Quick answer: Whether you need both Netflix and Hulu depends on whether they serve different roles in your household, not just whether you can afford both. After Netflix’s March 2026 price increase, keeping Netflix Standard ($19.99) and Hulu No Ads ($18.99) costs $38.98/month, or about $468 a year. Keeping both makes sense when they serve two clearly different routines. Otherwise, pick the one you open first, run a 30-day rotation on the other, and let your behavior decide.
Few people deliberately picked Netflix and Hulu as a pair. One came first. The other got added for a show, a season, or a promo. Then both stayed.
This is rarely a quality problem. It’s usually a duplication problem. Two apps doing the same job: being your default “I don’t want to think” button. After the March 2026 Netflix price increase, that duplication costs more than it used to.
Step 1: Look at the combined total (not each price)
Netflix US plans (April 2026): Standard with Ads $8.99, Standard $19.99, Premium $26.99, according to Netflix’s official Plans and Pricing page. The price increase took effect on March 26, 2026, as Reuters reported.
Hulu US plans (April 2026): Hulu (With Ads) $11.99 and Hulu (No Ads) $18.99, according to Hulu’s official pages for Hulu plans and Hulu Premium.
Here are three setups that make the combined cost easier to see.
| Common setup | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix (Standard) + Hulu (No Ads) | $38.98 | $467.76 |
| Netflix (Standard with Ads) + Hulu (With Ads) | $20.98 | $251.76 |
| Netflix (Premium) + Hulu (No Ads) | $45.98 | $551.76 |
Taxes and promos can change your exact bill. The point is the same: once you see the combined total, “keeping both” stops feeling small. After the 2026 price hike, the lower-tier combo crossed $250 a year and the higher-tier combo crossed $550.
If Netflix is the one you are unsure about, start here: Is Netflix Still Worth It After the 2026 Price Hike?
What “duplication” actually means here
Two streaming apps don’t duplicate each other because their libraries overlap. They duplicate each other because they fill the same role in your day.
Three roles tend to absorb a default streaming subscription:
- The comfort scroll: the app you open when you don’t want to choose. You’re not looking for anything specific. You just want something on.
- The background app: the show you half-watch while doing something else. Folding laundry, eating dinner, scrolling your phone.
- The end-of-day default: the app you tap before sleep, almost out of habit, regardless of what’s actually queued up.
If Netflix and Hulu both fill any one of these roles, they’re not adding choice. They’re charging you twice for the same convenience. The duplication isn’t in the catalog. It’s in the muscle memory.
Step 2: Three tests before you keep both
Test 1: The first open test
In the last two weeks, when you wanted something easy, which app did you open first?
If one wins clearly, the other isn’t a real choice anymore. It’s a backup that quietly costs $200+ per year.
Test 2: The waiting-for test
Name one title you’re actively waiting for on each service. Not “maybe someday.” Something you’ll watch this month.
If one side is blank, that subscription is running on inertia. A service without a single title pulling you back has stopped earning its place in the rotation.
Test 3: The replacement test
If Hulu disappeared tomorrow, what would you do?
- If your answer is “I’d just watch Netflix,” that’s overlap.
- If your answer is “I’d miss a specific routine,” that’s a real role.
The same test works in reverse. If Netflix disappeared and your honest answer is “I’d just watch Hulu,” Netflix is the one running on default, not Hulu.
When keeping both still makes sense
Some households genuinely use both. The point of this audit isn’t to push you toward canceling. It’s to make sure each subscription earns its place.
Keeping both can make sense when:
- You watch genuinely different things on each. Hulu for next-day network shows and FX, Netflix for limited series and originals. Two different rhythms, not one default repeated twice.
- Different household members use different apps. One profile lives almost entirely on Hulu, another on Netflix. Canceling one would remove someone’s actual viewing, not just a backup.
- You’re already in a Disney+ bundle. If Hulu is part of a bundle you’d keep anyway, the marginal cost of “having Hulu” is small or zero.
- You rotate intentionally. You actively use one for two months, switch to the other, and don’t pay for both at the same time without a reason.
If none of those apply, one service may be earning its place while the other is running on default.
Quick bundle check (this changes the decision)
Before you cancel anything, check how you’re billed.
- If Hulu is part of a Disney+ bundle, you’re not deciding on Hulu alone. You’re deciding on the bundle structure and price.
- The Disney+, Hulu Bundle (With Ads) starts at $12.99/month, which is only $1 more than standalone Hulu (With Ads). If you would otherwise pay for Disney+ separately, the bundle can be the cheaper path.
Hulu’s app situation is also changing in 2026, with Disney moving Hulu further into Disney+, so don’t treat Hulu as a standalone-only decision if you already pay for Disney+. If you’re weighing Hulu’s role in your stack, see Hulu and Disney+ in One App: Cancel, Bundle, or Wait? before making a long-term decision.
The simplest decision method: run a clean 30-day rotation
If you feel stuck, don’t force a permanent answer. Run an experiment that makes the answer obvious.
- Keep the service you actually opened first.
- Cancel or pause the other for 30 days.
- Only restart it for one specific reason (a specific show or a specific month).
- If you don’t restart it, you just removed duplication.
This turns “Do I need both?” into a cleaner yes or no based on your real behavior, not your guess about your behavior. Those two answers can be very different.
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Bottom line
Keeping both Netflix and Hulu is reasonable when they serve two clearly different routines in your household. If they both function as your default “something to watch,” you may be paying twice for the same convenience, and the 2026 price hike made that duplication more expensive than before.
The cleaner question isn’t whether you can keep both. It’s whether each one is still earning its line on your bill.