Netflix is the world’s biggest streaming service, with a massive catalog of movies and shows. And despite its deep-pocketed parent, Apple TV Plus is one of the smallest. That makes them very different prospects, and some might argue that Netflix competes on quantity while Apple prefers to go for quality.
It’s a bit more complicated than that, of course. But given that few of us can afford to subscribe to all the best streaming services at once, that means we need to be pretty selective with our subscriptions. That’s one reason why plenty of people have taken to subscription hopping as a way to slash their streaming bills – but it can be difficult to know when to cancel or sign up to a service.
That’s why we’ve written this guide. We’ve compared the prices, plans, features, app experiences and content of each below, and of course we’ve compared what there is to watch too.
So which is the better buy, Netflix or Apple TV Plus? Let’s find out.
Netflix vs Apple TV Plus: Price and plans
In the US, Netflix offers three tiers – it started removing its Basic plan in many regions in 2023 before completely axing it in mid-2024, forcing new subscribers to sign up to its Standard With Ads plan instead – while Apple TV Plus has just one.
Which Netflix plan is for you? The cheapest plan, Standard With Ads, is £4.99 / $6.99 / AU$7.99 per month and streams in 1080p HD. Netflix Standard is £10.99 / $15.49 / AU$25.99 a month and removes the ads. Netflix Premium is also ad-free and streams in up to 4K HDR with Spatial Audio. That’s £17.99 / $22.99 / AU$25.99 per month.
Meanwhile, Apple TV Plus has only one plan, which costs $9.99 / £8.99 / AU$12.99 a month. All subscribers get 4K streams, offline viewing, Spatial Audio on supported titles and more. There’s no need to pay more for 4K and/or ad-free viewing.
Apple TV is also available as part of an Apple One subscription, which bundles the service with Apple Music, iCloud storage and Apple Arcade. There are also family and premium tiers that add Apple News Plus and Apple Fitness Plus and increase the amount of iCloud storage too. The cheapest Apple One subscription is currently $19.95 / £18.95 / AU$24.95 per month.
While Apple gives every subscriber the same features, Netflix Standard streams in 1080p HD and doesn’t offer spatial audio or Ultra HD unless you go for the more expensive Premium plan at $22.99 / £17.99 / AU$25.99 per month.
Netflix limits viewing to one “household”, which it defines as one roof. You aren’t allowed to share a Standard With Ads plan with other people who don’t share your home – here’s how to remove Netflix Household if you need to know how to do that – but you can add them to your Standard (ad-free) or Premium Plan. You can add one extra person to Standard and two people to a Premium plan. Each person is an additional $7.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99 per month.
Netflix Standard gives you two simultaneous streams and downloads to two devices. Netflix Premium gives you four simultaneous streams and downloads to six devices.
Apple TV Plus does things slightly differently. It works with Apple’s family sharing, enabling you to share the service with five other people, and as a result it enables you to stream to six different devices simultaneously. On devices that support downloading, such as Macs and iPads, downloads aren’t limited to a specific number of devices but will typically expire after 30 days.
Netflix vs Apple TV Plus: What can you watch?
It’s fair to say that Netflix drives the cultural conversation, producing global hit after global hit. Some of Netflix’s biggest shows of 2024 include Bridgerton season 3, Cobra Kai season 6, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the hotly anticipated Squid Game season 2, which is now streaming worldwide. It also has a very good collection of documentary series and anime, and it spends big on comedy specials primarily but not exclusively featuring big names from US comedy.
However, Netflix is also the home of the “Netflix Curse”. It’s a very data-driven organization and it’s quick to cancel shows it feels aren’t doing big enough numbers, even if those shows have a large and loud fandom.
In addition to its own shows and optional paid subscriptions, Apple TV Plus also provides access to a wide array of live and scheduled sports events in the US including access to subscription-only events such as Friday Night Baseball and Major League Soccer via the MLS Season Pass.
