Netflix starts at $8.99 per month in the US, but getting rid of ads or unlocking 4K pushes the price considerably higher. Here’s what each Netflix plan costs, what you actually get for your money, and which tier makes the most sense.
There are three plans: Standard with ads for $8.99 per month, Standard for $19.99 per month, and Premium for $26.99 per month. Those are the current prices listed on Netflix’s plans and pricing page. Which one makes sense mostly comes down to how much you hate ads, whether you have a 4K TV, and how many people in your household tend to watch Netflix at the same time.
Prices above are for Netflix in the US and don’t include any applicable taxes.
There are only three plans now, and the tradeoffs between them are pretty clear. The bigger question is whether removing ads or adding 4K is worth the jump in price.
At $8.99 per month, Standard with ads is easily the cheapest way to get Netflix.
The catch is obvious. Most movies and shows include commercial breaks, and a small number of titles aren’t available on the ad-supported plan because of licensing restrictions. Netflix marks those titles with a lock icon.
If ads don’t bother you much, this is the easiest plan to recommend on value alone. You’re still getting the core Netflix experience without paying close to $20 a month for it.
Standard costs $19.99 per month and removes the commercials.
That puts it in a slightly odd spot. You’re paying a lot more than the ad-supported tier, but you’re still missing the biggest upgrades that come with Premium.
For some people, that’s fine. If ads ruin the experience for you and you don’t care about 4K, Standard does exactly what you need. If you’re already spending nearly $20 a month, though, Premium becomes much harder to ignore.
Netflix Premium costs $26.99 per month. That’s a lot for one streaming service, but it’s the plan built for people who care about picture quality or regularly have several people watching at once.
It also gives you more room for downloads and extra members than the cheaper tiers.
Whether any of that is worth paying for depends on how you actually watch Netflix. If most of your viewing happens on a phone, laptop, or smaller TV, Premium is probably overkill. On a good 4K HDR television, the upgrade is much easier to justify. Netflix has also expanded its HDR support to include HDR10+, although you’ll still need compatible hardware to see the benefit. Digital Trends has a closer look at Netflix’s HDR10+ requirements.
The prices tell part of the story, but a few of the differences between plans matter more in day-to-day use than others.
Standard and Premium are ad-free for regular movies and TV shows, although live events can still include commercial breaks.
Standard with ads includes commercials before and during many movies and shows. According to Netflix’s explanation of its ad-supported experience, viewers can expect a few short ads per hour, although the exact number and placement can vary.
There’s also a small content caveat. Some movies and shows aren’t available on the ad-supported tier because of licensing restrictions and appear with a lock icon.
For most people, though, the commercials themselves are going to be the bigger consideration.
Netflix allows downloads on all three plans, including Standard with ads.
The ad-supported plan lets you download on two supported devices, but there’s an additional restriction: each device is limited to 15 downloads per calendar month. Netflix’s ad-free plans don’t have that monthly 15-download cap, although individual titles can still have their own download restrictions. You can find the current rules in Netflix’s offline-download documentation.
Standard supports downloads on two devices, while Premium raises that to six.
That’s a notable change from the early days of Netflix’s ad-supported plan, when offline downloads weren’t available at all.
Both Standard plans top out at 1080p Full HD. Premium is required for 4K Ultra HD and HDR streaming.
How much that matters depends on the screen in front of you. On a phone, laptop, or smaller television, 1080p can still look perfectly good. Move up to a large 4K TV with decent HDR performance, and Premium starts to earn its keep.
Premium also includes Netflix Spatial Audio. As with 4K and HDR, though, it’s worth checking whether your setup can actually take advantage of what you’re paying extra for.
Standard with ads and Standard allow two devices to stream at the same time. Premium allows four.
That’s separate from profiles. Netflix supports up to five profiles for people in the same household, but your plan determines how many of those people can actually watch at once.
Netflix accounts are meant for people who live together in one household. Netflix defines a Netflix Household as the collection of devices connected to the internet at the main place where you watch Netflix.
That means someone who lives somewhere else can’t simply keep using your login indefinitely as a free second household. They’ll generally need their own subscription or an extra-member account.
Standard subscribers can buy one extra-member slot. Premium subscribers can buy up to two.
An extra member currently costs:
The extra member gets a separate account, password, and profile, while the primary account holder picks up the bill. Extra members also need to be in the same country where the account owner signed up. Netflix spells out those restrictions in its extra-member rules.
You can’t add an extra member directly to a Standard with ads account. Some third-party billed subscriptions and Netflix bundles may also have different eligibility rules.
There’s no clever loophole here. The easiest way to spend less on Netflix is to pay for less Netflix.
Dropping to Standard with ads is the most obvious move. At $8.99 per month, it saves you $11 every month compared with Standard, or $132 over a year.
Premium subscribers should also take a hard look at whether they’re using the features they’re paying for. If nobody watches in 4K and you rarely have several people streaming at once, a cheaper plan may be all you need.
There’s also no reason to treat Netflix like a permanent utility bill. You can cancel when there’s nothing you want to watch and come back when something interesting lands. Netflix also lets eligible accounts pause a membership for one month and extend the pause for up to three months total. Netflix explains the pause and cancellation options here.
It’s also worth checking whether your mobile carrier, internet provider, or another service you already pay for includes Netflix in a bundle. Those offers change regularly, but an included subscription can obviously beat paying Netflix directly.
And if you were wondering about the old DVD option, that’s gone. Netflix shut down its disc rental business in 2023.
Netflix increased the price of all three US plans on March 26, 2026.
Extra-member pricing also increased.
Prices can change, so it’s worth checking the current rate before changing plans or signing up again after a break.
Standard with ads is Netflix’s cheapest US plan at $8.99 per month.
Premium is the only Netflix plan that supports 4K Ultra HD and HDR. It currently costs $26.99 per month.
You’ll also need compatible hardware, a sufficiently fast connection, and a title available in 4K to actually see the benefit.
Standard with ads and Standard support two simultaneous streams. Premium supports four.
Netflix accounts can have up to five profiles, but profiles and simultaneous streams aren’t the same thing.
Netflix says an account shouldn’t be shared outside the account owner’s household. Standard and Premium subscribers can instead add eligible extra members who get their own account and password.
In the US, an extra member currently costs $7.99 per month with ads or $9.99 per month without ads.
The primary account holder pays the fee.
Yes. Netflix’s Standard with ads plan supports downloads on two compatible devices, with a limit of 15 downloads per device each calendar month.
No. Netflix currently says it doesn’t offer free trials. You can change plans or cancel your subscription at any time.
Eligible Netflix accounts can pause a subscription for one month and extend the pause for up to three months total.
For most people trying to keep their streaming bill under control, Standard with ads is the easiest plan to recommend. Standard makes sense if ads are a deal-breaker, while Premium is really for people who have the setup or household to take advantage of its extras.
There’s no universally “best” Netflix plan anymore. There’s just the cheapest one you can live with.
Once you’ve picked a plan, Digital Trends keeps an updated guide to the best movies on Netflix if you’d rather spend your time watching than scrolling through the homepage.
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