Hulu Review: Strong Library of Network TV and Exciting Originals for a Low Price

8.0/ 10
SCORE

Hulu

$8 at Hulu

Pros

• Low monthly fee for base plan
• New shows available soon after they air
• Excellent selection of familiar TV
• Strong slate of original programs

Cons

• Fewer original series than Netflix and Prime
• Ad-free experience isn't as good a value
• Layout and menus can be confusing

Hulu built its reputation as a go-to streamer for watching your favorite network TV programs, including shows from ABC, Fox and FX, which premiere on Hulu 24 hours after they air on their network. Yet over the years, the Disney-owned service has evolved, introducing an impressive catalog of original series, documentaries and movies to its extensive library.

Though it may not have an international reach like Netflix or Disney Plus, Hulu has proved its worth with a stellar lineup of TV hits and movie titles that steadily appeal to its more than 45 million US subscribers. And thanks to the recently launched Hulu on Disney Plus experience and the upcoming bundle featuring Hulu, Disney Plus and Max, more people can discover the variety of programming options on the platform. From reality shows and popular procedurals to sitcoms, docuseries and family-friendly animated series, there's something that'll appeal to viewers of all ages.

Simply put, Hulu is a no-brainer if you want an affordable streaming service and aren’t bothered by sitting through commercial breaks to access quality TV shows and movies.

Netflix has loads more original shows and a cheaper commercial-free option, but right now, Hulu has a slight edge over the streaming service giant: 

• The low $8-per-month cost of its basic plan, which is a tremendous value if you don't mind watching commercials.
• The ability to keep up to date with shows that are currently airing on TV, as opposed to waiting months for the full season to appear.
• The option to add Disney Plus for another $2, the multiple Disney Bundle plans (which also includes ESPN Plus) or the Hulu Plus Live TV package for $77 if you want to fully cut the cord. The Disney Bundle has four price tiers starting at $10, with a plan that includes the ad-supported versions of Disney Plus and Hulu but excludes ESPN Plus.

Hulu has loads of TV and movies

Hulu's library of originals isn't as extensive as Netflix's or Amazon Prime Video's. However, it does have critically acclaimed shows like The Handmaid's Tale, Only Murders in the Building and The Bear. It also has original movies such as Palm Springs, Prey and The Bob's Burgers Movie. The service produced some high-profile documentaries, including Brats, WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn and Summer of Soul. Hulu also carries shows from other networks, including Grown-ish, Schitt's Creek and This Is Us. 

Hulu's real strength is the thousands of TV shows, many of which come to the service the day after they air on live TV on networks like CBS, Fox, Comedy Central and Disney-owned ABC. Hulu has most newer episodes of a given show, including full seasons of popular shows like ABC's Grey's Anatomy, The Good Doctor and Abbott Elementary. That said, some series have only a certain number of seasons or episodes available, rather than full series. For example, you'll find only seasons 1 and 9 of Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars, and there are some missing episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Hulu has a wide collection of movies as well. If you click on the movies tab, genre boxes surface first, including one for New and Upcoming titles. In this section, you're able to watch new trailers or add upcoming content to your watch list. The main movie page enables you to scroll through rows of recommendations that include originals, family-friendly titles and classics. The streamer sometimes gets new releases that other streaming platforms don't, such as Poor Things. 

Is paying for ad-free Hulu worth it?

The answer largely depends on, well, how much you hate ads.

Hulu offers two main on-demand subscription plans: the basic Hulu for $8 and Hulu (No Ads) for $18. The two offer the same catalog of shows and movies -- with the latter, you're just paying nearly twice as much to not see any commercials. We tried watching a few shows on both to get a sense of the difference.

With basic, ad-supported Hulu, the frequency of ads varied quite a bit. In one 21-minute episode of Bob's Burgers, we saw one 45-second ad before the show started, a 90-second commercial break at the beginning and end, and one 75-second commercial break in the middle. But when we watched an hourlong episode of House, there was one 30-second ad at the start, followed by four 90-second ad breaks featured throughout. This was more disruptive but similar to watching the show on regular live TV. 

There's a range of ad runtime during Hulu originals. Before an episode of The Bear, we saw one 30-second ad followed by three 90-second commercial breaks throughout. An episode of Solar Opposites had a 15-second ad break at the beginning, while We Were the Lucky Ones had no ad break at the beginning. Both programs featured three 90-second ad breaks during the episode's runtime.

