1. HBO Max
Cost: $14.99/month
HBO: His Dark Materials, The Wire, The Sopranos, Oz, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Game of Thrones, Bored to Death, Flight of the Conchords, Succession, Euphoria, Watchmen, The Leftovers, How To with John Wilson, True Blood, Last Week Tonight, Silicon Valley, Lovecraft Country, Veep, Larry Sanders
Originals: The Flight Attendant, Search Party
Quality T.V.: Friends, Rick and Morty, South Park, Adventure Time, Big Bang Theory, Gavin and Stacey, Men of a Certain Age, Nathan For You, The Office (U.K.), Tanner '88, The Thick of It, Alan Partridge, Wallander
Quality Films: The Shop Around the Corner, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, Jaws, Austin Powers, The Matrix, Alien, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Eraserhead, North by Northwest, 2001, Bicycle Thieves, Breathless, Rashomon, City Lights, Bringing Up Baby, The 400 Blows, 8 1/2, After Hours, Blood Simple, Boogie Nights, Hoop Dreams, King Kong, The Maltese Falcon, Paris, Texas, Rebel Without a Cause, The Thin Man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro
Brands: HBO, Warner Brothers, Turner Classic Movies, Studio Ghibli, Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network, Sesame Street, Adult Swim, D.C., Crunchyroll (anime)
The HBO library is the best there is and HBO continues to create new quality programming such as Lovecraft Country and How To with John Wilson. Warner Brothers' film vault is the deepest in the world. Add to that a fair number of non-HBO shows, all of Studio Ghibli, cartoons of all stripes, and Max originals, and you have the best collection of content of any streaming service.
In 2021 HBO Max will also have Warner Brothers films debuting on the service at the same time the films are being made available to theaters. This has upset many in the film industry as it will harm theaters, which will be trying to come back as the pandemic (hopefully) recedes. Peter Labuza has a great piece in Polygon in which he analyzes HBO Max's place in AT&T's corporate structure. Highly recommended.
HBO Max doesn't have the sheer quantity of new stuff Netflix has, but the depth of its library makes it the top streaming service in my opinion.
2. Netflix
Cost: $13.99/month
Originals: Stranger Things, The Queen's Gambit, The Crown, Grand Army, Orange is the New Black, Black Mirror, The End of the F***ing World, Sex Education, Kimmy Schmidt, GLOW, Russian Doll, Master of None, Never Have I Ever, Babysitters Club, BoJack Horseman,
Quality Series: The I.T. Crowd, Arrested Development, Community, Schitt's Creek, Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks, Hannibal, Rectify, Broadchurch, The Good Place, Derry Girls, Twilight Zone, Better Call Saul, Halt and Catch Fire, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Quality Films: Bonnie and Clyde, The Departed, GoodFellas, Back to the Future, Fargo, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Lady Bird, Her, Taxi Driver, Carol, E.T., The Florida Project, 20th Century Women
Specials: John Mulaney, Hannah Gadsby, Dave Chapelle, Bruce Springsteen
Original Films: Marriage Story, The Irishman, Rolling Thunder Revue, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Netflix produces by far the most new content of any service and a lot of that content is excellent. It all spends a lot of money to license content from others. There is always a lot on Netflix and it is still an essential streaming service. Netflix also has had a HUGE head start on everyone else and that has created an enormous amount of brand loyalty. However, Netflix now has a lot more competition.
A lot of shows that Netflix made hugely popular are now no longer on Netflix. Being on Netflix helped turn shows which were minor hits such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Office, and Schitt's Creek into huge hits, and helped turn Friends, which was a huge hit in the nineties, into a huge hit all over again in the last decade with a new generation. Moving forward, Netflix is not going to have the same access to content from other studios, as those studios now have their own streaming services. Netflix will soon have exclusive streaming rights to Seinfeld, but it had to pay huge money to get them.
It will be interesting to see how Netflix fares against the big studios in the years to come. For now it remains an essential streaming service.
3. Hulu
Cost: $11.99/month
FX: Better Things, Fargo, Atlanta, Devs, Justified, It's Always Sunny, Baskets
Originals: PEN15, High Fidelity, Normal People, Ramy, Little Fires Everywhere, The Great, The Handmaid's Tale
Quality TV: Mary Tyler Moore, Friday Night Lights, Broad City, Party Down, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 30 Rock, Letterkenny, Nathan For You, Bunheads, The Office (U.K.), Please Like Me, Lodge 49, King of the Hill, Frasier, MASH, Skins, Superstore, Veronica Mars, Parenthood, Firefly, Lost, Buffy, Twin Peaks, Dick Van Dyke, I Love Lucy, Taxi, Cheers, Bob's Burgers, Community, Seinfeld, Rick and Morty, The X-Files
Quality Films: Parasite, Palm Springs, I Am Greta, RBG, Hunt For the Wilderpeople, Austin Powers, Boogie Nights, Eve's Bayou, The Princess Bride
Brands: FX, Freeform
Hulu has a deep library of television content and is now the streaming home of FX's library of quality programming. It also produces some very good series and movies of its own. Its film library is not particularly deep, however. There's still a lot of good stuff on Hulu and it's an essential streamer, just not as essential as the top two on this list.
