Netflix Users: It Now Costs More to Share a Password Than to Get Your Own

Tony Maglio
·2 min read

Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown paid sharing has arrived in the U.S. Now, to share an account with a member outside of your household, one must pay an additional $7.99 per month.

Alternately, the borrower can transfer their profile over to a whole new (paid) account. That option might make sense to some, as Netflix’s “Standard with Ads” plan costs $6.99 per month. Watch some ads, save a buck. There are some disadvantages beyond the commercials, however.

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“A few” (Netflix’s words) movies and TV shows are not available on the “Standard with Ads” plan. Users also cannot download content to their devices. Full HD is supported, and the cheapest tier does not limit mobile gaming, which is still quite nascent for Netflix. You cannot share a “Standard with Ads” plan, not that it would make any sense to choose to do so anyway.

Sharing a Standard plan would allow the (one) borrower to go ad-free and download on two supported devices. The tier also features all of the movies and shows; it costs $15.49 before the sharing fee.

Planning to go H.A.M. on Netflix? Then the “Premium” plan may be for you. At $19.99 per month, you can watch on four devices at a time in Ultra HD and with Netflix spatial audio, and download on up to six devices. You have the option to add up to two extra members here, whereas subscribers can only add one on the Standard plan. No matter the plan, extra members cost $7.99 apiece.

There is a middle plan here: Netflix Basic at $9.99 per month. You cannot share on this plan, and are limited to watching (and downloading) on one device at a time. Basic only has basic HD, though there are no limitations on shows and movies.

We knew the crackdown was coming this quarter, but not exactly when. The $7.99 fee was the anticipated price point as that is what was implemented previous in Canada (in CAD, of course, not USD). For Netflix and many other media companies, UCAN (the U.S. and Canada) are reported as one region.

Below is the email Netflix is sending out to users in the states, starting Tuesday.

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