Crunchyroll Just Increased Prices on Premium Subscriptions – CNET [CNET]

The changes will affect subscribers in five countries, including the US.

Anime giant Crunchyroll is implementing a price hike for two of its paid subscription tiers, the company announced on Wednesday. New pricing for the Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan plans will impact subscribers in the US, Argentina, Portugal, France and Colombia. Citing its expanded library and added perks, the brand notes that it has not updated its pricing since 2019, and “it would take nearly two years to watch everything on Crunchyroll!”

The Mega Fan plan is increasing from $10 to $12 per month, while the Ultimate Fan tier is changing to $16 a month, an increase of $1, per the company’s blog post. Additionally, the free trial period is being trimmed down from 14 days to seven. US customers will see the price changes go into effect today, but Crunchyroll says its Fan subscription will stay the same at $8 monthly. For fans who use the free, ad-based version of the app, nothing will change.

Crunchyroll’s New Pricing

	Free	Fan	Mega Fan	Ultimate Fan
Monthly price	—	$8	$12	$16
Number of screens you can watch at the same time	1	1	4	6
Ads?	Yes	No	No	No
Mobile downloads	No	No	Yes	Yes
Crunchyroll Game Vault	No	No	Yes	Yes

Read more: Best Anime Streaming Services of 2024

This May, the streamer is gearing up for two of this spring’s biggest anime releases: Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia. In addition to anime titles, the streaming platform offers a selection of mobile games and music for its premium users. The Crunchyroll Game Vault features titles such as Wolfstride, Hime’s Quest, Thunder Ray and Sushi for Robots. Its music offerings include videos and full-length concerts from artists like Blue Encount or Super Beaver, who make anime hits. Premium subscribers also get discounts to Crunchyroll Store products and early access to exclusives and convention deals.

Price hikes are nothing new for streaming services, with Peacock recently announcing an increase that will arrive for subscribers this summer. And in 2023, Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Apple TV Plus and Paramount Plus were among the major services to bump up pricing on at least one subscription plan.