I just cancelled Netflix and it feels great
After 17 uninterrupted years of Netflix membership, I just hit the cancellation button.
Netflix was the main reason I was able to cut the cable TV cord way back in 2008, and since then it’s been our home’s streaming staple. Even as we cycled through other services, Netflix was worth keeping because it usually had something we wanted to watch.
But while looking over my bills this week and seeing Netflix’s $22 monthly charge (that’s $19.99 plus tax), something snapped. I realized that the cost doesn’t make sense for how little I’ve been using the service lately, and at the very least it’s time to take a break.
My TV watching has drifted elsewhere
Netflix has a Viewing Activity page on its website where you can see everything you watched in chronological order. Looking at our family’s watch history has been illuminating.
The last time I logged a full season of a Netflix show was at the beginning of 2026, when my family binge-watched the entirety of Stranger Things. My wife, who’s usually the bigger Netflix watcher, hasn’t committed to a Netflix show since the latest Bridgerton season in March. She did start doing the mother-daughter Gilmore Girls thing in the spring, until Netflix stopped licensing the show at the end of June.
Lately I’ve gravitated toward Apple TV instead. It has more of the prestige TV vibe that Netflix once did (back when Netflix was trying to be HBO instead of cable). While Apple TV’s Silo and Widow’s Bay have both come up in conversations with friends (and we’re pretty invested in Silo already), I can’t recall the last time someone raved to me about a Netflix exclusive.
Obviously, everyone’s tastes and algorithms are different, but when I look at Apple’s top 10 shows right now, the mix of genres is more interesting to me, with lots of sci-fi and comedy alongside the requisite dramas and thrillers. Netflix’s top 10 leans more heavily into the latter camp. Also, Apple TV offers 4K video with Dolby Vision HDR at no additional cost. Netflix charges an extra $7 per month.
Meanwhile, I’ve found myself turning to YouTube to play the role of time killer. Instead of shuffling through Netflix’s catalog when I’m not sure what to watch, I’ll find some standup comedy clips, live music highlights, or baseball analysis.
Netflix has been making deals with YouTubers in hopes of capturing some of this engagement, but it can’t replicate the breadth of short-form video that YouTube offers. That’s why YouTube is by far the most-watched streaming service on TVs in the United States.
The family glue is gone
In the past, I always had reasons to stick with Netflix even if my own usage had temporarily waned.
The big one was my kids, who used to binge-watch shows like Is It Cake? and Pokémon. They too have felt the allure of YouTube in recent months, but they’re also just more inclined to play games on their iPads, either alone or with friends. They haven’t watched anything on Netflix by themselves since early June.
I also used to share my Netflix password with my parents, and anytime I thought about cancelling, I realized that I’d be cutting them off too. That hook went away a few years ago when Netflix waged war on password sharing and put up roadblocks to out-of-home viewing. Even if I paid the “Extra Member” fee, my parents wouldn’t each get to have their own profiles. They wound up just getting their own account, which means they’re no longer a factor in keeping the subscription.
Why I’ll probably be back
While my Netflix subscription is set to cancel at the end of my next billing cycle, it probably won’t stay that way forever.
At some point my wife will open the app and protest, some hit show will come out that lures us both in, or my son will get an inexplicable urge to watch Pokémon again. Either way, I’ll likely come crawling back for Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL coverage, if only on an ad-supported plan.
But for now, I’m letting the subscription lapse and seeing how long we can get away with it. My guess is it’ll buy us at least a couple weeks, and if I replicate this experiment a few more times over the year, the savings will more than offset the last few rounds of Netflix price hikes.
No matter what happens next, I’ve realized that Netflix’s place in our home is no longer untouchable. There are too many other options, all becoming increasingly expensive, and only limited time to watch what they’re offering. If Netflix is going to become a staple again, it’ll have to earn its place like any other streaming service.
Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice.
