Pros & Cons
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- Excellent TV series selection
- Extensive live TV channel lineup
- Robust unlimited cloud DVR option
- Available on nearly every media streaming device
- Appealing bundle deals
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- Base plan includes ads
- Offline downloads require a premium account
- Missing all Bally Sports and most SportsNet RSNs
Hulu Specs
| Ads | |
| Anime | |
| Concurrent Streams | 2 or Unlimited (at home) and 3 (mobile devices) |
| DVR Storage & Retention | Unlimited; 9 Months |
| Live TV | |
| MLB Playoffs Coverage | FOX, FS1, and TBS |
| Monday Night Football | ESPN |
| NBA Finals | ABC |
| Offline Downloads on Mobile | |
| On-Demand Movies and TV Shows | |
| Original Programming | |
| Regular Season National NBA Coverage | ABC, ESPN, and TNT |
| Regular Season National NHL Coverage | ABC, ESPN, TBS, and TNT |
| RSN Coverage | NBC Sports |
| Sports Coverage | International*, National, & Regional |
| Starting Price | $11.99 per month; $88.99 per month |
| Sunday Football | CBS and FOX; NFL RedZone (via Add-On) |
| Sunday Night Football | NBC |
| Thursday Night Football | FOX and NFL Network |
| World Series Coverage | FOX |
Differentiation becomes increasingly important as the competition between video streaming services intensifies. The Disney-owned Hulu leans into that idea by offering a strong on-demand streaming library and a robust live TV option that I thoroughly enjoy. The service is terrific for watching popular TV shows, with broad platform support, strong channel coverage, and DVR features that compare well with the competition. Whether viewed as a standalone service or part of the Disney+ package, Hulu's best-of-both-worlds approach makes it an Editors' Choice winner for streaming video services.
Plans and Prices: A Wide Range of Options
Hulu's ad-supported, on-demand streaming plan costs $11.99 per month. To avoid ads, you'll need to spring for the $18.99-per-month plan. College students can get ad-free Hulu for just $1.99 per month, which is a great deal.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)The ad-free tier still displays commercials for a few programs per streaming rights, but to Hulu's credit, it's up front about this limitation. Ads in the basic plan, however, are no worse than regular television; they are just jarring and obnoxious for on-demand content. While watching an episode of Killing Eve, my stream was interrupted five times by commercial breaks, some of which featured several back-to-back ads. If you're cutting the cord to avoid commercials, you'll want the ad-free tier.
You can bundle ad-supported Hulu and Disney+ with ESPN+ for $19.99 per month, or get the ad-free version of those services in the same bundle for $29.99 per month. A cheaper bundle combines ad-supported Hulu with ad-supported Disney+ for $12.99 per month.
The $89.99-per-month Hulu + Live TV plan (plus Disney+ and ESPN+) bundles the service's live TV component with ad-supported access to its on-demand library. If you want Hulu's live channels and the ad-free on-demand package, it costs $99.99 per month.
Hulu also offers add-ons for several competitors, including HBO Max and Paramount+, which let you watch shows and movies from those networks, along with their live feeds. A useful add-on for Live TV plans is Unlimited Screens (no restrictions on simultaneous streams on your home network), which costs $9.99 per month. You can also opt for the Entertainment ($7.99 per month) or the Español ($4.99 per month) add-ons.
Netflix has a basic ad-supported tier for $7.99 per month, but you need to pay more money (at least $17.99 per month for the Standard plan) to stream the full library (and simultaneously stream on more devices). Apple TV costs $12.99 per month. Prime Video is $11.99 per month without ads, at least for now. It's soon raising the cost of its commercial-free tiers, and walling off 4K resolution behind it.
As for cable-replacement services, Hulu + Live TV costs more than YouTube TV ($82.99 per month). Philo ($25 per month) and Sling TV's Orange & Blue plans ($45.99 per month each or together starting at $29.99 per month) are significantly cheaper. Fubo starts at $73.99 per month, while DirecTV's entry-level tier is a hefty $101.98 per month. None of these services offers on-demand content libraries as complete as Hulu's.
Hulu is available for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), smart TVs, game consoles (PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox), and the web.
