Examined Sep 25, 2026 3 days free on Live TV only Cut-off 11:59 PM Eastern Hulu's only free trial is 3 days on the $99.99 a month Live TV plan, and you must cancel by 11:59 PM Eastern the day before it ends, or the first month is charged and kept.
The welcome page puts the whole offer in one line: “Hulu (With Ads) + Live TV plan $99.99/mo. after 3-day free trial (if any) unless canceled. Cancel anytime.” Note the (if any). The same page says: “Any free trials valid for new and eligible returning subscribers only.” The plain Hulu plans and the $12.99 Disney+, Hulu Bundle carry no trial at all, and the plan grid says of the ad-free Hulu plan: “No free trial available.”
What pays what
| Hulu (With Ads) + Live TV: 100+ channels, Unlimited DVR, Disney+ and ESPN Unlimited content in their own apps | 3 days free, then $99.99 a month |
|---|---|
| Hulu (With Ads) on its own, the regular price the page quotes in a savings footnote | $11.99 a month, no trial |
| Disney+, Hulu Bundle: both with ads | $12.99 a month, no trial |
| Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium: both without ads | $21.99 a month, no trial |
| Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle, with ads, or Premium | $35.99 or $44.99 a month |
| Student bundle, ad-supported, verified through SheerID | $6.49 a month while enrolled, then $12.99 |
| A partly used month or trial period, after cancelling | No refund or credit |
Every figure is from the welcome page on September 25, 2026, and every plan is for U.S. residents aged 18 and over. Some arithmetic: the Live TV plan is $88.00 a month more than Hulu alone, and twelve months of it is $1,199.88. The Disney+, Hulu Bundle is $1.00 a month more than Hulu alone, which is why the page can call it a saving. The student price is $6.50 under the bundle price, and the page says: “Automatic re-verification performed annually.”
Do this, in this order
- Check whether Hulu will offer you the trial at all. The Subscriber Agreement, which carries the line “Updated: February 5, 2026”, says: “Eligibility for free trials may vary based on factors including the Service Tier selected, whether you have previously used one for the relevant Service(s), how recently you redeemed a free trial, and whether the Service Tier is part of a combined offering.” If you have had a Hulu, Disney+ or ESPN trial before, expect the sign-up flow to show a price and no trial.
- Confirm Live TV works where you live. “Live TV is available in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia only.” Channels vary by ZIP code. The Subscriber Agreement asks for age 18, or the age of majority in your state if higher.
- Start the trial and put the cut-off in your calendar as a time, not a date. The deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern on the day before your term ends. Hulu charges the payment method on file immediately after the trial and says it will not send a separate notice.
- Do not change plans mid-trial. The Agreement says: “IF YOU ARE SUBSCRIBED THROUGH A FREE TRIAL, PROMOTIONAL CODE OR OTHER CREDIT, CANCELLATION MAY BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.” Switching services during a billing period can cost you access to the original one, and the welcome page says: “Switches from Live TV to Hulu take effect as of the next billing cycle.”
- Cancel where you are billed. The Agreement's own instruction for Hulu is to go to hulu.com/account, log in and click Cancel. If a third party bills you, it sends you to that party's help center. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current term, trial or promotion, and the clause below covers what you get back.
EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DO NOT REFUND OR CREDIT FOR PARTIALLY USED SUBSCRIPTION TERMS AND/OR BILLING PERIODS, ALTHOUGH WE MAY PROVIDE SUCH REFUNDS OR CREDITS ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS IN OUR SOLE AND ABSOLUTE DISCRETION.
Two expired offers still on the page, and where Hulu's pages disagree
A Live TV price that ended in November 2025. The welcome page's footnotes, opened from an asterisk, still hold this: “Offer for Hulu (With Ads) + Live TV plan only: $64.99/month for 3 months, then auto-renews at then-current regular monthly price (currently $89.99/month). Ends 3:00 PM PT on 11/18/25.” The end date is more than ten months before our read date, and its regular price of $89.99 is not the $99.99 the live plan line quotes today. The $99.99 line is the current one; treat the rest as leftover copy.
A bundle price that ended in February 2026. Also in the footnotes: “Offer for ad-supported Disney+, Hulu Bundle plan only: $9.99/month for 1 month, then auto-renews at $12.99/month or then-current regular monthly price. Ends 1:00 PM PST on 2/17/26.” The plan grid, which is what the sign-up button uses, shows $12.99 with no first-month discount.
Cancel anytime, against a clock. The welcome page says “Cancel anytime, effective at the end of your billing period. No refunds or credits for partial months.” The Subscriber Agreement turns anytime into 11:59 PM Eastern on the day before the term ends. Both are Hulu's words; the Agreement is the one you accept at sign-up.
What is not published. Whether you, personally, will be offered the 3 days: the page says (if any) and the Agreement says it depends on your trial history, without a number. An end date for the current offers: none is printed. The regular price of Hulu on its own appears only inside a savings footnote, as $11.99, not on a plan line. Price changes are announced by email, and the Agreement says Hulu will attempt to notify you in advance; if you do not cancel, the renewal goes through at the new price.
Is it worth your time?
For a specific weekend of live sport or news, yes, if Hulu offers you the trial and you cancel on time. Set the reminder for the evening of the day before the trial ends, Eastern time, and cancel from hulu.com/account rather than by deleting the app.
If you just want Hulu's streaming library, there is no trial to chase and no reason to wait: $11.99 a month with ads, or $12.99 for the Disney+, Hulu Bundle, from the first day. Students verified through SheerID pay $6.49 for the bundle. Think twice about the Live TV plan as a keeper unless you would pay $99.99 every month on purpose; a forgotten year of it is $1,199.88, and no month of it comes back.
