What is Crunchyroll and how much does the anime streaming service cost?

Not only does Crunchyroll give you access to great anime series but manga comics, quizzes, interviews, guides and more. With a Crunchyroll membership, you can stay on top of all the anime and manga news coming out of Japan, in real-time.

With Crunchyroll holding such valuable viewing material and affirming itself as the epicentre of Japanese anime and manga entertainment, you might wonder how much it costs and what the different membership levels give you access to. We’re here to answer this and help you decide which Crunchyroll subscription is best for you.

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today and get a 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

Jump to:

• What is Crunchyroll?
• How much does Crunchyroll cost?
• Can I access Crunchyroll on Amazon Prime?
• How to upgrade a Crunchyroll membership
• How to stream Crunchyroll to a TV
• How many devices can you use Crunchyroll on at once
• How to cancel a Crunchyroll membership

What is Crunchyroll?

Crunchyroll is a hub for Japanese entertainment and is most famous for its streaming service which is home to hundreds of anime productions. Altogether, there are over 1000 of these productions including anime series, films, and original offerings.

Within these there are over 40,000 episodes of anime, all made in the Japanese language. You have the option of watching them dubbed over, so you can hear them with English voice actors, or subtitled. A paid membership to Crunchyroll offers you access to all of these anime productions with series and episodes continually being added.

And, it’s not just anime that Crunchyroll houses, it also has over 80 online Manga series (Japanese comics) available to read. All of these are in English, with some comic series stretching several books. On top of this, you can also get access to anime-based mobile games, an online store for anime merch and an anime news section.

Crunchyroll is now available on Amazon Prime Video, meaning that any customer with an Amazon Prime account can access their 24,000 hours of content directly from the ecommerce powerhouse's platform.

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today for £4.99 or start your 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

How much does Crunchyroll cost?

Crunchyroll offers three membership tiers, here's how much they all cost:

Free membership

Crunchyroll offers you the chance to view some of their material completely for free. You just need to add some details about yourself and you can then get access to the Crunchyroll site and watch ‘season samplers’.

‘Season samplers’ let you watch the first three episodes of a new series for free, but you have to watch adverts, and they are not in HD. With the free membership, you don’t get access to watch 'season samplers' on all anime seasons on the platform, only select ones chosen by Crunchyroll, and you also don't have access to the manga material available on the Crunchyroll site.

To access all areas of the Crunchyroll site, whole series, films, and comics, Crunchyroll has two other memberships available.

FAN membership

The Fan option is the cheapest membership option and costs £4.99 ($6.40) a month. Within this offer, you have no ads on series or films, unlimited access to the Crunchyroll anime library, new episodes shortly after they’re released in Japan and access to all digital Manga. For this £4.99 ($6.40) FAN membership option, you’re only allowed to stream on one device at a time.

Mega FAN membership

The second membership option is MEGA FAN and will cost you £5.99 ($7.60) a month. With this subscription, you get all the same offerings as the FAN subscription, plus you’re able to stream on four devices at one time and are able to download episodes to view offline.

There is also a MEGA FAN annual option, which costs £59.99 ($76.90). This will save you around £1 a month, 16% a year, and gives you access to all of the MEGA FAN package for 12 months, starting from when you pay for the subscription.

If you’re unsure about buying one of these Premium memberships, you can start with a 14-day free trial to either FAN or MEGA FAN. Just remember to cancel it if you don’t want to start paying!

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today for £4.99 or start your 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

Can I access Crunchyroll on Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime members have the option to add a Crunchyroll membership to their Prime account, allowing them to access over 24,000 hours of content focusing on anime and manga.

Both Crunchyroll membership tiers (FAN and Mega FAN) are available through Prime, available for the same price as the Crunchyroll site. At launch, Mega FAN subscribers can download titles to view offline.

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today for £4.99 or start your 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

How to upgrade a Crunchyroll membership

If you’ve already brought a Crunchyroll membership and want to upgrade, say from FAN to MEGA FAN, or MEGA FAN to the annual option, you need to contact customer support. Unfortunately, there is no direct path to upgrading your membership without speaking to customer services.

Contacting them is the only way to upgrade your plan without waiting for your membership to run out and then renewing through a different subscription. To get in contact with Crunchyroll’s support team, you need to write to them through the submission page, they will then help you upgrade.

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today for £4.99 or start your 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

How to stream Crunchyroll to a TV

If you want to stream your favourite anime shows to your television then you’ll need a way to connect Crunchyroll. Currently, Crunchyroll doesn’t have a television station, instead, they have a phone app and several media players you can connect through. Here’s how to connect Crunchyroll to your TV:

Through media players

You can watch Crunchyroll on your TV using an Amazon Fire Stick, Google TV, Android TV, Roku TV, Amazon Prime, and Windows Apps.

Through your gaming console

You can watch Crunchyroll through your gaming console using their downloadable app or Amazon Prime. It can be viewed on your PS5, PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

Smart TV mirroring

Crunchyroll has a phone app available on IOS and Android. If you download this, you can watch your favourite programmes on your phone. If you have a Smart TV, you can mirror this from your phone onto your TV. A phone mirroring option should appear in the corner of your screen.

You can also watch Crunchyroll on your phone using the Amazon Prime Video app, which allows you to mirror the content from your phone onto your TV.

Connect your laptop through HDMI

If you don’t have access to the above then you can watch Crunchyroll by connecting a HDMI cable to your laptop. Just plug the cable into your laptop and TV whilst Crunchyroll is loaded.

How many devices can you use Crunchyroll on at once?

You can use Crunchyroll on one device if you have a free subscription or a FAN subscription. If you have the MEGA FAN subscription, you can access Crunchyroll on four different devices at the same time.

How to cancel a Crunchyroll membership

Cancelling your Crunchyroll membership is not hard. If you decide you no longer want it, head over to the Crunchyroll site and log in to your account.

Click on the dropdown menu next to your username in the top right corner of the screen. Select 'Settings' from the dropdown menu. Scroll down, select the 'Membership' section and click, 'Cancel Membership'.

• Sign up to Crunchyroll today for £4.99 or start your 7-day free trial
• Sign up to Crunchyroll at Amazon Prime Video

Looking for more streaming service recommendations? Take a look at our guide to the best streaming services, plus more on streaming services like Lionsgate Plus and Shudder.