TV Shows and Movies: Something for Everyone
Hulu's on-demand library has always been about TV shows, and that emphasis remains. The service offers hundreds of seasons and thousands of episodes from major networks, though network-specific platforms like Paramount+ and Peacock have cut into its content library. However, Hulu stays afloat by leveraging the vast library of former 21st Century Fox content that doesn't fit Disney+'s more family-friendly profile.
People who subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu can conveniently watch Hulu content without leaving the Disney+ app. If the mouse doesn't interest you, save money by subscribing to the standalone Hulu app. Weirdly, it doesn't go both ways—you can't watch Disney+ content on Hulu. In 2026, Hulu is set to fully merge into the Disney+ app.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)Hulu has many cable TV shows. For animation fans, there's Archer, Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers, and Futurama. Drama shows include Bones, Killing Eve, The Orville, and The X-Files. Comedy fans can watch 30 Rock, Broad City, Letterkenny, Malcolm in the Middle, Scrubs, and Abbott Elementary.
The good news is that Hulu's FX hub is live. FX shows such as A Teacher, Devs, and Mrs. America are exclusive to Hulu. Full seasons of past FX shows, including Archer, Atlanta, Better Things, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Justified, and Snowfall, live there, too. Streaming libraries shift over time, so shows and movies are constantly moving. You can stay on top of what's available with PCMag's monthly guide to what's arriving on Hulu.
Like Netflix and Prime Video, Hulu creates original content. Although its offerings are a mixed bag, and many shows don't get renewed, Hulu's track record is trending upward. Hulu's best original releases include Castle Rock, Harlots, Helstrom, High Fidelity, Little Fires Everywhere, Marvel's Runaways, The Handmaid's Tale, and Veronica Mars. The Act and Ramy both won Golden Globe awards. Additionally, Hulu is also one of our picks for the best video streaming services for celebrating Black art.
Netflix's originals are generally more successful than Hulu's, including mega-budget productions like The Crown, animated hits like Bojack Horseman, genre pieces like Stranger Things, and adaptations like The Witcher. Other streaming services also outclass Hulu. For example, Prime Video has a growing list of top-notch originals, including Bosch, Fleabag, Patriot, Hunters, The Boys, The Expanse, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Undone. HBO Max offers a substantial catalog of quality past and current shows, including Barry, Big Little Lies, Deadwood, Silicon Valley, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The Wire, Westworld, and VEEP.
During my testing period, Hulu's film catalog included many mainstream movies, such as The Civil War, Predator: Badlands, and Spider-Man 2. Hulu also produces a few original movies, such as Happiest Season, Palm Springs (nominated for a Golden Globe), Prey, and Run.
A dedicated movie streaming service offers more for cinephiles. For instance, The Criterion Channel's and Mubi's film libraries are more substantial and heavily curated.
Documentaries: Music, Nature, and Other Topics
Hulu’s documentary section features many celebrity biopics. For example, there are documentaries about the lives and times of many beloved musicians, including The Beatles and B.B. King. Fashion documentaries on the service include The First Monday in May, Dior and I, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, and McQueen. Outdoor enthusiasts should check out Free Solo, a mountain-climbing documentary featuring fearless free soloists and sweeping shots of impossibly high cliffs.
The Morgan Freeman-narrated March of the Penguins is just one of the family-friendly titles on Hulu. You can also find curiosities such as Three Identical Strangers, a film about brothers separated at birth and raised under different circumstances, and Fyre Fraud, which details the story behind the failed Fyre Festival.
Many Anime Classics and New Favorites
Hulu has hundreds of anime titles, including My Hero Academia and Himouto! Umaru-chan, and One-Punch Man. Older classics, such as Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Ghost in the Shell, Naruto Shippuden, Ranma 1/2, Rurouni Kenshin, Slayers, and Trigun are also present.
Hulu only falls short of Editors' Choice winner Crunchyroll in this category, with the latter hosting a much larger content library. Crunchyroll also has the upper hand over Hulu and Netflix when it comes to simulcast shows. However, Netflix has the smash hit Kpop Demon Hunters, a movie so popular it had a presence at the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Live TV and Sports: Hulu's Cable Replacement
Hulu + Live TV's channel lineup should please most general audiences, with a deep selection of content across news, entertainment, and sports. News channels include ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, CNN, CNN International, Fox Business, Fox News, and MSNBC. Entertainment coverage is similarly varied, with options such as Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HGTV, National Geographic, SYFY, TBS, Travel Channel, TLC, and TNT. You also get the movie channels, FXM and TCM. In addition to live feeds of these channels, you can watch on-demand content from each of these networks. For fans of Discovery Inc. channels (such as Animal Planet, Food Network, and HGTV), Discovery+ is a much cheaper, albeit on-demand, streaming service.
