About a year ago, Netflix restructured its $9.99/month ad-free “Basic” plan to a $6.99/month ad-supported “Standard” plan. The change only affected new subscribers, as existing users had to stay on the basic plan. Now, Netflix is finally discontinuing the Basic plan for all customers.
Starting July 13th, Netflix will retire all customers from the ad-free Basic plan. All subscribers must now choose between a Standard ($6.99 with ads or $15.49 ad-free) or Premium ($22.99 ad-free) plan.
The phased rollout starts with customers in Canada and the United Kingdom. There’s no specific date for other markets, but the company’s shareholder letter points to Q2 2024. If you’re on the ad-free Basic plan in the U.S., expect to switch in the coming months. You should get an email about the price change a month before your next billing date.
Netflix is already prompting some Canadian subscribers to choose a new plan when streaming content. The Standard plans cost CAD 5.99 (with ads) and CAD 16.49 (ad-free), while the Premium costs CAD 20.99.
The new subscription prices for all U.K. customers are £4.99 for Standard with ads, £10.99 for ad-free Standard, and £17.99 for Premium.
Netflix says subscription fees increase as the platform adds more product features and content (movies, TV shows, and even Netflix games). However, the company is always looking to make more money, and occasionally hiking subscription prices helps hit revenue targets. Going by precedent, one can expect (incremental) changes to these new plans in a few months.
If you find this forceful price change expensive or unreasonable, check out some Netflix alternatives to stream great content. And if you’re interested, we also have an article on how Netflix works.
