Disney Plus entered the streaming market with a bang. It came with a solid content library, interesting features and a competitive price point. The service is also home to beloved brands like Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, which makes it even more appealing. The success of Disney Plus was to the detriment of more established streaming services, especially vs Stan.
Stan suffered a big loss of content when Disney Plus debuted in Australia, but continued to invest in original productions to make up for it. Fast forward to present day and Stan still has a vast library, including movies from a wide variety of genres and strong TV offerings.
So if you have to pick between the 2 platforms, which is a better fit? Let's compare Disney Plus with Stan to figure things out.
Let's start with a top-line comparison of what each service offers.
Disney Plus offers a single subscription plan for $13.99 a month (or $139.99 a year). That gives you access to the entire library of content, with selected titles in 4K quality and a few Marvel films available in Imax Enhanced. It also lets you stream on 4 different devices at once and offers offline viewing.
Meanwhile, Stan offers 3 price points depending on the quality and perks you're after. You can get Stan Basic for $12 a month, but that only enables you to watch videos in SD quality on 1 screen at a time and download content on 1 device.
Stan Standard costs $16 a month and lets you watch titles in HD quality. It supports 3 simultaneous streams and lets you enjoy offline viewing on up to 3 devices. Finally, Stan Premium opens the platform's vault of 4K content for $21 a month. It also lets you stream on 4 screens simultaneously and download videos on up to 5 separate phones or tablets. Every plan comes with a 30-day free trial.
You can also get the Stan Sport add-on for live and on-demand sports - rugby union, UEFA Champions League, Grand Slam tennis and more. It costs $15 a month on top of your existing Stan subscription.
Bottom line? Disney Plus is cheaper than 2 of the 3 Stan options, especially compared to the local streamer's Premium plan. That's the only 1 that lets you watch selected titles in 4K quality. Disney Plus also offers an annual package, which offers a discount compared to if you pay monthly. With Stan, you can only pay month-to-month. All that being said, Disney Plus doesn't have a free trial, while Stan still offers new customers 30 days to try it out.
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When talking about content, things are not as straightforward as they might seem at first sight. Disney Plus offers 949 TV shows and 2,055 movies. Meanwhile, Stan has 958 shows and 13,104 movies. If you look at it from a strict numbers perspective, the services are pretty evenly matched.
Sheer quantity, however, isn't always a good factor to consider when choosing a service to join. It ultimately comes down to your personal tastes, viewing habits and entertainment needs. As such, the 2 streaming services are very different.
Disney Plus has a lot of family-oriented titles, which makes it a great service the entire family can use. But there is also its adult-orientated Star channel. You can enjoy titles not only from Disney itself but also from Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Pixar. We're talking a lot of blockbusters you won't be able to stream anywhere else. When you add in hundreds of hours of TV from Disney Channel and animated classics, there is plenty of choice.
Stan offers a lot of Australian original productions, both of the TV and movie variety. Disney is slowly starting to expand into Australian originals, such as The Clearing and The Artful Dodger.
If Australian content important to you, the local streamer might be a better addition to your entertainment roster.
Stan doesn't really excel on the movie front. It does offer a big catalogue of titles, but most of those are classics or older flicks. That being said, you can find intriguing originals in the vein of Nude Tuesday, Poker Face or Christmas Ransom. Stan also offers live sport via the Stan Sport add-on, something lacking from Disney Plus.
Finally, once a show or movie is on Disney Plus, it will likely be there forever. Content on Stan can disappear with little notice due to distribution deals, such as with future original NBCUniversal content no longer going to Stan from 2023 onwards.
All in all, both platforms offer a lot of quality titles, so you'll have plenty to watch regardless of which option you choose.
Check out our list of best shows and movies on each service.
As far as features are concerned, both platforms are fairly equal. With both services, the streaming experience itself is more or less seamless.
There are closed captions and audio descriptions on selected titles. However, Disney Plus does have the option to watch a majority of its titles in other languages such as Italian. It also enables you to watch content online with the GroupWatch feature, something you can't do on Stan.
Both Stan and Disney Plus have slick interfaces and multiple profiles. You can add titles to a watchlist to better keep track of content you're interested in. And you can set up kids' profiles to limit content to a certain classification. Users can download titles to mobile devices for offline use.
At the end of the day, both services are user-friendly, so you can't go wrong with either one. Disney Plus though takes out the title for ease of use and navigation.
Both Stan and Disney Plus are available on almost every device. Check the table below for details.
| Device | Stan | Disney Plus |
|---|---|---|
| PC/Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| iOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows tablet | ✖ | ✓ |
| Smart TV (selected models) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android TV | ✓ | ✓ |
| Apple TV | ✓ | ✓ |
| Telstra TV | ✓ | ✓ |
| Amazon Fire | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chromecast/Airplay | ✓ | ✓ |
| PS3 | ✓ | ✖ |
| PS4, PS5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xbox One | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xbox Series S|X | ✖ | ✓ |
| Set top box | ✓ | ✓ |
As you can see, Stan and Disney Plus are available on most devices, but there are a few points of difference.
Stan discontinued its Windows app in 2022, Disney Plus has the advantage there with Windows users.
The 2 services are similar with regards to viewing on gaming devices, but with some important differences. If you do your streaming through an older PlayStation 3, then only Stan has an option for that. Or if you have a later model Xbox Series S|X, then Stan is not compatible with that and you can only use for Disney Plus.
Stan is also available on a wider range of smart TVs that Disney Plus isn't, such as Sony, TCL, Toshiba, Kogan and EKO, among others.
If you have Foxtel iQ and want to also view Stan or Disney Plus through their iQ box, only Disney Plus is available.
Disney Plus is a solid pick for diehard Disney fans. If you're into brands like Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, it's definitely a must as it gives you access to titles from their libraries for a single monthly (or annual) fee. It also works well for families with kids who want to have movies like Frozen easily accessible. The lack of a free trial for Disney Plus may turn some people away, vs Stan still offering a generous month-long trial period.
If local content and sport are what you're after, Stan is the better choice. Although Disney has plans to increase its output of Australian shows, there's been no indication of live sport arriving on the service. Stan also offers a more eclectic mix of TV shows and movies, something that will likely appeal to viewers who aren't particularly interested in watching buzzy shows and movies and prefer to discover less talked-about but equally great gems.
Disney has big future plans and gets our nod overall. Either way, the streaming wars are getting increasingly enticing.
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