The best student discounts for streaming services

Key Takeaways

Many popular streaming services offer significant student discounts, reducing subscription costs by as much as 75%.
Services like Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, Max, Apple TV+, and Hulu provide discounted rates for students.
Students can access these discounts by verifying their student status through various means, such as using .edu email addresses or providing student IDs.

Competition is supposed to drive down prices, but that doesn’t always mean it works out in your favor. The increasing number of streaming services means that you often need multiple subscriptions in order to access all the shows and movies that you want to watch. Those subscriptions can soon add up, and if you’re a student, that’s money you probably don’t have.

The good news is that many of the big streaming services offer some sort of student membership. This means that you can subscribe to a streaming service at a significant discount, with some services offering as much as 75% off the standard price.

Not every streaming service offers student discounts, however, with big names such as Netflix and Disney+ charging students the same as everyone else. However, there are plenty of others that reduce the subscription price for students. Here are six of the best streaming services that offer student discounts.

The best video streaming services for on-demand movies and TV

After using dozens of video streaming services, I hand-picked the best ones for watching popular movies and critically acclaimed TV shows.

1 Amazon Prime Video

Half-price access to Prime Video plus many more benefits

Amazon

Amazon Prime Student

An Amazon Prime subscription gives you access Prime Video as well as a wide range of other benefits, including free delivery and Amazon Music. Students pay just $7.49 per month.

Amazon Prime Video is home to a huge number of shows and movies. As well as popular movies and TV shows such as Saltburn and Billions, there are also exclusive Amazon shows and movies, including the epic The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, dark superhero drama The Boys, perhaps the best ever TV show based on a video game in Fallout, and the criminally underrated fantasy series The Wheel of Time.

As a student, new members signing up for the first time get a full six-month free trial to enjoy all the perks of Amazon Prime. Once the trial is over, you can get a full year of Amazon Prime for just $69, which is half of the price of the standard subscription, or pay $7.49 per month instead of the standard $14.99 per month.

Amazon

In order to access the discount, you can submit proof of age, such as a passport or driver’s license, which shows that you are 18-24 years of age. Alternatively, you can verify your student status by completing the registration form, using a .edu email address to sign up, or submitting proof of your enrollment such as a student ID, transcript, or tuition bill.

Amazon Prime Video is just one of the many benefits you get with an Amazon Prime subscription. In addition, you also get free shipping on millions of products on Amazon, access to Amazon Music, free eBooks and audiobooks with Prime Reading, cloud photo storage with Amazon Photos , free full PC games with Prime Gaming, free delivery with Grubhub, and access to exclusive deals and discounts during Prime Day events.

How to create Amazon Prime Video profiles for your family

Amazon’s Prime Video service offers individual user profiles for each family member. It’s a pretty simple feature to set up, too. Here’s how.

2 Paramount+

Epic Paramount movies and some brilliant TV shows for under $5

Paramount+ / Pocket-lint

Paramount+

As well as access to great movies from Paramount, there’s also an excellent collection of TV shows availabl. Students can get access for $4.50 per month.

Paramount is the second-oldest movie studio in the US and is behind some of the biggest movies of all time, including Titanic, Forrest Gump, and the Indiana Jones movies. The first four of those movies even open with shots that mimic the famous Paramount mountain logo.

Unsurprisingly, Paramount+ has an impressive catalog of movies, including Top Gun and its recent sequel, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, and the Mission Impossible series. The Indiana Jones movies aren’t available, however, with the rights belonging to Disney. There are also some fantastic shows, including Yellowstone, South Park, Yellowjackets, and all the Star Trek shows, including Strange New Worlds.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

Skydance Media

If you’re a verified student, you can get 25% off the price of a Paramount+ Essential monthly subscription. This takes the price down from $5.99 per month to $4.50 a month, and gives you access to more than 40,000 show episodes and movies, as well as NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League soccer.

In order to get the student discount for Paramount+, you’ll need to verify your student credentials through SheerID when signing up. Your details will be verified by comparing your name, college, and date of birth with an education database to confirm you’re currently enrolled on a qualifying educational course. If a match is found, you can continue with the payment process, and if it isn’t, you may need to provide additional information such as a copy of your school ID card or transcript.

Paramount+ features, tips, and tricksParamount+ features, tips, and tricks

13 incredibly useful Paramount+ features, tips, and tricks

Are you getting the most out of Paramount+? The streaming service is loaded with useful features and buried settings you absolutely need to try.

3 Peacock

Access NBCUniversal’s best content for less than $2 a month

Peacock

The streaming service from NBCUniversal has a wide range of movie and TV content. Students can sign up for just $1.99 per month.

Peacock is a streaming service from NBCUniversal, named after the famous NBC logo. Peacock Premium gives you access to 80,000 hours of TV, movie, and sports content, including classic comedy shows such as The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, and Brooklyn 99, as well as big dramas such as Charmed, Downton Abbey, House, Monk, and Poker Face. It also has some incredible movies, such as The Big Lebowski, Bridesmaids, Jaws, Office Space, and Wet Hot American Summer (if you haven’t seen it before, you’re welcome). Many Universal movies also appear on the service just 45 days after release and stay on the platform for a few months before transferring to Amazon Prime Video.

