Are you confused on which Disney plus Hotstar plan is best for you? In this article, you will find the complete comparison between Hotstar Plans- Mobile, VIP [now discontinued], Super and Premium Plans in 2022 – the difference in price, content, benefits to take an informed decision. Once you have read this article, you will know exactly what you are going to get out of each of these plans.
Disney plus Hotstar is an Indian Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming service owned by Star India, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
While Hotstar offers some free content like Star channels including News Channels, it comes with Ads just like TV.
Disney Hotstar revamped its plans from September 2021. Previously there were two main Hotstar paid plans which were Hotstar- VIP and Hotstar-Premium. These were changed to Disney Hotstar Mobile, Super and Premium plans.
In a nutshell:
- Hotstar Mobile – Price- ₹499 per year for viewing on 1 mobile device only
- Hotstar Super – Price- ₹899 per year for viewing on up to 2 devices including TV, laptop
- Hotstar Premium– Price- ₹1499 per year for up to 4 devices
With this change, all the paid plans will give you access to ALL content on Hotstar, unlike previously where cheaper VIP plan used to allow access only to Sports and Indian content and you needed Hotstar Premium to access English Content.
With this change, the earlier Hotstar VIP plan was effectively discontinued, new plans named Mobile and Super were launched and the Premium Plan was upgraded with better benefits at a higher price point of ₹1499 (vs ₹999 earlier)
Let’s now compare the 3 plans of Disney Hostar Super and Premium in detail.
Contents
Summary Comparison of Disney Hotstar Plans- Super vs Premium vs Mobile
Points | Hotstar Mobile | Hotstar Super | Hotstar Premium |
---|---|---|---|
Price | ₹499/ year | ₹899/ year | ₹1499/ year |
Content | All paid content on Hotstar | All paid content on Hotstar | All paid content on Hotstar |
Ads | Yes | Yes | Ad free (except Sports) |
Option to Switch Plan | Available (Can upgrade to higher plan by paying the difference) | Available (Can upgrade to higher plan by paying the difference) | Not Available |
Multiple Users support | Only 1 device at a time | Up to 2 devices | Up to 4 devices |
Video Quality | 720p | 1080p [Full HD] | 4K (2160p) |
Audio Quality | Stereo | Dolby 5.1 | Dolby 5.1 |
To elaborate, the difference between Hotstar plans can now be compared below:
Price Comparison
Bottom-line- Premium Plan is value for money if you are sharing with multiple users
Hotstar has moved to price model which is quite similar to the Netflix model.
The Plans are structured based on what device can you view on and how many users will be sharing the plan.
- Hotstar Mobile (which is mobile only plan)- ₹499/- year
- Hotstar Super Plan – ₹899/year
- Premium Plan – ₹1499/ year
If you have Hotstar on TV, (using either Super or Premium Plan) you can ask your cable operator to drop all paid Star Channels and the more expensive English Channels whose content is available on Hotstar.
Do keep in mind, however, that the paid subscriptions on Hotstar are not refundable. Also, while you can always switch from lower plan to Premium subscription by paying the difference amount. The vice versa is not true i.e. you can’t downgrade from Premium.
Content
Bottom-line- No difference in content across all three Plans
Now all Hotstar Paid Plans including Super, Premium, Mobile give you access to ALL the content on Hotstar.
This reduces confusion and is a welcome simplification done by Hotstar.
This is the biggest difference between the earlier plans Hotstar VIP and current plans. The earlier entry level plan VIP allowed access to Sports and Indian content while you would have to upgrade to the Premium Plans to get access to the English Library .
Support for Multiple Devices
Bottom-line– Prefer Super or Premium
Mobile Plan as per the name, allows Hotstar access only on mobile device.
For viewing on TV or Laptop, you have to go for either Super or Premium Plan
Advertisements
Bottom-line- Premium is the way to go
Both Hotstar Super and Mobile Plans have Ads, while Premium Plan is almost Ad-Free (Except for Sports).
Number of users who can view at a time
Bottom-line- Premium is the way to go for multiple users
A very important factor for many especially with a bigger family or friends sharing a common plan is how many users can see at a time.
Hotstar Premium Plan has been really improved and allows up to 4 users to login at at time.
While Hotstar Super Plan will allow access on up to 2 devices.
Video Quality
The Hotstar Super Plan provides maximum video quality of 1080p as compared to 4k quality offered on Hotstar Premium.
Audio Quality
Both Hotstar Super and Premium offer Dolby 5.1 sound quality.
The Mobile Plan is stereo only.
Which is Better Hotstar Plan-Super or Premium Comparison
Going for the Hot star plan now depends on the how many members from your family or friends are accessing content.
