Crunchyroll Review 2026: Cost, Plans, and More

Is Crunchyroll good?

Crunchyroll is a pretty good anime streaming service—we’ve even named it our favorite place to stream anime in 2026. Anime is so much more accessible here in the US than it was even 15 years ago, and Crunchyroll has a huge anime library.

Unfortunately, it’s also your only option for a lot of anime—Crunchyroll’s bought up a lot of its competitors. So if you don’t like its user experience, you might be out of luck. Hulu carries a lot of the most popular shows, but no one can beat Crunchyroll’s seemingly endless supply of new anime.

Crunchyroll plans and prices

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Unfortunately, Crunchyroll discontinued its free plan at the end of 2025. I don’t love this move, although I suppose it doesn’t come as a surprise, seeing how Crunchyroll has been nerfing the Free tier more and more since the death of VRV. But if you have some cash to spend, Crunchyroll is still an excellent anime streaming service.

For most subscribers who aren’t sharing their account with others and aren’t interested in games or manga, we recommend the lowest-tier Fan package. You’ll get ad-free access to Crunchyroll’s entire anime library for just $9.99 a month. In comparison, Netflix charges $17.99/mo. to get rid of ads. Crunchyroll definitely gives anime fans the most bang for their buck.

But if you’re sharing an account with multiple people, you might want to upgrade to Mega Fan. Crunchyroll allows multiple users to stream anime simultaneously from different devices, and the Mega Fan plan pays for four simultaneous streams. It also allows offline viewing, if you’re often traveling or without Wi-Fi, and access to the Crunchyroll Game Vault, including titles like River City Girls and Behind the Frame.

If you’re sharing your account with more than three other people—unlike Netflix, Crunchyroll doesn’t care if you share your password with people outside of your home—it might be worth it to splurge for the Ultimate Fan package. This is also your best choice if you want to subscribe to the recently relaunched Crunchyroll Manga service.

Crunchyroll deals

How does Crunchyroll stack up to other anime services?

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

For casual anime fans, you’re probably going to be choosing between Crunchyroll and Hulu. They have similar price points, and both carry popular simulcasts, like SPY x FAMILY, My Hero Academia, and TRIGUN STAMPEDE.

However, each service has its advantages. Crunchyroll’s $9.99 plan is ad-free, while you’ll have to shell out almost twice as much to escape ads on most other services. $17.99/mo. for ad-free Netflix? That is, in my opinion, just too much money for too few anime titles. Crunchyroll has a much larger anime library than any other service, thanks to some strategic corporate acquisitions.

Crunchyroll’s user experience could always be improved. It has made an effort in the last year or so, but still doesn’t always caption English simuldubs, and sometimes the captions are AI-generated and thus super inaccurate. If you’re like me and need captions on your dubbed anime, you might want to check if the shows you want are available on Disney/Hulu first.

Alas, such is the fate of the anime fan: stuck between Disney/Hulu’s annoying ads and Crunchyroll’s lack of accessibility.

Or, uh, whatever Netflix has going on. For those few anime that the Crunchyroll/Hulu sphere don’t cover, check out Netflix. It has a lot of really great original content, and it only ever cancels half of it! It’s also making behind-the-scenes deals to  acquire exclusive anime from popular studios like Trigger and MAPPA.

Crunchyroll has a huge anime library

Crunchyroll’s enormous library of anime can’t be beat. If streaming services were Pokémon trainers, Crunchyroll would be the Champion, because it’s caught them all.

That’s our cute way of saying that Crunchyroll’s been buying up all of its competitors and absorbing their content, like some kind of gluttonous cosmic horror. Funimation and VRV lie bloodied and lifeless on the battlefield behind it. HIDIVE and Netflix are the last ones standing between Crunchyroll and world domination (a total monopoly on anime here in America).

Anime on Crunchyroll

• My Hero Academia
• Dangan Ronpa
• I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss
• The World Ends With You
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
• Ace Attorney
• Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School
• Bungo Stray Dogs
• TRIGUN STAMPEDE

• Chainsaw Man
• SPY x FAMILY
• One Piece
• Mob Psycho 100
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
• JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Tokyo Revengers
• Attack on Titan
• Food War! Shokugeki no Soma
• Heaven Official’s Blessing
• . . . .and more

Recent simulcasts on Crunchyroll

• Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You.
• Bogus Skill <<Fruitmaster>> ~About that time I became able to eat unlimited numbers of Skill Fruits (that kill you)~
• Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four!
• Honey Lemon Soda
• I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time

• OKITSURA: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Know What
  She’s Saying
• Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!
• ZENSHU
• …and more

Crunchyroll Manga is BACK!

