How to Save on Streaming Subscriptions: 7 Steps Without Losing Your Favorite Series

List all your subscriptions

Start by seeing what you are paying for. Go through your card statement for the past few months, as well as the subscription lists in app stores. On an iPhone or iPad, Apple shows them in Settings: tap your name, then Subscriptions. In Google Play, subscriptions are on the subscriptions page of your account. Write down each service, its fee and the date of the next charge.

Count what you actually use

For each service, think back to when you last watched something. A simple rule: if you haven’t needed a subscription for several weeks in a row, pause or cancel it. For comparison, divide the monthly fee by the number of hours you actually watched: this shows which subscription costs the most per hour of viewing.

Choose a plan by screens and quality

A more expensive plan isn’t always necessary. The Netflix help page in Ukrainian describes three plans: “Basic” (720p, one screen), “Standard” (1080p, two screens) and “Premium” (4K and HDR, four screens). The page for Ukraine lists plans from 4.99 to 9.99 EUR per month. For HBO Max, according to its official page for Ukraine, Standard costs 7.99 EUR per month (two devices at a time, Full HD), and Premium costs 9.99 EUR (four devices, 4K). If you watch alone on a laptop or TV, a lower plan is often enough; if several people at home watch at the same time, consider a plan with more screens.

Cancel right after paying

This is the simplest way to avoid paying extra. According to Netflix’s help page, if you cancel before the end of the billing period, you can watch until it ends. Google Play explains the same: after cancelling, access remains for the time already paid. So if you subscribed for a month for the sake of one series, cancel on the day you pay and watch until the end of the period. The downside: some services renew payments automatically. HBO Max’s page for Ukraine notes that its plans renew monthly until cancelled. That page has no terms about access after cancellation, so for such a service it is better to check the help section.

Coming back is easy. Netflix’s help says you can return at any time, what you watched is saved, and recommendations, ratings, account data and game history are kept for 24 months.

Rotate services

Don’t keep several subscriptions at once if you aren’t watching all of them. A simple cycle: choose one service for a month, watch what has piled up, cancel, and move on to the next. A rough calculation: if a plan costs 9.99 EUR per month (like HBO Max’s Premium as of October 2026), twelve months in a row come to 119.88 EUR, while three months a year come to 29.97 EUR. The difference depends on your habits, but it is useful to work it out.

If you don’t want to cancel but just want a break, Netflix offers to “freeze” the subscription instead of cancelling it (not on the “Basic” plan), and in Google Play some apps let you pause payments for between one week and three months.

Use family options and free alternatives

Apple notes on its Apple TV page that thanks to “Family Sharing,” one subscription can work for up to six people. For Ukraine, Apple also has a note that access to Apple TV and Apple Arcade may be included in an iCloud+ subscription, so check whether you already pay for it. Look at free or cheaper options too: the heading of Megogo’s home page calls the service an “online cinema with free legal content,” and Sweet.tv shows plans from 49 UAH per month and a trial period. Terms change, so check them on the official website.

Set reminders

For a trial period, Apple advises cancelling the subscription at least 24 hours before it ends. Set a reminder in your calendar two or three days before the charge: that is enough time to decide whether to keep the subscription.