Netflix and Hulu are today’s leading online digital video service providers with a userbase in millions. In a time when there are so many shows, movies and documentaries available for the people to watch, Netflix and Hulu are a blessing in disguise. They let their customers stream shows or movies of their choice at any time of the day. They charge a substantial amount for their services but still are used by millions of people worldwide.
However, questions arise as to which one of these two providers is a better option for the people and why? How is Netflix different from Hulu and vice versa. All such questions will be answered below:
Netflix has been increasing its subscription prices, whereas Hulu’s main plan (comes with ads) is becoming more affordable for people.
It’s important to notice that Hulu provides its service only in the US whereas Netflix is available in a large amount of countries. If you’re not a US citizen, you only have 1 option i.e Netflix. Netflix easily beats Hulu in this category. But for everyone else, let’s discuss the other merits and demerits.
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BEST EXPERIENCE AND FEATURES: NETFLIX
You can stream videos on Netflix in 4K quality along with HDR video quality. Netflix also allows you to download the content for offline mode.
However, Hulu neither supports 4K quality and offline downloading. Even the company has not clearly declared when these features would be introduced in the market.
The main thing that Hulu offers and Netflix doesn’t is Live Television. Hulu with Live TV ($44.99 monthly) will pair your video-on-demand with some live cables and broadcast networks which you can stream from any place you wish.
Even though Netflix’s 4K plan is the most expensive of all its plans but offline downloading (available in all its plans) and no ads make Netflix the clear winner in this category.
PRICES: HULU
Costing only $5.99 a month (with ads) Hulu’s tradition and basic plan is significantly cheaper than a Netflix plan. The big question is whether you can handle Hulu’s ads or not. You can see how many people can watch Hulu at once also. Some of these ads are easy to ignore but sometimes when they interrupt your shows, you certainly loathe. For that, you can buy Hulu’s $11.99 plan aka the “no commercials’ plan. (However, some shows still stream with ads).
Netflix just announced that it is increasing the prices of its plans. It charges $12.99 for the standard plan, $15.99 for the premium (one with 4K quality) and $8.99 for the basic plan. The basic plan is limited to standard definition streaming only so hardly many people bother buying it.
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MOST FLEXIBLE: NETFLIX
Netflix’s premium plan ($15.99 monthly) lets you stream simultaneously on 4 devices at a time which is unmatched by Hulu. The standard plan, also the most popular option, allows on 2 and the basic one allowing only 1.
Hulu’s basic plan, also the affordable or appealing one, allows you to stream only once which doesn’t let its user to share it with their family or friends unless they maintain different schedules. You can also check how much data does Netflix use. It’s the same case even if you buy its expensive no-commercials plan. If you switch to Hulu with Live TV, you will get to concurrent streams or if you want one additional use-anywhere stream and unlimited access for all devices in your home, you just need to pay more $10 (on top of the Live TV pack).
BEST DEVICE SUPPORT: BOTH
As it was mentioned above, Hulu and Netflix are the most popular video streaming apps in the market today. Certainly, they ought to run on almost every device of the market. There’s a very low possibility that your smartphone wouldn’t support either one of them.
However, Hulu is also currently available on the Nintendo Switch which increases its odds. But then, its lack of offline downloading feature skews the odds in Netflix’s favour.
BEST CONTENT: NETFLIX FOR TODAY
HULU FOR YESTERDAY
As mentioned in the article, both Hulu and Netflix are good choices. However, you can choose which one you want to buy on the basis of the points mentioned above. Or, you can even buy them both i.e cancelling out each of the demerits or shortcomings.