From “Anytime. For free.”
to “Both with ads, for $12.99”

The January 1, 2008 capture shows the homepage at that moment: the wordmark, a box for your email address and a second form for a username and password. The small print makes one promise: Email addresses will only be used for the private beta. Under the pictures, six links: About Us, Contact Us, Hulu Blog, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Jobs.

Hulu was a joint venture of News Corporation and NBC Universal.^[1] WIRED reported that the name came from the Mandarin word for a bottle gourd, a container for precious things, and that the launch team slept on air mattresses in an office with newspaper taped over the windows.^[3]

The beta didn’t last long. On March 12, 2008 Hulu opened to everyone as a free TV service paid for by advertising.^[2]

By July 1, 2009 the browser tab reads Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free. Next to the logo sit two words, TV and Movies, over a grey bar: Channels, Most Popular, Recently Added, Collections, Labs, Trailers, Spotlight.

That year the service owned by News Corporation and NBC Universal made its first Super Bowl commercial. In it, Alec Baldwin describes an evil plot to destroy the world.^[1]

Then comes a black band. It held a Flash carousel, and the page’s code warns that Hulu requires Flash Player 9.0.115.0 or higher. In the replay it renders as an empty black band.

Below it are four columns: Popular Episodes, Popular Clips, Featured Videos and Hulu’s Pick. Episodes show their season and episode number, clips and films their type, and every video its exact length. The Royal Pains pilot runs (1:07:11). A Family Guy excerpt runs (00:54).

The archive saved this page on November 2, 2010, a few hours before the polls opened in the US midterm elections. A blue tile under Featured Content says Election Day Coverage: Tune into Hulu’s Live Streams Lounge Tuesday night for complete Election Day coverage, including political analysis and live results. Beside it, brought to you by and an INFINITI logo. Even the election had a sponsor.

The columns are now Recent Episodes, Popular Clips, Featured Content and My Videos. In the page’s code, the menu for signed-in viewers has an item called Ad Tailor, between Recommendations and My Bookmarks. The code also keeps a developer’s sigh: the code here is ugly, but I have to ...

Something paid had arrived as well. According to TechCrunch, Hulu announced a limited Hulu Plus preview on June 29, 2010, at $9.99 a month and still with ads.^[4]

Hulu Plus launched for everyone on November 17, 2010 at $7.99, cheaper than the preview, and preview subscribers got the difference back automatically.^[5]

On March 1, 2011 a white banner sits above the columns: huluPLUS More TV. On more devices. Try it FREE for 1 week. The top menu has a third item after TV and Movies, Hulu Plus, with a tiny New tag.

The browser tab still says Anytime. For free.

The page’s code shows where the paid plan was going. One message says To watch videos on this device, please subscribe to Hulu Plus. Another reads We notice that you are trying to access Hulu from your unsupported device. A third is about one tablet: The video is not available on the iPad. Hulu Plus was the plan that took full seasons to other devices.^[1]

In September 2011 Hulu reached one million subscribers.^[1]

In December 2012 the columns are gone. One photograph covers the top of the page, a scene from Parks and Recreation, episode Pawnee Commons: Leslie makes a public appeal for park design suggestions. Little dots under it show it is one slide of several.

The header shrinks to the logo, BROWSE, a search box and a link: Try Hulu Plus for Free. Below the photo, the heading TOP 25 CLIPS sits next to a loading spinner. The heading appears, but the clips don’t load.

February 2013 shows Arrow, episode Trust But Verify. June 2014 shows Longmire under a new label, Watch the Full Episode, and a longer menu: TV, MOVIES, ORIGINALS, KIDS, MORE.

The browser tab kept the old promise a little longer. In 2012 and 2013 it reads Watch TV. Watch Movies. | Online | Free | Hulu; in 2014, Free TV Shows and Movies - Watch Your Favorite TV Episodes and Movies Online | Hulu.

These pages were built by JavaScript, and the saved code has almost no words in it apart from a notice: It appears that software on your computer is blocking JavaScript. In the 2014 replay, under the photo, Hulu’s own error text shows through: There was an error on this page (500 error).

On September 2, 2015 Hulu added a plan with no commercials at $11.99 a month, next to the $7.99 plan with limited commercials.^[6] That July, Showtime had become the first premium network you could add to Hulu.^[1]

Our June 2015 capture comes three months before that, and the word free has already left the browser tab. It now reads Watch TV and movies on Xbox, PS3, Apple TV, and more | Hulu. The slide in our capture is Sing it On, From Academy-Award winner John Legend, with the label Watch From the Beginning. In the replay the slide’s background renders grey. Under it is the same 500-error text as in 2014.

Our July 27, 2016 capture is hulu.com/welcome. Over a living-room photo: Hello, welcome to great TV. Then the plans, in one line, Limited Commercials and No Commercials plans available. Starting at $7.99/month. And an extra: SHOWTIME® available for an additional $8.99/month.

