Anime fans get ready to take a hit to your wallet, Crunchyroll's free tier might be gone - but it only took a few weeks for us to have to shell out a little extra to watch your shows. Crunchyroll has come out and announced a price hike across the board on all three of its premium subs, just as you thought it was safe to start watching some shows
So, as of right now for new members and come March 4th 2026, for people already paying their monthly stream on them, the cost of getting your anime fix is going up by 2 bucks a month, no matter which plan you've got.
New Price Breakdown (Monthly)
Here's the lowdown - here's how the new monthly rates look for regular US subscribers:
- Fan Tier - Your basic premium plan just got more expensive going up from $7.99 a month to $9.99 & the best part? Crunchyroll is finally offering offline downloads on this tier, which was previously only available to people paying top dollar
- Mega Fan Tier - you're next - going from $11.99 a month to $13.99, which still gives you 4 live streams at the same time and access to the Crunchyroll Game Vault
- Ultimate Fan Tier - you're getting charged the most its going from $15.99 a month to $17.99 and you get 6 live streams at the same time & a rather cool "swag bag" each year
So why the price hike now?
Crunchyroll responded to subscribers with an email saying they need to "keep growing the worlds biggest anime library" and cover the costs of a string of recent upgrades the service has rolled out over the last year - we are talking highly sought after features like the ability to make multiple profiles for different users, a button to skip intro and credits on your shows & better parental controls - now these are all pretty popular.
But let's be real, just a month after getting rid of the free tier its a pretty big blow to lose access to it and then have to start shelling out a bit more cash for the premium tier
Save Money With the Annual Plan
As a consolation prize, any subscriber can opt in to an annual Fan tier for a pretty sweet deal - for a limited time, they can pay $66.99 instead of the $120 that the basic tier would normally cost - sounds like a good way to make the price hike a little more palatable.
Source: Crunchyroll