Whether you are accessing content from your home and sharing with multiple family members who want to view different content, then go for the Premium Plan.
Again, you get the best possible video quality i.e. 4K in Premium.
Another worthy point of buying Premium as compared to Super is that it is a near Ad-Free experience. People who don’t like Ads can opt for Premium by paying the price.
For a small family, where the chances of viewing on multiple devices are limited, you can opt for Hotstar Super Plan.
If you are single, always on the go and looking just to be entertained while travelling, then the Hotstar Mobile Plan will work for you.
If you don’t mind spending the money, then simply go with the Hotstar Premium plan which offers you with all the content on Hotstar.
Hotstar Premium is a great value for money subscription, especially if you are using it well. One of the ways to do this is to start watching Hotstar on TV.
Hotstar Paid vs Free Content
Free Videos don’t have any icon or unique identification
Hotstar Paid Plans offers a huge library of English TV Shows and Hollywood Movies
These include:
- Game of Thrones
- How I Met Your Mother
- Modern Family
- Silicon valley
- Westworld
- Big Little Lies
- Band of Brothers
- The Leftovers
- The Night Of
- Prison Break
- Homeland
- The Americans
- MasterChef Australia
- This is Us
- American Horror Story
- Twin Peaks
- Castle
- Big Bang Theory (No longer on Hotstar from Feb 2020)
Also read: Hotstar vs Amazon Prime Complete Comparison between 2 Giants
Hollywood Movies
Some of the Hollywood movies offered on Hotstar Premium are:
- Titanic
- Marvel Movies- Iron Man, Avengers, Deadpool, X-Men
- Walt Disney Movies
- Star Wars Movies
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Taken [Movie Series]
- The Sixth Sense
- Avatar
- Home Alone Series
- Ford vs Ferrari
- The Shawshank Redemption (No longer available)
- Lord of the Rings (No longer available)
- Ocean’s Eleven (No longer available)
Hotstar paid content also include it’s own set of original shows labeled as ‘Hotstar Specials’ in partnership with Aditya Birla Group’s Applause Entertainment. Hotstar is pumping in money to produce these original content to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others, who also produce their own originals for India. Also, another good thing with Hotstar Special Shows is that they are shown without any ads.
The Hotstar originals included shows like Hostages, The Office, City of Dreams, Criminal Justice, Aarya and Roar of the Lion (featuring M.S.Dhoni).
How the New Plans compare to the Old Plans- Hotstar VIP vs Premium
The earlier Hotstar VIP plan which was introduced during the IPL 2019 season to give viewers a cheaper option to watch sports content on Hotstar.
It also acts as a great way to introduce you to the paid content on Hotstar.
Now the Hotstar Mobile Plan is the new entry level plan, which only allows access to viewing on mobile.
Previously- the 2 main plans were Hotstar VIP or Premium? The Hotstar Premium Plan was the more expensive one and gives you access to all the content on Hotstar including Hollywood Content. The VIP plan, on the other hand, was cheaper at almost one-third of the Premium Plan and gave you access to all the sports content and other Indian content only (TV shows and movies)
Useful info. I read it and have not only cleared basic doubts but can now come to a firm conclusion of what I want to buy. Thanks for the article.
I will not pay 1499 for hotstar.
Amazon prime gives me better content.
Is VIP hotstar ply on smart TV ?
And how to connect VIP hotstar on smart tv
Hotstar app is available on smart TVs from Samsung, MI etc.
I am now subscriber for VIP.I want to shift to diary premium. Yesterday I paid ₹399/-. How can I pay the difference?
You can find the option in “My Account” section
on how many devices in parallel… VIP and Premium Subscription can run
You can run it on up to 5 devices but Hotstar does not allow simultaneous viewing. Recently, with Disney plus update it is being said that Hotstar Premium allows viewing content on upto 2 devices at a time (Apparently, Hotstar VIP does not offer this benefit). However, this is not yet confirmed.
Correct
informative
Very nicely explained. Thankyou
can i view telugu mahabharat and ramayan with vip premium regularly
Mahabharat is currently available only in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malyalam language (from Star Language Channels).
Ramayan is available only in Hindi at present.
If i upgrade disney plus vip to premium will it change my subscription end date? I purchased the VIP subscription on 2 nd Sep 2020 for a year. So if I upgrade now till when will I get Premium subscription?
The subscription end date will remain same.
Very clearly made the distinctions which definitely helps to make the choice.
I want to watch English Premier League football matches only, will VIP provide that? Or I have to go for premium?
You can get this on Hotstar VIP. However, do keep in mind that Hotstar is introducing new plans from September 1, 2021 which will allow access to all content but will instead vary based on what devices you can view and how many can view Hotstar at a time.
A well written informative article.
Was a great help. Thanks!