Crunchyroll is raising prices again.
In an announcement on Monday, the anime streaming service said U.S. subscribers will see price hikes across all tiers starting with their next billing cycle after March 4, 2026. The Fan plan jumps from $7.99 to $9.99 a month, Mega Fan goes from $11.99 to $13.99, and Ultimate Fan rises from $15.99 to $17.99.
In the blog post, the company says this is the first price bump for the Fan tier since 2019 and that it’s meant to support continued investment in anime content, features, and member perks.
You May Also Like
On paper, Crunchyroll is offering more. New perks include offline downloads on the Fan tier, expanded device support, profile controls, and deeper integration with its Game Vault and digital manga service. The company also points to its massive library of more than 50,000 episodes as justification for the higher cost.
Context matters here, though. Just weeks earlier, Crunchyroll quietly announced it was ending its free, ad-supported streaming plan entirely, officially closing the door on no-cost anime viewing starting Jan. 1, 2026. That move followed years of slowly stripping down what the free tier offered, making the paywall feel sort of inevitable at some point.
Put together, the changes point to a broader shift in how Crunchyroll is positioning itself. Crunchyroll is betting that expanded features, a growing content library, and additional perks will be enough to justify the higher cost as the platform moves further into 2026.
Topics Streaming
Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and Mother Jones.
In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and greatly enjoys Detroit sports. If you have any tips or want to talk shop about the Lions, you can reach out to him on Bluesky @offbrandchance.bsky.social or by email at [email protected].
