It's not even the cost, but using a HTPC with the common streaming providers has become quite a chore nowadays, with horrible UX. With Netflix you at least get

It's not even the cost, but using a HTPC with the common streaming providers has become quite a chore nowadays, with horrible UX. With Netflix you at least get an app and the possibility to stream with highest quality (4K, HDR, multichannel sound), but the app is extremely basic and clearly only optimized for touch - it doesn't even offer basic keyboard shortcuts beyond start/stop. You can get a somewhat near-HTPC using Chrome (at least shortcuts work there) and some customizing, but you're stuck with stereo (I'm not sure about 4K/HDR, but the latter is no-go enough for me to not have tried). The same goes for Amazon Video, except that they don't even have an app outside Android/iOS, so you're stuck with stereo anyway. And so on. It would be downright embarassing, if it weren't so obvious this is intentional...