As frustrated streaming viewers continue to bristle at seemingly ever-rising subscription costs, Disney is reportedly toying around with the idea of a free tier for its streaming service, Disney Plus.
Adam Smith, chief product and technology officer at Disney Plus, revealed the company’s potential plans to develop a free streaming tier during a Disney town hall in early July.
Business Insider reports the idea to offer Disney Plus for free in some capacity is part of an ongoing effort at Disney to “better serve fans,” as well as a way to compete against similar, successful free streaming providers such as YouTube, Roku, and Tubi.
So far there is no set timeline on when a free Disney Plus membership might be implemented, if at all, or exactly which Disney Plus content such a tier might include.
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When it was first launched in 2019, Disney Plus cost a mere $6.99 per month — not too shabby for 24/7 access to Disney magic and childhood nostalgia at home, right? Since then, however, the streamer’s price has risen steadily and considerably.
As of July 2026, a standalone basic Disney Plus plan costs $11.99 with ads and a whopping $18.99 without ads. Bundle deals, including with services such as HBO Max and Hulu, come with their own prices — that is, until Disney fully integrates Hulu into the Disney Plus app by the end of the year. (Right now the Disney Plus Premium and Hulu Premium bundle costs $19.99.)
It’s unclear if a free Disney Plus plan would be a limited-time-only thing for unpaid users, but it’s more likely such a plan would be sustained by ads. (A lot of ads, probably. After all, there’s already an ad-supported basic plan, and it ain’t cheap either.)
Like many other major mainstream streaming services, Disney Plus does not currently offer prospective users a free trial to test out its streaming service content.
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