Hulu's price hike is coming — here's how to avoid it and save

Soon, Hulu will be quoting Fat Joe, shouting "yesterday's price is not today's price." Yes, on Monday (October 10) Hulu's price rises up by $1 per month to $7.99, and up $2 per month on the ad-free tier, to $14.99. But there is a way to avoid it. 

But first, the context. This news broke in August, at the same time Disney announced a Disney Plus price hike (which will happen in December), alongside the debut of Disney Plus Basic, the ad-supported tier that will keep the current $7.99 per month price.

None of this is great, but if you want to keep the current price for Hulu (or Disney Plus too), you have options. Hulu's 12-month annual option is still at the nice price of $69 (16% off of paying for it for all 12 months like a sucker). That's the ad-supported Hulu (there is no annual price for ad-free Hulu). Of course, this has you locked into paying for a whole year up front, with no way to get out if you get tired.

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12 months of Hulu: $83.88 $69.99
While the annual Hulu deal saves you around $14 now, that's changing soon. A year of Hulu at its upcoming $7.99 price will cost $79 (annually) or $96 (monthly) starting October 10. Get your subscription now to save. 

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So, if you buy that annual deal now, you stave off the price bump for another year. You can choose to see that as saving $25.89 against the new monthly price for a whole year, or saving $10 because the 12-month Hulu offer goes up to $79 with the monthly price hike.

You can save even more with the Disney Bundle

If you like Disney Plus, though, you can do what I did, and lock yourself into the Disney Bundle discount. Currently $13.99 per month before the price hike, and $14.99 per month once everything's said and done (Disney Plus goes up to $10.99, a $3 bump, in December). This also nets you ESPN Plus, if you care about that service (I do not). 

This bundle gives you ad-free Disney Plus (soon to cost $10.99 per month), Hulu with ads ($7.99 per month as of Monday) and ESPN Plus ($9.99), which totals to $28.97, for a little over half that. 

You even save if you ignore ESPN Plus. The $14.99 price is around four bucks less than the cost of Hulu (ads) and Disney Plus (no ads) combined.

Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus price hikes at a glance

Regular old Hulu with ads got the smallest price hike of the group, making Disney Plus and ESPN Plus $3 price hikes look even worse.