Disney raised the price of ad-free Disney+ to $21.49 a month from $18.99 on Sept. 23, an increase of $2.50, or 13%. Ad-free Hulu went up by the same amount to the same price.
New subscribers pay the higher prices now. Current subscribers will see the higher price in a billing cycle on or after Oct. 21.
The ad-supported versions of each service rose 50 cents, to $12.49. Three plans in the lineup did not move at all.
The bundle Disney left alone
The Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads is still $12.99 a month. That is 50 cents more than either service on its own with ads, and $8.50 a month less than ad-free Disney+ by itself.
A subscriber paying $21.49 for ad-free Disney+ alone who switches to the ad-supported bundle would save $102 a year and pick up Hulu in the process. The trade-off is commercials on both services.
If ads are a deal breaker, the ad-free bundle rose $2 to $21.99. That is only 50 cents more than one ad-free service, so anyone still paying for ad-free Disney+ and ad-free Hulu separately is spending $42.98 a month for what the bundle delivers for $21.99. Combining them would save about $252 a year.
Sports bundles were mixed. The Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select bundle with ads rose $2 to $21.99, and the ad-free version rose $3 to $32.99, while the ESPN Unlimited bundles held their prices.
What the full streaming lineup costs now
Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max and Prime Video together cost $139.41 a month without ads, according to a recent Fortune analysis. At Disney’s new standalone prices for Disney+ and Hulu, that total climbs by another $5.
The same lineup with ads came to $89.92, by Fortune’s count, and streaming prices overall rose 11.8% over the past year.
How much the ads bother you varies by service. Some platforms run far more commercials per hour than others, which makes what you pay to skip ads a better measure than the sticker price.
Rotate instead of stacking
Monthly streaming plans can usually be canceled at any time. That makes it practical to keep one or two services, finish the shows you want and then swap to another for a month or two.
A few habits make rotation work:
- Cancel right after you subscribe. Many services let you keep watching until the paid month ends, which removes the risk of forgetting.
- Check what you already get free. Some phone plans, credit cards and memberships include a streaming service, and paying for it a second time buys you nothing.
- Pick by what you watch, not by habit. Viewer ratings of the streaming services people like most can help you decide which one earns a permanent spot.
If you have lost track of what you are paying for, Rocket Money connects securely to your accounts and puts every subscription on one screen. Seeing the full list is often the fastest way to spot a service nobody in the house has opened in months.
Streaming is also a good place to start a broader review. A simple monthly budget shows how much all of these small charges add up to, along with your other bills.
Before the next bill arrives
For current subscribers, the new price arrives in a billing cycle on or after Oct. 21. Moving to the ad-supported bundle, or folding two ad-free services into one, before the higher charge posts is the difference between paying the full increase and sidestepping most of it.
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