5 Subscriptions Worth Switching To An Annual Plan

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How many subscriptions are users overpaying for monthly but never think about going annual? Monthly subscription models are about convenience for a premium service, but some of the biggest services often come with discounts for buying an annual subscription instead. But The problem is that some yearly deals aren't advertised outside of events such as Amazon's Prime Day.

What isn't a secret, however, is that streaming services keep increasing their pricing. A good way to avoid price hikes for a year and saving money in general is paying upfront, even if users are just turning a couple of their subscriptions annual. There are a few big subscription services that don't offer this, including Netflix, so we've picked five that are popular and that I've personally paid for yearly myself in the past.

The biggest and best discounts and benefits in my experience are YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, and PlayStation Plus. Before anyone burns me at the stake, I'm well aware of PlayStation's troubles, but ultimately I want to save existing subscribers money. If any of these services are in a users monthly subscription list, here's how to save some cash easily by switching to an annual subscription instead.

I've been a member of YouTube Premium since it launched, because my TV time is usually spent going down rabbit holes, so paying for no ads is personally worth it. The rate of $15.99 a month is $191.88 a year, so saving $31.89, or roughly 15%, is a no-brainer. It doesn't auto renew, so there's no way to get caught in an endless subscription, and the U.S. is one of the few place where annual subscriptions are available.

It's not just the ad-free content that makes it worthwhile either. There's background play, which comes in clutch when multitasking on smart devices, offline downloads, 1080p Premium enhanced bitrate, PiP and jumping ahead of regularly skipped sections of videos such as sponsored segments. My favorite feature of YouTube premium is getting YouTube Music Premium included, which streams at 256 kbps, which is perfect for most listeners.. 

Amazon Prime is a good service to pay for annually also. $139 a year compared to $179.88 at $14.99 per month is $40.88, or roughly a 22% saving. This subscription includes free same/next-day shipping, Prime Video, Amazon Music, Prime Gaming, one free monthly Twitch channel subscription, and unlimited photo storage. Disney+ just offers annual savings, but is also well worth doing. It's $189.99 a year for ad-free streaming, compared to $227.88 at $18.99 a month, saving $37.89 at roughly 16%. The ad-supported tier sadly has no annual option at the time of writing.

Paramount+ content is slowly creeping into my essential streaming subscriptions thanks to shows like "South Park", "Tulsa King", and all the Spongebob my kids could possibly consume. Going for annual across their tiers is well worth it. The essential tier is $89.99 a year compared to $107.88 paying $8.99 a month, saving $17.89 (roughly 16%). The premium tier annual payment is $139.99, saving $27.89 (roughly 16%) compared to monthly payments of $13.99, totaling $167.88.

PlayStation Plus also has annual savings throughout its tiers, ranging from nearly $52 to nearly $80 a year. Essential is $79.99 a year, compared to $131.88 at $10.99 per month, saving $51.89 (roughly 39%). Extra is $134.99 a year instead of $203.88 at $16.99 per month, saving $68.89 (roughly 33%). Premium is $159.99 a year, compared to $239.88, saving $79.89 (around 33%).

That's a lot of numbers, so here's what comes with each tier to make the decision easier. A PlayStation 5 is required to access the membership benefits, although cloud streaming can be accessed on whatever the app runs on. Essentials unlocks online play and monthly games, Extra adds a PlayStation 4/5 catalog, and Premium adds the Classics library alongside cloud streaming. So no matter which tier benefits are right for players, there's money to be saved on each one.