Pros & Cons
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- Central hub for Disney-owned content
- Lets you watch Hulu programming within the app
- 4K streaming
- Good performance in testing
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- Mostly relies on existing franchises
- Hulu and ESPN content costs extra
- Offline downloads locked to Premium tier
Disney+ Specs
| Ads | |
| Concurrent Streams | 4 |
| Offline Downloads on Mobile | |
| On-Demand Movies and TV Shows | |
| Original Programming | |
| Starting Price | $11.99 per month |
If you're like me, Disney owns at least a few entertainment properties you care about, including Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. Disney+, the company's dedicated video streaming service, delivers most of that content through attractive apps that support 4K streaming, offline downloads, and personalized recommendations. Like nearly all of its rivals, Disney+'s plans have steadily increased in price, regardless of whether they're ad-free or ad-supported tiers (and if you're willing to spend even more cash, you can also enjoy ESPN Select and Hulu programming without leaving the app). Still, I dig Disney+ as a family-friendly platform, one that will only grow stronger as its original content offerings expand to take on Netflix, our Editors' Choice winner for paid video streaming services.
(Credit: Disney/PCMag)Plans and Prices
Disney+'s most affordable tier costs $11.99 per month. This Basic tier is an ad-supported plan that serves up a handful of family-friendly commercials each hour. Unlike Netflix's ad tier ($7.99 per month), Disney+'s ad-based plan gives you the entire library. However, only Premium subscribers ($18.99 per month) enjoy offline mobile downloads and commercial-free viewing.
In addition, Disney+ has a plan that bundles Hulu's ad-supported tier, ESPN Select, and ad-supported Disney+ for $19.99 per month. There's also a $29.99-per-month option that bundles ad-free Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select. You can ditch the sports and get ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu for just $12.99 per month. These packages are a good value, bringing much-needed adult content. Hulu's mature content is available on Disney+ under the Star brand in international regions. However, other sports streaming services offer more live sports than ESPN Select.
Disney+ is one of the cheaper streaming services, but Paramount+ ($7.99 per month) and Peacock ($7.99 per month) undercut it. Apple TV costs $12.99 per month. Ad-free Prime Video ($11.99 per month) and ad-free Netflix ($17.99 per month) are more expensive, while HBO Max costs $18.49 per month ($10.99 per month with ads). Every dollar counts toward reducing monthly subscription costs, especially if you subscribe to one of the more expensive live TV services. That said, you don't need to pay for your entertainment if you use a free video streaming service. For example, Tubi, our Editors' Choice winner for free streaming, features an excellent selection of popular movies and shows.
Disney+ is available on Android and iOS mobile phones; media streaming devices like Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku; and gaming consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. You can also watch Disney+ via a desktop web browser.
(Credit: Disney/PCMag)What Can You Watch on Disney+? MCU, Star Wars, and More
Disney has been a major media player for a long time, with an expanding streaming library. The company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox added many shows and movies to its arsenal, though Hulu also offers numerous shows, including originals, for older audiences. This means that you'll need both services to watch everything.
On the TV side, Disney+'s programs include Bluey, Even Stevens, Gravity Falls, Kim Possible, Lizzie McGuire, Phineas and Ferb, The Muppet Show, The Proud Family, That's So Raven, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The Simpsons is also available, but other adult animated programs, such as Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, Futurama, and King of the Hill, are on Hulu.
Disney+ also offers originals, including Andor, Daredevil: Born Again, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, WandaVision, and X-Men '97. Prominent Star Wars show The Mandalorian (which kicked off the Baby Yoda craze) has now even made the leap to a theatrical film.
Still, I would like Disney to move further outside the bounds of its existing content stable. Amazon, Netflix, and Apple TV attempt to tell new, compelling stories. Apple TV's Severance, Netflix's Stranger Things, and Prime Video's The Boys are among the many examples of stellar, completely original show concepts. I also don't like Disney+'s staggered schedule for its originals. Apple TV and Paramount+ employ a similar strategy, forcing you to maintain a subscription for the duration of a show's release cycle. Netflix famously drops entire seasons at once.
