Disney's October 2025 price increase reshaped the math on its streaming bundles. The Disney+ Hulu bundle price hike raised the ad-supported bundle to $12.99 a month while leaving the $19.99 ad-free Premium bundle unchanged.
That made the ad-supported bundle $6 cheaper than a single ad-free subscription to either app alone, Variety reported.
Those were US prices effective Oct. 21, 2025. They've since changed again. Disney's current pricing lists the ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle at $12.99 a month and the Premium bundle at $21.99 a month for new subscriptions, with the latter increase taking effect in 2026. Existing subscribers affected by the latest increase will see it on billing cycles on or after Oct. 21, 2026.
The 2025 increase affected standalone Disney+, standalone Hulu, several Disney bundles, and ESPN Select. New subscribers saw those rates starting Oct. 21, 2025, while existing subscribers saw them on their first billing cycle on or after that date, TheWrap reported.
What changed: the October 2025 price list
Disney+ with ads rose $2 to $11.99 a month, and Disney+ Premium rose $3 to $18.99 a month. Hulu with ads also rose $2 to $11.99 a month. Hulu Premium held steady at $18.99 a month.
The bundles moved differently. The ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle rose $2 to $12.99 a month, while the ad-free Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle stayed at $19.99.
Here's what the major on-demand plans cost after the Oct. 21, 2025, increase:
Disney+ with ads: $11.99 a month
Disney+ Premium: $18.99 a month or $189.99 a year
Hulu with ads: $11.99 a month or $119.99 a year
Hulu Premium: $18.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu bundle with ads: $12.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle: $19.99 a month
Buying Disney+ with ads and Hulu with ads as two separate subscriptions added up to $23.98 a month, $10.99 more than the bundled $12.99 price.
The two standalone Premium services also landed on the same $18.99 monthly price after the change, but they got there differently: Disney+ Premium increased by $3 while Hulu Premium remained unchanged.
The hike followed earlier Disney streaming price increases in 2023 and 2024.
The annual prices listed above, $189.99 for Disney+ Premium and $119.99 for Hulu with ads, were full-year plans rather than simply the monthly rate multiplied by 12.
Live-TV bundles were a separate category. Hulu + Live TV with Disney+ and ESPN Select, for example, started at $89.99 a month with ads following the 2025 increase. It included live television and shouldn't be confused with the $12.99 on-demand Disney+/Hulu bundle.
Disney Bundle with ads price vs. standalone Premium plans
At the October 2025 prices, the ad-supported bundle's discount came with an obvious trade-off: ads on both services, plus a second content library a single-app viewer might not use.
For an account that used both libraries and accepted ads, the $12.99 bundle cost $6 less a month, or $72 less over 12 months, than a single $18.99 Premium subscription. It also cost $10.99 less per month than buying the two ad-supported services separately.
Removing ads from both services through the $19.99 Premium bundle cost $7 more than the ad-supported bundle. It still came in $17.99 below the $37.98 combined monthly cost of two separate $18.99 Premium subscriptions.
At the October 2025 rates:
One service, ad-free: $18.99 a month
Both libraries, ad-supported bundle: $12.99 a month
Both libraries, ad-free bundle: $19.99 a month
Both ad-supported apps bought separately: $23.98 a month
Both ad-free apps bought separately: $37.98 a month
Those comparisons describe the 2025 pricing structure, not every rate available today.
Disney+ ad-free vs. Hulu ad-free: which 2025 plan cost less?
The answer depended on how many libraries an account actually used.
Based on the October 2025 rates, a Hulu-only account paid less on the annual Hulu-with-ads plan, $119.99 a year, than on either the $11.99 monthly Hulu plan, which annualized to $143.88, or 12 months of the $12.99 Disney+/Hulu bundle, which totaled $155.88.
A single-library account that wanted no ads paid $18.99 a month for either Disney+ Premium or Hulu Premium, avoiding a second library it wouldn't use.
For an account using both libraries and tolerating ads, the $12.99 bundle cost less than either standalone Premium plan and less than buying the two ad-supported apps separately.
Disney also offered wider bundles. At the time, Disney+ and Hulu could be paired with ESPN Select for $19.99 a month with ads or $29.99 with ad-free Disney+ and Hulu. A Disney+/Hulu/HBO Max bundle cost $19.99 with ads or $32.99 without ads on the three on-demand services.
Those options cost more than the two-service bundle, so "cheapest way to combine libraries" only made sense within the narrower Disney+/Hulu comparison.
For an account using both libraries without ads, the $19.99 Premium bundle cost far less than the $37.98 combined price of two separate Premium subscriptions.
What has changed since 2025
The 2025 rates are useful for understanding that price hike, but they're no longer a complete picture of what subscribers pay.
For new subscriptions, Disney currently lists:
Disney+/Hulu bundle with ads: $12.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle: $21.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Select bundle with ads: $21.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Select Premium: $32.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Unlimited bundle with ads: $35.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Unlimited Premium: $44.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/HBO Max bundle with ads: $21.99 a month
Disney+/Hulu/HBO Max bundle without ads: $34.99 a month
That means one of the unusual features of the 2025 increase didn't last: the Disney+/Hulu Premium bundle remained $19.99 during that round, but its standard price has since risen to $21.99.
Disney is also currently advertising limited six-month price-lock offers on some Disney+/Hulu plans. Promotional rates aren't the same as the regular monthly price, so check the renewal rate before comparing plans.
The Hulu transition has evolved as well. Disney has continued integrating Hulu into Disney+, and in May 2026 it began allowing eligible Hulu subscribers to link their Hulu profiles with Disney+ so watch history, recommendations, and saved content can carry over.
However, Hulu hasn't simply disappeared as a standalone service. Disney said in May that Hulu subscribers would continue to have access to the standalone Hulu app, while additional features such as Live TV and add-ons would come to Disney+ later.
A separate development involves Hulu + Live TV. Disney and Fubo completed their transaction combining Fubo's business with Disney's Hulu + Live TV business on Oct. 29, 2025, with Disney holding approximately 70% of the combined company.
Fubo and Hulu + Live TV nevertheless continued as separate consumer services following the transaction. Hulu + Live TV remained available through Hulu and as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ESPN. That's a business combination, not a merger of the Fubo and Hulu apps.
What to do now
If you're evaluating a subscription today, don't use the October 2025 prices as a current shopping list. They're a snapshot of what changed during that particular increase.
The $12.99 ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle remains at that standard price for new subscriptions, but the Premium bundle has moved from its October 2025 price of $19.99 to $21.99.
Before switching, check the account page for the exact plan name, billing date, promotional terms, and renewal price attached to the subscription. Existing, legacy, promotional, and third-party-billed subscriptions can differ from the standard rates advertised to new subscribers.
Then make the comparison around what actually matters: whether you use both libraries, whether ads are acceptable, and whether a larger ESPN or HBO Max bundle adds content you'd otherwise pay for separately.
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