There's also the issue of Hulu being Disney's #2 priority behind Disney Plus. So far Hulu does not seem to be suffering as a result of its corporate overlords being indifferent to its success but we'll see how things play out as the streaming wars continue. As of now Hulu is pretty essential and contains a lot of great content.
4. Amazon
Cost: $8.99/month
Originals: Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Small Axe, One Mississippi, The Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent
Quality Series: Fleabag, Andy Griffith Show, The Americans, Downton Abbey, 30 Rock, Community, Mr. Robot, The Office (U.K.), Buffy
Quality Films: Rushmore, Amelie, The Squid and the Whale, Small Axe, Dr. Strangelove, It's a Wonderful Life, Tangerine, Eighth Grade, Stop Making Sense, Knives Out, Buffalo '66, Broadcast News, The Departed, Inception, Raging Bull, Zodiac, Almost Famous, The Virgin Suicides, Paterson, Sound of Metal, Borat 2
I do not consider Amazon essential, but it does have a deep library of films to explore. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a hit, but most of its original series has been pretty meh. Amazon Prime Video is fine, and it's a decent value, but it isn't essential as the top three services are.
5. Criterion Channel
Cost: $10.99/month
Quality Films: Harold and Maude, The Night of the Hunter, The 400 Blows, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Bicycle Thieves, Chungking Express, Claire's Knee, Days of Heaven, The Daytrippers, Dead Man, Elevator to the Gallows, Exotica, Fanny and Alexander, The Last Wave, Pandora's Box, Paris, Texas, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Red Shoes, The Rules of the Game, Secrets and Lies, Tanner '88, The Thin Blue Line, Three Colors: Blue, Red, White
My Power Rankings reflect my preferences and I love the Criterion Channel because it has the best collection of international, classic, and independent films there is. I love these films. Every month Criterion has new spotlights on directors and themes and the collection is constantly adding new films. This service is not essential to everyone but it is essential to me and I hope that the Criterion Channel and the Criterion Collection of physical media continues to thrive.
6. Disney Plus
Cost: $6.99/month
Film Library: Pinocchio, Snow White, Bambi, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Freaky Friday, TRON, Muppet Movie, Bend it Like Beckham, Star Wars, The Avengers, Black Panther, Hidden Figures, Hamilton, Toy Story, Up, The Incredibles, WALL-E
Quality Series: The Simpsons, Phinneas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, The Mandalorian
Brands: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic
Most humans would rank Disney Plus above the Criterion Channel, but my rankings reflect my interests and I prefer the Criterion films to the Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars films. I do think Disney Plus is a great deal, though I expect the price to creep up over the years. There are things I would enjoy watching here, but I just don't care about The Mandalorian or the Marvel stuff. I do think WandaVision sounds interesting, however, so who knows, I may actually eventually subscribe myself some time. That being said, the kid-centric nature of Disney Plus just doesn't appeal to me when there is so much other stuff available.
7. CBS All-Access
Cost: $9.99/month
Quality Series: Twin Peaks, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, The Good Wife, Nathan For You, SpongeBob SquarePants, Cheers, I Love Lucy, Review, Daria
Quality Films: Fargo, Amelie, Trainspotting, Sunset Boulevard, Moneyball, Superbad, Zodiac, The Conversation, Harold and Maude, Days of Heaven, Paper Moon, Searching For Bobby Fischer, The Virgin Suicides, Election, The Bad News Bears, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Wonder Boys, A New Leaf
Brands: CBS, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, TV Land, MTV, VH-1
This is going to become Paramount Plus some time this year. Paramount has a big library and the various Viacom cable properties have created some interesting things, but there's not really anything compelling enough here to make this an essential service.
8. Peacock
Cost: $9.99/month
Quality Series: Cheers, Frasier, Friday Night Lights, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Downton Abbey, A.P. Bio, Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Quality Films: Moonrise Kingdom, In Bruges, The Goonies, The Man Who Wasn't There, James Bond, Lost in Translation, Vertigo, Monsoon Wedding, Knocked Up, Charade
Brands: NBC, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, USA Network, Syfy, Bravo
Peacock has spent big money to return The Office to its corporate home, but there's not a whole lot here at the moment. And the people who love The Office have already seen each episode eight times.
9. AMC Plus
Cost: $8.99/month
Quality Series: Mad Men, Orphan Black, Doctor Who, The A Word, Deutschland 83
Quality Films: Frances Ha, Boyhood, Y tu mama tambien, Two Days, One Night, Blue is the Warmest Color
Brands: AMC, IFC, Sundance TV, Shudder
This is the home of Mad Men and assorted odds and ends. Not enough here to sustain a Major League streaming service, in my opinion, particularly if you've already seen Mad Men. I hear the horror fans do like Shudder, though, and there are a lot of horror fans.