The Disney+ movie library does not exceed the volume of Amazon Prime, Hulu, or Netflix. Still, it's the way to go if you or your kids dig Disney classics, Pixar animations, Star Wars films, or Marvel movies. Disney's film catalog is consistently high-quality compared with many competing video streaming services.
A few of the popular live-action movies on Disney+ include Avatar, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Miracle on 34th Street, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Remember the Titans, The Sandlot, and The Sound of Music. Classic Disney animations include Aladdin, Bambi, Fantasia, Frozen, Frozen II, Lilo & Stitch, Moana, Mulan, Oliver and Company, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Tangled, The Emperor's New Groove, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Zootopia. Among the Pixar movies on the service are Brave, Cars, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, The Incredibles, The Incredibles 2, Toy Story, and WALL-E.
Star Wars films include Star Wars: Episodes I-IX, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Solo. Marvel films include Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, and even some Sony Spider-Man films and spin-offs.
(Credit: Disney/PCMag)If you subscribe to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select, you can now enjoy content from all services in the same merged Disney+ app. This gives the library a substantial increase in adult-oriented movies and shows, as well as sports. Standalone Hulu and ESPN Select still exist, but the convenient combined app is a much more well-rounded package, with family-friendly material alongside acclaimed mature shows like Shogun and Oscar-winning films like Poor Things. Just remember that Hulu and ESPN cost extra; they're not included with the base Disney+ subscription. Hulu is set to fully merge with Disney+ sometime in 2026.
Cinephiles should check out our roundup of the best movie streaming services. Our top picks, including The Criterion Channel and Mubi, have larger, more diverse, and curated libraries of films to enjoy.
Disney+ Web Interface
Disney+'s web interface uses dark background colors, light text, and consistent elements. I admired its clean, organized look. Navigate the app via a series of menu items at the top of the screen: Home, Search, Watchlist, Originals, Movies, and Series. Profile details and account settings are accessible via an icon in the upper right-hand corner. There, I set my autoplay preferences, changed my profile photo (options include Disney characters and National Geographic animal photos), and updated my subscription details.
The Home tab highlights featured content from Disney, ESPN, Hulu, Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar, and Star Wars. Horizontally scrolling lists of other content populate the rest of the page, including Recommended for You, Trending, Out of the Vault, Ultra HD and HDR, and Shorts. The Search section features several more collections, including Disney Through the Decades, Disney Channel Original Movie, Marvel Animation, and Princesses. In a nice touch, the search feature let me search by title, genre, and character. The Originals, Movies, and Series sections list all entries in their respective categories. You can sort the latter two sections by name, genre, and those that support the UHD and HDR standards.
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When I found something I wanted to watch, I clicked a title to view the program's details. Each listing displayed a description, run-time, and MPAA rating. In testing, Disney+ suggested related content, video extras (such as trailers or deleted scenes), and an expanded details section with a longer description and cast information. Disney+ lacks a feedback system, such as user-written reviews (Shudder offers this) or star-based ratings. Given Disney+'s stated focus on recommendations, this exclusion is odd. On the upside, it has a watchlist that syncs across platforms.
Disney+ offers continuous playlists that broadcast 24/7-themed marathons, a tactic that makes streaming content feel more like live TV. When I didn't know exactly what I wanted to watch, I could turn on the Epic Stories channel for action movies, the Throwbacks channel for nostalgia, or ABC Live for a news playlist.
The playback screen includes the standard 10-second rewind and fast-forward buttons, along with caption settings. With shows, Disney+ offers a Skip Intro button, which I appreciate. It also pops up the next episode in a season after the current one ends, instead of making you go back to the episode list to start the next one. I streamed The Incredibles via Disney+'s website over a home Ethernet connection (200MBPS download) and didn't experience lag or stuttering.
(Credit: Disney/PCMag)Disney+ on Mobile
I signed up for the Disney+ service on an Android phone. You must verify your account in the app's settings by entering a one-time password Disney sends to your email. The mobile app is sleek, with a dark theme and colorful content previews that match the web interface.
