End the pricing tricks. Just combine Disney+ and Hulu already
If Disney had a little more respect for its customers, it would just end this charade and combine Disney+ and Hulu already. Instead, it’s made the cynical calculation that the appearance of a deal is better for business.
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Disney’s latest price hikes
See if you can spot the pattern in Disney’s September 2026 price hikes:
- Disney+ (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/mo.
- Hulu (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/mo.
- Disney+ and Hulu bundle (with ads): Still $12.99/mo.
- Disney+ (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/mo.
- Hulu (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/mo.
- Disney+ and Hulu bundle (no ads): $19.99 → $21.99/mo.
(If you’re bundling Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max, those prices quietly ticked upward this week as well. The trio rose from $19.99 to $21.99 per month with ads, or $32.99 to $34.99 without. The cost of Hulu + Live TV also rose from $90 to $100 per month when bundled with Disney+, Hulu on-demand, and ESPN Unlimited.)
With the new pricing, paying for just Disney+ or Hulu is a mere 50 cents per month cheaper than combining them, down from $1 per month savings previously. While Disney has obviously been pushing customers toward bundles for some time, the latest price hikes squeeze the a la carte savings down to farcical levels.
The Hulu-Disney+ merger plan
Disney has already made clear its intention to mash Disney+ and Hulu into a single app. If you subscribe to both services, you can now access most of Hulu’s catalog through Disney+, with an option to sync your Hulu profile to port over your watchlist and viewing history.
And while Disney has not committed to a timeline for discontinuing the Hulu app, it’s become an afterthought as the company pushes people over to the Disney+ experience. One employee told Business Insider‘s James Faris that Hulu’s app is now “on life support, with no active development.”
