See what Crunchyroll costs in 2026, how its Fan, Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan plans differ, and whether the anime streaming service is worth it.
Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 by four UC Berkeley graduates as a site for streaming anime, later transitioning to a fully licensed model as it signed distribution deals with Japanese studios. Sony Pictures Television built its anime holdings through two major acquisitions: a controlling stake in Funimation in 2017, followed by the purchase of Crunchyroll from AT and T and WarnerMedia in a deal completed in 2021 for 1.175 billion dollars.
In 2022, Sony merged Crunchyroll, Funimation, Wakanim, and VRV into one unified brand under the entity Crunchyroll, LLC, ending years of overlapping catalogs and separate apps. The company is now the primary anime distribution and streaming arm of Sony's Aniplex and Funimation Global Group operations, headquartered in San Francisco with major operational hubs in Coppell, Texas and Culver City, California.
Beyond video streaming, Crunchyroll's higher tiers bundle a manga reading library and a games catalog, positioning the service as a broader anime entertainment hub rather than a single-purpose video app. It simulcasts new episodes of ongoing anime seasons, often within an hour of the Japanese broadcast, and maintains a large library of dubbed and subtitled classics and current-season titles.
The platform is available on the major streaming devices, smart TVs, consoles, and mobile operating systems, with offline downloads and profile-based multi-device access gated by subscription tier.
Crunchyroll uses a three-tier paid structure in the US market, with each step up unlocking more simultaneous streams, higher-quality offline downloads, and additional content categories such as manga and games. An annual Fan plan offers a lower effective monthly rate for subscribers willing to commit upfront.
Pricing has increased over the past two years as Sony has invested more heavily in original productions and licensing, a pattern common across the wider streaming industry.
Crunchyroll is a subscription streaming service focused on anime, manga, and related Japanese entertainment, owned by Sony and operated as Crunchyroll, LLC.
In the United States, Fan is 9.99 dollars per month, Mega Fan is 13.99 dollars per month, and Ultimate Fan is 17.99 dollars per month, with an annual Fan discount available.
Yes, Crunchyroll offers a limited ad-supported free tier, though it lacks the full catalog access and features of the paid plans.
Yes, a large portion of the catalog includes English dubs alongside subtitled Japanese audio, though not every title has a dub available.
Yes, offline downloads are available on all paid tiers, with the number of devices and download quality increasing on higher tiers.
Crunchyroll is owned by Sony, operating under Crunchyroll, LLC after the 2022 merger of Crunchyroll, Funimation, Wakanim, and VRV.
Manga access is included specifically with the Ultimate Fan plan through Crunchyroll Manga.
Fan allows one device, Mega Fan allows four simultaneous streams, and Ultimate Fan allows six.