The last Disney+ price increase landed on October 21, 2025, and it was not subtle: the ad-supported Basic plan jumped from $9.99 to $11.99 a month and ad-free Premium from $15.99 to $18.99 — a $2 to $3 rise across nearly everything Disney streams. Disney announced the change on September 23, 2025 (Variety, CNBC, and the New York Times all reported it the same week), which means existing subscribers had roughly four weeks of warning before their bills moved.
As of our check in late August 2026, no new standalone hike has been announced for 2026. But there is already one dated increase on the calendar: the legacy Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select bundle rises to $27.99 a month on or after September 17, 2026. And given that Disney has now raised prices every autumn for three straight years, treating an October 2026 announcement as likely rather than possible is the honest way to budget.
Before and after: every confirmed change
| Plan | Before | After Oct 21, 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney+ Basic (with ads) | $9.99/mo | $11.99/mo | +$2 |
| Disney+ Premium (ad-free) | $15.99/mo | $18.99/mo | +$3 |
| Disney+, Hulu Bundle (with ads) | $10.99/mo | $12.99/mo | +$2 |
Sources: Variety and CNBC, September 23, 2025 (announcement); New York Times, September 24, 2025. Current US prices of $11.99 / $18.99 verified against Disney’s App Store catalog listing on August 29, 2026.
One more dated row for completeness: the legacy three-service bundle (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select) goes from its long-held price to $27.99 monthly starting September 17, 2026, per Cord Cutters News reporting from August 2026. If you have been on that legacy bundle for years, check your September statement.
What you can actually do about it
Do the bundle math before downgrading. At post-hike prices the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle ($12.99) costs just $1 more than Basic alone ($11.99) while adding a whole second service. Standalone pricing only makes sense if you genuinely watch nothing on Hulu.
Students have a real escape hatch. The Disney+ student discount is not a plan-level discount — it applies to the bundle — but at $6.49 a month it undercuts even the ad-only Basic tier while covering two services. SheerID verification, renewed yearly, US only.
Annual billing is the only price freeze. Premium annually runs $189.99 against $227.88 paid monthly. You save money either way, but the strategic value is bigger: your rate is locked until renewal no matter what Disney announces this October. Just remember the renewal itself bills at then-current prices — see our piece on the auto-renewal trap.
The country gap dwarfs the hike. The $2 you just lost looks small next to what the same subscription costs elsewhere. From our verified rows of August 29, 2026:
| Country | Plan | Local price | In USD | vs US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | Basic | ₺249.99 | $5.22 | −56% |
| Japan | Premium | ¥1,670 | $10.50 | −45% |
| South Korea | Basic | ₩13,900 | $9.99 | −17% |
| Canada | Premium | C$16.99 | $12.25 | −35% |
| Germany | Premium | €15.99 | $18.56 | −2% |
| United States | Premium | $18.99 | $18.99 | — |
These are local list prices Disney publishes per market, converted at current rates. The full ranking lives on our cheapest country for Disney+ page, and the practical realities of subscribing abroad (payment cards, terms-of-service risk) are covered there too. Turkey is the standout: Basic at roughly $5.22 USD is less than half the cheapest US option.
Is another hike coming in 2026?
Here is the honest answer: probably, but nobody outside Burbank knows. The pattern since 2023 is a September announcement followed by an October effective date, each round adding $1–$3 per tier. Disney executives have repeatedly framed streaming profitability as the goal, and price rises are their main lever. What we will not do is print rumored numbers — when an official October 2026 announcement lands, the table above gets updated with dated sources, same as always. Until then, the verified facts are the ones on this page: $11.99 and $18.99 today, $27.99 for the legacy trio bundle from September 17, and a three-year track record of autumn increases.
This hike is part of a broader squeeze — we track the worst offenders in biggest subscription price increases of 2026, where Disney+’s +20% on Basic ranks alongside far steeper moves in other markets.