Netflix has quietly increased its prices for UK subscribers today, with costs rising across all tiers – including the ad-supported plan, which is seeing its first-ever price hike in the UK.
The changes, which are already live on Netflix’s website, affect new subscribers immediately.
As for existing subscribers, Netflix confirmed to us that they will see the increases roll out to their accounts according to their billing date.
A Not-So-Surprising Move
If you’ve been following our coverage, this price hike won’t come as much of a shock. Just two weeks ago, Netflix announced significant price increases in the US, with some plans jumping by as much as $2.50/month.
As we predicted then, UK prices have now followed suit – continuing Netflix’s typical pattern of rolling out increases in the US first, before expanding them to other territories.
This latest round of increases comes despite Netflix celebrating its biggest-ever quarterly increase in subscribers – 18.9 million new sign-ups in Q4 2024.
However, the streaming giant has consistently justified price hikes as necessary to “invest in programming and deliver more value” for members.
Breaking Down The New Prices
Netflix offers three separate tiers, each with its own limitations and video quality.
Here’s what they look like after today’s pricing changes:
Standard with Ads
- Old price: £4.99/month
- New price: £5.99/month (£1 increase)
- Features: Full HD streaming, two devices at once, most content (with some exclusions), downloads on one device, and several minutes of adverts per hour
Standard
- Old price: £10.99/month
- New price: £12.99/month (£2 increase)
- Features: Full HD streaming, two devices at once, no adverts, downloads on two devices, full content library
Premium
- Old price: £17.99/month
- New price: £18.99/month (£1 increase)
- Features: Ultra HD (4K) and HDR, four devices at once, no adverts, downloads on six devices, spatial audio, full content library
If you’re a new subscriber signing up today, you’ll need to pay the new prices right away.
For existing Netflix subscribers, you won’t see these price increases straight away – instead, the timing will depend on your specific monthly billing cycle.
For example, if your Netflix subscription renews on the 15th of each month, you’ll continue paying your current price until the 15th, at which point your bill will reflect the new rates.
However, Netflix typically notifies affected members at least 30 days before the change takes effect for their account, so the actual rollout for existing subscribers will likely begin next month (we reached out to Netflix for clarification on this).
Changes to Extra Member Options
Netflix has also revamped its Extra Member feature, which allows subscribers to share their account with people outside their household (also known as their password-sharing crackdown…)
The service now offers two pricing tiers for extra members:
- Extra Member with Ads: £4.99/month (new option)
- Extra Member without Ads: £5.99/month (£1 increase from previous £4.99)
Premium subscribers can add up to two extra members, while Standard plan subscribers can add one.
This new ad-supported option for extra members marks Netflix’s continued push toward its ad-supported tiers, which have become quite popular (now accounting for over 55% of new sign-ups in countries where it’s available).
A History of Netflix Price Hikes
As with other streaming services, Netflix tends to increase its price annually – though not necessarily for all the tiers.
The last major change in the UK came in October 2023, when Netflix raised its Premium tier by £2 to £17.99/month.
This came after significant changes to the Basic, ad-free tier, which began in July 2023 when Netflix stopped offering it to new subscribers in the UK.
Even existing Basic subscribers weren’t spared for long – in October 2023, their monthly fee increased from £6.99 to £7.99. Then came the final blow – in January 2024, Netflix announced they were retiring the Basic plan completely.
This meant viewers had to choose: either embrace adverts with the cheaper Standard with Ads plan (£4.99/month), or pay more for the ad-free Standard plan (£10.99/month).
Impact on TV Bundle Subscribers
For now, customers who receive Netflix through providers like Sky, EE TV, or Virgin Media haven’t seen any changes to their bundle pricing.
However, given Netflix’s history, these providers may need to adjust their offerings in response to the price increases.
We saw similar adjustments when Netflix retired its Basic tier, leading Sky and EE TV to modify their packages.
Sky moved Basic plan subscribers to the ad-supported tier, while EE TV allowed existing customers to keep their Basic plans until 2026 or their next contract renewal.
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This is getting beyond a joke now. Aside from documentaries, there’s nothing worth watching on Netflix. Paramount is actually the best streaming service for series with the Sheridan-verse and it’s half the price.
I’m going to swallow this one, but this’ll put me up to £26 per month (me and my Mum as an additional). If they increase again, I’m saying goodbye to Netflix and I’ll swap to MAX when it arrives.
When I first signed up with Sky Stream the Standard Netflix was only in 720p, but now it’s in 1080p? When did that happen?
I think they are trying to spin everyone. The hope when introducing an ads tier was to increase membership but leave current members on current tiers. It looks like a large percentage downgraded. At half the cost of standard and less than a third of premium even though subscriptions are up overall revenue has actually dropped. This is speculation on my part and doesn’t include ad revenue. Something wrong with leaving the gap between ads supported and premium the same but increasing standard away from ads.
Not sure about Standard but Netflix Premium on Sky Stream increases by £2.49 in April