How to share a Netflix subscription

Most of us will know what Netflix is, but for those who don’t, we’ll do a quick explanation: Netflix is an American streaming service offering a large amount of series, films and documentaries for their subscribers to watch. Netflix can be used wherever, whenever, as long as you’re connected to the internet. Added bonus is that you won’t be disturbed by ads. Netflix offers productions by other companies but also produces their own series and films that go by the name of ‘Netflix Originals’.

The subscriptions Netflix offers are a basic, standard and premium one. The basic subscription comes at €7,99 a month and allows one device at a time. The standard subscription costs €10,99 a month and can be used simultaneously on two devices. It also offers HD streaming. The premium subscription costs €13,99 a month and can be used on up to four screens at the same time. So, the amount of devices you can watch Netflix on depends on the type of subscription you’ve opted for. The standard and premium subscription are the only ones that allow more than one device.

At first glance the basic subscription at €7,99 a month is cheapest. You can select this option to save money. However, cheaper still is to opt for a subscription that offers more than one user. As this means you can share the costs with friends or family! You can, for instance, share the price of the premium account with four people. The subscription costs €13,99 a month but divide that by four and your costs will be €3,50 a month! On a yearly basis your Netflix account will cost you €42 euros, instead of the €96 euros that the basic account would have cost you every year. That’s €54 euros saved that you can now spend on other things!

Once you’ve opted for a Netflix account option that you can share with others, it’s very easy to add other users. Log on to your account and click the option ‘add profile’. Fill in the other user's name and add a photo. Is the new account for a child? Then slide over the ‘for kids’ option to the right.

A Netflix subscription with several devices is strictly speaking only meant to be used in one household. However, many accounts are shared by people who don’t live together. Unfortunately, Netflix has realised that this is happening by checking their user data and they’ve decided to not be as lenient anymore. Reason being that they experience a lot of competition from other streaming services such as Appletv+ and Disney+. By selling more subscriptions Netflix can obviously earn more money than by offering shared subscriptions.

Many people wonder whether sharing a Netflix account is illegal or not. As we mentioned earlier, Netflix subscriptions are not meant to be shared outside a household. This is also stated in the terms of use. If Netflix decides to do something about this sharing, they will do so in a user friendly way. By sending out a warning for example, or by temporarily closing down your account. So don’t worry about receiving a fine for sharing your account with friends or family you don’t live with!