Apple TV+ Price Hikes Worldwide — Where to Get the Best Deal in 2026

Apple TV+ Price Hikes Worldwide — Where to Get the Best Deal in 2026

Apple TV+ has now raised its prices three times since it launched in 2019 at just $4.99 (about £4 / €4.60) a month. That's not a typo. Three times. The most recent hike — in August 2025 — pushed the US price to $12.99/month (about £10 / €12), which is nearly triple what it cost at launch. And depending on where you live, you may be paying even more in real terms once you factor in local pricing and currency swings.

The good news: there are smarter ways to pay for Apple TV+. Some of them involve switching regions using a VPN. Others involve picking the right plan. This guide covers both — so you get the show you want without overpaying for the privilege.

What to Look for Before Picking a Strategy

Not every approach to saving on Apple TV+ is worth the hassle. Here's how to think about it before you dive in.

1. How much are you actually paying right now?

Your Apple TV+ charge depends on your billing country — the country tied to your Apple ID when you first subscribed. If you're in the US, you're paying $12.99/month. UK subscribers pay £9.99/month. Australians pay AU$15.99/month (around $10 / €9.20). Some European countries are around €9.99/month. That means the same service can cost meaningfully different amounts depending purely on geography.

2. Can a VPN actually help here?

Yes — with caveats. A VPN changes your apparent location, which can help you sign up for Apple TV+ through a country where pricing is lower. It won't magically change your existing billing country (Apple locks that to your payment method), but it's useful for new accounts or for accessing content libraries that differ by region. The VPN also needs to reliably work with Apple's servers, which do try to detect and block proxy traffic.

3. Is the annual plan worth it?

Almost always. The annual plan in the US is $99.99/year (about £79 / €92) — that works out to roughly $8.33/month, which is a solid saving over the monthly rate. If you're watching Apple TV+ regularly, this is the easiest win that requires zero technical effort.

4. What's your actual watching habit?

If you only tune in for one or two shows a year, the "churn" strategy — subscribe for a month, binge, cancel — is probably smarter than any VPN setup. But if you're a regular viewer, or you want access to a different regional library, a VPN paired with a cheaper regional plan starts to make real financial sense.

Our Top Pick: NordVPN

Best for: Most people who want to unlock better Apple TV+ pricing or access a different regional library.

We'd recommend NordVPN here, and the reason is specific: it's one of the very few VPN providers with a native app that installs directly on Apple TV. That matters because most VPNs either require a complicated router setup or don't work on Apple TV at all. With NordVPN, you download the app from the App Store on your Apple TV 4K, connect to a server in your chosen country, and you're done. No router configuration, no tech degree required.

As of June 2026, NordVPN's servers reliably unblock Apple TV+ content across multiple regions, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. It also supports Smart DNS — a lightweight alternative to a full VPN connection that's useful if you want faster speeds and don't need the privacy layer.

Beyond Apple TV+, NordVPN works with Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and most other major streamers — so you're not buying a one-trick pony. The 30-day money-back guarantee means you can test it risk-free before committing.

Pricing sits at around $3.09–$4.99/month (about £2.45–£3.95 / €2.85–€4.60) on a two-year plan, depending on current promotions. That's often less than the monthly saving you'd get by switching to a cheaper Apple TV+ regional plan. Monthly billing is available but expensive — around $12.99/month (about £10.30 / €12) — so go for the long plan if you're serious about it.

Alternatives Worth Considering

Surfshark — Best budget pick

Surfshark consistently undercuts most rivals on price, often coming in under $2.50/month (about £2 / €2.30) on a two-year deal. It also allows unlimited simultaneous connections, which is handy if you want to cover your phone, laptop, and TV at once. It works with Apple TV+ and has improved its streaming reliability a lot. The one trade-off compared to NordVPN is that setup on Apple TV itself is slightly less polished — but it gets the job done.

ExpressVPN — Best for speed and simplicity

If you've tried cheaper VPNs and found them frustratingly slow during 4K streams, ExpressVPN is worth the premium. It's one of the fastest VPNs available and has a dedicated Apple TV app with a clean interface. The catch is price — it's typically $6.67–$8.32/month (about £5.30–£6.60 / €6.15–€7.65) even on annual plans, which is meaningfully more expensive than NordVPN. Still, if buffering drives you up the wall, the extra cost can be justified.

Apple One bundle — Best if you're already in the Apple ecosystem

This isn't a VPN alternative — it's Apple's own bundling play. Apple One bundles Apple TV+ with Apple Music, Arcade, and iCloud storage into a single monthly price. In the US, the Individual tier starts at $21.95/month (about £17.40 / €20.20), which is excellent value if you'd otherwise pay for those services separately. If you're already paying for Apple Music and iCloud, this is genuinely the smartest move — no VPN required.

