Crunchyroll Hits Subscribers with $2 Price Increase Across All Tiers in March 2026

Crunchyroll dropped a bombshell on anime fans this week. All three subscription tiers are getting more expensive.

The streaming platform announced the price changes on 2nd February, though subscribers won't see the increase until their next billing date after 4th March 2026. Here's what you're looking at now.

Fan Tier jumps from $7.99 to $9.99 monthly. Mega Fan climbs from $11.99 to $13.99. Ultimate Fan rises from $15.99 to $17.99.

Two dollars more across the board.

First Fan Tier Increase Since 2019

For the basic Fan Tier, this marks the first price bump in seven years. That's a decent run compared to other streaming services that seem to increase prices every other season.

The higher tiers? Different story. Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan both saw increases back in May 2024. Less than two years ago. Now they're going up again.

Crunchyroll sweetened the deal slightly by offering a limited-time Fan Annual Plan at $66.99 for the year. Works out to about $5.58 monthly when you pay upfront. Better than the monthly rate, assuming you're committed for twelve months straight.

The platform currently houses over 50,000 individual episodes spanning 2,000 series and films. That's alongside music videos, concerts, and the recently relaunched Crunchyroll Game Vault.

Coming After Multiple Controversies

This price hike lands during a rough patch for Crunchyroll's reputation among subscribers.

Just last month, the company axed its free ad-supported tier entirely. Starting 1st January 2026, you need a paid subscription to watch anything. No more browsing a limited library with commercials interrupting your viewing.

Then there's the subtitle situation. Throughout autumn 2025, users noticed dramatically reduced subtitle quality across new anime releases. Basic fonts. Zero typesetting. Text overlapping dialogue in ways that made shows borderline unwatchable.

Worse still? Evidence of AI-generated subtitles appeared in multiple shows. One episode of Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show literally included "ChatGPT said:" in German subtitles. Crunchyroll blamed a third-party vendor, claiming it violated their agreement.

Most recently, the company started cancelling backorders from Right Stuf purchases dating back to 2022. Customers who ordered manga and anime merchandise years ago are suddenly receiving cancellation notices. Crunchyroll promised to honour those orders when they acquired Right Stuf. Four years later, they're walking that back.

Growing Competition in the Anime Space

Crunchyroll dominated Western anime streaming for years after absorbing Funimation. That landscape is shifting.

Netflix recently announced a partnership with MAPPA, the studio behind Jujutsu Kaisen. The deal gives Netflix exclusive access to MAPPA's future original anime titles. Nobody knows yet if this affects Crunchyroll's existing MAPPA catalog.

Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and other platforms are investing heavily in anime acquisitions. Crunchyroll no longer has the field to itself.

Fans on social media are split. Some argue seven years without a price increase for the basic tier shows restraint compared to Netflix or Disney+. Others point out that subscribers are paying more money for what feels like declining service quality.

The subtitle issues. The cancelled orders. The removal of free access. Now higher prices on top of everything else.

For anime fans outside Japan, Crunchyroll remains the most comprehensive option for simulcast releases and massive back catalogs. The question is whether that library justifies an extra $24 annually for each tier.

You've got until your next billing cycle after 4th March to decide if Crunchyroll's still worth the investment. Or whether competing platforms have caught up enough to tempt you away.