Netflix has announced a crackdown on password sharing between household accounts in the UK and other major markets like the US. Here’s how Netflix UK’s password-sharing changes will affect you.
Netflix UK customers are being notified that they will have to pay an extra £4.99 per month on top of their existing subscription to share their account outside their home. This means sharing your Netflix password is no longer a free option for friends.
A monthly Netflix subscription can set you back between £4.99 to £15.99 per month. With so many other services on the market, is it worth the price tag?
In this article we cover:
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What are the Netflix UK password sharing changes?
Netflix announced last year that it was launching a global crackdown on subscribers sharing their passwords with friends and relatives who don’t live with them.
Officially it has always been against the rules to share passwords in this way but more than 100 million households do, according to the streaming giant’s own estimates. As a result, Netflix has been losing out new subscribers and more revenue.
On 23 May, it notified customers in more than 100 countries and territories, including the UK and US, about the changes.
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Netflix, which has 233 million subscribers, has seen the growth in new sign-ups slow due to increased competition and customers cutting back during the cost of living crisis.
Services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ lost more than two million British subscribers last year, signaling the first annual decline since the streaming revolution started a ten years ago.
The move may backfire on Netflix. When the changes were introduced in Spain, where users were charged €5.99 for each additional account, it lost a million subscribers in the first three months of the year.
How will the new changes be enforced?
You and everyone living in your household will still be able to use your Netflix account when you are outside of your house. The extra costs come if another person who you don’t live with jumps on to your account.
Netflix has not yet confirmed how identities will be verified. However, the additional user will first be offered to become a subscriber by ‘transferring a profile’ to a new paid-for membership.
Otherwise, you as the account holder can pay £4.99 a month for extra member slots.
Prospective members using this slot will then be sent an invitation via email or text to set their own profile, account and password.
Anyone living abroad or using a VPN, proxy or ‘unblocker’ service could be banned from adding an extra slot. It is also not clear how many slots can be bought in this way.
Will the accounts be the same?
Netflix says that there will be some key differences between a normal Netflix account and an additional user account. For additional account users, these include:
- Only one device can be used at a time to watch or download content
- Only a single profile can be used
- Accounts must be activated in the same country linked to the original account holder
How much will it cost to subscribe to Netflix now?
Confusingly Netflix does not offer just one monthly subscription price.
A subscription in the UK can set you back anywhere between £4.99 to £15.99 per month, excluding the new changes.
In November 2022, Netflix launched a new, cheaper option, to allow subscribers to stream with adverts. Here are the current prices:
- Ad-subscription: £4.99 per month you can watch, with adverts, on one device at a time with no downloads available
- Basic subscription: £6.99 per month you can watch on one device at a time in standard definition
- Standard subscription: £10.99 per month you can watch in HD and on two devices at a time.
- Premium subscription: £15.99 per month you can watch in Ultra HD where available, on four devices at a time
If you chose to add slots to your account, you will pay an extra £4.99 per month per slot that you buy.
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Is Netflix more expensive than Amazon Prime or Disney+?
| Subscription service | Cost (per month) |
| Netflix | From £4.99 |
| Amazon Prime | £8.99 |
| Apple TV | £6.99 |
| Disney+ | £7.99 |
| NowTV | £6.99 |
Netflix: From £4.99 a month (with ads) or £6.99 a month (without ads) up to £15.99 premium service
Amazon Prime: £8.99 per month OR £95 per year
Apple TV: £6.99 a month
Disney+: £7.99 a month OR £79.90 a year
NowTV: From £6.99 a month (6 month) or £9.99 (flexible)
How can I cancel Netflix?
Cancelling your Netflix acccount is straightforward and you won’t be charged a fee for doing so. Because you pay monthly, you will simply stop being billed at the end of the current month that you have paid for.
You can cancel by opening your account and clicking on the account section next to your profile name. It will an option for Membership and Billing. Underneath this is a grey box with the option of cancelling your subscription. Click this and select Finish Cancellation.
You will get a follow-up email from Netflix confirming what day you will no longer be able to watch content on your account.
Remember that you do need to actively cancel your subscription, simply deleting the app will not stop you being charged every month.