The "churn" strategy — Best for light viewers

This is the zero-cost technical solution: subscribe for a month when a show you want drops, binge it, then cancel. Apple TV+ has a short but excellent content slate, which actually makes this more viable than it sounds — there's rarely more than a handful of shows you'd want to watch at once. Pair this with a free trial from a carrier promotion or hardware purchase and you're watching for nothing. The downside is discipline — you have to remember to cancel before renewal.

Apple TV+ Regional Price Comparison

The Verdict: Who Should Buy What

Get NordVPN if you're a regular Apple TV+ watcher who wants to access content from a different region, or if you've noticed your library feels thin compared to what friends in other countries can watch. It's also the right call if you're paying full monthly price and want to use a cheaper billing region going forward. The native Apple TV app is a genuine differentiator — setup takes about five minutes and it just works.

Get Surfshark if you're on a tight budget and primarily watch on a phone, tablet, or laptop rather than a TV. The unlimited device connections are genuinely useful for households. For Apple TV specifically, the setup is slightly more involved, but Surfshark's support documentation is solid.

Get ExpressVPN if you have a weak or variable internet connection and 4K buffering is your primary frustration. Speed is where it genuinely earns its premium price tag. But be honest with yourself — if your internet is fine, NordVPN is fast enough and considerably cheaper.

Switch to Apple One if you're already paying for Apple Music separately. The bundle math is almost always in your favor at that point, and you don't need to think about VPNs, alternative billing regions, or any of this. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one.

Use the churn strategy if you only care about one or two shows per year and you're disciplined enough to cancel before the next billing cycle. Pair it with a carrier free trial and your effective Apple TV+ cost is zero.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Apple TV+ cost different amounts in different countries?

Apple sets prices locally in each market, accounting for local purchasing power, currency rates, and competitive dynamics. The US price is $12.99/month, the UK is £9.99/month, and many European countries sit around €9.99/month. These aren't directly comparable once you factor in exchange rates — Australian subscribers, for example, pay AU$15.99/month, which works out cheaper in US dollar terms. Apple has raised prices three times since launch, and the gaps between regions have widened with each hike.

Is it legal to use a VPN with Apple TV+?

Using a VPN is legal in most countries (with exceptions in places like China, Russia, and the UAE). Apple's terms of service technically prohibit circumventing geographic restrictions, which means in theory they could cancel your account — though in practice, enforcement against individual subscribers is essentially unheard of. The greater risk is that Apple may block the VPN's servers, which is why using a reliably updated service like NordVPN matters. We're not lawyers, and if legality in your specific region is a concern, it's worth checking your local rules.

Will a VPN slow down my Apple TV+ streams?

A good VPN adds a small amount of latency, but with a fast provider like NordVPN or ExpressVPN and a decent internet connection, you shouldn't notice any difference during normal HD or 4K streaming. The key is connecting to a server that's geographically close to you (or close to Apple's servers for that region). Where people run into trouble is connecting to a very distant server or using a cheap, overcrowded VPN. That's another reason we prefer NordVPN — its server network is large enough that you can usually find a fast local server in whatever region you need.

Can I change my Apple ID country to get a cheaper Apple TV+ price?

Yes, but it's not as simple as flipping a switch. To change your Apple ID billing country, you need to cancel any active subscriptions, use up your existing App Store credit, and have a valid payment method (typically a credit or debit card) issued in the country you're switching to. A VPN alone won't change your billing country — it changes your apparent internet location, not your payment details. That said, using a VPN is step one if you're setting up a new Apple ID in a different region from scratch.

Does NordVPN work on Apple TV directly?

As of June 2026, yes — NordVPN has a native app available on Apple TV 4K (running tvOS). You can download it directly from the App Store on your device without any router workarounds. This is one of the main reasons we recommend NordVPN over many competitors for Apple TV specifically. Older Apple TV models (3rd generation and below) don't run apps, so for those you'd need a router-level VPN setup instead.

What's the cheapest legitimate way to get Apple TV+?

The cheapest paid option without a VPN is the US annual plan at $99.99/year (about £79 / €92), which brings the effective monthly cost down to around $8.33. If you're buying a new Apple device, you may qualify for a free trial of several months — Apple regularly offers these with iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV hardware purchases. Carrier deals (through mobile providers like T-Mobile in the US) sometimes include Apple TV+ at no extra charge. Combined with an annual plan and a lower-cost billing region set up via VPN, you can reduce your cost substantially from the standard monthly rate.

What's the difference between Apple TV+ content libraries in different countries?

Apple TV+ has a narrower library than Netflix or Disney+ — it focuses almost entirely on original content. Most of that original content is available globally without regional restrictions, which is actually one of Apple's selling points. However, there are occasional regional differences in release timing and some licensed content that's geo-restricted. The bigger practical reason people use a VPN with Apple TV+ isn't necessarily library differences — it's billing region pricing, or accessing the service in a country where Apple TV+ hasn't officially launched yet.