Hulu Review 2025: Cost, Plans, and More

Is Hulu good?

For $9.99 a month (with ads) or $18.99 a month (ad-free), Hulu is one of the most expensive streaming services on the market. But we think it’s an essential part of your app lineup (as long as you bundle with Disney+).

It doesn’t carry the same overwhelming volume of content as Netflix or Prime Video, but Hulu’s exclusive next-day streaming of broadcast and cable shows is a major advantage over the other services. Throw in its expanding collection of quality original content, and Hulu remains a solid service.

Hulu’s on-demand streaming library includes over 40,000 hours of movies and TV shows, including next-day streaming of new episodes of series from FOX, ABC, NBC, FX, FXX, and more. Hulu also has its own slate of original shows, like Only Murders in the Building, The Dropout, Pam & Tommy, How I Met Your Father, and The Handmaid’s Tale.

You can also add live TV channels to Hulu, which we cover in our Hulu + Live TV review.

Hulu free trials and deals

Hulu offers a 30-day free trial, as well as several money-saving deals. Read all about them in our Hulu Deals guide.

The biggest Hulu deal is the Disney bundle, which comes in several flavors, including Duo Basic, Trio Basic, Duo Premium, and Trio Premium.

Hulu isn’t cheap

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To Hulu’s credit, it doesn’t gatekeep more simultaneous streams or 4K video behind its premium plan. The main difference between the two tiers really is just the ads. But that’s still a big difference—ad-free TV is a far superior experience to ad-supported.

Unfortunately, that upgrade costs a lot. In fact, Hulu (No Ads) is one of the most expensive standalone streaming plans out there. For the same price, you could subscribe to a streaming bundle with multiple services.

And that’s what Disney is counting on. For just a dollar more, you can get the Disney Bundle Duo Premium. So if you’re already spending all that money, why not throw in a second service?

Standalone Hulu is more expensive than the competition

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We think Hulu’s combo of next-day content, original programming, and its catalog of TV shows and movies make it a strong contender against Netflix and Max. It probably won’t replace either in your streaming app collection, but it’s an excellent supplement if you can afford to have more than one.

Hulu TV shows and movies

Hulu streams the latest episodes of shows from fellow Disney-owned networks (ABC, FOX, FX, FXX, Freeform, and others) 24 hours or sooner after their broadcast/cable premieres. Hulu used to do the same for some NBC series but, as corporate synergy demands, next-day streaming rights to those shows moved to NBCUniversal-owned Peacock in fall 2022.

We keep mentioning Hulu’s next-day streaming of broadcast and cable show episodes for a reason: no other on-demand service but Peacock does it, and it’s great for cord-cutters who have zero interest in paying for a live TV provider just to watch the latest Bob’s Burgers (gotta keep up on those “Burger of the Day” gags).

Hulu’s ever-growing collection of original series, movies, documentaries, and kids’ shows is nothing to overlook, either. The award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale is Hulu’s most well-known original, but recent hits like Only Murders in the Building, The Dropout, Pam & Tommy, How I Met Your Father, and Reservation Dogs have also put a shine on the in-house Hulu brand.

I’ve compiled a few lists of acquired shows and Hulu originals we think are worth checking out on our What to Watch on Hulu guide.

Hulu’s user experience

Hulu doesn’t do great on shareability

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Hulu allows you to create up to six profiles on a single account, including a kids’ profile that restricts the young ones from adult content. That’s a decent number of profiles, but Hulu is still a bit stingy with multiple streams.

Most streaming services give you at least three simultaneous streams within your home network; Hulu still offers only two. We know it’s only one less than the norm, but it still bugs us to no end—just give up that third stream, Hulu.

You can’t buy any additional simultaneous streams, but you can buy an Extra Member add-on to allow someone outside your household to access your subscription. You can only add one Extra Member per account, and it’s not clear how much Hulu actually enforces the single-household rule anyway, so we’re not big fans of this practice.

What devices are compatible with Hulu?

Hulu is available on almost every streaming device on the market, as well as some smart TVs and gaming consoles. Get all the deets in our Hulu Supported Devices guide.

Hulu specs and features

Hulu offers a lot of premium add-ons

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Max, CINEMAX, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, and STARZ are available to add to Hulu plans. Of course, Disney+ and ESPN+ are also available to bundle with Hulu.

Hulu video and audio quality

Hulu’s on-demand streaming video quality for most content ranges from 1080p HD to 4K UHD. So, if you’re binge-watching the first season of ER and George Clooney looks a little fuzzy, it’s only because it was filmed in 1994.

On the audio side, most Hulu content hits your ears in standard 2.0 stereo, and many of Hulu’s original shows and movies support 5.1 surround sound (if your device does, that is). Hulu doesn’t yet do Dolby Atmos, however.

What do Hulu customers think?

Hulu doesn’t do great in customer satisfaction. It failed to crack the top three in any of our 2025 Customer Satisfaction Survey categories, and placed eighth in overall satisfaction. While customers are very satisfied with its competitors Max and Netflix, they don’t like using Hulu. Overall, customers are frustrated with Hulu’s lack of reliability (the log-in process got so much worse after the Disney merger) and sky-high premium prices.

Is Hulu worth it?

We think Hulu is an essential subscription for your on-demand app lineup, whether you go with the cheaper version or the pricier one. You can even try it out for a whole month at no cost—we’re big fans of free trials.

Hulu offers unique value as a streaming service in that it curates next-day content from outside broadcast and cable channels, carries recent movies, produces its own original content, and offers the option to add live TV channels with Hulu + Live TV. Even with recent price hikes, we still think Hulu is a great value.

But, as much as we like Hulu’s features, originals, and pricing (not to mention the convenience of the Disney Bundle), we’re still hung up on those measly two streams. We’d call this a Mickey Mouse deal from parent company Disney, but it would be a little too on-the-nose.

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Why you should trust us

Our TV experts spent hundreds of hours testing and evaluating Hulu, rating the service on value, reliability, features, and customer satisfaction. Then we matched Hulu up against other premium streaming TV services head-to-head to give a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.