Netflix password sharing crackdown: How much extra will it cost you?

Been sharing your Netflix password with friends and family? Now Australians will soon have to pay extra.

The streaming giant Netflix has officially started its crackdown on password sharing in Australia.

It is beginning to send out emails to subscribers in Australia who are sharing Netflix outside their household.

When will it cost me extra to share my Netflix password with friends and family?

As of 24 May 2023, Netflix will send out emails to those in Australia that are sharing their password outside their household. The move was foreshadowed in April, and now the rollout of it has begun.

Netflix reinforces that "a Netflix account is for use by one household", meaning that you won't be able to share your password with friends or relatives outside your home any longer.

A survey conducted by Finder found that 41% of Australians share a password for a streaming service with a friend or family member living in another house, so this change is set to impact a huge chunk of people.

A massive 45% of respondents said they would cancel their subscription to a streaming service if paid password sharing was introduced.

How much will it cost for Netflix password sharing?

It will cost $7.99 a month extra to add an extra person to your Netflix account.

You're only able to add extra members on the Standard and Premium plans, and you're unable to add extra members on Netflix's Basic or Standard with Ads plans.

On the Standard plan, you can add 1 extra member, while on Premium you can add 2.

A Standard Netflix subscription with 1 extra member will cost $24.98 a month.

What else do I need to know about Netflix's changes?

Extra members are unable to be added on third-party billed accounts or if your Netflix account was part of a package. This means if you subscribe to Netflix in a bundle with your phone or internet plan, or through a third-party like Apple or Google, you can't add extra members.

Adding an extra member is not available right now, with Netflix to release more details at a later date.

Netflix has been offering "paid sharing" in New Zealand, Canada, Spain and Portugal since February 2023, and an earlier initial rollout in 3 Latin American countries.

What happens from here?

You will have to opt-in to add an extra member to your Netflix account, so Netflix won't start automatically charging if someone outside your household uses it.

But there are reports Netflix has been blocking accounts in those markets where passwords appear to be shared without payment, with no confirmation on when this will start happening in Australia.

If you're concerned about the extra cost, it might be time to consider shifting to a better streaming service.

Can I avoid paying an extra member fee and still share my Netflix password?

You can't avoid the extra fee when 2 households use the same account, but you could reconfigure your plans to spend less than the minimum new charge of $24.98.

For one, you could have 2 separate Basic accounts that cost $10.99 a month each, which would allow 2 households to access Netflix for $22.

To save even more, 2 separate Standard with Ads accounts could be created, which cost $6.99 a month each. Yes, this means you'd have to watch ads during your shows, but it means both households can access Netflix for a total of $14 – $9 a month less than adding an extra member to a Standard account.

Another option is to ditch Netflix entirely, as there are other streaming services out there that cost less and aren't as forcefully cracking down on sharing passwords.

With Disney Plus for example, you can sign up for $13.99 a month, and you can watch on 4 devices at once (and if you pay upfront for a year, you only pay for 10 months).

Or if you sign up to Prime Video, you get a bigger catalogue than Netflix for only $9.99 a month and you're allowed to stream on 3 devices at the same time.

UPDATE: We updated this article on 24 May 2023 as password sharing fees were officially launched in Australia.