How Much Does Hulu Cost Per Year? | Plans And Real Cost

A full year of Hulu runs from $119.99 on the annual ad-supported plan to much more if you pay monthly or add Live TV.

If you want the cleanest answer, Hulu’s only true yearly plan is the ad-supported annual subscription. As of April 2026, that plan costs $119.99 for 12 months. If you want Hulu without ads, a bundle, or Hulu + Live TV, you pay month by month and total the year yourself.

That split matters. A lot of people search for one flat yearly number and expect Hulu to work like a gym membership. It doesn’t. One plan has annual billing. Most other choices do not. So the right pick comes down to how steady your viewing is and how much flexibility you want.

How Much Does Hulu Cost Per Year? By plan type

The headline figure is plain: Hulu (With Ads) costs $119.99 per year on Hulu’s annual plan. That is the only standard Hulu option with yearly billing. Hulu says annual billing is only available for Hulu (With Ads), not Hulu (No Ads), not Hulu + Live TV, and not the bundle plans.

Once you step outside that annual option, the math turns into monthly price times 12. Hulu (No Ads) is $18.99 per month, so a full year comes to $227.88. The Disney+ and Hulu duo with ads is $12.99 per month, or $155.88 across a year. Hulu + Live TV starts at $89.99 per month, which lands at $1,079.88 across 12 months before any extras.

There’s another wrinkle. Extras stay monthly even if you pay for Hulu annually. So if you tack on another service, your yearly Hulu bill is no longer just one prepaid number. The base plan may be annual, but those extras can still hit your card each month.

What the annual plan actually buys you

The annual Hulu (With Ads) plan fits one kind of viewer: someone who knows they want the basic streaming library all year and doesn’t mind ads. You pay once, the renewal comes a year later, and that’s that. No monthly bill to think about.

  • You get 12 months of Hulu (With Ads) for one upfront charge.
  • You save money against paying $11.99 each month for the same ad-supported plan.
  • You can still add select extras, but those extras bill monthly.
  • You can cancel, yet Hulu says refunds are not issued after the annual charge posts.

That last point trips people up. The low yearly number feels friendly at signup. Still, once the charge lands, you are tied to that billing cycle unless Hulu makes an exception. So the cheaper sticker price works best when you already know Hulu will stay in your mix.

Where the savings show up

If you compare Hulu (With Ads) monthly against Hulu (With Ads) annual, the gap is easy to see. Twelve monthly payments at $11.99 come to $143.88. The annual version is $119.99. That leaves $23.89 in your pocket over a full year.

That gap is nice if Hulu is one of your default apps. If you jump in for one show, then cancel for months, the annual plan can backfire. You pay less per month on paper, but only if you stay long enough to use the whole year.

Plan Billing style Cost across 12 months
Hulu (With Ads) annual Yearly $119.99
Hulu (With Ads) Monthly $143.88
Hulu (No Ads) Monthly $227.88
Disney+, Hulu duo with ads Monthly $155.88
Disney+, Hulu duo ad-free Monthly $239.88
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select bundle with ads Monthly $239.88
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select bundle with ad-free Hulu Monthly $359.88
Hulu + Live TV starting plan Monthly $1,079.88

Where people misread Hulu’s yearly price

The biggest mix-up is assuming every Hulu plan has a yearly checkout option. It doesn’t. Hulu’s own annual billing details say yearly billing is only offered on Hulu (With Ads). If you want ad-free streaming or a bundle, you are back on monthly billing.

The next mix-up is treating the monthly price as the real yearly cost without doing the math. That can make Hulu (No Ads) look close to the annual ad-supported plan at a glance. It’s not close. Paying $18.99 each month pushes the year to $227.88, which is $107.89 more than the annual ad-supported plan.

Then there are bundle shoppers. Hulu’s plans and prices page lays out several bundle options, and all of them bill monthly. If your real target is Disney+ plus Hulu, or Disney+ plus Hulu plus ESPN, your “per year” number is just monthly math, not a prepaid annual deal.

One payment is not the same as lower total cost

People often treat annual billing as the cheaper choice by default. That only works when you would have kept the plan for all 12 months anyway. If you cancel Hulu for part of the year, monthly billing can win even when the monthly sticker looks worse.

Say you only care about one show each spring and one movie run in December. In that case, paying month by month could cost less than locking in $119.99 upfront. The annual plan saves money only when Hulu stays in steady use.

Which Hulu plan makes sense for your watching style

Price is only part of the call. The better question is what kind of Hulu user you are. The cheapest sticker is not always the cheapest fit.

  • Pick annual Hulu (With Ads) if Hulu is a steady habit and you want the lowest year-long cost.
  • Pick monthly Hulu (With Ads) if you like the low entry point but may pause during slow months.
  • Pick Hulu (No Ads) if ad breaks bug you enough to pay almost double the annual ad-supported rate.
  • Pick a bundle if you already watch Disney+ or ESPN and would pay for those anyway.
  • Pick Hulu + Live TV only if you want live channels, sports, and cable-style access in one bill.

Bundles can look steep until you compare them with paying for each service one by one. Hulu’s official Disney+ and Hulu bundle page shows that the duo with ads is $12.99 per month and the ad-free duo is $19.99 per month. If both apps are already part of your week, that math can beat two separate bills.

If you want… Plan that fits 12-month spend
The lowest Hulu total Hulu (With Ads) annual $119.99
No ads in the main library Hulu (No Ads) $227.88
Disney+ and Hulu together Duo with ads or duo ad-free $155.88 to $239.88
Live channels plus on-demand Hulu + Live TV From $1,079.88

Costs that can push the yearly total higher

The price you see in a headline is the base plan. Your own total can climb once real-life choices kick in.

Extras do not roll into the annual deal

If you choose annual Hulu (With Ads), extras still bill monthly. That means your card can still see monthly charges even after you prepaid the base plan. People sometimes read the yearly plan as “one charge and done.” That is only true if you keep the plan bare.

Third-party billing can change your options

If your Hulu account is billed through another company, plan changes can get messy. Hulu’s account pages say some switches depend on who handles your billing. That can affect how you move into or out of annual Hulu, bundles, or Live TV.

Taxes and renewals are easy to miss

The list prices above are the clean headline figures. Your card statement may land a bit higher once tax is added where you live. Also, annual Hulu renews on its own unless you cancel before the renewal date. That is handy when you love the service. It stings when you forgot the date.

The cleaner way to judge Hulu’s yearly cost

If your target is the lowest possible yearly number for Hulu itself, the answer is plain: $119.99 for Hulu (With Ads) annual. If your target is ad-free viewing, live channels, or a Disney bundle, you need to stop hunting for one magic yearly rate and start doing plan-by-plan math.

That small shift makes the pricing page much easier to read. Instead of asking one broad question, ask which Hulu setup you will still want 12 months from now. Once you frame it that way, the right price usually shows up fast.

References & Sources

  • Hulu Help Center.“Paying for Hulu annually.”States that annual billing is only offered for Hulu (With Ads), explains renewal timing, and notes that refunds are not issued after cancellation.
  • Hulu Help Center.“Hulu plans and prices.”Lists current monthly prices for standalone Hulu, bundle plans, and Hulu + Live TV options used in the yearly math.
  • Hulu.“Disney+ Hulu Bundle.”Shows the current duo bundle pricing used in the annual cost comparison.