this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
136 points (99.3% liked)

Frugal

6048 readers
2 users here now

Discuss how to save money.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Streaming prices are out of hand. What are cheaper alternatives?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 74 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Just steal everything. The powers that be rob you blind every day in a death by a thousand cuts kinda way.

They don't give a fuck about you, don't pay them any courtesies in return.

[–] i078@europe.pub 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 month ago

🏴‍☠️

[–] Glytch@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago

Do what you want, 'cause a Pirate is Free!

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

👉 Your local public library. You can borrow movies and books. Return them so someone else can use them too. Not run afoul of the law. Libraries are great!

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Your library probably even has digital access to thousands of movies, books, and songs, so you don’t even have to leave the house!

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Acid_Burn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

fmhy.net is a constantly updated directory of streaming piracy sites. Make sure you have an ad blocker and enjoy any show from any service instantly with no sign up.

[–] SilverFlame@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Beat me to it, love fmhy

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 19 points 1 month ago

Piracy.

Your public library.

Consume less media in general.

Buy stuff once (eg: DVDs, drm free music)

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago

I never stopped. Welcome back, the waters fine.

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Take what you can. Give nothing back!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Use the free service to listen to new stuff in order to find groups you like. For the sub cost you can buy an album per month and have it forever. I work in areas that don't have great data connections, so having a local copy keeps the jams going without interruption or ads.

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Soma.fm and radio.garden are two streaming music service replacers. I have not used Soma, but Radio Garden is interesting because it gives you a map of every single participating radio station on the planet and lets you just scroll around the entire globe and pick a radio station.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] citizensongbird@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (5 children)

How is this a surprise to anyone? They came to replace cable.

No, you still don't get it.

THEY CAME TO REPLACE CABLE.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

At this point I'd think a good number of folks either don't remember or simply never experienced cable/satellite TV.

Hard to compare against something you've never experienced.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Streaming is not frugal by definition since you don't own anything.

  1. Buy from Bandcamp, own and stream forever for a cheap price
  2. Torrent movies
  3. Torrent or Soulseek music
  4. Listen to podcasts, there are billions of those, it will last forever
  5. Free music on SomaFM, ByteFM, Radio Paradise, Shoutcast, etc.
  6. YouTube client like NewPipe if you have Android to listen to music
[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Buy from Bandcamp, own and stream forever for a cheap price

It's also important to emphasize that artists make more from a Bandcamp purchase than if you had just streamed a few times on Shitify.

You would need to listen to a song 400+ times on Spotify to earn the artist $1. Or you could throw them a buck on Bandcamp Friday and get to download it forever. Plus the artist gets paid immediately from the Bandcamp purchase instead of quarterly streaming royalties.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] apftwb@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

This. This has always been the better alternative and this always will be the better alternative!

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Self-hosting and/or use Kanopy if your local library offers it

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] rangber@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

The sea awaits you.

[–] shweddy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Fmhy net

If buying isn't owning piracy isn't stealing

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (5 children)

For streaming, Debrid and Stremio!

Your local public library!

Buying physical media.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] alexquiniou@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

Cancel and setup a nas.

Truenas, openmediavault, unraid, yunohost. There are many option out there.

Many would gladly help you if needed. :)

[–] remon@ani.social 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I'd say piracy ... but it's definitely not cheaper the way I do it (at least not short term).

But if you have some spare storage and don't need a huge amount of content, that's a good option.

[–] bunkyprewster@startrek.website 5 points 1 month ago (7 children)

What are you spending the money on? Physical sever devices? Electricity?

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

NTA but I spend about $30/month on various self-hosting-specific services: Usenet subscription, VPN, Plex Pass, a few little recurring donations to OSSes that I use, etc.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] remon@ani.social 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Yeah, personal hardware. Replaced my 2 bay (2x 6 TB) NAS that had 5 USB drives attached with more powerful 12 bay NAS and 9x 20TB drives. Luckily before the insane price hikes due to the AI hype. Still, I invest like $7000 over all at least. That's a lot of years of netflix/spotify :D

I don't even bother with the electricity, it just is what it is.

[–] obelisk_complex@piefed.ca 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Jeeeeeesus. I've got 20TB and that feels like a lot 😅

H1PnOTTunvaoPwG.jpg

[–] remon@ani.social 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

8 of the drives are on a raid 6 and one is a hot spare and converted to 1000 based terrabyte, I'm maxing out at 109.1 TB, but max volume size is 108 TB.

But I've interacted with people that had 1.2 PB ... there is always a bigger fish ^^

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

Before I streamed music I'd just download it from YouTube at the low cost of free.

[–] The_Almighty_Walrus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] reddit_sux@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Download it. If caught just say you are training AGI (Actual Genuine Intelligence) of your own.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

I've been downloading for decades. I've never had a single incident, ever.

We're in a Robin Hood Economy. The rich know it, and have been in it for years. Steal everything, it's the American way.

[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 4 points 1 month ago

Why subscribe? Subs like this perpetuate a worse future. Go cold turkey for two years and re-evaluate then.

[–] eli@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Qbittorrent and a VPN, I've been using Proton VPN and it's been good.

Save up for a 2 bay NAS and a couple hard drives once you cancel your subs, if you want to keep any content that is.

Plex is still a solid choice, but there's probably other self host media options now.

[–] AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Jellyfin is generally what people are using now instead of Plex, including myself.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] lithiumground@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

dont use imperialist american services

you can watch movies for free https://fmhy.net/video

🏴‍☠️ good ol' piracy will never let you down. 🏴‍☠️

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Jellyfin on an old computer that you happen to have lying around is free.

You can get videos to watch by going to your library and checking them out and using MakeMKV to rip them to digital format and saving them to the Jellyfin server.

Alternatively, many thrift stores and pawn shops sell DVDs usually for a buck or two.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

yo ho, all hands, hoist the colors high

heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die

[–] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Gelik@feddit.dk 3 points 1 month ago

The last time Spotify put up their prices, I told myself that I would cancel if they did it once more. If they do they would rise beyond the maximum budget I allocated to them, so to speak.

load more comments
view more: next ›