Prices in this guide were checked on 22 September 2026 against our own UK service data, and we link directly to each provider so you can confirm the current price at source.

Every large streaming service in the UK now sells a cheaper tier with adverts in it, and the saving is real: usually somewhere between forty and sixty per cent off the ad-free price. What varies, and what almost nobody tells you clearly, is how much you give up besides your attention. Some ad tiers are the same service with breaks in it. Others quietly remove downloads, cap your picture quality or cut the number of people who can watch at once. This is the comparison of what each one actually costs you.

The prices side by side

Current UK prices from our own service data, checked on 22 September 2026, with the cheapest ad-free route shown for comparison.

Two things stand out. Netflix has by far the largest gap, £96 a year, which makes its ad tier the most financially significant decision on the list. And Prime Video is the odd one out, because it works the other way round: adverts are the default at £8.99 and you pay £2.99 extra to remove them, so the ad-free version is an add-on rather than the standard product.

Netflix Standard with ads: the biggest saving, and a fair trade

At £5.99 against £13.99, this is where the money is. You are keeping the full Netflix catalogue, which is the thing that matters, and accepting advert breaks. The £8 a month difference is the largest on this page and the easiest to justify, because Netflix has not used its ad tier to strip the library. The reasons not to take it are about experience rather than content: breaks land inside programmes, and the tier historically sits below the top tier on picture quality and simultaneous streams. If Netflix is your anchor service and you watch it most evenings, this is the single highest-value downgrade available in UK streaming.

Disney+ Standard with Ads: good value, smaller gap

Disney+ at £5.99 with adverts against £9.99 without is a £4 monthly saving, or £48 a year. It is a perfectly reasonable trade, but notice that the gap is half the size of the Netflix one, because Disney+ Standard is already cheap. The thing to weigh here is the top tier rather than the bottom one. Disney+ Premium at £14.99 is the only route to the highest picture and sound quality, so on Disney+ the meaningful decision for many households is Standard against Premium, not Standard against ads. If you have children who rewatch the same films constantly on a big television, the quality tiers matter more than the £4.

Paramount+ Basic: the cheapest entry point in UK streaming

At £4.99 a month, Paramount+ Basic is the lowest price of any major UK service, and £43.99 for a year works out at about £3.67 a month, which is remarkable for a full catalogue. The catalogue is narrower than Netflix and more specific in its appeal, so the question is whether the programming suits you rather than whether the price is good. If it does, nothing else competes at this level. Our Paramount+ UK review goes through what is actually on it in detail.

Prime Video: the one that works backwards

Prime Video is structured differently from the rest and it confuses people, so it is worth stating plainly. The £8.99 a month Prime subscription now includes adverts by default, and removing them costs £2.99 a month on top, taking you to £11.98. That makes Prime Video the most expensive ad-supported tier in this comparison, but the comparison is not quite fair, because £8.99 is also buying Prime delivery and the rest of the membership. If you already pay for Prime for the delivery, the video is effectively free and the only decision is whether £2.99 is worth removing the breaks. If you do not, taking Prime annually at £95 is better value than paying monthly. Our Amazon Prime Video UK review covers whether the catalogue justifies it on its own.

NOW: not an ad tier, but the same decision

NOW does not market an ad-supported tier, but it behaves like one. The standard £7.99 Entertainment Membership carries advertising on most content and caps quality and streams, and the £6 Boost add-on is what removes the adverts and lifts those limits. So the real choice on NOW is £7.99 with breaks or £13.99 without, a £6 monthly difference that sits between the Netflix and Disney+ gaps. Worth knowing before you sign up expecting the £7.99 price to be an ad-free experience. There is more in our NOW review.

Which ones we would actually take

The honest conclusion

Ad tiers are a better deal in the UK than most people assume, and Netflix is the clearest case: £96 a year to accept advert breaks on a catalogue you are keeping in full. Paramount+ Basic is the cheapest way into a complete service at £4.99. Prime Video is only expensive if you look at it as a video service alone. The one thing worth repeating is that the cheapest tier of a service you do not watch is still worse value than not subscribing at all, so run this decision after you have worked out what you actually use. Our guide to cutting your UK streaming bill covers that part, and you can compare every tier of every UK service on our services page. To go straight to the two best-value options here, see Netflix and Paramount+.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest streaming service in the UK?

Paramount+ Basic at £4.99 a month is the cheapest full-catalogue service in the UK as of September 2026, and it falls to about £3.67 a month if you take the £43.99 annual plan. Netflix Standard with ads and Disney+ Standard with Ads are next at £5.99. Free services such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4 cost nothing, although iPlayer needs a TV Licence.

How much do you save with Netflix Standard with ads?

Netflix Standard with ads is £5.99 a month against £13.99 for ad-free Standard, so you save £8 a month or £96 a year. That is the largest ad tier saving of any major UK service, and you keep the full Netflix catalogue, which is why we rate it the best value downgrade available.

Do ad-supported streaming tiers have fewer programmes?

Usually not, and this is the common misconception. On the main UK services the ad tier carries essentially the same catalogue as the paid tier. What the cheaper tiers typically restrict is the viewing experience rather than the library, meaning picture quality, the number of devices that can stream at once, and in some cases offline downloads.

Does Amazon Prime Video have adverts in the UK?

Yes. Prime Video includes adverts as standard on the £8.99 a month Prime membership, and you can remove them with the Prime Video Ad Free add-on at £2.99 a month, taking the total to £11.98. This is the reverse of how other services work, where the ad tier is the cheaper option rather than the default.

Is it better to use an ad tier or cancel the service?

If you watch the service regularly, move to the ad tier and keep it. If you open it less than once or twice a month, cancelling saves more than any tier change can. A £5.99 subscription you never use is worse value than a £13.99 one you watch several times a week, so decide what you actually watch first and choose the tier afterwards.