If you are thinking same as which you should buy Disney+ Hotstar Premium or VIP Plan Compare to Which Should Buy don’t get confused about choosing between the Disney Hotstar VIP and Premium Plan? Here is a complete comparison of the differences between Disney Hotstar VIP and Disney Premium Plans – the price, content, benefits and which plan is best for you. Once you have read this article, you will know exactly what you are going to get out of each of these plans.
Hotstar is an Indian Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming service owned by Star India, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
The Main Difference is Cost on Disney+ Hotstar Plans
Hotstar Premium – ₹299/month or ₹999/year
- Latest American Shows: Uncut, ad-free & minutes after America.
- Latest episodes of Indian TV Shows at 6 AM everyday
- Hollywood Blockbusters: Uncut & ad-free.
- New Indian Movie Premieres
- Live Sports: Including Cricket, Premier League & Formula 1.
Hotstar VIP – ₹365/year
- Live Sports: Including Cricket, Premier League & Formula 1
- Latest episodes of Indian TV Shows at 6 AM everyday
- New Indian Movie Premieres
- Exclusive Hotstar Specials
You can check Disney+Hotstar Website Here
While Hotstar offers some free content like Star channels including News Channels, it comes with Ads just like TV.
Hotstar also offers paid plans with exclusive content which are Disney+Hotstar- VIP and Disney+Hotstar Premium. The paid subscriptions offer a near ad-free experience with high-quality content.
You can’t figure out difference between two by just name
So which is better – Hotstar VIP or Premium? It’s more to do with the content you like to watch. The Hotstar Premium Plan is the more expensive one and gives you access to all the content on Disney+Hotstar including Hollywood Content. The VIP plan, on the other hand, is much cheaper at almost one-third of the Premium Plan and gives you access to all the sports content and other Indian content only (TV shows and movies).
Latest Update: Hotstar has now been re-branded as Disney + Hotstar from April 3, 2020. The new plans are now called Disney + Hotstar VIP (which costs ₹399/ year from earlier ₹365) and Disney + Hotstar Premium (which costs ₹1499/year from earlier ₹999). If you have an existing subscription, new rates will apply at the time of renewal.
Also, you can switch from VIP to Premium at any time during the year by paying the difference amount.
What is the difference between Hotstar VIP and Premium?
The difference between Hotstar- Premium and VIP plan is compared below:
| Points | Hotstar Premium | Hotstar VIP |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Rs. 999/year (now ₹1499/year from April 2020) | Rs.365/year (now ₹399/year from April 2020) |
| Content | 1. Live Sports: Including Cricket, Premier League & Formula 1. 2. Indian TV Shows 3. New Indian Movie Premieres 4. Exclusive Hotstar Specials 5. Disney + Content (in English) + 6. Latest American TV Shows 7. Hollywood Blockbusters |
1. Live Sports: Including Cricket, Premier League & Formula 1 2. Indian TV Shows 3. New Indian Movie Premieres 4. Exclusive Hotstar Specials 5. Disney + Content in dubbed languages like Hindi, Tamil etc |
| Advertisements | Mostly Ad-Free | Personalized Ads |
| Option to change plan | Not Available | Available ( you can switch to Premium by paying the difference) |
The new Hotstar VIP plan was introduced during the IPL 2019 season to give viewers a cheaper option to watch sports content on Hotstar. It also acts as a great way to introduce you to the paid content on Hotstar.
Hotstar also has its own set of original shows labeled as ‘Hotstar Specials’ in partnership with Aditya Birla Group’s Applause Entertainment. Hotstar is pumping in money to produce these original content to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others, who also produce their own originals for India.
The Hotstar originals included shows like Hostages, The Office, City of Specials, Criminal Justice and Roar of the Lion (featuring M.S.Dhoni).
Content – What you don’t get in Hotstar VIP?
With Hotstar VIP, while you will get all the sports content + Indian Content-Movies and TV Shows. Also Disney+ content will be available only in dubbed languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu. However, you will miss out on international content, which is available only on Hotstar Premium Plan.
