When the new Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle first came into being, I was tempted to buy in. The main problem I had was that I was not the one paying for access to all three of those streaming services. My parents had their own separate Hulu account that I used, so I was only paying for ad-free subscriptions to Disney+ and Max. Going through all of the trouble to switch over my subscription plans just to save few a bucks didn't seem worth the hassle at the time.
Now that the Disney+ and Hulu prices are increasing on October 17, my parents decided to drop Hulu from their monthly bills and I was left with the decision to either bundle or cancel Disney+ to avoid paying even more for fewer services than I had before. In the end, I decided to move my subscription over to the bundle and save money overall, but I can't help but feel like I was pushed into this decision by Disney.
The Disney+, Max, and Hulu Bundle Is the Best Deal in Streaming
If we look at just the numbers, the Disney+, Hulu, and Max package is the best streaming bundle package out there. You can get the bundle without ads for $29.99 a month, and this price will not be affected by the upcoming price increase. Here's a quick rundown of how much each individual service would cost separately without ads:
- Disney+ Premium - $15.99 per month
- Hulu (No Ads) - $18.99 per month
- Max (No Ads) - $16.99 per month
If you were to pay for all three of those services separately, you would be paying almost $21 extra per month by deciding not to bundle. Disney also offers a Disney+ and Hulu premium bundle that costs $10 less than all three, which would save you almost $15 per month on both of those services.
The bundles are not being impacted by the price increase
This is main reason I feel like I'm being pushed into the bundle pricing. Those aren't being affected while all of the Disney+ and Hulu subscription tiers are getting hit with a price increase. Changing over to a bundle is definitely worth the savings right now, but it puts me in a position where a good chunk of my streaming services are now attached to a single price point. The bundle pricing will inevitably increase, and the individual prices on streaming services will also keep getting pushed higher to keep people subscribed to the more expensive bundle. This makes it much harder to cancel one service to move to another, even as my monthly streaming bill starts to rise.
What's the Alternative?
With this bundle in place, there are really only two other streaming alternatives. The first is Netflix, which will not be bundling with the other services any time soon. The second alternative is Amazon Prime Video, which will allow you to add various streaming services on to your base subscription for additional fees. Out of the two of these options, Prime Video is the most like the Disney+ bundle, except you don't actually save any money by bundling services together; you just pay full price to put everything on the same bill.
This leaves you with Netflix as the most affordable alternative to the bundle at $15.49 for the service without ads. However, you will only get access to Netflix content. The cost of the Hulu, Max, and Disney+ bundle is only $14.50 more and has lot more content available from major franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Game of Thrones.
Jacob Kienlen is a Senior SEO Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and over 7 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different topics -- from TV series to indie games and popular book series.
