It was an announced novelty, but on Thursday, August 22, Disney+ released a new subscription plan, with ads, similar to what has already happened in the past in other European countries. In the case of Disney's streaming platform, the standard plan with ads becomes available on October 17, making it the cheapest Disney+ subscription.

This is not a first in Portugal, as ad-supported plans already exist on Sky Showtime, for example, but are these subscriptions the cheapest? What are the main differences from other plans? And by the way, which streaming plan costs the Portuguese the least money per month, and which is the most expensive? We went to do the math.

Want to pay less? Not all plans have ads.

€4.99. This is the price of the cheapest streaming subscription in Portugal and belongs to Sky Showtime and also Prime Video (in this article, we have covered the prices of these platforms, as well as Netflix, Max, Disney+ and Apple TV).

In the case of Sky Showtime, this is the standard monthly subscription with ads, which allows viewing in Full HD and on only one device at the same time, with ads included.

The monthly subscription to Amazon Prime Video has the same value – €4.99 – and does not include ads and allows simultaneous viewing on multiple devices and all the series and videos in the catalog in HD quality.

After these two plans comes the recently announced subscription with ads Disney+, the standard with ads, which costs €5.99 per month. Video quality is up to 1080p Full HD, audio is up to 5.1 and allows simultaneous viewing on two screens. Downloads are not possible with this new plan.

In the case of Netflix, the most economical plan on this platform is 7.99 euros (the basic plan, with good video and audio quality, which allows viewing on only one device at a time), with the Max app at exactly the same price as the standard plan (HD video resolution and viewing on two devices simultaneously).

Apple TV has the highest basic monthly subscription, at €9.99 per month. (4K HDR quality, which means you can share your account with other users and access all the movies and series on the platform).

All things considered, if you opted to subscribe to all the major streaming platforms – Netflix, Max, Disney+, Prime Video, Sky Showtime and Apple TV – taking into account the basic plans, it would cost you €41.94 per month.

What are the most expensive plans and what do they include?

When it comes to the most complete plans, Netflix tops the list with its Premium subscription, which costs €15.99 per month. This plan includes exceptional video and audio quality, allows downloading on six devices and simultaneous viewing on four devices.

The streaming platform also has a Standard plan for €11.99 per month, with good video and audio quality, downloads on two devices and simultaneous viewing on two devices.

In second place is Disney +, whose premium plan costs €13.99 per month and includes continuous viewing of series and movies, video quality up to 4K UHD & HDR and even Dolby Atmos sound. Allows viewing on four screens at once and can be downloaded to a maximum of 10 devices.

Like Netflix, this platform also has a “mid-range” plan, the standard plan that allows viewing on two screens at once, as well as downloads on a maximum of 10 devices. It costs €9.99.

Max comes in third with the Premium plan for €11.99, which includes 100 downloads, 4K UHD viewing, Dobly Atmos sound (when possible) and viewing on four devices at the same time. As for Sky Showtime, the monthly subscription goes up to €6.99 without ads, with up to 30 titles downloaded, viewed in Full HD and on two devices at the same time.

As for Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, both platforms offer only one plan (€4.99 and €9.99 respectively).