Hotstar Premium offers a big library of English TV Shows and Hollywood Movies, which you will not be able to view as a VIP member. These include:
- Game of Thrones
- Big Bang Theory
- How I Met Your Mother
- Modern Family
- Silicon valley
- Two and Half Men
- Westworld
- Big Little Lies
- Band of Brothers
- The Leftovers
- The Night Of
- Prison Break
- Homeland
- The Americans
- MasterChef Australia
- This is Us
- American Horror Story
- Twin Peaks
- Castle
You can now also watch Disney + Content in Original English Language (in VIP Plan-only dubbed local language is offered).
Some of the Hollywood Movies offered on Disney Hotstar Premium are:
- Titanic
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Lord of the Rings
- Conjuring
- Marvel Movies- Iron Man, Avengers, Deadpool, X-Men
- Walt Disney Movies
- Taken
- Ocean’s Eleven
With a Hotstar VIP connection, you can watch the following content:
- Live Sports Content including Cricket, Football, Formula 1, Tennis, Kabbadi, etc.
- Latest Indian Movies (Update: “Angrezi Medium” is the latest movie added to their collection in 2020)
- Indian TV Shows
- Hotstar Specials
- Disney + Content in dubbed languages like Hindi, Tamil etc.
Does Hotstar Premium include Hotstar VIP?
Yes, the Hotstar Premium gives you access to all content in Hotstar, including all VIP content. The Premium Plan is simply the VIP + all international Content (Hollywood Movies + American TV Shows)
How to identify what content in Hotstar is Premium vs VIP
Premium Videos in Hotstar are marked in Blue Color P symbol (earlier it was Green Crown Icon)
Hotstar VIP Videos are marked with Yellow Color V symbol (earlier it was Orange Star Icon)
Free Videos don’t have any icon or unique identification
Disney Hotstar VIP or Premium Price Comparison
Hotstar VIP is available at a deeply discounted price of Rs. 365/year (now ₹399/year with Disney +). This is probably the cheapest OTT subscription available at almost Rs. 30/month.
On the other hand, the Premium Plan is available at Rs. 999/year ( now ₹1,499/year with Disney+). This might seem almost thrice the cost. But when considering the Hollywood content on offer, it is not expensive either. It is actually a great value for money option if you like to watch American TV shows and Hollywood Movies.
Moreover, if you have Hotstar on TV, you can ask your cable operator to drop all paid Star Channels and the more expensive English Channels whose content is available on Hotstar.
Do keep in mind, however, that the paid subscriptions on Hotstar are not refundable. Also, while you can always switch from VIP to Premium subscription by paying the difference amount. The vice versa is not true i.e. you can’t switch from Premium to VIP.
Which is Better – Disney + Hotstar VIP vs Disney + Hotstar Premium?
There is no right or wrong answer to this. If you are looking to watch only Sports content, then, by all means, go for Hotstar VIP.
All the live sports content including Cricket, Football, Formula 1, Tennis, etc is available on the VIP plan.
But if you are even slightly interested in watching American TV shows and Hollywood movies, Hotstar Premium is the way to go. Considering that Hotstar is now owned by Disney, you can expect a lot of new American content being added in the future.
Hotstar also has a tie-up with HBO, so you get access to exclusive HBO content as well on the Premium Plan.
But if Indian content is all that you want, VIP is the right way to go.
If you are not really sure, you can always start with VIP. You can upgrade to Hotstar Premium anytime during your subscription. For this, you just need to pay the difference amount.
Final Thoughts
Going for the Premium or VIP plan is more a matter of choice of content. The Premium Plan is simply the VIP + All international Content (Hollywood Movies + American TV Shows). Hotstar’s Premium Plan is matched with Amazon Prime at 999/year offering all the Hotstar content.
On the other hand, go for VIP if you intend to use Hotstar only for its Sports Content and want to save on money. Especially, if you are not a big fan of international movies and TV shows, VIP subscription makes sense.
Those who are just started on Hotstar can even consider starting with VIP before upgrading to the Premium Plan.
If you don’t mind spending the money, then simply go with the Hotstar Premium plan which offers you with all the content on Hotstar.
Hotstar Premium is a great value for money subscription, especially if you are using it well. One of the ways to do this is to start watching Hotstar on TV.
