Last week I had to (I didn’t actually have to, but I really wanted to see Season 6 of New Girl) sign up for a Hulu free trial in order to view a season of a show, New Girl, that Netflix has not updated. This influenced me to do my research on the pros and cons of Netflix and Hulu.
I have been a Netflix girl since I got my laptop in tenth grade, and I swear by this website. But, Netflix has been breaking my heart recently, by deleting many shows every month, not updating new seasons, and not adding content that a majority of users are pushing for. Netflix has a much wider selection and includes much more movies than Hulu, but Hulu has much more recent content. Also, the Hulu free trial is 30 days and Netflix is only a week. Feel free to try both!
The first obvious argument and concern of most people is the price of these services. According to the price comparison on Diffen, both services offer basic packages for $7.99. In order to use more than one screen at a time for Netflix you have to pay a few dollars more, depending on how many screens you need. And, if you want to have videos sent to your home, it is an additional $7.99 a month on top of whichever plan you choose. Although you pay for Hulu, the website still forces ads a few times during each show unless you upgrade to the $11.99 a month plan. The advertisements are shown 3-5 times per episode and last over a minute for each ad, it is extremely annoying and used as a tactic to gain revenue from viewers, which I believe is a huge negative.
Hulu will post new episodes from many television shows the day after they air on TV. The setup of Netflix is that the website can not post new episodes from shows until the newest season is airing, or the show is over. Hulu has one up on Netflix in this aspect, but then Netflix tries to make up for it by offering tens of thousands of more programs. Although, it could be argued that many shows and movies offered on Netflix are not popular and not viewed by many.
Other little tidbits that factor in to the comparison include which countries offer these streaming services and the popularity of each, audio and video quality. Netflix is much more widely available. Netflix is so much more popular and successful than Hulu. Both are slow to update new movies but both offer their own original content.
To weigh it out:
For $11.99 on Netflix you get ad free streaming on 4 screens. Thousands of shows are offered and many movies.
For $11.99 on Hulu, you get ad free streaming. Many new shows with updated episodes daily but with much less content.
If you can’t decide like me just quit cable and pay for both! It’s cheaper to buy Hulu and Netflix instead of paying a monthly cable bill. Happy watching everyone!