Hulu vs Netflix Comparison - 6 Differences

Diffen › Entertainment › Video Streaming

Among the online streaming options available today, Netflix and Hulu are two of the most popular, but the focus of their content library is quite different. Netflix offers the widest selection of movies and thousands of older TV shows, while Hulu Plus offers a larger collection of current-season TV shows and a smaller selection of movies. Both services offer ad-supported tiers at $7/month for Netflix and $8/month for Hulu. The cheapest ad-free plan is $15.49/month for Netflix and $15 per month for Hulu. Both services have apps available on a wide variety of devices, including smart TVs and video game consoles like the Xbox.

Comparison chart

Hulu versus Netflix comparison chart
	Hulu	Netflix
	current rating is 3.09/5 1 2 3 4 5 (1089 ratings)	current rating is 3.94/5 1 2 3 4 5 (1088 ratings)
Website	www.hulu.com	www.netflix.com
Products	Video on demand; primarily TV shows, including current season shows.	Video streaming on demand, online DVD and Blu-ray disc rental.
Price	Hulu Plus is $7.99 per month or $11.99 per month without ads; basic service is 5.99 but not all shows are available with the basic service and it does not work on smartphones and tablets.	Monthly: $8 to stream on 1 screen at a time in standard definition; $9 for streaming on 2 screens simultaneously in HD; $12 to stream on 4 screens simultaneously. Additional $8/month for DVD-by-mail service and an extra $2/month for Blu-ray discs.
Library size	Around 1,650 shows and 2,500 movies	About 100,000 movies and TV shows
Ads	Yes, even with Hulu Plus, but now there is an option where you can pay $11.99/mo for no ads.	No
Subscribers	About 3 million Hulu Plus subscribers (2012); Unknown number of free content viewers.	About 30 million subscribers, plus 7.75 million internationally (Jun 2013)
Video quality	288p, 360p, 480p and sometimes 720p HD.	Tier 1: DVD Quality (1.5Mbit/s connection needed), Tier 2 (Better than DVD Quality 3Mbit/s needed) Tier 3: 720p (5Mbit/s needed). Tier 4: 1080p HD has been introduced.
When TV shows are available	Typically within a day of airing.	Not until the next season of a show begins
Audio quality	Stereo sound	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original series	Yes: 4 already, 3 upcoming	Yes, including House of Cards and Arrested Development and Orange is The New Black
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Los Gatos, California, US
Advertising	Proprietary. Streaming video with complementary banners. Interrupts streaming video service, modeled after broadcast television.	None
Founded	2007	1997
Revenue	$695 million (2012)	US$3.6 billion (FY 2012)
Anime	Many titles; mostly subbed.	Few anime titles; mostly dubbed.
New Uploads	Current season TV shows are generally available; availability of new movies is slow.	Current season TV series episodes are generally not available. Availability of new movies is slow.
Availability	U.S.A. & Japan	North America, South America, United Kingdom & Ireland
Stock ticker	None (private)	NFLX

Content Library

TV Shows vs. Movies

Hulu offers some movies but is primarily known for TV shows, including related clips, trailers and interviews. The service is unique in that it is able to release episodes quickly, often within a day of the original airing, and features shows from networks including NBC, ABC, Fox, ION Television, USA Network, Brave, Syfy, E!, A&E, and Oxygen. Hulu has created over a dozen original series, such as A Day in the Life, Battleground, Spoilers and Up to Speed, and has scheduled several more for production in 2015 and 2016.

A January 2014 article on Forbes stated that

“Hulu Plus carries current season episodes for 5 of the top 6 US broadcast networks, which is something that Netflix is only able to do for a select few shows in international markets,” [Morgan Stanley lead analyst Scott] Devitt says, noting that parent companies ABC, NBC and Fox have made huge amounts of their content available on Hulu, which currently boasts a TV catalog of 86,000 episodes from 2,900 TV series. In other words: Netflix may be great for binge watchers, but cord-cutters looking for next-day viewing of their favorite shows are likelier to go to Hulu Plus.

