.
Result: Streaming: $31.47/mo vs Cable: $135/mo. Save $103.53/mo ($1,242.36/year). Equipment paid off in under 1 month.
Netflix Standard ($15.49) + Hulu with Ads ($7.99) + Disney+ with Ads ($7.99) + Peacock Free ($0) totals $31.47 per month. Compared with a $135 cable bill, that saves $103.53 each month, or $1,242.36 per year. An $80 antenna or streaming device would pay for itself in less than one month.
Cable's advertised price is never what you pay. Add regional sports fees ($5-15), broadcast TV fees ($10-20), DVR rental ($10-15), and set-top box fees ($5-10 per TV), and a "$79.99" plan balloons to $130-160. Streaming has no hidden fees — the listed price is the actual price.
Start with your must-have content and work backward. For most households: one general service (Netflix or Hulu), one for movies (Max or Prime), one for family/Disney content (Disney+), and an antenna for local channels covers 90% of viewing for under $40/month.
If you need live sports across multiple leagues, watch live news all day, or have 4+ TVs that all need different content simultaneously, cable's "all-in-one" model may still be simpler and comparably priced to stacking 6+ streaming services plus a live TV package.
For most people, streaming is significantly cheaper — $30-60/month for 3-5 services vs $100-150 for cable. But if you subscribe to 7+ premium streaming services, costs can rival cable.
Yes, if you want live local news and sports (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX). A good indoor antenna costs $20-40 and gets free HD channels. No monthly fee.
YouTube TV ($73/mo) or Hulu + Live TV ($77/mo) cover most sports. ESPN+ ($11/mo) adds supplementary games. For specific leagues, check their dedicated streaming packages.
Most services now restrict password sharing. Netflix, Disney+, and others charge extra for out-of-household users ($6-8/month extra). Factor this into true costs.
About $61/month across 4.7 services (2024 data). This has been rising 10-15% per year as services increase prices and reduce free tiers.
Use ad-supported tiers where available, bundle services when the discount is real, rotate premium subscriptions month to month, and use an antenna for local channels instead of paying a live-TV package if you only need broadcast networks. The cheapest setup is usually a stack built around must-have content instead of trying to subscribe to every service at once.