Choosing a streaming service can be a little difficult. You’re faced with dozens of great options, and each one runs somewhere from $8 to $25 per month, so you can’t just subscribe to all of them.
So, you have to do a little digging to see which ones will best serve you. We’re going to take a look at two of the most popular options, Hulu and Netflix. Comparing Hulu vs Netflix should give you a decent idea of which one will work best for your needs.
Let’s take a look.
A Comparison of Hulu vs Netflix
The first thing that might be on your mind is the aspect of price.
A Hulu subscription costs $5.99 per month. That rate is flat, and you’ll have access to all of the shows and movies that Hulu offers. The only downside is that you will have to deal with advertisements at that monthly rate.
Shift up to $11.99, and you have all of the same movies and shows with no advertisements. If you’re not someone who minds advertisements, this makes Hulu one of the most affordable streaming services on the internet.
It’s about the cost of a large latte, and you have access to all of the media you want with a few advertisements here and there. Hulu also offers a television option for $64.99 per month. This offering gives you live television access as well as access to the streaming library.
A Netflix subscription, on the other hand, costs $8.99 at the most basic rate. You can watch all of the shows and movies you want, but that rate only works for one screen at the same time.
Shift up to the standard subscription and you’re able to stream and have downloads on two screens. You’re also able to watch shows in HD. When you upgrade to the premium offering, you can view all shows in premium HD.
So, if you’re on a budget, Hulu is marginally cheaper than Netflix on the basic level. That said, an extra $3 per month will allow you to view without the advertisements.
Cancellation Policies
Regardless of which service you choose, you’ll have the ability to cancel in a simple way. In most cases, you can cancel in a matter of minutes, but you’ll have access to the service for the remainder of the month for which you paid.
This is the same for both services, and it goes for most streaming services that you’ll find online as well. If you’re curious as to how to cancel on Hulu, take a look at for more specific details.
For Netflix, go to your account settings, scroll to the bottom of the page, and select “cancel my account.” You’ll be redirected to a page that ensures it’s what you’d like to do, then you can go forward with cancellation.
After that point, you can expect not to be charged anymore. Your payment goes through at the beginning of the month, so you’ve already paid for the remainder of the month and will lose access after that period is through.
The date that your cancellation finalizes tends to be the day of the month that you paid the initial subscription fee.
Streaming Offerings
After price, the most important thing to you might be the movies and shows that are available on both services.
In the beginning, Hulu was a service geared more toward television shows, while Netflix harbored a lot more movies. Things have shifted, though, and both services offer a healthy spread of shows and movies.
Further, both services have their own production setups and produce movies and television shows that are specific to the streaming service. This is a big draw for some people who are looking for a particular show.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any real guidelines you can use to gauge how you’ll like the offerings other than looking them up in advance. Your television and movie preferences are your own, so we can’t say whether you’ll like certain things other than others.
That said, it might be helpful to note that Netflix offers twice the content that Hulu does. At the same time, Hulu offers more content than you could conceivably watch in your lifetime, so you’re not going to run out anytime soon.
Netflix just has a better chance of having a particular thing that you’re looking for.
Functionality and Ease
The layouts and functionality of Hulu and Netflix are a little different from one another. The differences are so small, though, that it would be tough to even notice.
They use different color palettes, and maybe some of the buttons are in different spots, but those things are arbitrary. For all intents and purposes, Hulu and Netflix have roughly the same appearance and function.
This doesn’t help in the decision-making process, we know. Further, the difference in price is so small that it’s tough to make the choice. If you’re really on the fence about which place to put your money, we’ve got a couple of potential options.
First, just try one of the two. Choose Netflix. Choose Hulu.
Either way, you’ll have a month of streaming opportunities. Both sites are bound to have something that will catch your interest for a period of a month. Maybe you’ll make the right choice and won’t have a need for the other.
If you’re not convinced by the end of the month, just cancel your first subscription. Pop over to the other site and subscribe to it for a month and see how it feels.
Remember, you can cancel at any time and you won’t pay for more than you get. The best way to get a feel for these things is to try them out and compare them with one another.
Have More Tech Questions?
Examining Hulu vs Netflix can be tricky because they’re so similar. There are a lot of other decisions that have a similar feel these days. If you’re struggling to choose between different products or just have technological questions, we’re here to help.
Explore our site for more insight into this topic and similar topics that might be causing you trouble.
