Promotional artwork for the third season of The Mandalorian, credit Disney.

Disney+ and Hulu Raise Prices Up to 13 Percent as Streaming Profits Double

Created on 24 September, 2026 • IT News • 4 minutes read

Disney+ and Hulu raise ad-free plans 13% to $21.50/month, hike bundles and Hulu + Live TV after combined streaming operating income jumped 116%.

Disney+ and Hulu raised prices again, pushing their ad-free standalone plans up 13 percent to $21.50 per month each. The hikes follow a quarter in which combined Disney+ and Hulu operating income climbed 116 percent year over year to $712 million.


Disney's Fourth Price Hike in Four Years


Disney+ has now raised prices four times in four years. The latest round lands alongside matching increases for Hulu, and it reshapes the economics of nearly every tier Disney sells. The ad-free standalone plans for Disney+ and Hulu, both of which also support 4K and HDR playback, each rise 13 percent, from $19 per month to $21.50 per month. The ad-supported standalone plans moved much more modestly, from $12 to $12.50 per month.



The full new price sheet



  • Disney+ ad-free (4K/HDR): $19 to $21.50 per month, up 13 percent

  • Hulu ad-free (4K/HDR): $19 to $21.50 per month, up 13 percent

  • Disney+ standalone with ads: $12 to $12.50 per month

  • Hulu standalone with ads: $12 to $12.50 per month

  • Disney+ and Hulu bundle, no ads: $20 to $22 per month

  • Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads: unchanged at $13 per month

  • Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select bundle with ads: $20 to $22 per month

  • Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select bundle without ads: $29 to $33 per month

  • Hulu + Live TV: up $10 per month



The structure of the increases is as telling as the numbers. The cheapest ad-supported bundle is the only package that held its price, while the most expensive multi-service tier absorbed the steepest jump, adding $4 per month. Meanwhile, Hulu + Live TV, which layers cable-style channels delivered over the internet onto Hulu's on-demand catalog, went up by $10 per month.



Disney+ and Hulu Now Cost More Than Netflix


The ad-free comparison is the one subscribers are most likely to notice. Netflix currently charges $9 per month for its ad-supported tier and $20 per month for its standard ad-free plan. A $27 per month premium tier adds features such as 4K. That leaves Disney+ and Hulu each priced above what is still the most popular streaming service in the market, unless a viewer specifically wants 4K or HDR.



Netflix with ads:              $9/month

Netflix standard (ad-free):   $20/month

Netflix premium (4K/HDR):     $27/month

Disney+ ad-free (4K/HDR):     $21.50/month

Hulu ad-free (4K/HDR):        $21.50/month


Formatting the gap this plainly exposes the strategic bet Disney is making. The company is not trying to compete on the entry price of its most popular tier. It is pricing its premium tier as a premium product and leaning on bundles to keep subscribers attached to the ecosystem rather than to a single service.



The Profit Engine Behind the Increases


Price hikes are unlikely to be an accident of inflation. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Disney disclosed that revenue from Disney+ and Hulu increased 11 percent, while operating income for the two services combined rose 116 percent year over year to $712 million. That is a striking improvement in profitability, and it has been driven in part by repeated price increases rather than subscriber additions alone.



Still, the scale gap with Netflix remains enormous. Netflix reported operating income of $4.19 billion in its most recent earnings report and counts roughly 325 million subscribers as of January. Disney+ reached 131.6 million subscribers as of September 2025, and Hulu's on-demand streaming service reported 59.7 million subscribers as of the same month. Netflix's profitability, in other words, rests on a subscriber base roughly twice the size of Disney+ and Hulu combined.



Disney's streaming unit is finally profitable enough to justify the price of its content. The question is whether subscribers will keep paying more for a catalog that keeps getting more expensive to watch.


A Pattern of Annual Hikes


Disney+ launched in 2019 and has raised prices in December 2022, October 2023, October 2024, and October 2025 before this latest increase. Hulu, which launched in 2008, has followed a similarly annual rhythm with hikes in October 2022, October 2023, October 2024, and October 2025. Today's increases follow Disney raising prices for both tiers of its ESPN streaming service on September 17.



Why bundles are the real product now


Across the industry, operators view bundled subscriptions as a churn-reduction tool: a customer paying for three services in one bill is far less likely to cancel than a customer paying for one. Disney's new pricing nudges subscribers in exactly that direction, since the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle stayed at $13 per month while the ad-free bundle costs just $22, barely more than a single ad-free Disney+ or Hulu subscription at $21.50.



Bundling also gives Disney a hedge against the unpredictable advertising market. Ad revenue fluctuates with the broader economy and with programming cycles, so a subscriber who pays for a multi-service bundle generates predictable subscription income even when ad rates soften. Price increases, bundles, and ESPN integration are all components of the same effort to convert a once money-losing streaming division into a durable profit center. Netflix's continued success suggests there is still room to grow. The near-term risk is that each annual hike pushes more price-sensitive households toward cheaper ad-supported tiers, or out of the ecosystem entirely.

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