The advantage of Netflix is in the depth of its library, which features more TV shows and films, especially for children, than Hulu. However, Hulu often has current episodes of popular TV programs within a day or two of their initial broadcast, while Netflix may not have episodes for up to a year or longer, depending on the deals Netflix is able to make with media production companies. Netflix launched its own original and exclusive programming to help combat this, reviving shows like Arrested Development and introducing other shows like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, all of which have been more successful than Hulu's original series.

Size

Hulu has not stated the size of its library, but it is estimated that it has more than 43,000 TV episodes from 1,650 shows, and over 2,500 films.

Netflix has over 100,000 titles in its library. This counts individual episodes of TV shows. Netflix does not publicize the size of its content library because, the company says, it changes as title availabilities expire or new ones become available.

Foreign

Hulu offers some international TV shows, typically from the UK and Canada. It also has Korean drama like Boys Before Flowers.

Netflix does offer a variety of foreign films and foreign TV series. Some of the most popular are the Norwegian drama Lilyhammer and the acclaimed British shows Downton Abbey and Being Human.

Device Compatibility

The Hulu website is incompatible with Apple products, such as iPads, because it uses Flash. However, Hulu Plus members can use watch on many platforms, including Apple TV, iPad, Blu-ray players, TiVo, iOS and Android smartphones, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. A Hulu Plus app is available on iTunes for Apple users and bypasses the website's use of Flash (favoring instead HTML5 video, which is compatible).

Netflix apps are also available on all these platforms and others, such as Roku, Windows phone, and Google's Chromecast.

See here for devices supported by Hulu and here for devices supported by Netflix (Super HD).

Closed Caption Availability

As of November 2014, nearly all of the content on Netflix has subtitles. The company aims to reach 100% by the first quarter of 2015.

Closed captioning is also available for most of Hulu's TV show content, especially all the recent- and current-season episodes.

Where Offered

Hulu is only available in the US and in Japan.

Netflix is available in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and most Western European countries (excluding Iceland), a total of 41 countries. However, not all the content is available for viewing in every country, as restrictions vary depending on the region.

Popularity

As of June 2014, Hulu Plus has about 8.5 million subscribers and Netflix has over 50 million subscribers worldwide. In November 2014, it was confirmed that Netflix will be available in Australia and New Zealand in March 2015.

Price

Hulu with ads costs $7.99/month (or $79.99/year) and gives you access to their ad-supported streaming library. Students pricing is $1.99/month for Hulu's ad-supported plan. The Hulu (No Ads) plan is $14.99/month, but excludes a few shows that are only available on the ad-supported tier. Hulu is also available as part of the following bundles:

Disney Bundle Duo Basic: $9.99/month, includes Disney+ (with ads) and Hulu (with ads).
Disney Bundle Trio Basic: $12.99/month, includes Disney+ (with ads), Hulu (with ads), and ESPN+ (with ads).
Disney Bundle Trio Premium: $19.99/month, subscribers get Disney+ (No Ads), Hulu (No Ads), and ESPN+ (with ads).
Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN+ (with ads): $69.99/month.
Hulu (No Ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (No Ads) and ESPN+ (with ads): $82.99/month

All Hulu plans allow two simultaneous streams per account streaming. Unlimited streams can be purchased as an add-on. Hulu's pricing page has details of their current plans and prices.

Netflix plans and pricing info is available here. Netflix offers the following plans:

Standard with ads: $6.99 per month for simultaneous streaming on two screens at a time, and in full HD (1080p). Downloads for offline viewing are not supported.
Standard: $15.49 per month for ad-free simultaneous streaming on two screens at a time, and in full HD (1080p). Downloads for offline viewing are supported on up to 2 devices. Option to add 1 extra member who does not live with you.
Premium: $19.99 per month for ad-free simultaneous streaming on 4 screens at a time, and in Ultra HD (4K). Downloads for offline viewing are supported on up to 6 devices. Option to add 2 extra members who do not live with you. This is the only plan that offers Netflix spatial audio.

How to Choose Between Netflix and Hulu Plus

The bottom line is that for movie fans, Netflix is a better option and if a person likes to stay current on all the latest TV shows, Hulu Plus is a better option. Of course, when comparing with cable, it is cheaper to get both Hulu Plus and Netflix ($16 per month compared with cable TV, which typically runs from $30 - $120 per month).