Hulu also had live Viacom channels, including Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon, to its lineup. If you are specifically interested in those channels, the much less expensive Philo includes them in its lineup.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)As for sports, Hulu's lineup includes BTN, CBS Sports, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNEWS, Golf Channel, and Olympic Channel. That's all in addition to local channels you get in your zip code, such as ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC cable affiliates. Recently, Hulu added NFL Network to its channel lineup at no additional cost and launched the $9.99-per-month Sports add-on, which includes the NFL RedZone channel (along with MAVTV, Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, TVG, and TVG2). These additions cement Hulu + Live TV as one of the top options for streaming NFL games. Fubo and Sling TV include the NFL Network channel in at least one of their plans, and both offer NFL RedZone as an add-on package. Note that YouTube TV recently launched a lower-cost sports package ($64.95 per month).
While Hulu's lineup features NBC-owned RSNs, it lacks most AT&T-owned RSNs (except SportsNet NY) and all Sinclair-owned Bally Sports RSNs. DirecTV includes RSNs from AT&T, NBC, and Sinclair, although it lacks a few NBC Sports RSNs. Find out which RSN airs your local team's games before committing to any sports streaming service.
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Because regional restrictions and broadcast blackouts still apply for live TV streaming services (particularly for MLB, NBA, and NHL games), it's important that whatever service you choose has both the relevant national and regional sports channels you need to watch those games. Even if a game is airing on a national channel elsewhere in the country, you may not have access to it on that channel if it involves a local team. For instance, a Yankees game that airs on ESPN for subscribers in Miami might air on YES for New York City residents like me.
Our dedicated sports roundups explain everything you need to know about streaming MLB, NBA, and NHL games. The right service depends on what sports you want to watch, where you live, and what teams you want to watch.
Many other live TV services, including DirecTV and YouTube TV, also strive to appeal to general audiences. However, some services are better suited for one genre than others. For example, AppleTV and Paramount+ are home to F1 and the UFC, respectively.
Navigation, Show Tracking, and Required Speeds
When you log in to Hulu for the first time, the service walks you through some personalization options in which you choose channels, genres, and shows that appeal to you. Hulu uses this information to populate the My Stuff section of the web interface, a feature I'll discuss later.
Hulu's web interface for live and on-demand content looks much more modern than in years past, with big, flashy sliders and easily discoverable content. The homepage highlights noteworthy shows with horizontally scrolling lists below for categories such as Live Now, My Channels, Sports, News, and Hulu Originals.
At the top of the page, you'll find categories for Live TV and My Stuff. Search and Account options live in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can manage billing details and your subscription add-ons in the account section. You can also add user profiles, a feature I greatly appreciate because it keeps your viewed programs and algorithm-based recommendations separate.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)From the Browse menu, you can select from one of several top-level categories, such as Networks, TV Shows, Movies, Hulu Originals, and Sports, or dive deeper into one of the dozens of available genres, such as Adventure, Comedy, Cooking & Food, Documentaries, International, and Science Fiction. The latter categories return results from both Hulu's on-demand and live-streaming libraries. Detail pages for content display available episodes, upcoming broadcast schedules, recommended shows, and a brief description.
Click the Live TV button in the top menu to browse live TV streams. There, you filter the channel list by Recent Channels, News, Sports, Kids, and Movies. The web interface supports a windowed picture-in-picture mode, so you can watch the current stream while browsing content. It's a smart touch.
You can store and track shows and channels in the My Stuff section. To add anything to this section, simply hit the + icon next to any programming and choose any available recording options: new episodes only, new and reruns, and do not record. You can also follow specific sports teams. For example, I added the Miami Dolphins to My Stuff to record and track all upcoming games.
I tested Hulu's web performance over an Ethernet connection (200Mbps download). The streaming performance was good with a few random stutters. Hulu only requires 3Mbps for on-demand shows and 8Mbps for live streams, so most connections should be sufficient.
