Disney+ and Hulu Price Increase 2026: What You Pay Now

Disney+ and Hulu raised their US prices on September 23, 2026, the fourth increase in four years. The ad-free plans took the biggest jump: Disney+ Premium and Hulu Premium each went from $18.99 to $21.49 a month, up 13%, or $30 more a year per service. New subscribers pay the new price immediately; existing subscribers see it on their next monthly bill.

It did not arrive alone. Peacock raised prices on August 18, Apple TV on August 28 and ESPN on September 17. A household paying for all five ad-free services now spends $1,019.40 a year on them — $120 more than it did in July, without changing a single setting.

This guide lists every Disney, Hulu and ESPN change, then works through the four decisions that actually move the number: bundle, ads, annual billing and rotation.

The new pricesEvery Disney+, Hulu and ESPN plan that changed

ESPN's own plans rose a week earlier, on September 17: ESPN Select from $12.99 to $13.99 a month ($139.99 a year), and ESPN Unlimited from $29.99 to $31.99 ($319.99 a year), according to TheWrap. The Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Unlimited bundles stayed at $35.99 with ads and $44.99 without.

Disney has also said it plans a single Disney+/Hulu app by the end of the year, per TheWrap and CBR. No date or price for that app has been announced, so nothing in this guide assumes one.

The fall waveFive services, one $120 increase

Taken one at a time, each increase is $1 to $2.50 a month — small enough to ignore. The useful number is the combined one. Here is a five-service ad-free stack, priced in July and again today:

That is $10 a month — the price of another streaming service — added without anyone choosing it. Peacock's numbers come from 9to5Mac's report of its August 18 change (Premium $10.99 → $12.99); Apple TV's from Apple's August 28 announcement as reported by 9to5Mac and Deadline ($12.99 → $14.99). We worked through Apple's own bundle in Apple One vs separate subscriptions.

This is exactly the pattern in our $2,000 subscription blind spot model: the price moved, the decision did not.

Decision 1If you pay for Disney+ and Hulu separately, stop

The new pricing makes the premium bundle almost free relative to either service alone. Disney+ Premium is $21.49. The Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle is $21.99 — 50 cents more for both.

If both services are billed through different stores — one through Apple, one directly with Disney — check each one before switching, so you do not end up paying for a bundle and a leftover single for a month.

Decision 2What "no ads" now costs per year

The gap between the ad-supported and ad-free versions is now $9 a month for a single service and for the bundle alike: $21.49 vs $12.49, and $21.99 vs $12.99. That is $108 a year to skip the ads.

Whether $108 is worth it depends on how much you watch. At 20 hours a month, Disney+ Premium costs $1.07 an hour; at 5 hours it is $4.30; at 2 hours, $10.75 — more than a movie rental for every evening you open it. The Cost Per Use Calculator runs the same division for any plan.

Decision 3Annual billing, if you are sure you are staying

Disney+ Premium's annual plan is $214.99, per CBR's report of the new prices. Twelve monthly payments at $21.49 come to $257.88, so paying yearly saves $42.89, or 16.6%. The annual plan pays for itself after ten months.

That saving only exists if you would have paid for all twelve months anyway. If you tend to pause during the summer, or rotate services, the monthly plan is the cheaper one. The Subscription Billing Calculator compares monthly, annual and lifetime pricing for any service, including a future price increase.

Decision 4Rotate instead of stacking

Streaming services are the one subscription category where canceling costs almost nothing: your profile and watch history usually come back when you resubscribe. That makes rotation — one service at a time, for a few months each — the biggest lever here.

Keep the Disney+/Hulu premium bundle all year, and run Peacock, Apple TV and ESPN Select for four months each instead of all twelve. The five-service stack falls from $1,019.40 to $431.76 a year. You still have access to every service at some point in the year; you simply stop paying for three of them during the months you are not watching.

Your 15-minute checklist

The complete version of this, for every recurring charge rather than just streaming, is our subscription audit guide.

Where these numbers come from

• Disney+, Hulu and bundle prices (before and after, effective dates): TVLine and 9to5Mac, September 23, 2026; ESPN Select bundles and ESPN's September 17 change: TheWrap; Hulu + Live TV and the Disney+ Premium annual price ($214.99): CBR. Disney's own help pages could not be read by our tools when this was written, so these are press reports of Disney's announcement.
• Peacock (August 18, 2026): 9to5Mac. Apple TV (August 28, 2026): 9to5Mac, Deadline.
• All arithmetic — yearly figures, bundle savings, the annual-plan break-even, the rotation scenario and cost per hour — is in drafts/disney-plus-hulu-price-increase-2026-numbers.mjs.
• The five-service stack and the rotation are illustrative: a typical ad-free household, not an average. Prices are US list prices before sales tax, promotions, carrier bundles and student discounts, all of which lower the real figure for some people.

Frequently asked questions

When does the Disney+ price increase take effect?

For new subscribers, on September 23, 2026. Existing monthly subscribers pay the new price from their next billing date after that.

How much is Disney+ now?

In the US, Disney+ with ads is $12.49 a month and Disney+ Premium (no ads) is $21.49 a month. The Disney+/Hulu bundle is $12.99 with ads and $21.99 without.

Did the Disney+ and Hulu bundle go up?

The ad-free bundle rose $2, from $19.99 to $21.99. The ad-supported bundle stayed at $12.99.

Is the Disney+ annual plan worth it now?

Disney+ Premium annual is $214.99, which saves $42.89 against twelve monthly payments. It only pays off if you would keep the service for at least ten months in a row.

Is it cheaper to rotate streaming services?

Usually, yes. Keeping one bundle all year and running three other services four months each instead of twelve cuts a typical five-service stack by about $588 a year in our example.