You navigate the app via icons at the bottom of the screen: Home, Search, Downloads, and Profile. The web version's Originals, Movies, and Series tabs live in the Search section. The Downloads section shows an unsortable list of all the titles you downloaded for offline viewing. Downloading content is easy; just tap the down arrow icon on an entry's detail page (it's right next to the plus icon for adding it to your watchlist). Oddly, you must visit the app's profile tab to access your watchlist; it should be a more accessible icon.
The Profile area also has a few settings specific to the mobile app, such as restricting streaming to Wi-Fi connections and selecting the download quality. I wish Disney would specify the resolutions of these downloads instead of using vague descriptors like High, Medium, and Low. You can also view a graphic showing your available device storage and download content to any external storage device here.
I watched Wonder Man episodes via the Disney+ app over a home Wi-Fi connection and had no issues with video or audio streaming quality. Downloading movies and TV shows worked as advertised, too.
Disney+ Accessibility and Extra Features
Disney+ offers a good range of accessibility options. For instance, the service supports closed captions and audio descriptions on most titles. Netflix and Prime Video also support audio descriptions for some original titles. Apple owns all the content on Apple TV, so it can ensure that all the content on the service supports this feature.
Disney says its interface works with text-to-speech tools (except on PlayStation 4), is high-contrast for readability, and supports alternative navigation methods, including keyboard use. You can set audio and subtitle preferences directly from the playback screen. Acorn TV offers similar closed captioning settings. Additional subtitle settings are available on the web.
Each Disney+ account supports up to seven customizable user profiles, four simultaneous streams, and 10 total connected devices. That's a best-in-class offering and great for large households and families. For comparison, Apple TV lets you create six user profiles, while Netflix allows five. Paramount+ and Prime Video allow only three simultaneous streams. BritBox beats Disney+ with its support for five simultaneous streams.
With the addition of the TV-MA (former Netflix) Marvel shows, Disney+ has improved its parental controls. After logging in, the app asked me if I wanted to access the full catalog or set custom content rating restrictions for each profile. Disney+ also let me create an Exit Question for kids' profiles (limited to G, TV-Y, TV-Y7/Y7-FV, TV-G) to prevent them from just switching accounts and lock the ability to create a new profile behind a PIN. These are all major improvements over Disney+'s initial capabilities. Other video streaming services, such as Apple TV, HBO Max, Hulu, and Netflix, have excellent parental control features.
Disney+ supports offline downloads—a now-standard feature it shares with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBO Max, and other streaming services. Hulu added this capability for subscribers to its premium plan, but imposes a limit on how long you can keep a download. Disney+, on the other hand, has no download limits on its own content, aside from requiring an internet connection at least once every 30 days. Very cool. Disney+ does not specify which limitations apply to content it does not own in full. Downloads are large; a high-quality, 22-minute episode of The Simpsons takes up nearly 1GB. The download was completed in just a few minutes, though.
You can stream some shows in Ultra HD 4K (with support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision) for those platforms that support it, as well as in HD and HDR on supported mobile devices. Some content supports the Dolby Atmos standard, too. Select Disney+ content is even available in "IMAX Enhanced" quality, bringing the fidelity of the large-format film theater resolution to displays that support it. Check an entry's detail page for the standards it supports. Apple TV, Prime Video, and Netflix also support all these standards, though Apple TV has the best track record thus far regarding shows supporting them.
Can You Use a VPN With Disney+?
A virtual private network, or VPN, is a good way to protect your internet traffic from your ISP and others lurking on your network. A VPN can also spoof your location, so many video streaming services prevent you from using one to enforce geographic content restrictions. Disney says in its help sections that while it will distribute most content globally, there might be some limited restrictions.
I tried streaming Disney+ from a phone and desktop, both connected to a US-based Mullvad VPN server. However, Disney+ blocked me from watching anything. I couldn't even log in to the service on the web.
Even if you find a VPN that works with all of your video streaming services one day, it might not the next. Video streaming services work continuously to block VPN traffic. Instead of finding a VPN that works consistently, we recommend picking one based on other factors, such as its security features, privacy policy, value, and performance.