Netflix costs less than cable, but it’s still a bit expensive. A year of Netflix’s “Basic” plan is $108, and a year of “Premium” Netflix costs $192. Thankfully, you can reduce your subscription fees with a few simple tricks.
Share an Account With Family or Friends
Netflix doesn’t care if you share your account. In fact, the company’s CEO has made it clear that all forms of account sharing are welcome (you can even share an account internationally). And you know what that means—free Netflix!
Well, it’s only free if you can bum an account off of a friend or family member. If not, splitting the costs of an account between a few friends is a suitable compromise.
If you want to share an account with friends, you should probably go with the $13 a month “Standard” plan or the $16 a month “Premium” plan. Netflix’s “Basic” plan only allows you to stream on one device at a time, while the “Standard” plan allows up to two screens and the “Premium” plan allows up to four screens. If you manage to split the “Premium” plan between four friends or family members, you’ll only pay $4 a month for Netflix. That works out to a savings of about $60 (or more) per year.
Here’s a bonus: With the Premium plan split four ways, everyone will get Netflix in 4K! With the Standard plan, both people only get HD. And, with the Basic plan, only one person gets SD—who wants that in 2019?
RELATED: Do Video Streaming Services Care If You Share Your Account?
“Pause” Your Subscription
Netflix used to have a handy “pause” feature. Basically, you could halt your service (and your monthly fees) for a while without fully canceling your Netflix subscription. Obviously, this is a useful money-saving feature. And unsurprisingly, you can reap the same benefits by simply canceling your account when you aren’t using it.
Sure, it sounds like a hassle, but it really isn’t. Netflix wants users to come back, so it makes the signup process as quick and easy as possible. It’s like restarting a Facebook account; you enter your email address and password, and Netflix will ask if you want to restart your subscription. It’ll even remember your card info, so you don’t have to type it in again.
Keep in mind that this money-saving trick is only useful if you go for a month (or more) without Netflix. Also, your account shuts down a month after your last payment—not the day that you cancel. If you cancel in the middle of a month you’ve already paid for, try to enjoy those last few weeks of Netflix that you’ve already paid for.
