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Netflix ends free trials in the US after years of giving away first month

For years, Netflix has offered new US customers a free month to try out the service. No longer.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter

Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.

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Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)

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Corinne Reichert Senior Editor

Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.

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Joan E. Solsman

Corinne Reichert

Oct. 14, 2020 8:21 a.m. PT

2 min read

Try it free? Not anymore, apparently.

Angela Lang/CNET

Netflix has ended free trials for new customers in the US, after years of giving away the first month of its service free. The streaming service's US sign-up page said trials are no longer available, with Netflix instead touting how it lets you cancel anytime at no cost. Newer rivals tend to offer shorter free-trial periods, though some of Netflix's biggest, longstanding competitors still offer an introductory month free.

"We're looking at different marketing promotions in the United States to attract new members and give them a great Netflix experience," a Netflix spokeswoman said Tuesday. The end of free trials in the US was reported earlier Tuesday by TV Answer Man.

Netflix, the world's biggest subscription video service with more than 192 million paying members, was increasingly an outlier among its rivals by offering a month-long free trial. As a raft of new rival services have launched in the last year, many set their free trial periods at a single week, including HBO Max and NBCUniversal's Peacock. And Disney Plus, as strong growth lifted its number of subscribers above its initial projections way earlier than expected, stopped offering free trials altogether in June.

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Other established apps like CBS All Access and Starzlimit their free trials to seven days too. Hulu Showtime and Amazon Prime, however, still offer a month free to new subscribers. (Note: CBS All Access and Showtime are owned by ViacomCBS, the parent company of CNET.)

Even Netflix itself had already begun phasing out free trials elsewhere in the world, starting in Mexico two years ago. Netflix free trials are still available in some select markets.

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