Reduce how much you pay for your Netflix subscription
It’s one of, if not the best film and TV streaming services with a great range of shows to watch. It’s also one of the cheapest – if you choose the most basic tier.
Though it’s rare to find deals to save money on your Netflix subscription, it is possible to pay less. Here are a few ways to save.
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Netflix prices
Here are the different levels of Netflix you can get. Netflix prices range from £4.99 to £17.99 a month.
The big difference between each one is how many streams you can watch simultaneously on different devices and the picture quality.
The cheapest option at £4.99 a month is Standard with Ads. As the name suggests, it has commercials playing at points in the programmes you watch. You also can’t download to watch offline and some shows are missing due to rights issues.
The others are ad-free and have the full library available. For most people, the Extra Member or Standard tier should suffice.
| Tier | Price | Number of streams | Picture quality | Notes |
| Standard with Ads | £4.99 | 2 | HD (1080p) | |
| Basic* | £7.99 | 1 | HD (720p) | No longer available for new customers or those changing plans |
| Standard | £10.99 | 2 | HD (1080p) | |
| Premium | £17.99 | 4 | 4K | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| Extra Member | £4.99 per member | 1 | Either HD or 4K (depends if added to a Standard or Premium account) | Requires a Standard or Premium subscription |
Netflix price increase 2023
On 18 October 2023, Netflix increased prices on the Basic (by £1 a month) and Premium (by £2 a month) packages. Prices for Standard and Standard with Adverts remained the same. You can read more about the increases here, and see the current prices in the next section of this article.
Netflix Basic only for existing subscribers
As of 19 July 2023, you can only get the £7.99 Basic plan if you’re already paying for it. New subscribers or anyone changing their plan will be unable to get it. It’ll gradually be phased out in 2024 and customers will have to choose between the cheaper option with adverts or a pricier level. Here’s our full analysis of what this means for how much you pay.
Netflix password crackdown & Extra members
Since 23 May 2023 it’s no longer possible to share your Netflix account outside your household, and there will be a £4.99 additional charge each month to add an “extra member”. We’ve written a full analysis of how it’ll work and whether it’s worth it here.
Netflix deals
Free with EE
Selected EE contracts will give you Netflix Basic every month for free as part of your tariff. Of course, it might be cheaper to get a lower cost SIM with a different network and pay for Netflix separately.
One month free via Sky Stream (expired)
Sky Stream is a box you plug into your TV and broadband to access Sky channels without needing a satellite dish. The core package comes with Netflix and Sky Entertainment included, and you can try it free for one month.
You need to be a new Sky TV customer, and can’t have had a Sky free trial in the last 12 months. However you can be an existing Netflix user, and you can link an existing Netflix account. This will move the payment over to the Sky bill.
The Netflix tier included is the £4.99 “Standard with Ads” package.
It’s a rolling 31-day contract, so you can cancel at any time. If you don’t do this it’ll be £31 a month. That’s more than getting Netflix and Sky channels via NOW separately – so it’s unlikely to give the best value. However, you will also get access to Freeview channels, which is handy if you don’t have an aerial.
If you cancel you’ll also have to return the Sky Puck device. This ends on 31 March 2024.
Netflix and NOW TV for £15/m (expired)
If you have BT broadband (or sign up for it), you can add on a BT TV package that includes Netflix and NOW at a reduced price. For £12 a month for 24 months you will get:
- Netflix Basic (£7.99 a month)
- NOW Entertainment ( £9.99 a month)
interestingly it’s still Netflix Basic that comes with this package, even though that’s no longer available going direct to Netflix.
However if you want HD Netflix you’ll have to pay extra – and it’s not clear how much more this is. The difference in price between the two packages when paid direct is £4.99 a month, so expect the cost to be the same.
Similarly if you want HD and no adverts on your NOW pass that’s another £6 a month. And it’s often possible to get cheaper NOW packages direct with NOW – that might not be the case if you pay via your BT bill.
You’ll also need to factor in if you can get broadband for less elsewhere, and that you’ll be tied in for two years. Oh, and prices will likely go up in spring 2024!
£100 gift card for £90 (expired)
This offer is over on Amazon and will save you 10%. You’ll get a physical £100 gift card for £90. It’ll come in the post.
I don’t think this is just for Prime customers, but if it is, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here.
Watch Netflix for free (expired)
Sadly Netflix stopped the free trial in the UK in late 2019, though there are occasional offers.
It also briefly had a page with a limited selection of content you could watch without an account, though this comes and goes.
At launch it included:
Films
- Murder Mystery
- The Two Popes
- Birdbox
TV (1st episodes only)
- Stranger Things
- Grace & Frankie
- Our Planet
- Love is Blind
- When They See Us
- Boss Baby Back in Business
- Elite
50% off your first two months (expired)
This offer has ended, but it’s worth checking to see if it returns. It could be you see an offer when others don’t!