Watching Hulu: The Features and Streaming Experience
Hulu lets premium subscribers download select TV shows and movies for offline viewing, including its original programming. Eligible users can download up to 25 videos across five devices. Downloads expire after 30 days, and you have two days to finish watching a video after you start playback. HBO Max, Netflix, Prime Video, and Paramount+ all offer offline download capabilities, too.
Hulu + Live TV's DVR functionality compares well to other services. With Hulu, all subscribers can record unlimited hours of content and keep those recordings for nine months as long as they stay subscribed. For comparison, YouTube TV also offers unlimited DVR storage and keeps titles for nine months. Fubo lets you record unlimited hours' worth of content by default for most plans, while Sling TV users get 50 hours' worth of storage. DirecTV gives subscribers unlimited storage for up to nine months.
Many of Hulu's recent original shows stream in 4K on select media streaming devices. Apple TV, Prime Video, and Netflix have fairly robust libraries of new shows and movies in 4K. Select on-demand titles on Hulu support Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound, but Apple TV offers the most consistent support for high-end audio and video standards.
In terms of live TV streams, Hulu and YouTube are among the few that support 1080p/60fps streams for select channels on select platforms. Some of Paramount+'s local CBS station streams reach that same standard, too. Fubo and YouTube TV offer 4K live streams.
Hulu's base plan supports two simultaneous streams, which is about average for on-demand services. Disney+, however, supports four concurrent streams. DirecTV leads the live TV category with support for 20 simultaneous streams per account on your home network. As mentioned, you can pay for the Unlimited Screens add-on to eliminate that limit for devices on your Home Wi-Fi network, though this is only available for Hulu + Live TV subscribers. Hulu lets you create up to six profiles per account. Hulu's Watch Party co-watching feature synchronizes on-demand film and TV playback, letting you chat with up to eight friends (18 years or older).
For more on streaming, check out five reasons why you may want to ditch your video subscription and keep cable, read how streaming has ushered in a new trash TV golden age, and learn why companies must preserve their streaming catalogs. Finally, check out our recommended streaming video guides if you don’t know what to watch.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)Accessibility and Parental Control Options
Hulu offers standard closed captioning, but relatively few titles support audio descriptions, an accessibility feature that provides audible narration of on-screen actions that would not be discernible through dialogue alone. For any show or live broadcast, you can change the subtitle text's color, size, and style.
If you want to prevent your children from watching anything inappropriate, Hulu allows you to designate a profile as a Kids Profile. Doing so restricts that profile to a kid-friendly content hub. However, in my tests, I discovered that Netflix and Prime Video offer more robust parental control options that let you lock content by rating.
Mobile Apps: Watching Content on the Go
Hulu offers apps for Android and iOS. Its iOS variants are practically identical to its Android counterparts. The app looks elegant, with large media elements, transparent navigation elements, and attractive icons. I didn't notice any lag when moving between menus or launching content.
The app uses a text-based menu system with five persistent icons across the bottom: Home, My Stuff, Live, Browse, and Account. You can scroll horizontally between broader categories and vertically to see the associated content within each content section. The individual pages also have side-scrolling options for viewing episode lists (for TV shows) and recommendations for other content.
(Credit: Hulu/PCMag)I tested Hulu's mobile app by streaming on our test phone connected to PCMag's Wi-Fi network (50 Mbps download). I watched a live stream of ESPN's SportsCenter without any problems.
The My Stuff section of the app works the same way as on the desktop, and you can also manage items in your DVR storage here. The account section is somewhat bare, though. The only app-related preferences are for customizing subtitles/captions and toggling Hulu's Autoplay feature. Although you can manage your plan settings from this section, the Help section redirects to the web version.
Can You Watch Hulu With a VPN?
You should use a VPN for every internet-based activity. Note, however, that some video streaming services, including Hulu, block you from streaming content if you are connected to a VPN or proxy. Section 15.1 of Hulu's terms of service states, "We are a company based in the United States and offer our Services to users in the United States. Hulu's goal is to bring you as much Content as is legally available. That said, we are limited by the rights that our content programmers grant to us." With a VPN, Hulu likely cannot pinpoint your real location.
I tried streaming Hulu content after connecting our test devices to US-based Mullvad VPN servers, but had no luck. Even if your VPN and video streaming service work without issues right now, that may change. You are better off choosing a VPN for its security and performance.