How much does Disney Plus cost around the world?

Where once only Netflix stood, a host of alternative streaming services now fiercely compete for market share. Disney Plus is one of the top-tier options, able to lure in new customers with its ownership of franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. The cheapest plan in the USA is $7.99 per month, but how does that compare to other countries? We decided to take a look at Disney Plus costs around the world to answer this question.

We compared the price of Disney Plus in 50 countries for the purpose of this exercise. It’s available in over 80 countries in total, but we wanted to keep the numbers manageable by focusing on the biggest markets. The prices of the monthly and annual plans have been correlated as all of the nations have these options. We’ve omitted other price structures, such as bundles and student discounts, as many countries don’t have the equivalent plans for comparison.

Let’s get into the numbers.

How much does Disney Plus cost around the world?

The Disney Plus monthly and annual prices for each country are laid out in the table below. In each case, the cost in the local currency was converted into the equivalent US dollar value based on the exchange rates at the time of publication. This approach has its flaws, as we’ll discuss more later, but it’s the most straightforward way for us to compare them. To that end, we’ve ordered the table based on the cheapest to the most expensive monthly plans.

The price of the streaming service across borders is quite stark, with some countries paying literally ten times more than others for a monthly subscription. The country with the cheapest Disney Plus in the world is Turkey, where residents pay the equivalent of just $1.04 for the monthly plan.

Switzerland is easily the most expensive country to get Disney Plus, with the Central European nation paying $15.13 per month. That’s over $3 per month more than the next most expensive country, which is Denmark at $11.57. As stark as these differences are, we’ve speculated as to the reasons for them at the end of this article. But it’s no anomaly — the Swiss also have the most expensive YouTube Premium subscription.

Unlike some services, the US is doing comparatively well in terms of price relative to other countries. But there’s a big caveat here: the $7.99 is the Basic plan in the US, which is ad-supported. Many countries don’t have an ad-supported tier, and the equivalent of that in America would be the Premium plan at $13.99. Had we used that price in the table, the US would be the second most expensive in the world.

There’s even worse news for US customers in the pipeline, with Disney Plus set to raise its US prices in October. The Basic plan will be hiked to $9.99, which will send it to the fourth most expensive place in the world.

Should I use a VPN to get Disney Plus from another country?

A VPN can open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to your internet use. Among many other uses, the encrypted connection routed through a hub in another location can be used to get around geo-restrictions and access another country’s services. While we’d highly recommend VPNs in general, we don’t advise you to use them with the goal of getting Disney Plus on the cheap.

Whether trying this trick can land you in legal trouble is a matter of debate, and for the laws of the country you’re routing your connection through. In reality, you’re probably unlikely to get the police knocking on your door for such a transgression. But Disney Plus is good at detecting VPN use and doesn’t like people trying to game the regional prices. You can bet it’ll be the fastest way to lose your account if and when you’re discovered.

Practically speaking, it’s probably not as easy as flicking on a VPN anyway. We haven’t tried it for obvious reasons, but Disney probably requires you to sign up with a bank card linked to the same country as the version of Disney Plus you’re attempting to access. This is much harder to imitate and more likely to be a crime if you try.

Why is Disney Plus cheaper in some countries and more expensive in others?

Disney would probably tell you that the reason for the price differences is that you’re actually getting a different service in each country. This is true — licensing laws being as they are, the content available on Disney Plus in each country varies, and some of it is going to be more interesting to certain markets than others.

Another factor, and perhaps a bigger one if we’re speculating, is the business model. There will be operating costs for Disney Plus to bear in each country, including the aforementioned rights to certain movies and shows. These costs will affect the company’s margins. But as a for-profit business, it’s fair to assume that Disney will then add on as much as it thinks the customers will pay. If the consumer spending power is higher in a country, why wouldn’t any business charge what it can get away with? Switzerland’s position on the list could be explained by this factor.

Let’s also bring up the flaw in our method that we mentioned earlier. By converting all of the local prices into US dollars, we’ve brought exchange rates into the equation. These fluctuate with changes in the global economy, which has been rather turbulent in recent years. This is something you’ll have noticed if you’ve been abroad recently. For this reason, the table above could change quite quickly even if the local prices remain constant. We’ll revisit this article periodically to see how those changes take effect.

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