Netflix Just Went Up. Disney+ Is Next. Here's What to Do Before October.

Two of the biggest streaming services your family probably uses just raised their prices within six weeks of each other. Netflix went up on 4 September 2026, and Disney+ Standard with Ads follows on 14 October. If you're like most households — paying for both — that's two hits in one autumn. Here's what the numbers actually say and what to do about it.

What Netflix Now Costs in the UK

According to ISPreview, Netflix's new UK pricing came into effect for new subscribers on 4 September 2026, with existing customers rolling onto it based on their billing date (typically within 30 days of notification):

• Standard with Ads: £7.99/month (up from £5.99 — a £2 increase, or roughly a third more)
• Standard: £13.99/month (up from £12.99)
• Premium: £20.99/month (up from £18.99)

The biggest jump by percentage is on the cheapest plan. If your family chose Standard with Ads specifically because it was the affordable entry point, that £2 bump may not feel huge, but it's proportionally the sharpest increase of the three tiers.

What Disney+ Is Doing in October

According to Cord Busters, Disney+ is raising its Standard with Ads plan from £5.99/month to £6.99/month from 14 October 2026. The 6-month saver version of that plan rises from £4.99/month to £5.99/month on the same date.

Existing subscribers will get at least 28 days' notice before the change hits their account, so depending on when you read this, you may already have received that email — or it's coming soon.

Disney+ has not officially confirmed pricing changes on its Standard or Premium tiers at the time of writing, so we're not including those figures here.

The Overlap Problem

Here's the question worth asking before both of these charges renew: how much does your family actually use each service, and is there overlap?

Think about what you actually watched on Netflix in the past month. Then think about Disney+. For a lot of families right now, the realistic answer is that one of them gets most of the attention while the other sits largely unwatched. Star Wars and Marvel content tend to have quiet spells between releases. Netflix originals drop in waves too. It's rare that both services are actively used at the same level at the same time.

This autumn is a good moment to test that honestly rather than just letting both renew on autopilot.

A Simple Approach: Watch One, Pause the Other

If you can't imagine cancelling either for good, consider staggering them. Watch Disney+ through October — it's raising prices, so get your value before that lands if you're mid-billing-cycle, then assess. Keep Netflix going if the content is genuinely being watched. Then swap in a few months when a new season you want drops on the other.

SubManager's renewal alerts can remind you 14 days before either subscription bills again, giving you a clear window to pause or cancel rather than missing the moment.

What to Do Right Now

Step 1: Check which plan you're actually on.
Netflix's Standard with Ads increase is the sharpest (33% in percentage terms). If you're on that plan, you've already been notified. Log in to your Netflix account settings and confirm your current plan and billing date.

Step 2: Check your Disney+ billing date.
If it falls after 14 October and you're on Standard with Ads or the 6-month saver, the increase will apply at your next renewal. Disney+ is required to give you 28 days' notice, so look out for that email in your inbox now.

Step 3: Decide whether you need both right now.
There's no rule that says you must maintain both indefinitely. Cancelling one doesn't delete your watch history. You can come back whenever a new series launches that you actually want to watch.

Step 4: Set price-change alerts in SubManager.
When you re-add a subscription after a break, the amount your card gets charged is the first signal something changed. SubManager flags it when the billed amount differs from what it expects — so even if you don't cancel today, you'll know the moment the new price lands on your bank statement.

The Bigger Picture

Netflix and Disney+ raising prices in the same six-week window is frustrating, but it's also a useful forcing function. Most families never stop to ask whether their current streaming stack makes sense for this season of life. Kids' viewing habits change, teenagers move on to YouTube, and the shows you were watching six months ago are finished.

The families who come out ahead are the ones who treat streaming subscriptions like a wardrobe — keeping what they actively use, not holding onto things out of habit. Two price hikes in one autumn is as good a reminder as any to do that check.

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SubManager tracks your subscription renewals and alerts you when billing amounts change. Free to use for families at submanager.ch.