Hulu has a free trial. That's true whether you're talking about the Hulu on-demand service or Hulu With Live TV.
With more than 45 million account-holders, they almost certainly all took advantage of the Hulu free trial before they started paying their monthly subscription fee. And that's an important thing to remember before you go looking for any new streaming service — whether or not it's got a free trial.
The good news is that most do, including Hulu. Here's everything you need to know about taking advantage of that Hulu free trial.
How to get your Hulu free trial
The secret to getting a free trial with Hulu is that ... there is no secret. There's no trick. There's no special code or three things you have to know or one website that's going to tell you exactly how to unlock the magic of the Hulu free trial. It just exists.
Good news, right now there's a month-long Hulu free trial of its streaming service.
When you initially sign up for a Hulu account, you're going to fork over a little information. Your name, an email address and some payment info. That's all standard stuff, whether you're truly using the Hulu free trial as a way to feel things out or if you're fully intending on using Hulu for what it's intended and paying your fees in the process.
It's all right there on the first button you see on the Hulu website — "Free trial." Or "Get the first month free." Nobody's trying to trick you. Nobody's making you jump through any hoops. If you're signing up for Hulu, you're going to get that free trial.
And that's true whether you're getting the most basic of Hulu services or if you're going for the plan that gets rid of most advertising. It's also true if you're opting for Hulu With Live TV. They all have free trials.
The two catches about the Hulu free trial
OK, there actually are two things you need to know here. First is that the Hulu free trial is mostly for new sign-ups, but also for "eligible returning live TV subscribers." That's in the fine print and it's just something you should be aware of.
Second is that Hulu is owned by Disney and Disney is real big on upselling you the Disney Bundle. That gets you Hulu, ESPN Plus and Disney Plus for a single price. You can get it with the ad-supported Hulu service for $13.99 a month or the "premium" ad-free Hulu experience for $19.99 a month.
And you know what? Those are all good deals that will save you money over buying the services separately, essentially getting you three services for the price of two. But what they don't include is a free trial.
Side note, you can get all of the streaming service bit of the Disney Bundle with Hulu with Live TV, which also has a free trial.