The green button says START YOUR FREE TRIAL. On this page, the free thing is a trial of the paid plans. Six content tiles follow, among them New on Hulu, Current-Season TV and Hulu Originals, Premium series you can’t watch anywhere else.

Twelve days after this capture, on August 8, 2016, Hulu said it would end free streaming over the following weeks and move its free programming to Yahoo View.^[7] Engadget reported that Yahoo View would get recent episodes eight days after they aired.^[8]

We have no usable page from 2017. Every capture we tried from that year shows Hulu’s own error page or a notice for browsers without JavaScript. That May, Hulu launched Live TV as a public beta at $39.99 a month.^[9]

By June 2018 the page has one headline, All Your TV In One Place, over a blue-tinted room, and a strip across the top: NEW! Hulu with Live TV Beta - now on select devices. Plans start at $7.99/month; HBO, SHOWTIME and CINEMAX are add-ons. Under the button, in tiny type: Offer available to new subscribers only.

The plan table in the page’s code puts the old Hulu next to the new one. Hulu: Get 1 month free, then starts at $7.99. Hulu with Live TV BETA: Get 7 days free, then starts at $39.99, with 50+ live and on-demand channels.

In June 2019 the layout is the same and one number has moved down: plans starting at $5.99/month. Hulu had cut its plan with ads to $5.99 for new subscribers on February 26, 2019.^[10] The top strip now says NEW! Watch live sports, news and entertainment on Hulu. STARZ joins the add-ons.

In June 2020 the room photo is gone. Behind the same headline is a wall of show posters, and under it a dark strip with three logos, hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+: BUNDLE AND SAVE OVER 25%, Get Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ for $12.99/month. Disney had taken full operational control of Hulu in 2019.^[1] HBO now appears as HBO Max™ in the add-ons line.

In June 2021 the headline is the logo itself, a big green hulu over the posters. In our capture a plan box sits over the top of the page: Select Your Plan, three plans side by side (Hulu, Hulu (No Ads), Hulu + Live TV) and three buttons that all say TRY FOR $0. In 2009 the whole site cost nothing. By 2021, nothing is the price of a trial. The code adds a student deal: $1.99/month so long as student enrollment status remains verified.

From 2022 the bundle is the headline. The June 2022 page puts three logos in a row, hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, over a poster wall with The Handmaid’s Tale and Loki, and one green button: GET THE DISNEY BUNDLE. A small link under it keeps the old way in: Sign up for Hulu only.

The 2023 and 2024 pages drop the posters for two plan cards: DISNEY BUNDLE DUO BASIC, Hulu and Disney+, Both with ads, and DISNEY BUNDLE TRIO BASIC, which adds ESPN+. Duo is $9.99 in both captures; Trio goes from $12.99 to $14.99. In 2024 a green bar asks you to BUILD THE PLAN THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU.

The fine print in the code keeps track of the ads. In 2022 the code’s explanation of Hulu (No Ads) + Live TV ends with No free trial available. By 2024 the plan’s name is Hulu (With Ads) + Live TV. The code also has a door out of the site: Next stop: Shop Hulu, powered by Snowcommerce. In March 2024 Hulu also appeared inside Disney+ for US bundle subscribers.^[1]

In June 2025 the logos swap places. The left card is now DISNEY+, HULU BUNDLE BASIC, Disney+ first, Both with ads, for $10.99/month. The right card adds Max, Plans starting at $16.99/month. A strip below offers Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, all with ads, for $16.99/mo.

In October 2025 Disney said Hulu would replace Star as the general-entertainment brand inside Disney+ around the world.^[11]

The June 2026 capture has a headline again: Entertainment for every day, Bundle plans starting at $12.99/month. Two cards follow. Disney+ and Hulu, Both with ads, for $12.99/month. Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited, All three with ads, for $35.99/month.

A strip promises Save 41% per month with a Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle. The Live TV fine print in the code reads $89.99/mo. after 3-day free trial (if any).

2008 · Beta2026 · Bundles

◀ ▶

The 2008 page asked for an email address and made a promise: Email addresses will only be used for the private beta. In our June 2026 capture the first thing the page offers is a choice of bundles, and the first bundle’s name starts with Disney+.

The page’s description, the text in its code meant for search engines, tells the same story in one word. In 2012 and 2014 it begins Watch TV shows and movies free online. In our 2018–2023, 2025 and 2026 captures it begins Watch TV shows and movies online. The 2024 description uses other words.

The tab that said Anytime. For free. in 2009 reads Stream TV and Movies Live and Online | Hulu in June 2026, and the Live TV offer mentions a three-day free trial, (if any). The ads made the whole trip: free TV with ads in 2009, Limited Commercials in 2016, Both with ads in 2026.