If you use Hulu frequently -- or if you've really gotten used to Netflix's no-ads model and can't stand watching commercials -- the extra $10 per month may not bother you. But the ad-free cost is no longer less than Netflix's Standard plan, which is now $15.50 per month. There's one advantage in the no-ads plan. It's the only way to download shows to watch offline. Unlike Netflix, you can't download shows to watch later unless you have the upgraded plan.

But if you're just checking out a show or movie here or there on your TV -- especially a shorter comedy -- you can probably spend the extra few minutes watching the ad to save the money. 

Here's the full breakdown of Hulu's pricing:

• Hulu basic costs $8 per month ($80 annually) with ads for the platform's library of on-demand videos. Get Disney Plus with ads in a basic bundle and pay $10 a month for both.
• Hulu (No Ads) runs $18 a month and provides access to the service's library without ads. Choose the Disney Duo Premium Bundle and pay a total of $20 per month for both ad-free services. 
• Hulu with Live TV includes the on-demand library and live streaming of 75-plus channels, and the ad-supported version costs $77 per month. Disney Plus and ESPN Plus are included in your subscription at no extra charge. 
• Hulu (No Ads) with Live TV is $90 monthly and includes the Hulu streaming library, live TV channels, and Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. Note that some content that's not part of Hulu's designated streaming library may still run ads.

Lots of menu options, harder to navigate than Netflix

Hulu's menus on the TV apps give you a lot of ways to find what you want but can be confusing to get around in. Open the app, open your profile (if you've made one) and you'll see a personalized home page with several categories: Home, TV, Movies, News, My Stuff and Hubs. Keep scrolling down the home page and you'll see more categories that differ depending on what the service thinks you'll like, like Bingeable TV, Top 15, Teen Shows, Comic Book Heroes and Villains, and Newly Added TV and Newly Added Movies. Remember that on Hulu's home page, the Continue Watching section does not greet you at the top, but it's placed a few rows down.

Save things you want to watch to your My Stuff folder, which you can access from the home screen. To find a title, browse hubs categories like Hulu Originals or FX on Hulu, click on a network's title (like ABC or Freeform), or just search on the show you're looking for. Though the search function has undergone improvements, it still isn't as tight as Netflix's, so if you search for a specific actor or title, prepare to see results that aren't a 100% match to your search term. To find a channel that's in your personal lineup, navigate to My Stuff -- where you can also add more networks to your rotation. 

The Hulu app is similar across Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick, both in content and layout. It's spread out a bit more on iPhone and Android phone screens for easier navigation but is generally the same. 

When you select a show or movie to watch, you have the option to fast-forward or rewind (except through ads). You can click the settings gear and choose to add subtitles, change your audio settings or video quality, and toggle Autoplay on or off. The content you choose will also show up in your My Stuff section at the top of your homepage for easier access. 

But a word on Autoplay. Sometimes you may be watching a TV show or movie and before it ends, Hulu cuts it off and begins playing the next video. Whether it's a show episode or another film, autoplay can kick in and interrupt the last few minutes of the viewing experience. For this reason, it's worth using one of our Hulu tips and tricks to disable the feature. 

Yay: Profiles and hubs. Boo: Not much 4K (and only a little HDR)

You can add up to six user profiles to your Hulu account to get personalized recommendations and watch lists for different family members or others on a single account. Give shows and movies a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to improve the service's recommendation engine. Hulu also tells you what movies and shows are coming in the next month, and which are expiring, right on its site -- something Netflix does not do. 

While Hulu's search algorithms and layout can sometimes be frustrating, its Hubs tab is an added bonus for those of us who like things organized. Here, it's easy to navigate to channels like Bravo, FX or Cartoon Network, click on the sports section or head straight to streaming collections such as Black Stories, Anime and Hulu Originals. There's also a hub for titles that have Audio Description enabled, which is a feature that provides access for the visually impaired through audio narration. 

Video quality on Hulu goes up to 4K and varies based on what you're watching and what device you use. Quality also differs based on your available bandwidth. If you want to avoid having Hulu eat up all of your data, you can take steps laid out on its website to adjust your data usage settings. 

Hulu's library of 4K Ultra HD content is growing and includes most Hulu Originals but still falls far short of the 4K libraries of Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus. Hulu users can now stream select Hulu Originals in HDR -- including HDR10, HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision on select devices. This is helpful, as we've found that HDR actually delivers a more noticeable picture quality improvement, especially on a good TV, than 4K resolution. 

Should you get Hulu? 

Depending on the plan you choose, Hulu costs between $8 and $18 per month for the streaming service, making it a competitive choice if you're looking to keep up with new shows and find a solid collection of old and new movies. You can save even more money with Disney Bundle. If you're curious about trying the streaming service out, you can start a 30-day free trial.

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