Disney launched its much-awaited streaming service this week, Disney Plus, and it has the other streaming giants nervously scratching their necks. With its five main content pillars of Disney movies, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel and National Geographic, Disney Plus garnered more than 10 million subscriptions on its first day.
So, how does it compare to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Apple TV+? Here’s what you need to know as you weigh their pros and cons.
DISNEY PLUS PLANS7 day free trial |
|
| DISNEY+ | $6.99 |
| DISNEY+ BUNDLE
(with Hulu and ESPN+) |
$12.99 |
Disney plus vs. Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and HBO Max: price
Disney + doesn’t have years of accumulated titles yet, but it hit the ground running with a fair base price and a couple of great deals. Verizon customers can get an entire year of Disney + free through the cell giant, and there is also a bundle package that consists of Hulu and ESPN Plus that still gets you the new service.
Netflix has three subscription options at $8.99 for non-HD streaming on one device, $12.99 in HD on two devices, and a $15.99 per month plan in 4K HDR that allows you to watch on up to four devices. T-Mobile Magenta customers also have their subscriptions included in their wireless plans.
Apple TV+ and Disney + currently have one option, at $4.99 and $6.99 per month, respectively. Both have video quality of 4K HDR. Disney + allows up to four devices while Apple TV+ allows up to six. You can get a free year of Apple TV+ with any purchase of an Apple device.
HBO Max has yet to announce its video quality and its limit on devices to stream on, with its launch set for May 2020 at $14.99 per month. HBO has partnered with AT&T, and it is included in the AT&T Unlimited & More plan.
Hulu has its Basic package at $5.99 and Premium at $11.99, and for Hulu with Live TV, the Basic package is $44.99 per month and Premium at $50.99. (Hulu with Live TV is just that, and it comes with more than 50 channels.)
How you quantify the amount of content for the price is up to you, depending on who has the rights to your favorite shows. Besides the channel-specific content, Disney + also has the rights to The Simpsons, and HBO Max is slated to have rights to Friends, Big Bang Theory, and Rick and Morty.
READ MORE:
- Everything you need to know about Disney+
- Here are all of the Disney+ titles available to stream at launch
- Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and show missing from Disney+ (and when they’ll show up)
- The best movies and TV shows streaming on Disney+
Disney plus vs. Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and HBO Max: devices
How you watch these platforms and on which devices are crucial to who signs up for what, because none of us are going to purchase a new device just for a good deal.
The most popular streaming devices in 2019 include Xbox One, Playstation 4, Chromecast, Android TV, Apple TV+, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, the iOS and Android apps. Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and HBO Max will be available on all nine of the devices listed above.
However, Apple TV+ isn’t available on the Android app, Android TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, or Playstation 4 due to the never-ending console wars that have pitted Apple against the world.
How will you be watching this holiday season? Who will you be adding and who will you be dropping? In the decade of streaming wars, you’ll help crown a winner.
Disney plus vs. Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and HBO Max: shows
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ planned a slower rollout than its competitors by initially premiering high-quality content rather than dumping a massive back catalog on release. Originally it was reported that the company was investing $1 billion in its first wave of content; that number has been bumped to $6 billion. Here’s what you can watch right now.
Ahead of its Nov. 1 launch, Apple announced a ton of new AppleTV+ series. With a variety of drama, comedy, family, documentary, and even feature film offerings–not to mention substantial deals with powerful creators like Reese Witherspoon, J.J. Abrams, and Justin Lin–the tech company seems poised to make its mark in the content game.
Netflix
Netflix is the granddaddy of streaming, and its original library is dynamic and impressive, with about 5,000 movies alone.
Here are our guides for the absolute best movies on Netflix, must-see Netflix original series, documentaries, docuseries, and movies.
Need more ideas? Here are our Netflix guides for the best war movies, documentaries, anime, indie flicks, true crime, food shows, gangster movies, Westerns, and movies based on true stories streaming right now. There are also sad movies guaranteed to make you cry, weird movies to melt your brain, and standup specials when you really need to laugh. Or check out Flixable, a search engine for Netflix.
There are even plenty of Disney movies on Netflix.
HBO Max
HBO has a deep roster of legendary shows like The Sopranos and more recently Game of Thrones. HBO Max has also acquired the streaming rights to giant comedies like Friends, the Big Bang Theory, and Rick and Morty, with more shows sure to be announced in the coming months. It’s already planning to build on the Friends catalog with a reunion special, and its premium talent coupled with its adult reputation for nuanced prestige drama means the app’s clientele will be slightly more mature than the kid-friendly, no-rated-R-movie space of Disney+. In that respect, it seems like a more direct competitor to Netflix.
Hulu
Hulu has four packages: Basic for $5.99, Premium for $11.99, Basic with Live TV for $44.99 per month, and Premium with Live TV for $50.99. It has a vast array of movies and TV shows, and now Hulu with Live TV is the middle ground between TV and streaming. It’s one of the best cord-cutting options in terms of the comprehensive entertainment offered.
Not sure what to watch on Hulu? Here are the best movies on Hulu, what’s new, the best shows on Hulu, the sexiest movies you can stream on the service, Hulu documentaries, anime, and the must-see Hulu originals.
Looking for something more specific? Here are the best thrillers, serial killer movies, and action movies to get your heart racing, classic movies when you want a blast from the past, sad movies when you need a good cry, adult cartoons, and funny movies on Hulu when you need a good laugh.
Classic Hulu’s trump card? If you care about current TV shows on Fox, NBC, and cable, Hulu gets those episodes a day after they air live. Its original series are also well-reviewed and interesting.
To that end, Disney Plus is less a direct competitor and more of a low-cost supplement to Hulu households…
Disney Plus
Disney Plus arrived on Nov. 12 with more than 500 original movies and 7,500 episodes across mammoth genres like Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic. It’s an essential offering for families with children.
But the biggest story here is that a huge company like Disney has announced loud and clear that streaming is the future of home entertainment, and the best content is getting to streaming services faster than ever before. Instead of channel surfing for a re-run, we have entire databases constructed for us to find the best content quick and easy. And for most of you reading this, I’m not breaking any news. But in 10 years we may look back at Disney Plus as the day cable was struck its final blow, much like how Netflix marked the beginning of the streaming era a decade ago.
What’s on Disney+? Here’s everything we know:
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