Netflix
Price: $8.99/mo.
Netflix is the company that made streaming a national phenomenon, and it remains fiercely competitive. It has over 6,000 movies, over 1,500 TV shows, and sports popular original series like Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, and Daredevil. While they're no longer the only kid on the playground, they still offer one of the best selections and lowest prices.
HBO Now
Price: $15/mo.
For decades, HBO was only available through a cable subscription, but vocal enthusiasts have been demanding an independent streaming service for years. In 2015 HBO finally launched HBO Now. If you want to check out a huge lineup of new movies, or if you're into popular shows like Game of Thrones, Veep, and Silicon Valley, you're sure to enjoy this service.
Hulu Plus
Price: $7.99/mo.
Hulu Plus dominates one major category: new network TV shows. If you want to keep up with new episodes of shows like Agents of Shield, South Park, Adventure Time, The Daily Show, or the hundreds of other shows typically viewable only through a cable package, then Hulu Plus has you covered.
Crunchyroll
Price: $6.95/mo.
Crunchyroll is a specialized service for anime enthusiasts, and its free option gives you access to a huge chunk of its library. When you upgrade to the premium service, you get access to the entire library, which includes over 10,000 hours of content. The premium service even allows you to keep up with brand new series, since episodes are available globally just one hour after they air in Japan.
Shudder
Price: $4.99/mo.
If you're a horror enthusiast, there's no better option than Shudder. For just five dollars a month, you get access to a highly-vetted, horror-specific lineup that brings together hundreds of the best movies in the genre. With everything from Hollywood horror to cult classics to horror-comedy, Shudder is sure to get your blood pumping.
Fandor
Price: $10/mo.
Fandor curates a killer lineup of foreign, indie, cult, and arthouse films, making it the upscale cinema of streaming services. You can find award-winning films from around the globe, a "Fandor Channel" that offers a "non-stop movie mixtape" stream of content you never knew you needed to watch, and a growing collection of film news, video essays, and more.
Amazon Prime
Price: $49/year for students
The Amazon Student promotion gives you a six-month free trial to Amazon Prime and a discounted price thereafter. On Prime you can find over 3,500 movies and TV shows, including originals like the award-winning Transparent and exclusives like Orphan Black and Downton Abbey. All this comes paired with the usual Amazon Prime benefits like two-day shipping, music streaming, and cloud storage.
Are you still feeling uncertain of which services to subscribe to? Here's the good news: Every one of the sites listed above offers a free trial, so you can jump in and explore the selection yourself. Happy streaming!
Image via Flickr by Helge Thomas
