If you have been paying sky high cable bills and have heard about streaming services before but never really gotten to look more into them or maybe you are a student and need the best and cheapest possible option. The on-demand streaming services have grown over the past few years because people are finding it’s usefulness and I would never consider going back to cable again for many reasons. Scroll down for a smoking deal from Hulu and Spotify for students.

Recently, I wrote about best music streaming services and getting discounts on them for students. I wanted to touched this topic with streaming your favorite tv-shows and music in this post and maybe even convince you to switch over.

In this post I will give you a side-by-side comparison and hopefully help you decide which one is best for you. The big guys in the streaming television business include: Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

Topics I will go over:

  • Pricing Comparison of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (Student Perspective and Deals if they have any)
  • My Best Pick (Deal of the year for students and how to get it)
  • Overview of Options
  • Bottom Line

Pricing Comparison of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon

  • First month free, then plans start at $7.99
  • Ability to stream to ONE device
  • No commercials
  • Cancel anytime
  • A large choice of movies and shows

Now with ShowTime if you buy a bundle from Spotify. Enjoy 30 days for free!

  • Hulu’s basic plan starts at $7.99
  • Ability to add different profiles or names to watch like yourself, girlfriend, etc…
  • Limited commercials (for ad-free streaming you need to add few more dollars)
  • Lots of choices with many current shows to watch

  • Included in your prime membership at $59 per year for students or $6.49/month.
  • Amazon Prime Video is ad-free
  • You already know benefits of prime membership especially its free 2-day shipping
  • Not the best option for streaming,  but the prime membership really have a lot of perks for everybody

You should know that these option I listed I the cheapest plans you can get and there are also premium plans available if you want more for your experience like getting extra premium channels or watching tv, live streams on sports games, streaming on more devices at once, or watching your favorite tv-shows or movies high definition (HD). These all add-ons cost extra.

My Best Pick (Student)

Hulu is my best pick because I have been using it simultaneously with Spotify. When I signed up for Spotify membership, I found out about a deal with Hulu+ Spotify+ShowTime and it was only $4.99 a month and still is! Here’s the link *Note: You will only benefit from this is by being a student and verifying your school information. I talked more about it with my post on credit card review and how that $4.99 turned into $1.99 a month with 50% off that Capital One Bank was running. Expired

This is the best option for the budget and if you are a student and want both streaming music and movies/tv-shows, this is the most budget friendly version for the wallet. That is about 16 cents per day for having so much at your hands.

I was able to find every show I watched before, just wish I had more time to watch, as we all do.

Overview of Options

Netflix

Netflix is still and will be one of the best streaming options and I have used it in the past but there has been few things I remember I did not like and maybe it’s different now but a lot of the content was rather old and is definitely best place if you want to watch older content. I could be wrong but honestly they are doing something right because their stock price has only been going up.

Anyway, while you can access previous seasons. you might not be able to access what is streaming right now or current season.

Hulu

Hulu has done a lot over the past years and honestly about 4 years ago I would not even look at Hulu and Netflix was the best option. This days my opinion has completely changed after using it for some time now. Even though I have a limited commercials plan which means there are about 2 minutes commercials throughout the show, it is still worth it and does not bother me, this gives me time to get up and do something quickly. If you’re not into the ads, then it is extra $4 to watch shows/movies without ads.

Enjoy 30 days for free!

Of course there is highest plan available at $39.99 currently which allows you to do everything that the basic plan can, plus 50 + live streaming channels that involve sports, entertainment, and news. It also allows you to record live TV up to 50 hours which is a great option not to miss anything.

For students combining the Hulu with Spotify and Show Time for $4.99, you now can see how hot this deal is.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Music is similar to Netflix in so many ways. You are able to access a large variety of streaming library with your prime membership which already has great benefits itself.

Where it struggles a little would be that a lot of shows or movies you will have to purchase but it is definitely the best option as far as the price. If you need to find something to watch online, amazon prime video will be your best bet because they will most likely have it maybe at a few dollars cost but will be the best possible high definition and hassle free.

Bottom Line

Online streaming as I mentioned in the beginning of the post has really escalated to the new level of watching your favorite movies and tv shows. If you are a student absolutely the best option is the Hulu and Spotify partnership and hands up the best one I could find over days of searching of information for this article. If you are no longer a student the Hulu again at $39.99 comes as a winner as they have the most current seasons available and recording of your favorite shows for 50 hours for you to watch later on. Netflix is close behind if you are into more of older movies and shows, Netflix is definitely hands up the best place for that reason.