Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll price hikes come into effect today, March 4, for existing users, and while there’s a good reason for the changes, anime fans are threatening to cancel – and some already have.
2026 marks a period of change for the anime streaming service. Last December, Crunchyroll announced it was scrapping its free, ad-supported subscription plan entirely, which came into effect on January 1, 2026.
Then, in February, Crunchyroll revealed that it was raising its prices by $2 for all tiers, including Fan, Mega Fan, and Ultimate Fan. The changes will be reflected for existing subscribers in the US on the next billing date after today.
Now, there are a number of reasons for these changes, including the development of original games, the launch of its new manga add-on, and expanded anime library. But users aren’t too happy about the news.
Crunchyroll price hikes sparks backlash
Crunchyroll
With Crunchyroll now nearly matching Netflix prices (between $7.99 to $24.99 per month), fans are planning on cancelling their subscription, especially after alleged technical issues when using the platform.
For context, the new prices are as follows:
- Fan Tier – Increase from $7.99/month to $9.99/month
- Mega Fan Tier – Increase from $11.99/month to $13.99/month
- Ultimate Fan Tier – Increase from $15.99/month to $17.99/month
The company noted that this is the first time the Fan Tier has risen since 2019 in the US, while the previous adjustments arrived in 2024 when the Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan plans were updated.
But even with these factors taken into account, viewers are taking action. “Not me canceling subscriptions left and right, cus wtf?!,” wrote one on X, while another said, “Time to cancel, price increases and Crunchyroll is 80% subtitles and it barely functions.”
A third added, “Never thought I’d cancel Crunchyroll but did last week because of this. Not worth it anymore, they’re literally removing anime. Not to mention they’ll probably just raise again in the near future.”
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Crunchyroll prices will increase today for existing subscribers
▪️Fan Tier: $7.99 → $9.99
▪️Mega Fan Tier: $11.99 → $13.99
▪️Ultimate Fan Tier: $15.99 → $17.99 pic.twitter.com/M70xDHRKdZ— ScreenTime (@screentime) March 4, 2026
“No way in life will I ever go back to this horrible site… The anime you can watch there are like 30-50% of seasonal anime and most old shows aren’t available anymore,” commented a fourth. “Everyone who is using this site is scamming themselves.”
Some have pointed to issues with past anime titles, including Dead Dead Demon’s, which received backlash over its inaccurate English subtitles.
“Companies really putting all their efforts to say f**k you to the consumers,” wrote one. “Never paying for Crunchyroll after the awful job they did with Dead Dead Demon’s anime.”
Others have pointed to the user experience itself, a topic heavily discussed on the Crunchyroll subreddit.
This week, one subscriber highlighted a confusing episode formatting, writing, “Why are Crunchyroll’s seasons like this, they couldn’t have made it more inconsistent?” Another agreed, “It’s the worst. Especially for long running anime like One Piece.”
Why are Crunchyroll's seasons like this, they couldn't have made it more inconsistent??
byu/luluciee inCrunchyroll
Others claim to have had issues with customer service support, loading the app on their TV, and acknowledging the price hike. Alongside these issues, multiple anime fans have expressed their wish for Crunchyroll to add more legacy titles.
“Not worth $18 a month, and no older anime is bs subscription,” said one, while another wrote, “If they gonna increase the prices up they should increase adding older animes… not just the new ones.”
A third added, “Raising costs but not improving their products.”
Piracy debate resurfaces among anime fans
Crunchyroll
As we’ve seen with previous streaming price hikes, there are many comments referencing piracy, despite Crunchyroll’s wider efforts to steer audiences to official releases.
Earlier this year, new data from the Japanese government showed that losses caused by anime and manga piracy amounted to approximately $38 billion.
Crunchyroll has been actively involved in anti-piracy enforcement in recent years, working alongside industry groups and legal authorities to target illegal anime streaming and manga distribution sites.
ACE (the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment) – a global anti-piracy coalition that includes Crunchyroll owner Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and other major studios – shut down several major anime piracy platforms.
These included Zoro.to, AnimeDao, and other sites operated by the same network, which collectively attracted millions of visitors each month.
The company has also focused on reducing the delay between Japanese broadcasts and international releases to discourage piracy.
Anime and manga piracy reportedly cost Japan $38 billion in 2025, up from $13 billion in 2022 pic.twitter.com/kUyet4kfli
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 28, 2026
But with the price hikes, anime fans have pointed to the issue once more, with one writing, “Pirating is a service problem, not a product problem.”
Another said, “Literally increasing their prices for what, their service sucks with literal pirating sites having better UI, video players as well as translation than them, plus they already got busted using AI to do their subbing.”
Not everyone has been negative about the move, however, including this person who said, “Staying right at fan tier… 10 bucks ain’t bad.”
Another wrote, “Ngl they kept the $8 price for so many years I’m surprised they are just now raising it. Every other subscription has raised their prices like 3+ times in the past couple years.”
