How Thrifty Streamer Works
We help you answer one simple question: Am I paying too much for streaming?
The Problem
The average American household subscribes to 4–6 streaming services but only actively watches content on about half of them. That unused half is costing you real money every single month — and most people don't even realize it.
The challenge is knowing which services are worth keeping and when to subscribe or cancel. That's exactly what Thrifty Streamer calculates for you.
How It Works
Add Your Shows
Search our database of thousands of TV shows and add the ones you watch or want to watch. We pull data from TMDb to know which streaming services carry each show.
We track which services have your shows so you don't have to check each app individually.
Select Your Services
Tell us which streaming services you subscribe to. If you're on a specific tier (like Netflix Standard vs. Premium), set that too — we'll use your actual price for calculations.
We support 20+ services including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Peacock, and more.
Add Your Providers
Many cable and phone providers include streaming services for free. Verizon may include Disney+, T-Mobile might bundle Netflix, and Xfinity often includes Peacock Premium.
We detect these bundles automatically and mark those services as $0 in your cost analysis.
See Your Savings
Your dashboard shows a cost-per-show breakdown for every service. If a service costs $15/month and has 5 of your shows, that's $3/show — great value. If it has 1 show, that's $15/show — maybe cancel until more content arrives.
Color-coded ratings make it instantly clear: green = great value, yellow = fair, red = consider canceling.
Our Cost Calculation Methodology
Thrifty Streamer's value analysis is straightforward and transparent:
| Metric | Formula | What It Tells You |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per Show | Monthly price ÷ Number of your shows on the service | How much you're paying for each show you actually watch |
| Monthly Total | Sum of all paid subscriptions (excludes free + bundle-included) | Your actual streaming spend, accounting for bundles |
| Bundle Savings | Individual prices − Bundle price | How much you save by bundling (e.g., Disney Bundle, Apple One) |
How We Handle Bundles
Bundles are one of the best ways to save on streaming, but they make cost tracking tricky. Here's how we handle them:
- Streaming service bundles (like Disney Bundle or Apple One): When you subscribe to a bundle, we mark all included services as "$0 — Included" so they don't inflate your monthly total.
- Provider bundles (like Xfinity's Peacock inclusion): When you select your cable/phone provider, we automatically detect which streaming services are included in your plan.
- Overlap detection: If you cancel a bundle, we check whether another active bundle still covers each service before resetting it to paid status.
Understanding Value Ratings
Our color-coded system makes it easy to spot which services are earning their keep:
Great Value
This service is well worth the cost. You're watching enough content to justify the subscription.
Fair Value
Reasonable, but could be improved. Consider if there's upcoming content that will increase the value.
Consider Canceling
You may be overpaying. Check upcoming premieres — if nothing new is coming, cancel and resubscribe later.
Your Privacy
Thrifty Streamer doesn't connect to your streaming accounts. We never ask for your Netflix password or any login credentials. You manually tell us what you watch and subscribe to, and we do the math. Your data stays on our servers and is never sold to third parties.
Read our full Privacy Policy for details.
Ready to find out if you're overpaying?
It takes about 5 minutes to set up. Add your shows, select your services, and see your cost breakdown instantly.
Get Started — It's Free Read the FAQ