Examined Sep 25, 2026 No free trial No refund for a part-used month Netflix gives a new customer nothing free: you pay $8.99 to $26.99 from the first day, a paid month is never refunded, and the only way out is to cancel before the next billing date.
The homepage puts it in four words: “Starts at $8.99. Cancel anytime.” Its own FAQ answers the price question with “Plans range from $8.99 to $26.99/month (pre-tax).” The Help Center's Plans and Pricing article adds: “We do not offer annual, multi-month, or lifetime membership plans.” Nowhere on the homepage, the pricing article, the cancellation article or the Terms of Use does the word trial appear as something you can have. Cancel anytime is true, but it means the charge stops next month, not that this month comes back.
What pays what
| Standard with ads: ads, 2 screens at a time, 1080p, downloads on 2 devices | $8.99 a month |
|---|---|
| Standard: no ads, 2 screens at a time, 1080p, option to add 1 extra member | $19.99 a month |
| Premium: no ads, 4 screens at a time, 4K and HDR, downloads on 6 devices, up to 2 extra members | $26.99 a month |
| An extra member who does not live with you, paid by the account owner | $7.99 a month with ads, $9.99 without |
| A new customer's free trial, welcome discount or referral reward | None |
| Cancelling partway through a paid month | No refund, access to the end of the period |
All prices are before tax; the pricing article says that depending on where you live, taxes may be added. Over a year, twelve months at $8.99 is $107.88, twelve at $19.99 is $239.88, and twelve at $26.99 is $323.88. The gap between the ad plan and the first ad-free plan is $11.00 a month. The article also says the Basic plan has been discontinued, and that prices and extra-member eligibility may vary if you get Netflix through a package or add-on.
Do this, in this order
- Choose the plan from the Plans and Pricing article, not from the sign-up form. The sign-up form showed us no prices without an active session, so the three figures above, and the extra-member prices, come from the Help Center article and the homepage FAQ. Standard with ads locks some titles: the article says a lock icon will appear on unavailable titles.
- Write down your billing date the day you sign up. The pricing article says: “Netflix plans are billed monthly on the date you signed up”. The Terms of Use let Netflix pre-authorize your payment method for up to one month of service as soon as you register, and say you can see your next payment date on the Account page.
- If you want to stop, cancel from the Account page and nowhere else. The cancellation article is blunt: “Signing out of your account or deleting the Netflix app doesn't cancel your account.” If you signed up through a third party as your payment method, the Terms of Use say you may need to cancel through that third party, for instance by turning off auto-renew there.
- Cancel before the billing date, and expect the month you are in to run out, not to be refunded. The Terms of Use say: “The cancellation will take effect at the end of the billing period.” No page we read gives a time of day, so treat the day before your billing date as the deadline.
- If you only want a break, pause instead, and know the cap. The cancellation article offers a pause of 1 month at a time, during which you are not charged and cannot stream. “Accounts can only be paused for a total of 3 months.” Pausing is not available with some payment methods, such as direct debit, gift cards and some partner payments.
Payments are nonrefundable and there are no refunds or credits for partially used subscription periods.
What Netflix does not publish, and where its pages disagree
Any introductory offer, today. The Terms of Use, which carry the line “Last Updated: April 10, 2026”, contain a whole clause on Offers: eligibility is decided by Netflix at its sole discretion, it can revoke an Offer and put your account on hold, and “Members of households with an existing or recent Netflix account may not be eligible for certain introductory Offers.” It may use your device ID, payment method or contact details to decide. On September 25, 2026, no page we read carried an offer for that clause to apply to.
A referral or affiliate program. None appears on the homepage, the Help Center or the Terms of Use. The only way to bring in someone outside your household is a paid extra member: “Extra members have their own account and password, but their membership is paid for by the person who invited them to share their Netflix account.” The homepage's code does carry a switched-off setting named for a referral window, and no page explains it, so we treat it as nothing.
A cut-off hour. The Terms of Use say you must cancel before the subscription renews; the cancellation article says you can use Netflix until the account cancels at the end of the billing period. Neither names a time of day, and the Terms say your payment date can move, for example after a failed payment or a plan change.
The Basic plan, in two places. The pricing article says the Basic plan has been discontinued. The cancellation article still says the pause feature is not available on the Basic plan. A small slip, but it is the kind of leftover that tells you which article was updated last.
Price rises come with a month's warning. “We will notify you at least one month before any price changes or changes to your subscription plan will become effective.” If you do not accept the change, the Terms let you cancel before it takes effect. The Terms also require you to be at least 18 to open an account or become an extra member.
Is it worth your time?
If you want to watch Netflix this month, the honest answer is that you pay for this month, and the pages say so plainly. $8.99 with ads is the lowest price, there are no cancellation fees, and the homepage says you can cancel online in two clicks. Nothing on offer makes signing up more attractive today than it will be next month, so there is no deadline to chase.
Think twice if you expected a free trial, or if you tend to forget subscriptions. A forgotten Standard plan costs $239.88 over twelve months, and no part of any month comes back. Netflix keeps your viewing activity, ratings and account details for 24 months after you close the account, so stopping and restarting later costs you nothing but the months you actually pay for.
