Disney+ vs. Netflix (2024)

Jump to: Side-by-side comparison | Pricing | Movies and shows | Availability and compatible devices|Multiple streams| User interface| Pros and cons | Our verdict |FAQ

Bottom line

Both Disney+ and Netflix are top-tier streaming services, but if you have to choose only one, you should stick with Netflix for now. It costs more, but it also offers a significantly larger content library and a wider variety of movies and TV shows.

Of course, it depends on what you want to watch. If your kids are demanding a Frozen marathon, you’ll need that Disney+ subscription. And Disney+ is still fairly new—it will probably only get better from here.

Free trials

Take your streaming service for a test drive. Disney+ offers a 7-day free trial, and Netflix lets you watch for 30 days before you see a charge.

You do have to give billing information to get the free trial, but if you’re stuck choosing between the two (or if you’re interested in only one particular movie or show), you can check things out for free. Just remember to cancel before the first bill.

Sign up for Disney+

Disney+ offers packages with different bundling options with Hulu and ESPN+. You can also choose between watching with ads or for a few extra dollars more you can watch without ads. This is similar to Netflix which also has tiers of service.

Disney+ Premium is pretty inexpensive, and you get a nice discount if you pay for a full year instead of paying monthly. Prepaying for a full year saves you a little more than a dollar every month, for a total savings of $27.89 over the course of a year.

You can “upgrade” Disney+ (with ads) by bundling it with Hulu and ESPN+ for an additional $7 per month. That’s less than the cost of a Premium Netflix package, and it gives you a much broader range of content than Disney+ alone.

Sign up for Netflix

All Netflix packages have access to the same content library, but paying a little extra per month opens up perks like higher-resolution options and the ability to watch on more screens at the same time.

Some Netflix packages cost less per month than Disney+, and Netflix also gives you a larger library and more variety of content. Netflix lets you jump from true crime documentaries like Abducted in Plain Sight to feel-good reality TV like The Great British Baking Show. Then you can jump to an action-packed drama like The Witcher or a stand-up comedy special like Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millennial.

Original content

If you’re looking for pop culture content, Disney+ has both the Marvel and Starwars universes to pull from for original content. Disney+ also gives you access to classic Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story. Netflix has its own impressive line up with The Witcher, Stranger Things, The Crown, Bridgerton, Youand many more.

Fan favorites

Netflix started its streaming service without original content by licensing movies and shows from other entertainment companies, including Disney. Licensed media accounts for a hefty chunk of the platform’s most popular shows, including The Office and Grey’s Anatomy.

That model was all fine and good when there was limited competition. Now that everyone has jumped into the on-demand video streaming game, things are a little more complicated. For example, Netflix lost the ever-popular Friends at the beginning of 2020 to Max.

Of course, Netflix has always had rotating content. Favorites come and go, with the only constants being Netflix Originals.

Disney+, on the other hand, has the advantage here. The Disney nostalgia is real—not only with the classic animated movies but also with Disney Channel shows like Lizzie McGuire, Pixar movies, and franchises like Marvel and Star Wars.

Disney (and all the other companies it owns) has decades’ worth of content in the vault. And it supposedly won’t have a rotating library like Netflix, outside of having to pull content for pre-existing licensing deals.

Disney content on Netflix

For a short, beautiful time, Disney and Netflix worked together. And the consequences of that brief collaborative effort are still evident. There will still be some Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movies on Netflix through mid-2020.

Netflix and Marvel collab shows like Jessica Jones and Daredevil will stay on Netflix, but there won’t be new episodes since all of them have been cancelled.

Going forward, it’s likely that Disney will keep all its precious content to itself. After the current licensing agreements are up, there probably won’t be many Disney-owned titles on other streaming services.

You want to be able to watch your content anywhere on any of your devices, right? Netflix has a bit of an advantage here, just because it’s been so ubiquitous for so long.

Disney+ is still available on a ton of devices, but it doesn’t have native compatibility on some older devices, like some previous-generation gaming consoles.

Availability

Disney+ is not yet available in most of the world. It is currently available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. It’s slated to launch in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain at the end of March 2020. The content library will vary a little in different countries.

Netflix is available in 190 countries around the world, but the content library varies in different regions.

User profiles

Disney+ lets you set up to seven user profiles, so you don’t have to live in the same recommendation algorithm as your Forky-obsessed little sibling. You get to choose a Disney-character avatar, and there’s a specific “kids” setting for viewers, which filters out content unsuitable for young children.

Netflix allows for up to five total profiles, no matter your subscription level. Probably because it has a wider variety of content and content ratings, Netflix has three levels of filter. You can roll without an age filter for access to all content on the platform. Plus there are “For Kids” and “For Teens” options, which filter out age-inappropriate content.

Parental controls

Beyond making a kids profile on Disney+, there aren’t other parental controls. And the kids profile thing can be easily circumvented by choosing a different profile. Of course, there isn’t a lot of inappropriate content on Disney+—it’s specifically intended to be family-friendly—but there are perhaps some lines from The Simpsons that you don’t want a two-year-old repeating.

Netflix has more robust content filters and parental controls, which is good because it has a lot of not-family-friendly content. Don’t go unintentionally scaring the children with A Nightmare on Elm Street, folks.

You can set each Netflix user profile to automatically filter out content not suitable for kids or teens, and you can lock content that’s above specific maturity ratings with a pin on all profiles.

Our verdict: Netflix is better than Disney+.

While Disney+ has amazing, family-friendly titles and a growing library of original content, Netflix still holds on as the top streaming service. It’s Premium package is a little more expensive, but it’s worth it for the much larger library and better assortment of content.

Sign up for Netflix and get a 30-day free trial

Does Disney+ have R-rated movies?

Disney+ does not (and will not) have R-rated content. The platform is dedicated to keeping its content library family-friendly. All of the movies on Disney+ are rated PG-13 and below, and all TV shows are rated TV-14 and below.

Does Disney+ include Hulu?

Disney+ does not include Hulu, but you can bundle Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ for a discounted price. Bundling the three streaming services together costs $24.99 per month.

How to cancel Netflix?

You can cancel your Netflix subscription at any time from your Account page. If you don’t see that option, you can just cancel the payment with your bank or credit card.

When you cancel Netflix, you can continue to watch until the end of your current billing period. And Netflix keeps your viewing data for 10 months after you close your account, so you can resume your subscription with your algorithm intact if you sign up again within that time.

How to cancel Disney+?

You can cancel Disney+ in a web browser by going to the Billing Details tab from your Account page.

In iPhone settings or through the Google Play Store, you’ll need to navigate to Subscriptions from the main menu, select Disney+, and cancel.

When you cancel, you still have access to Disney+ shows and movies until the end of your billing cycle (or the end of your free trial). After that, Disney+ keeps your account information on file in case you want to come back.