New users can save 50% when they first sign up to Netflix. After the first two months at this discounted price you’ll pay the full price for the level you’ve chosen.
It’s possible you’ll see a different offer, such as buy one month, get a second free. It works out you’ll pay the same amount overall, but do let me know what you see.
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Netflix money saving hacks
Use our best buy tables to get the best rate on your savings.
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Switch your subscription level
There are three levels of Netflix. The Standard with Adverts package costs £4.99, but you’ll get adverts and can’t download.
The next level is £10.99 a month and you’ll get HD and be able to watch on two devices at the same time.
The premium package is £17.99. For this you get 4K quality (if the content you want to watch is actually available with that version) and you can stream or download to four devices at the same time.
Personally I think most people will be happy with the Standard options and very few people will get the full benefit of the top tier. Switch and you could save yourself £7 a month.
Add an Extra Member
Sadly you can no longer share your subscription outside your household – unless you pay an additional charge through something called “extra members”.
This is £4.99 on top of the main fee, and you can only add one extra member to the Standard tier and two to the Premium tier.
So the total costs would be:
- Standard + One extra member: £15.98 a month
- Premium + One extra member: £22.98 a month
- Premium + Two extra members: £27.97 a month
Of course, there could still be savings if you split these, but it’ll cost more.
If you do split this then make sure you’re clear with friends and family who is paying what and how they’ll pay the main account holder.
Should you share your Netflix password?
When you can and when you can’t share streaming services with other people
Change how you pay
Pay direct to Netflix
There is an option to bundle Netflix with Sky, BT TV, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. On the whole I’d avoid this. Here’s more on the best ways to pay for Netflix.
Pay with a cashback credit card
You can use a cashback credit card to earn money back on your subscription. We’re not talking huge amounts here, but even the 1% from Chase will add up.
Discounted Netflix gift cards
It’s rare to spot these, but if I do I’ll share them in the deals section of this page.
A work around might be to buy a discounted gift card for a different retailer such as Amazon or Tesco. Technically it’s not always allowed, but you might be able to then use that gift card to buy a Netflix one.
Try a different streaming service
Netflix is great, but there are other options with plenty of content – and plenty of deals. So pause your subscription for a month or two and try out free trials from the likes of Amazon Prime Video and Disney + or get dirt cheap passes for Sky channels via NOW TV. Here’s my guide to the latest offers.
Sadly I am no longer on my daughters subscription (I don’t live in the same house hold. Like a lot of elderly we can not afford the Netflix fee. Could they not do a reduced rate for over seventy’s?
Hi am on £15.99 amonth now I can’t share I would like to change it to 2 how do I do this is there a number I can call and you can do it please asap
Thankyou
Why do you not mention doing it via Turkey? I am currently paying 93.99 TL so just under £5 a month for the premium package and I’ve had it going now for many years now. I just buy 200 TL gift cards and buy 400 TL – 600 TL every 6 months or so and currently have just over 1100 TL on my account that’s got it covered until the end of February 2024.
Been trying to set it up Disney via Turkey but it’s not playing nice and ended up on your site. Was already aware of your site as I’m subscribed to your YouTube channel.
This sounds good to me but not sure how to go about setting this up.
Four years ago I took out a free month offer with prime then cancelled it before the offer ended, just recently i happened to look at a bank statement and was horrified to see they were still taking payments from my card, so even though we cancelled they still took around £400 from us. I Immediately cancelled again, but this time cancelled my credit card with them, but for two further months they sent reminders that they were unable to take the rental payments. Just wondered how often they get away with this.
That happened to me with Kindle unlimited. On the app on my phone it showed as a subscription and you could see payment that had been made over the last few months, however they wouldn’t allow me to stop the subscription on my phone. When I went online into my account it was telling me I didn’t have any subscriptions or made any payments. So was unable to cancel anything online. Had to delete my credit card info..! Absolutely fuming only found out by chance looking at my bank statement..!
If you can show a confirmation email from Prime that it was cancelled prior to them continuing to take monthly payments from your account you can get that money refunded. You can also get a refund on the basis that you did not use their service after a certain date. They have this information stored. I got a refund twice from prime as I only used them once in each month for a delivery but not for any other service but I forgot to cancel. Once they saw this they refunded one month and the next time they refunded 4 or 5 months! It is worth trying you have nothing to lose.
Im with uw for my Utilities deal, but they also have a cashback card I am just link this is it payment for Netflix so now I get 1% cashback on a 5.99 deal, I will be looking at my other payments I’ll see if I can swap them onto the UW cashback card
I find I get offered a free month every 12 months or so (since 2013) so I always wait for my free month which I find is enough time to watch the relatively few things that appeal to me.
Hi Mel, yes I used to do this and binge everything in just a month! Then do the same with Amazon, and then again with NOW TV.
I have managed since October 2016 to wangle three free Netflix trials.On each occasion this has enabled me to see with in the month all that appeals to me from their offering -in my case not an enormous amount