Apple TV Plus produces far fewer programs. But it’s home to some of our very favorite shows: spy drama Slow Horses, subterranean sci-fi show Silo, the distinctly odd Sugar and hilarious Bad Monkey, and therapy comedy-drama Shrinking. We’ve just finished streaming Shrinking Season 2 and alternately howled and sobbed our way through it. And Apple TV Plus is also the home of one of the most anticipated shows of 2025, Severance Season 2.
Thankfully, both streamers are also constantly adding new content. Netflix front-loads its new releases at the beginning of the month but also adds a lot more over the following weeks, whereas Apple TV Plus prefers to drip-feed content throughout the month. Apple TV Plus also prefers to stream new episodes of shows weekly rather than make them all available at once for streaming.
How often do Netflix and Apple TV Plus refresh content?
Netflix vs Apple TV Plus: features
| Standard with ads: | Ads, 2 simultaneous streams, Full HD resolution and download to 2 devices. |
| Standard: | No ads, 2 simultaneous streams, Full HD resolution, download to 2 devices and option to add 1 member who lives elsewhere. |
| Premium: | No ads, 4 simultaneous streams, 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos and Netflix Spatial Audio, download to 6 devices, and option to add 3 members who live elsewhere. |
Unlike some rivals such as Prime Video, everything you see on the Netflix screen is available as part of your subscription. Almost everything is available to every viewer, but some shows and movies are missing from the with-ads plans because of licensing issues. If you’re on that plan you won’t see those titles in the catalog.
Netflix’s quality options are straightforward: it’s 1080p HD unless you pay more for Premium, which delivers 4K and HDR with Spatial Audio (where programs support it). Apple TV Plus is even more straightforward, with 4K, HDR and Spatial Audio (where supported) available to everyone.
Both services support multiple profiles for different family members, but Apple TV Plus doesn’t restrict account sharing to one building – so if the kids are off to college they can still access their Apple TV Plus shows with their Apple IDs. With Netflix, you’ll need a Standard or Premium subscription to do that, and you’re limited to one extra person for Standard and two for Premium.
| Standard: | No ads, 6 simultaneous streams, spatial audio, UHD 4K, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision on select titles, download to multiple devices |
Netflix vs Apple TV Plus: Design
Netflix pretty much set the template for how a streaming service should look and work, and while it’s arguably a little more cluttered than Apple TV Plus the two streamers look very similar. Both provide audio descriptions for people with poor or low vision, although on the most recent versions of Apple’s TV, Mac and mobile operating systems there’s a new feature called InSight that gives you information about who’s on screen and what’s on the soundtrack.
Netflix has a very good recommendation algorithm, especially over time: it’s very good at showing things you’ll actually like based on your viewing habits. It’s in the process of another huge overhaul to make it even easier to find shows and movies you’ll like. Apple TV is a much smaller affair so it doesn’t need the same amount of recommendation power; it’s choosing from a much smaller selection.
In addition to Apple TV’s own channels, it also offers a range of add-ons: live sports and additional paid-for channels such as Starz, Paramount+, Cinemax and BET+.
Netflix vs Apple TV Plus: Verdict
Comparing these two streamers is – forgive us – rather like comparing apples and oranges.
They’re very different: where Netflix wants to be everything to everyone, Apple TV Plus is a much smaller and more select affair. That’s great if you like the kind of things it likes to make – and as fans of Severance, Slow Horses, Shrinking and many shows that don’t begin with the letter S we do – but there’s no doubt that Apple lacks the sheer variety of its high-powered rival.
If the rival streamers were bookshops in a rom-com Netflix would be the giant corporate bookshop and Apple the small, hip indie one – which sounds incredible given Apple’s enormous size, but this is one of the few markets where Apple is currently the plucky underdog. And that means we’d really recommend taking advantage of its free trial to see what you make of it: Netflix will still be there if Apple TV Plus doesn’t have a catalog that’s broad enough for you.
Ready to switch streaming services? Here’s how to sign up to Netflix, or if you’ve decided you’d rather wait till Stranger Things returns next year, then here’s how to cancel Netflix. Alternatively, here are the different ways you can get a free trial of Apple TV Plus.
