Business

6 Ways to Beat Disney’s New Price Hike on Disney+ and Hulu

By Mike Harper · September 24, 2026

Disney just hiked prices on its most-watched streaming plans. As of September 23, the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu standalone plans jumped $2.50 to $21.49 a month, and the ad-free Disney+/Hulu bundle rose $2 to $21.99. Ad-supported tiers rose 50 cents. The new prices are already in effect for new subscribers and hit existing subscribers on next month’s bill.

For a household paying for both ad-free standalone plans, that’s $60 more a year. For families paying for the ad-free bundle, it’s $24 more a year. Add ESPN and it’s another $36. Here’s what you can do about it.

Move to the ad-supported bundle. The single biggest lever is the ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle, which Disney is keeping at $12.99 a month. The company said it will continue pricing its most popular bundle — a joint Disney+/Hulu subscription with ads — at $12.99, CBS News reported. That’s $9 less than the ad-free bundle and about $30 less than paying for both premium standalone plans separately. Most streaming ads run 4 to 6 minutes an hour. If commercials are tolerable, you’ll save $108 to $360 a year without giving up any content.

Rotate instead of stack. Most households don’t watch everything they’re paying for every month. If you subscribe to a service, binge one show, and go months without opening the app, you’re paying for inertia. Cancel it, subscribe to something else, and rotate. The Hulu/Disney+ bundle at $12.99 makes a good “constant” service; layer in Netflix or Max only during the months a specific show you want to watch is releasing.

Check what your wireless carrier already gives you. Cell carriers frequently include streaming services in their higher-tier plans, and many customers pay twice — once through the carrier and once directly. T-Mobile has offered free Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV+ with certain plans; Verizon has bundled Disney+ and Hulu with several tiers. Log into your carrier’s account before your next Disney+ bill and check what you’re already entitled to.

Cancel and wait for a win-back offer. Streaming services routinely send discount offers to former subscribers — 40% off, 50% off, or a “come back at $1.99 a month for three months” promotion. Consumer Reports notes that more than 29 million Americans have canceled three or more streaming services over the past two years, and that churn is exactly why companies push retention deals. Cancel, wait two to three weeks, and check your email for a comeback offer.

Watch for annual pre-pay discounts. Disney occasionally offers annual pre-pay pricing at a discount versus paying monthly. Whether the discount is worth locking your money in for a year depends on how much you actually use the service. If you’re a heavy user, it’s worth checking around Black Friday when annual promotions typically run.

Track your total streaming spend. The average American household now spends around $56 a month on streaming — roughly $672 a year. A quick audit often surfaces one or two services no one has opened in months. A rotation strategy of one or two services at a time typically runs $10 to $20 a month, saving $400 to $700 a year compared to subscribing to everything at once.

Disney is betting most subscribers will absorb the increase quietly. Historically, they’ve been right. But the math is simple: an hour of setup can save a household $200 to $500 a year without giving up the content they actually watch. Streaming inertia is Disney’s business model. Break it.