These days, there are many streaming services to choose from. So much so that it's difficult to decide which ones are worth getting and which ones represent good value for money. And that includes Disney+.
So let us help you decide whether Disney+ is worth getting for the money. We'll compare Disney+—which offers access to movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic—to other streaming services, like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
How Much Does Disney+ Cost?
At $7.99/month (in the US), Disney+ is one of the cheapest major streaming services available. For that price, you can add seven profiles to your account and watch movies or TV shows on four devices at a time. The service is packed with thousands of hours of content. Disney+ even includes over 100 4K UHD titles with Dolby Atmos support.
However, from December 2022, Disney has announced that it will introduce adverts to the service at that price. To get rid of ads, you'll need to pay $10.99/month instead.
Unfortunately, Disney+ doesn't offer a free trial. So if you aren't completely sold on the service, we suggest you sign up for a single month to see how you get on. You can always cancel your subscription immediately to avoid an automatic renewal, and you'll still get to test out Disney+ for the rest of the month.
Disney Sometimes Charges Extra for Premier Access
With the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering movie theaters and forcing everyone indoors, Disney responded by offering Premier Access to newly released movies on its streaming services. Premier Access costs $29.99 per title and allows you to watch brand-new movies on the day they release from the comfort of your own home.
This might seem expensive at first, but when you remember you can split the cost between your friends and family if you sit down to watch a movie together, it quickly becomes cheaper than paying to go to the theater.
However, Disney seems to have been moving away from this model and has been offering more movies for immediate streaming without any additional cost. Even when a new movie isn't immediately available on Disney+, you often only need to wait a few weeks for it to appear on the service.
How the Price of Disney+ Compares to Other Services
The biggest competitors to Disney+ are Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and Hulu. Most of these services offers a wider range of plans, with certain features locked behind paywalls. Other streaming services also exist, but those tend to be completely ad supported or offer smaller libraries that don't really compare to Disney+.
Netflix
Netflix offers three subscription plans: Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Basic plan costs $9.99/month, which is cheaper than Disney's ad-free tier will be, but it only lets you watch 480p resolution videos on a single screen at a time.
For 1080p HD video and two devices at once, Netflix costs $15.49/month. And for 4K video with up to four devices streaming at once, Netflix costs a whopping $19.99/month.
Amazon Prime
Amazon offers a Prime subscription for $14.99/month or $139/year, which gets you fast Amazon delivery, music streaming, free video games, and exclusive deals on top of access to Amazon's video streaming service. You can watch Prime movies or TV shows on three different screens at once.
This is more expensive than Disney+ if you're only after video streaming, but it offers incredible value if you'll make use of Amazon's other services as well.
HBO Max
You can get an HBO Max subscription for as little as $9.99/month, but you'll need to put up with some ads at this price. For an ad-free subscription, HBO Max costs $14.99/month. You can stream to up to three devices at once. Both of these options are more expensive than Disney+.
The ad-free HBO Max subscription also lets you stream new Warner Bros releases on the same day as their theatrical premiere. However, Disney has also been known to release movies directly to Disney+.
Hulu
Also owned by Disney, Hulu is the only option with a lower subscription fee at $6.99/month (this is set to increase to $7.99/month in October 2022, making it the same price as Disney+). However, you need to pay more for Hulu if you want to unlock extra channels or get rid of the adverts.
And if you're interested in Hulu, you might want to go for The Disney Bundle to get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for $13.99/month, which is 36% cheaper than individual subscriptions. From December 2022, Disney will offer a new, ad-supported bundle of Disney+ and Hulu for just $9.99/month, which is a steal if you don't mind watching ads.
Where You Can Watch Disney+
Like most video streaming services these days, Disney+ is available on a huge range of different devices and platforms, covering pretty much everything you might want to watch it on. This includes:
- Windows, macOS, or Chrome OS computers
- iPhone and iPad devices
- Android smartphones and tablets
- Smart TVs from Samsung or LG
- Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Android streaming devices
- PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One games consoles
Disney+ is also available across a wide range of regions, covering the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, Latin America, and more regions. However, the content available to you may change depending on your region. For example, viewers in the US or Latin America can't access Disney's Star content (the former gets that content through Hulu, the latter through a separate Star+ subscription service).
What Content You Get With Disney+
Disney+ includes Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and Disney content. In some regions, like the UK, Canada, and Australia, you also get access to more adult-orientated content within the Star brand. This collection covers an enormous number of TV shows alongside some of the best movies ever made.
We've already written about the best movies and TV shows to watch on Disney+. However, the highlights include Disney's animated feature films, the Star Wars movies and TV shows, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Considering that many of these movies still sell for $20 each on the iTunes Store, getting access to all of them for $7.99/month with ads or $10.99/month without them makes Disney+ a pretty good deal.
The content on Disney+ is especially valuable when you consider the cultural weight of these enormous franchises—if you want to be involved in conversations about the latest MCU show, then you need to subscribe to Disney+ to watch it.
Original Disney+ Content
Most of the movies you're likely to watch on Disney+ were historically enormously successful releases. That means you've probably seen them several times already, and you might even own them on DVD or Blu-ray. In the long run, you're probably going to be more interested in Disney's original content.
For a time, The Mandalorian was the biggest original show on Disney+. But several original Disney TV shows have been huge successes, such as WandaVision, Loki, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and more. Pixar has also released spin-off shows from some of its most popular movies, such as Up and Monsters Inc.
Many of these shows are likely to tie in to future cinematic releases, meaning they will be essential viewing for many fans, which is already the case for MCU fans.
Take note that Disney releases original episodes weekly. So if you want to binge an entire season in one month, you should wait until every episode is released before you sign up.
How Disney's Content Library Compares to Other Services
Because Disney owns the rights to all of this content, Disney+ is likely to have a more stable library than other services. While movies frequently appear and disappear from Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, those that are on Disney+ are generally there to stay.
However, this stability comes at a cost: Disney's library isn't as broad or varied as other services. Most of the TV shows are aimed at kids and almost all the content is family-friendly. If you're lucky enough to live in a region with Star, you'll get access to more mature content, like The Walking Dead, but those in the US will need to depend on other services for that.
In contrast, other services give you fresh movies or TV shows all the time as they cycle content through the platform. You also get a wider range of viewing options, with Hulu offering everything from Family Guy to Teen Titans, for example.
Is Disney+ Worth Getting for the Money?
If you like the look of the movies and TV shows available to watch on Disney+ then it's well worth the money. Purely in terms of the numbers, the subscription fee is cheap compared to a lot of other streaming services. And you get access to a lot of popular and highly rated movies.
If you have children who might enjoy Disney Channel titles and Marvel cartoons, there's a seemingly endless number of TV shows for them to watch as well. If you want to watch TV shows from Disney's major franchises, then more content is getting released every year. But outside of Star Wars and the MCU, there isn't a lot in the way of high-quality TV shows for adults.
To summarize, Disney+ is absolutely worth getting if you want to watch Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney movies, plus some interesting documentaries, courtesy of National Geographic. However, if you're not a fan of major franchises, then you probably won't get your money's worth, even if it is cheaper than most other subscription services.