10. Showtime
Cost: $8.99/month
Quality Series: Homeland, Dexter, Billions, The Good Lord Bird, The Chi, Twin Peaks: The Return
Quality Films: 1917, First Cow, Barton Fink, Reservoir Dogs, Frances Ha, First Reformed, Schindler's List, Ex Machina, Being John Malkovich, Under the Skin, The Lobster, No Country For Old Men
For some reason I don't entirely understand, ViacomCBS is not planning on including Showtime with Paramount Plus, and seems intent on keeping it as a stand-alone entity. I've just never felt Showtime's offerings were on par with HBO's, or even FX's. We'll see if Showtime can survive on its own; I don't think it can, but we'll see.
11. Starz
Cost: $8.99/month
Quality Series: Party Down, P-Valley, Miami Vice
Quality Films: Pulp Fiction, L.A. Confidential, No Country For Old Men, Call Me By Your Name, Chinatown, Office Space, Gattaca, Jackie Brown, Miller's Crossing, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Traffic, Sideways, The King of Kong, Only Lovers Left Alive, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Bull Durham
Brands: Lionsgate
Starz has even less cachet than Showtime. I would think one of the bigger players would make a play for the Lionsgate library sooner rather than later. I don't think Starz as a standalone brand will survive too long in the streaming wars.
12. Britbox
Cost: $6.99/month
Quality Series: The Office (U.K.), The Thick of It, Fawlty Towers, Father Ted, Gavin and Stacey, Doctor Who, Prime Suspect, Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, Wallander
Brands: BBC and ITV
I like Britbox and British television generally. This fills a definite niche, and it offers a lot more than does Acorn. If you want to watch a lot of British TV, this is a good deal.
13. Apple
Cost: $4.99/month
Original Series: Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Dickinson
Original Films: Boys State, Wolfwalkers, On the Rocks
Apple decided to enter the streaming wars with a brand but very little actual content. They have no library at all. They did make Ted Lasso, which is a fun show, and then they have a few other offerings that are of mild interest. However, there is no compelling reason to subscribe to this service once you have seen Ted Lasso. One would think Apple would try and buy Lionsgate or MGM and make a real play in the streaming wars. As it stands, it's not entirely clear why Apple has a streaming service in the first place.
Also, the product placement of Apple products in Apple shows is very annoying.
14. Acorn
Cost: $5.99/month
Quality Series: Detectorists, Father Ted, Peep Show, Prime Suspect, Foyle's War
Acorn is now owned by AMC. I don't understand why these offerings aren't folded into AMC Plus. In my opinion Britbox has a better catalogue than Acorn. Unless there's something specific you absolutely must watch which is available on Acorn and nowhere else, I would not recommend subscribing.
15. Epix
Cost: $5.99/month
Quality Films: Raging Bull, His Girl Friday, Grizzly Man, Small Change, Broadcast News, The Hurt Locker, James Bond
Brands: MGM
This is MGM's cable channel, which is now also a streaming service. Epix has developed some original series, but nothing I've ever cared to watch. The hedge fund dudes who own MGM want to sell MGM. It's just a matter of time before Epix and MGM are subsumed by another conglomerate. The same fate befell 20th Century Fox, after all. That once great studio is now a complete afterthought in the the Disney empire. MGM is likewise a shadow of its former self. It now owns the rights to James Bond and a few other assorted knickknacks; it doesn't even hold the rights to most of MGM's great musicals and other cinematic triumphs of the past. No one is going to go out of there way to buy a streaming subscription to Epix.
16. Discovery Plus
Cost: $6.99/month
Brands: Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, OWN, Animal Planet, BBC Planet Earth, A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, Travel Channel, Science Channel, Magnolia Network
Nature documentaries and lifestyle programming. This is going to have a lot of content, but I don't watch any of these cable channels so I have no interest in these offerings. A lot of people do watch these shows, though, so I think this service will do just fine.
17. ESPN Plus
Cost: $5.99/month
ESPN Plus has a lot of sports content such as cricket, European soccer, and a lot of college sports. It also has a lot of sports documentaries, including the complete 30 For 30 series. This is not something I need to subscribe to, but I suppose it does fulfil the niche for those who need this content.
18. Magnolia Selects
Cost: $4.99/month
Magnolia releases independent films such as Lars von Trier's Melancholia and documentaries such as Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Magnolia does not need its own streaming service, however.
There are even more streaming services available. I didn't include the streaming services with ads, such as Philo, Fubo, Tubi, and Pluto. These services aim to mimic traditional cable and broadcast networks.
And yet there are still films and series unavailable to stream. Freaks and Geeks, for example, is only available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory. So there is still a place in this world for physical media.
Hope you enjoyed these 2021 Streaming Service Power Rankings!
