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While Netflix is often hailed as the king of streaming services, it's also known for frequently raising its prices -- and this year, it even started cracking down on password sharing. If the streaming conglomerate has finally priced you out as a subscriber, there are plenty of other options out there for watching TV shows and movies.
Combined with the fact that the company is now charging its account holders $7.99 for each additional user, customers are looking for alternatives. In addition, you might want to leave Netflix if you've become frustrated with its ever-changing titles and what is added/removed from the platform monthly.
There is more to the streaming world than Netflix: In fact, there are more than 200 streaming services available today. Our top alternative is Hulu, but we've rounded up the best streaming service alternatives that include live TV, unique originals, binge-worthy shows, and more for you to keep on streaming.
For more than half of the price of a monthly Netflix subscription, you can watch a wide array of TV shows and movies on Hulu for just $7.99 per month. The platform has original content like The Handmaid's Tale, How I Met Your Father, Dollface, and more, along with classic and popular movies.
However, two out of four of Hulu's subscription tiers still have ads. Also, its base subscription only supports one streamer at a time, so you can't share your account with friends or family as you can with Netflix.
Amazon Prime Video has original series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. What's great about this specific platform is that you can buy/rent movies/TV series a la carte, so if you're looking for something specific, it may be worth it.
While Amazon Prime is a decent Netflix alternative, it lacks the large number of original series and movies that Netflix offers. Also, even with your subscription, you still must buy/rent certain titles, making the overall cost go up.
To watch some of the most buzzworthy shows, you'll need Max (formally known as HBO Max). The streaming service costs $9.99 per month with ads and $15.99 per month for an ad-free experience and streaming in 4K UHD. The good news is that if you already have an HBO subscription, Max comes free.
Max is home to popular series like The Last of Us, Euphoria, Succession, The White Lotus, and more. You can also watch recently released movies from the past six months if you couldn't catch them in theaters.
Its higher tier no-ad subscription will cost you almost as much as Netflix. Also, keep in mind that with the Warner Brothers/Discovery merger, some content like Westworld, Raised by Wolves, and The Nevers, has been removed, and you're likely to see some more fluctuation with the content.
While you may think Apple TV+ is only compatible with Apple devices, the platform actually works on gaming consoles, streaming devices like Roku and Amazon Fire TV, Smart TVs, and, of course, on Apple TV and other Apple devices.
However, episodes on Apple TV+ roll out weekly instead of all together, making it hard to binge-watch a really good show. Also, there is currently no Apple TV+ app available for Android devices or PC users.
NBC's streaming service offers two tiers: a premium subscription at $5.99 that has limited ads but also live sports and events, and a plus tier that is $11.99 and has zero ads and allows you to download and watch select titles offline.
On Peacock, you can watch original series like Bel-Air, Dr. Death, Girls5Eva, and Wolf Like Me, as well as cult classics like The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, the Harry Potter collection, and more. There's also live TV and sports you can tune into including WWE and soccer. Peacock also offers exclusive 24-hour coverage of every Olympics, including the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Of course, the downside here is that Peacock still has ads, and it recently got rid of its free tier. Some of the content is paywalled. Also, there is no 4K streaming option, so the quality could be better.
If you really want to leave Netflix to pay less, you can't go wrong with Peacock, since it is the cheapest option. However, if you're more interested in watching popular, original content, Max and Apple TV+ have shows and movies that everyone is always talking about.
Number of titles: You want a streaming service that will allow you to watch plenty of movies and TV titles. We paid attention to services that provide original content, as well as play host to well-known titles.
Ads: Commercials and ads are annoying, but unfortunately, they are apart of streaming services, especially at the lower-priced subscription tiers. However, we provided services with ad-free options, and Apple TV+ always has zero ads.
Subscription cost: Many streaming services offer multiple tiers of subscription options, so pricing definitely varies. We paid attention to the cheapest subscription cost for each streaming service in order to effectively compare.
You can still get a cheaper version of Netflix at $6.99, but it has ads. In addition, there is a basic plan that also just increased in price ($11.99, up from $9.99). Note that the basic plan is no longer available to new subscribers, so this price hike will only affect current customers who already are subscribed to that plan.
If you decide to cancel Netflix, there are plenty of options to replace the platform. And, since its catalog is constantly changing, something on Netflix one day could end up on one of the above streaming platforms the next. The only thing you'd really miss out on is Netflix's original series and movies; the service does offer a good selection of award-winning content.
In addition, Max includes tons of additional content not found on HBO. That includes sitcoms like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, South Park, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and TV dramas like Doctor Who and Pretty Little Liars, as well as Max originals, and more.
There are a few drawbacks to consider, with the biggest one being that the service is ad-supported. You will usually have to sit through a 30-second commercial before your movie or show begins, followed by up to three additional ads for shows and nine for movies longer than an hour and a half.
Formerly known as CBS All Access, Paramount Plus combines a ton of content from its parent company ViacomCBS into one product. You can watch tons of classic and current movies from Paramount Pictures, plus TV shows from CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, and much more.
In addition to content on-demand, the service offers live national and local news along with live sports like NFL football, soccer, NCAA basketball, and more. Pricing in the US starts at $5.99 a month, but it lacks the live CBS stream and throws in ads. You have to spend $11.99 a month to get the live CBS stream and get rid of ads.
Mubi also boasts a great movie-of-the-day rollout model, where you can always find one new title to check out on any given day. The back catalogue lets you watch whatever you want on demand, but you can also let your viewing be guided by the curators at Mubi.
Shudder is the best of the Netflix alternatives for horror movie fans. Even if you are not a fan of the genre, Shudder might make you one with its diverse programming. The service always has some original movies it debuts every month, and they almost always get great reviews for how they stretch the horror genre.
If you want to watch even more content, and Peacock originals like the reboots of Saved by the Bell and Punky Brewster, you can pay $5.99 a month for Peacock Premium (with ads) or $11.99 a month (without ads). There is a seven-day free trial available.
Another free, ad-supported streamer, Tubi is one of the best in the game. Tubi offers a huge selection of TV shows and movies. That includes classic sitcoms, new dramas and comedies, and lots of reality TV. Movies include some B-grade schlock as well as award-winning gems, big-budget blockbusters, and acclaimed indies.
I have an apache thrift client set up which has many commands. Are there any alternatives to hystrix that allows me to easily wrap it around the entire client as opposed to having to define a HystrixCommand class for each function?
Of course you can even use other languages outside the JVM since Finagle can talk Thrift and Thrift is available for a lot of other languages and platforms like Go, C# and even Objective-C for use it in an iPhone or iPad as client instead of slow Json/HTTP calls.
In the project I am working on, I have hundreds of integrations of various types, and I wanted a generic solution that would allow me to apply a circuit breaker to any of them. To do that, I am using org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactory, and a custom class wrapping the HystrixCommand which implements org.aopalliance.intercept.MethodInterceptor. Any dynamic proxy implementation should work, though.
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