Hulu is gradually becoming more competitive in the streaming wars, with shows like The Handmaids’ Tale and Castle Rock that rival the best of Amazon Prime, and a library of other companies’ creations that’s arguably better than what Netflix has to offer.
While there used to be a free option for Hulu, that’s long since gone, and even the ad-supported plan costs $5.99 per month (Hulu isn’t available outside the US, but there are ways to access it if you want).
Luckily there are a couple of ways to work around that and access Hulu without paying a penny.
Sign up for a free trial
This won’t get you free Hulu for long, but if you just want to try the service out for a bit to see if it’s for you (or simply binge the entirety of a show without paying) Hulu does offer free trials.
It’s actually a surprisingly generous one too. Hulu offers new subscribers a whole month free, which is more than enough time to catch up on Atlanta or just figure out if the library is good enough to keep you around.
Remember that you’ll have to cancel before the end of the month to avoid being charged though. If not, you’ll end up paying either $5.99 for the ad-supported subscription, or $11.99 for the ad-free version.
If you’re a college student you can get the new $1.99 per month plan. To be eligible, you must be over the age of 18 and be enrolled in a college institution.
The Disney+ bundle
If you also want to subscribe to Disney+ and ESPN+ on top of Hulu, then there’s a bundle of all three services which saves you a lot of money.
The bundle is available for the very reasonable price of $12.99 a month. When you add the cost of all three regular monthly subscriptions together it saves you just around $5 per month, nearly nullifying the standalone cost of a Hulu subscription.
Use Microsoft Rewards
OK, so what if you want Hulu free forever? There is a way, but it might take a bit of work – and a shift to your habits.
A $25 Hulu gift card is one of the rewards included in Microsoft Rewards, a points program used by Microsoft to encourage people to use Bing, Edge, and other Microsoft products.
The first thing to do is visit the Microsoft Rewards site and sign up using your Microsoft account – you’ll have to create an account if you don’t have one already. Once you’ve signed up you can begin earning points – accumulate 28,000 and you can claim the Hulu gift card.
You can get points every day by searching through Bing on desktop and mobile, using Edge as your browser, and engaging with the daily bonus ‘click activities’. To get the most points, it’s best to set Edge as your default browser and Bing as your default search engine on both your computer and your phone – though yes, we’re afraid that does mean using Bing all the time.
Maximise your daily points and you can just about his 28,000 points in three or four months – pretty much the same amount of time that $25 gift card will last if you spend it on the ad-supported Hulu Basic plan, or the new college plan.
Keep doing this and you can essentially have Hulu forever – or at least as long as the system lasts – though it won’t be quite enough to cover the pricier ad-free plan we’re afraid.
Author: Dominic Preston, Deputy Editor
Tech Advisor's Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming - plus he's a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.