You May Soon Have to Pay EXTRA to Share Your Netflix Password

Currently, there’s a battle happening in the world of streaming.

Netflix and Disney+ are competing for subscribers and content, and so far, Netflix has been in the lead, considering Disney+ was just launched in 2019. But now, Netflix is testing a big change that may cause difficulties for some subscribers.

According to Variety, Netflix is about to launch a test that will have primary account holders paying a fee to share passwords with users outside of their household. The Netflix terms of service currently state that customers’ accounts “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household,” but Netflix didn’t crack down on this rule for a while.

Last year, they ran a limited test that prompted users to enter their account credentials, hoping that this would encourage “freeloaders” to pay for their own subscriptions. Now, the new method is set to test in three countries in the next few weeks: Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.

Chengyi Long, director of product innovation at Netflix has shared the details about this change, noting “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans.” Long wrote in a blog post that, “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”

This test will introduce the “add an extra member” feature. With this, those who are subscribed to Netflix’s Standard and Premium plans will be able to add subsidiary accounts for up to two people they don’t live with. Each account will get its own profile, personalized recommendations, login, and password. During the test period, adding a sub-member costs 2380 CLP in Chile, $2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru.

“We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world,” Long noted in the blog post. Netflix is testing out the ability to let profiles be transferred to new accounts, making it easier for password-sharers to get their own subscriptions.