Disney+/Hulu Price Hike: 18 Cheaper Streaming Swaps and What They Actually Cost
Disney's bundle held at $12.99 but standalone plans and ad-free tiers just got pricier, here's what smaller, cheaper streamers charge instead.
What actually changed on your bill
Disney raised prices on Disney+ and Hulu again this week, the fourth straight year of hikes. The ad-supported bundle held steady at $12.99 a month, but if you’re paying for the two services separately, each ad-supported plan now runs $12.49 a month, and the ad-free premium tiers jumped even higher. Add it up and a household paying for both standalone ad-free plans is now closer to $300 a year before add-ons like ESPN or live TV.
The pattern is clear: Disney wants you in the bundle. If you’re not watching enough of either service to justify it, this is a good moment to actually price out alternatives rather than defaulting to another $150-plus-a-year bundle out of habit.
Cheaper options for kids’ programming
If most of your Disney+ time goes to keeping kids occupied rather than watching Marvel or Star Wars, several services undercut it hard. PBS Kids runs $4.99 a month (about $60 a year) and covers “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Wild Kratts,” “Arthur” and more. Ameba is even cheaper at $3.99 a month (roughly $48 a year), with titles like “Numberblocks” and “PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures.” Kartoon Channel matches that $3.99 price with ad-free animation including “Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten.” None of these replace Frozen or Marvel, but for daily kid-viewing they cost a fraction of Disney+.
Documentary fans can do even better: CuriosityStream is $49.99 billed annually, which works out to about $4.17 a month, cheaper than nearly every subscription on this list when averaged over the year.
Faith-based and family-friendly picks
Families wanting curated, ad-free content have a few clear price points. Minno is $10.99 a month for over 175 shows, including the full VeggieTales library, close to what Disney+ and Hulu together used to cost, but narrowly focused. UP Faith & Family currently offers an introductory rate of $2.99 a month for two months, then steps up to $5.99 a month (about $72 a year at the regular rate), and it’s become a go-to home for “Heartland” with all 19 seasons available. Dove Channel comes in under $5 a month for family and romance titles like “Heartland” and “H2O: Just Add Water.” Yippee TV and Kartoon Channel round out the ad-free, curated-programming tier without published headline pricing in the source material, but both position themselves as budget alternatives to mainstream kids’ apps.
For adult and general-audience viewing
Hulu’s role, adult dramas, network reruns, general entertainment, has cheaper substitutes too. Frndly TV bundles more than 50 live channels, including Hallmark Channel, A&E and HISTORY, plus a 72-hour lookback window, aimed at households that miss flipping through familiar cable channels. Howdy, backed by Roku, offers over 10,000 hours of ad-free content from Disney, Sony, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. libraries at a budget price, with rotating multi-season titles.
What to do about it
Before you renew Disney+ and Hulu at the new rate, tally what you actually watch. If it’s mostly kids’ shows, PBS Kids or Ameba at $4 to $5 a month replaces most of that need for under $60 a year. If it’s documentaries, CuriosityStream’s $49.99 annual plan beats almost any monthly streamer on a per-month basis. And if you’re paying for the ad-free tiers on principle, check whether a $3–$6 ad-free niche service actually covers your real viewing habits, because at $12.49 a month per service, standalone Disney+ and Hulu no longer look like the budget option they used to be.