After a brief period of nonexistence, Crunchyroll’s manga service is finally back!

If you subscribe to Crunchyroll’s $17.99/mo. Ultimate Fan tier, in addition to the full anime and games catalogs, you’ll also get access to Crunchyroll’s full manga library. This includes lots of popular titles, like:

• Spy x Family
• My Hero Academia
• Delicious in Dungeon
• May I Ask for One Final Thing?
• The Apothecary Diaries
• Kaiju No. 8
• The Summer Hikaru Died
• Secrets of the Silent Witch

…and more!

(Coincidentally, each of the manga I just listed have become pretty popular anime. Go ahead and give them a watch!)

Crunchyroll: It has games.

Following Netflix‘s lead, Crunchyroll began offering free mobile games to subscribers in 2023. Some titles are available to all subscribers, while those locked in the Crunchyroll Games Vault are only available to Mega and Ultimate Fan tiers. Added to Crunchyroll’s already massive library of content, they make that monthly price tag look a little more seasonable.

Crunchyroll’s user experience

Watchlists

Crunchyroll’s most unique feature is its “Crunchylist” system. In addition to a traditional watchlist, you can add anime to custom lists too. So if you want to make a list for yourself of only currently airing simulcasts or entirely isekai fantasy, you totally can. It’s a lot better than the unorganized overstimulation of a traditional watchlist.

Multiple streams and offline downloads

Crunchyroll doesn’t mind if you share your Crunchyroll account with friends; that is, as long as you pay for it. If you’re a solo viewer, you’ll be fine with the Fan plan, which allows you to watch one show at a time. You can still log into as many devices as you want, though.

If you have a big household with multiple anime fans who want to watch different shows at the same time, you’ll want the Mega Fan tier. It’s four dollars more per month, which really adds up, but you’ll also get access to Crunchyroll’s games library.

The highest level is Ultimate Fan. If your group wants to watch six different anime at the same time (or access Crunchyroll Manga), you’ll need this tier. But hopefully with six people, you’ll be able to split that $17.99 monthly price tag.

Crunchyroll’s shareability is unparalleled

“Shareability” is our word for how well you can share your password with your friends and family. Some of the bigger services have been cracking down on shareability lately, so we like to highlight the services that see their userbases as more than a dollar sign.

Crunchyroll won our 2025 Best of the Best for Shareability due to its numerous streams, unrestricted password sharing, and ability to create multiple user profiles.

Crunchyroll is available on most popular devices

Crunchyroll is available on most devices—it’s even one of the few streaming services available on the elusive Nintendo Switch. The main way you’ll miss out is if you rely on native apps from smart TVs, like those from LG and Samsung. You’ll have to connect with a gaming console or streaming stick, like the Amazon Fire TV or Roku, instead.

Crunchyroll’s features

Crunchyroll video and audio quality

None of Crunchyroll’s current plans offer 4K streaming, and the highest resolution it offers is 1080p. That’s still pretty good, though. Crunchyroll will probably auto-select 1080p or 720p, both of which count as HD, and viewers can manually pick what resolution is best for their setup.

You can even choose to bump your resolution all the way down to 240p, if you’re worried about data usage or want to relive those 2000s bootleg anime days when everything was, ahem, crunchy.

Crunchyroll customer satisfaction

Crunchyroll scored an 82% customer satisfaction rate in our 2025 Customer Satisfaction Survey, where it tied for third place with Netflix. It did especially well in value-based questions, and won the title of Best Bang for Your Buck.

Customers also voted Crunchyroll the most “ideal” streaming service and one of the best sources for exclusive and original content.

Is Crunchyroll worth it?

So is Crunchyroll worth it? If you’re a big anime fan, yeah, absolutely. It’s got a huge catalog of shows and it’s relatively cheap to go ad-free compared to a lot of other streaming services in this day and age.

If you’re a casual anime fan only looking for the hottest titles, Hulu is a fine pick, especially because it’s better at captioning dubbed anime than Crunchyroll. But the best bang for your buck is gonna be Crunchyroll.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some simulcasts to catch up on.

Crunchyroll FAQ

Methodology

Our anime experts have spent hundreds of hours testing streaming services to bring you the 411 on everything anime. For more information on our methods, check out How We Rank.