Disney raised US prices for Disney+ and Hulu on September 23, 2026. The ad-free Premium plan on each service went from $18.99 to $21.49 a month, a 13% jump, and the ad-free Disney+/Hulu bundle moved from $19.99 to $21.99. Even the ad-supported plans crept up by fifty cents, from $11.99 to $12.49. The one plan left alone is the ad-supported bundle, which stays at $12.99.
It is the fourth US price increase in four years, and it lands on a service whose ad-free plan cost $10.99 a month before the fall of 2023. The increase is small in any single month. Added up across years, it is not, and it is easy to miss when the charge sits on a card statement full of other things.
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Get Your Virtual Card →The New Disney+ and Hulu Prices
Every standalone plan and the ad-free bundle moved up. Only the ad-supported bundle held still:
| Plan | Old Price | New Price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney+ Premium (ad-free) | $18.99/mo | $21.49/mo | +$2.50 |
| Hulu Premium (ad-free) | $18.99/mo | $21.49/mo | +$2.50 |
| Disney+/Hulu bundle (ad-free) | $19.99/mo | $21.99/mo | +$2.00 |
| Disney+ (with ads) | $11.99/mo | $12.49/mo | +$0.50 |
| Hulu (with ads) | $11.99/mo | $12.49/mo | +$0.50 |
| Disney+/Hulu bundle (with ads) | $12.99/mo | $12.99/mo | No change |
The higher rate applied to new subscribers from September 23. Existing subscribers keep paying the old price until their next monthly bill, so the exact date it reaches you depends on your own billing cycle. Reports describe the change as US-only for now, so prices in other countries are not covered by these figures.
Nearly Double in Under Four Years
Here is what the ad-free Disney+ plan has cost at each step:
From $10.99 to $21.49 is an extra $10.50 a month, or $126 a year, for the same ad-free plan, and close to a 96% rise. Disney announced last year's increase on September 23 as well, with the new rates starting in October. This year the higher price reached new subscribers the same day it was announced.
What the Increase Costs You Over a Year
A dollar figure per month hides the real number. Multiplied by twelve, the extra cost looks like this:
- Disney+ (with ads): +$6 a year
- Disney+ Premium or Hulu Premium: +$30 a year
- Disney+/Hulu bundle (ad-free): +$24 a year
- Disney+ Premium and Hulu Premium bought separately: +$60 a year
The last line is the one to check. Someone paying for Disney+ Premium and Hulu Premium as two separate subscriptions now pays $42.98 a month between them. The ad-free bundle that includes both is $21.99, roughly half. On the ad-supported side the gap is just as clear: two standalone plans come to $24.98 a month against $12.99 for the bundle, which Disney did not raise at all. If you hold both services separately, the bundle is worth pricing out before the next bill arrives.
Keep, Downgrade or Rotate: A Quick Way to Decide
The increase also widened the gap between the two tiers. Before September 23 the ad-free plan cost $7.00 a month more than the ad-supported one ($18.99 against $11.99), or $84 a year. Now the gap is $9.00 a month ($21.49 against $12.49), or $108 a year. Removing ads is the most expensive part of the subscription, so it is the first thing worth questioning.
At the new prices, a year of Disney+ or Hulu comes to $149.88 with ads and $257.88 without. The Disney+/Hulu bundle costs $155.88 a year with ads and $263.88 without. Those are the real numbers to weigh against how many hours a month the service actually gets watched.
For anyone who mostly watches when a specific show or film arrives, rotating is the third option: subscribe for the months you need, then stop. Cancel in the service's own account settings first. A dedicated card is a backstop for that decision, not a replacement for cancelling, because a frozen or deleted card cannot be billed again by accident.
Why Disney Says It Is Raising Prices
Disney has said it is investing in new technology, features and personalization for Disney+ and wants to strengthen the value subscribers get. It is the same pattern seen across the industry this year, covered in our pieces on ESPN, Peacock and Apple TV: every platform raises prices on its own schedule, so the only way to catch them all is to watch each subscription directly. Disney's ESPN bundles have their own pricing, and reports list the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Unlimited bundles as unchanged in this round.
Why a Small Increase Slips Through
An extra $2.50 on a subscription is easy to scroll past on a statement that also carries groceries, transport and other subscriptions. That is how these increases become permanent without anyone deciding the new price is worth it. The value did not change. The line item just moved and nobody noticed.
There is also a practical trap for anyone who funds a card in exact amounts. If you loaded $18.99 for Disney+ each month, the next bill will ask for $21.49, and a payment that comes up short can be declined. It is worth checking the balance behind any card that pays a subscription that just went up.
Putting Disney+ and Hulu on Their Own Card
A virtual card dedicated to Disney+ and Hulu makes a price change checkable at a glance. That card's activity shows one subscription, so an increase is an obvious jump the next time you look. SiraPay's privacy-first onboarding makes this practical: up to five free virtual cards per account, no facial verification, no lengthy review.
Setting it up:
- Sign up on SiraPay and complete the privacy-first onboarding
- Fund a card with crypto or a supported fiat top-up, enough to cover the new price
- Generate a free virtual card and label it for Disney+ and Hulu
- Enter the card number, expiry, and CVV at checkout exactly like any other Visa/Mastercard
- Check that card's activity on its own each month instead of scrolling a combined statement
The same idea extends to the rest of a streaming lineup: a card for Disney+ and Hulu, another for Netflix, a third for music and gaming, each one showing exactly what it costs with nothing else mixed in. A card also gives you a clean way to stop paying. Deleting or freezing the card for one service leaves every other subscription untouched.
Quick Answers
Do existing subscribers pay the new price immediately?
No. New subscribers pay the higher rate from September 23, while existing subscribers see it on their next monthly bill. Check your billing page for your own renewal date.
Did the ad-supported bundle go up?
No. The Disney+/Hulu bundle with ads stays at $12.99 a month. Only the standalone ad-supported plans rose, each by fifty cents.
Is this a US-only price change?
Reports describe it as US-only for now. Streaming prices in other countries are set separately, so a price in another country may not move on the same date or by the same amount.
Will a SiraPay card work for Disney+ and Hulu?
SiraPay cards work at online checkouts that accept Visa or Mastercard. Each service still runs its own payment checks, so acceptance is ultimately the provider's decision. If a payment is declined, contact the service's billing support.
Final Thoughts
A $2.50 monthly increase is small on its own, but it is the fourth in four years and it leaves the ad-free plan at nearly twice what it cost in 2023. The fix is not following every price announcement as it happens. It is keeping each subscription's real cost visible on its own card, so a change shows up the moment it happens instead of blending into everything else.