As a verified student, you get Peacock Premium, which is usually $7.99 a month, for just $1.99 per month for 12 months. You’ll need to verify your student status through SheerID and must be enrolled in an undergraduate or advanced degree program at a Title IV-accredited college or university. If your eligibility can’t be confirmed from your name, date of birth, and college details, you may need to provide additional documentation such as a transcript or student ID.

What is Peacock, what’s on it, and how much is it?

NBCUniversal has its own video streaming service called Peacock.

4 Max

Get access to the former HBO Max for half price

HBO Max

Max

Formerly HBO Max, Max has some of the best TV shows out there, as well as a good selection of movies. Students pay just $4.99 per month.

What’s in a name? Well, quite a lot based on the decision to rebrand HBO Max simply as Max. The name may have changed, but the great range of streaming content available hasn’t. There are some awesome shows available on the streaming service, including Entourage, The Big Bang Theory, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley, Barry, Succession, and Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon.

It’s not just about shows, either. Max has a great selection of movies, including both parts of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, Timothée Chalamet playing a slightly different role in Wonka, Parasite, The Dark Knight,Barbie, Joker, as well as classics such as The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.

House of the Dragon characters standing over a table.

HBO

As a student, you can get access to all of this entertainment at half price, with a Max With Ads subscription being reduced from $9.99 per month to just $4.99 per month for students. You’ll need to create a free UNIDAYS account to verify your student status. This is done by registering using the email address from your educational institution. If you don’t have one, you can complete your verification by uploading your student ID. Once verified, you’ll receive a unique discount code that you can redeem to sign up for Max at the reduced price.

The new Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle is available now, and it’s a great deal

The new Disney+, Hulu and Max bundle can actually save you a significant amount of money, and upgrading from an existing plan is easy.

5 Apple TV+

An Apple Music student subscription also gives access to Apple TV+

Apple TV+

Apple Music

A student subscription to Apple Music not only gets you access to millions of songs but also gives you access ot the Apple TV+ catalog, too. You can sign up for just $5.99 per month.

Apple TV+ takes a very different approach to most other streaming services. Instead of offering access to a wide catalog of movies and shows from a variety of studios and production companies, Apple TV+ solely offers original content produced by Apple. It means that while Apple TV may not have the same amount of content as other streaming services, what it does have is of the very highest quality.

silo-season-2-rebecca-ferguson-1 — Photo: Apple TV+

There are some truly incredible shows on Apple TV+. Apple Originals, such as The Morning Show, For All Mankind, Silo, Severance, Masters of the Air, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent, Ted Lasso, and more, are some of the best TV shows that I’ve watched in recent years. If you prefer longer content, there are some great movies, including Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Greyhound, Finch, and CODA, the film that made Apple TV+ the first streaming service to produce a film that won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Bizarrely, there’s no direct way to get a student discount for Apple TV+. Instead, you’ll need to sign up for a student subscription to Apple Music, which also gives you free access to Apple TV+, too. If you’re a student, you won’t be complaining, however, as you get access to two Apple subscription services at one low price. The first month is free and thereafter you’ll pay $5.99 per month, compared to the usual $10.99 per month.

To qualify for the student discount, you must currently be studying for an associate, bachelor, or post-graduate degree or equivalent at a college or university. You have to sign up through the Apple Music app and choose the Student option. You’ll then be asked to verify your eligibility through UNIDAYS or SheerID. Usually, you’ll require an education email account, although if you don’t have one you may be asked to provide additional verification such as a student ID.

7 amazing shows on Apple TV+ to binge immediately

While Apple TV+ is seemingly adding new shows constantly, these series stand out as the ones that need your attention ASAP.

6 Hulu

Disney’s other streaming service

Tech-daily / Unsplash

Hulu

Hulu is worth the subscription fee for The Bear alone, even at full price. Students can get access for just $1.99 per month.

If you’re big enough, you can own multiple streaming services. They don’t come much bigger than the Walt Disney Company, which not only owns Disney+ but also the Hulu streaming service, too. To make things more confusing, Hulu doesn’t operate outside the US, so a lot of Hulu content is found on Disney+ in other countries. Disney+ also offers a Duo subscription that gives you access to both Hulu and Disney+ content, but there’s no student discount available.

How to watch The Batman (2022) Is the new Batman available to stream yet photo 1

Warner Bros. Pictures

Hulu has a huge library of TV shows, including Only Murders in the Building, The Handmaid’s Tale, American Horror Story, The Bear, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Wonder Years, Fargo, and the excellent Shogun. Movies include Die Hard, The Batman, Captain Phillips, Palm Springs, It Follows, Poor Things, The Royal Tenenbaums, and A Star is Born.

As a verified student, you can access Hulu for a huge 75% discount, at just $1.99 per month, compared to the usual price of $7.99 per month. This gives you unlimited access to the Hulu streaming catalog. If you’re enrolled at a Title IV-accredited college or university in the US, you’ll need to confirm your student status through SheerID. Usually, submitting your name, date of birth, and educational institution should be enough, but you may need to provide additional documents if necessary.