Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
How many people can watch Hulu at once? Here's the limit
Hulu is among the biggest streaming services in America, with award-winning originals and a huge back-catalog of shows and movies. You can choose from ad-supported and ad-free subscriptions, a Disney bundle, and a live TV option. So, once you sign up, how many people can watch Hulu at once?
Read on for a breakdown of how your Hulu account works, how many people can watch at once, and more.
QUICK ANSWER
Hulu accounts allow you to stream content on two screens simultaneously. In addition, you can create up to six distinct profiles with their own settings and watchlists.
JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
How many people can use your Hulu account at once?
While you can watch unlimited content on Hulu when you sign up, there are limits to how many people can stream at once. If you’re in a large household, you can all watch TV at the same time, but you’ll be limited to two screens at a time.
You get six separate Hulu profiles per account, even if they can't all stream at once.
You can watch on more than two devices, of course, whether that’s a phone, tablet, laptop, or TV. You just can’t be streaming on more than two at once. If one of your roommates is watching The X-Files in his room and another is binging Letterkenny on her phone, you’ll have to wait your turn.
If your household does include more than two people, rest assured that you don’t all have to share profiles. You can create up to six different profiles. That means creating your own watchlist and getting your own suggested titles based on your distinct viewing habits.
You can’t have all six profile holders streaming at once, but your settings will be saved for the next time it’s your turn with the account.
What happens when too many people watch Hulu at the same time?
You don’t have to worry about getting in trouble for watching too many screens at once. No one will send you a fine or cancel your account. What happens is that Hulu simply blocks you from accessing content at the outset.
Say you log into your Hulu app to watch Only Murders in the Building, for example, and two other members of your household are already logged in elsewhere watching How I Met Your Father and Reservation Dogs. You’ll likely just get an error message telling you your account has already reached the maximum number of screens.
From there, you can either ask one of your housemates to wait their turn, join them, and watch whatever’s on their screen, or wait to watch your show when the account frees up. Don’t worry about going over your limit. You simply can’t do it, so there’s no penalty.
Can you add extra people to your Hulu account?
If you want more people to watch on your account at once, unfortunately, that means you’ll need to set up a second account.
Your second account will entitle you to two new simultaneous screens and six separate profiles, just like the first one, but you’ll need to start your profiles from scratch.
Customers who subscribe to Hulu Plus Live TV are the exception to this rule. If you want more than two simultaneous streams on your live TV account (which includes Hulu), you can upgrade to unlimited screens in your household for an extra $9.99 per month.
FAQs
On paper, you can’t share Hulu between households. In practice, you can watch Hulu in two homes on one account. Unlike Netflix, Hulu has not yet taken steps to limit this kind of account sharing beyond the two-simultaneous-streams cap.
Every account can handle two screens streaming at once, but you can create six distinct profiles with six distinct sets of settings, saved watchlist, etc. Only two of the six can stream at once.
If you try to stream content while two other people are already logged in and watching, you’ll be notified that you’ve reached your limit and can’t stream from a third screen. You won’t receive alerts that your family or roommates are watching though. You can, however, control which devices can stream from your account in your account settings.
You can log into your Hulu account in multiple homes, but accounts are meant to be used within one household. You’ll still be limited to two simultaneous streams, but if you have two addresses, that shouldn’t be a problem. Hulu Plus Live TV has more restrictions, and you won’t be able to use your account in two households for very long before one is kicked off.