Disney+ launched in the US in 2019 at $6.99 a month and has raised prices roughly every autumn since. In 2026 the ad-free Premium plan rose 13% to $21.49 a month, about 207% above launch. Disney steers price-sensitive users to cheaper ad-supported plans and bundles, and from fiscal 2026 stopped reporting subscriber numbers, judging success on revenue and profit instead.
Key takeaways
- Launch price: $6.99 a month (2019). October 2025: Premium $18.99. 2026: Premium $21.49, up 13%.
- That's about 207% above launch, against US inflation of roughly 30% over the period, by one fan site's calculation.
- The Disney+ and Hulu ad-supported bundle stayed at $12.99, a deliberate nudge toward bundles and ad tiers.
- Disney stopped reporting subscriber numbers from fiscal 2026. Its last figure: 128 million Disney+ core subscribers at the end of June 2025.
When Disney+ launched in the US in 2019, it cost $6.99 a month.
That was a land-grab price. Cheap enough that almost anyone with kids, a Marvel habit or a Star Wars obsession would sign up without thinking.
Seven years later, the ad-free plan costs $21.49.
Fans call the autumn rise "an annual fall tradition." And somewhere along the way, Disney stopped telling anyone how many subscribers it had.
How much has Disney+ raised its prices?
Roughly every autumn. Here's the US price history, as reported:
| Date | Plan | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Disney+ at launch | $6.99 |
| October 2025 | Disney+ Premium (no ads) | $18.99, up $3 |
| 2026 | Disney+ Premium (no ads) | $21.49, up 13% |
| 2026 | Disney+ (with ads) | $12.49, up 50 cents |
| 2026 | Premium annual plan | $214.99 a year |
| 2026 | Disney+ and Hulu bundle (with ads) | $12.99, unchanged |
In September 2026, Bloomberg reported the latest round, and fan and news sites confirmed the new prices. One fan site calculated that's a rise of about 207% on the launch price, against US inflation of roughly 30% over the same period.
Look at the last row. While Premium rose 13%, the ad-supported bundle didn't move. That's not an accident.
Why did Disney stop reporting subscribers?
In August 2025, Disney said it would stop reporting subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ from the first quarter of fiscal 2026, following Netflix.
Its last figures, at the end of June 2025:
| Service | Subscribers |
|---|---|
| Disney+ core | 128 million |
| Hulu | 55.5 million |
| Combined | 183 million |
There's no public evidence of a subscriber collapse. The price rises fueled online frustration and some cancellations. But by choosing not to publish the number, Disney changed what it wants to be judged on: revenue and profit, not headcount.
Netflix made the same move. You can read how Netflix stopped counting subscribers and started counting money.
Why do the price rises keep working?
In The Subscription Playbook, Disney+ is one of my examples of the unlimited content model, alongside Netflix and Spotify. Pay a monthly fee, get unlimited access to everything. Who can resist?
The model is powerful for exactly the reason Disney can keep raising prices: once your family is used to having the whole library on tap, giving it up feels like a loss. Bluey doesn't care about inflation.
But there's a smarter mechanism underneath. Disney isn't just raising prices. It's sorting customers:
- Heavy, loyal users pay more for ad-free Premium. They're the least price-sensitive.
- Price-sensitive users are steered to the cheaper ad-supported plan or the bundle, instead of cancelling.
- Bundles add more content for less extra money, which makes leaving even harder.
It's good-better-best pricing used as a retention tool. Every rise on the top tier comes with a cheaper door the customer can walk through without leaving the house.
Why the downgrade door matters
Say you have 400 customers on a $20 premium plan, or $8,000 a month. Raise it 13% to $22.60 and you can lose up to 46 of them (11.5%) before the rise costs you money. Now suppose 30 of the customers who'd otherwise cancel drop to your $10 plan instead. You keep $300 a month you'd have lost entirely, and those 30 people can still upgrade later. (Illustrative numbers.)
My take
The lesson I'd take isn't "raise prices every year." Disney has a content library nobody else can copy, and you probably don't. The lesson is the downgrade path. Most small subscription businesses have one price and one exit: the cancel button. Give people a cheaper option and some of them will take it instead of leaving.
How far can you push your price?
Model the MRR impact of a price rise and see the break-even churn before you announce it.
What does it cost Disney?
Goodwill. Every rise spends some.
Annual price rises work for must-have content, but there's a limit. Fan frustration is loud, and a subscriber who downgrades to the ad plan is worth less than one who stays on Premium. The more the gap grows between what people pay and what they feel they get, the more each rise costs.
And dropping subscriber reporting has a cost of its own. When you stop publishing a number, people assume the worst about it. For a small business that's not an issue. But the internal version is: if you stop looking at a number because you don't like it, you've lost your early warning system.
What can you steal from Disney+?
- Always offer a downgrade path before customers reach the cancel button. A cheaper tier with fewer inclusions. The cancellation flow guide shows where to place it.
- Raise prices on your premium tier first. Those customers are the least price-sensitive.
- Use bundles to make the value obvious. More for a little more is easier to accept than the same for more.
- Pick one profit metric and watch it monthly. Revenue per customer (ARPU) tells you more than headcount alone.
- Don't stop looking at churn. Disney stopped publishing its subscriber numbers. You should never stop tracking your churn.
For the full method, read how to raise prices without losing customers and the unlimited content model guide.
What to do next
Look at your pricing. If a customer wanted to pay you less, could they? Or is their only choice to leave?
If it's the second, build a cheaper tier before your next price rise.
Pricing Table BuilderDesign a good-better-best pricing table and export it.Open the free tool →Then model what the rise does to your revenue at different levels of churn.
Price Increase SimulatorModel the MRR impact of a price rise and your break-even churn.Open the free tool →Frequently asked questions
How much has Disney+ gone up since launch?
In the US, Disney+ launched at $6.99 a month in 2019. After roughly annual rises, the ad-free Premium plan reached $18.99 in October 2025 and $21.49 in 2026, about 207% above the launch price. The ad-supported plan rose to $12.49 and the Premium annual plan to $214.99. Prices differ in other countries.
Why did Disney stop reporting subscriber numbers?
Disney said in August 2025 that it would stop reporting subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ from the first quarter of fiscal 2026, following Netflix. Companies usually make this move when they want investors to focus on revenue and profit per customer rather than headcount, especially while raising prices.
Is it smart to launch at a low price and raise it later?
It can work if you have content or a product people come to depend on, and enough funding to grow at a low price. It's riskier for small businesses: low launch prices attract price-sensitive customers who leave at the first rise. If you launch low, tell people it's an introductory price.
Should a small business add an ad-supported or cheaper tier?
Advertising only makes sense with a big audience. But the principle behind Disney's ad tier, a cheaper plan that keeps price-sensitive customers instead of losing them, works for anyone. A basic plan with fewer inclusions gives customers somewhere to go other than the cancel button.
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Robert Coorey, MBA
Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.
Sources
- Reuters, Disney to raise prices on Disney+, Hulu subscriptions, Bloomberg News reports (23 Sep 2026)
- Disney Food Blog, Disney+ Prices Jump 13% and Fans Are Fed Up (5 Oct 2026; price history and inflation comparison)
- Variety, Disney Will Stop Reporting Subscriber Numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ (Aug 2025)
- Deadline, Disney To Stop Providing Quarterly DTC Subscriber Data (Aug 2025)
Facts and prices checked 27 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.