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Hulu to Cut Price of Starting Plan to $5.99 Per Month

The price drop, effective Feb. 26, applies to Hulu's ad-laden plan, and comes after rival Netflix hiked its prices. However, Hulu is raising the price on the Hulu + Live TV plan to $45.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Hulu is cutting the price of its cheapest plan from $7.99 per month to $5.99.

The new $5.99 price will go into effect on Feb. 26 for new and existing subscribers. This is an ad-supported plan, so you'll have to sit through the occasional commercial when streaming a TV show. To banish ads, you'll have to upgrade to the $11.99-per-month plan.

The bad news is that Hulu is raising the price of its most expensive plan, which also gives you access to live TV from over 60 channels. Starting on Feb. 26, the plan will cost subscribers $44.99 per month, an increase from $39.99.

Hulu didn't explain why the company is making the changes. But it comes as competing service Netflix is raising prices across the boards. Its basic plan is going up from $8 per month to $9, while the standard plan—Netflix's most popular offering—is jumping from $11 to $13.

In response to the price hike, some Netflix subscribers are considering leaving the service, according to one recent survey, which could give Hulu an opening to expand in the streaming market.

Hulu is a joint venture owned by Disney, 21st Century Fox, and Comcast, and the service has already been reporting some fast growth. In 2018, it added 8 million new subscribers, bringing the total count to more than 25 million.

However, Hulu is only available in the US and Japan. Netflix, in contrast, has expanded to over 190 countries, and boasts 148 million subscribers worldwide.

Going forward, both services will face more competition in the US. Disney, AT&T's Warner Media, and Comcast's NBCUniversal all plan to launch their own rival platforms later this year and in 2020.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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