Netflix Unveils Plans To Charge U.S. Customers for Account Sharing

Are you sharing your Netflix account with friends and family?

If so, you might want to brace yourself for a higher monthly bill from the popular video on-demand streaming service.

Netflix recently announced plans for charging customers who are sharing accounts in the United States. This news comes after months of testing policies in other countries and signaling that the U.S. might be next on their crackdown list.

In this article, I’ll walk you through what this new policy could mean for your wallet.

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Netflix Will Soon Charge a Fee for Multi-Household Usage

Netflix made a clear statement to customers with its latest announcement: “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with.”

Terming this arrangement as a “household,” Netflix says people who live together can use the same account at home, on the go and while traveling without any penalty.

However, the days of letting friends and family (that don’t live with you) use your password to watch shows and movies appear to be coming to an end.

Netflix introduced a $7.99 per month charge to “buy an extra member” for sharing with people outside your household.

Though the announcement did not set a clear date on when this policy will be enforced, it’s worth noting that Netflix has already started contacting customers it believes are account sharing to go over their options.

Beginning May 23, 2023, Netflix began sending the following message to members who it detected were sharing Netflix outside their household in the United States:

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What Can You Do to Make Sure Your Netflix Account Is Compliant?

If you’re someone who wasn’t knowingly sharing your account or someone who is looking to come “above board” to make sure your account is compliant moving forward, there are a few steps you can take.

1. Check Who Is Using Your Netflix Account

You can login to your Netflix account and review the devices that have been accessing your Netflix account.

If you spot a device from someone you don’t know, notice an old device is still logged in, or flag one of your non-household friends or family as a signed-in device, you’ll need to take action.

You can manually select those devices from the list and choose to sign them out of your Netflix account. This will make them have to log back in with the correct password the next time they try to access the Netflix app.

2. Change Your Netflix Password

Now that you’ve confirmed only approved household devices are logged into the account, you may want to take the extra precaution of freshening up your password.

This will ensure that the people who were previously accessing it won’t just log right back in.

3. Offer To Help Non-Household Members Transfer Their Profiles

Netflix is trying to make this policy shakeup as painless as possible, so they’re allowing people to take a profile from an existing Netflix account and transfer it to a new membership with no penalty.

So, for example, let’s say you’ve been sharing an account with your friend a few states over for the last decade. They probably have developed quite a collection of favorites and have progress being saved on all their binge-worthy shows.

Netflix is allowing for them to take all of that saved profile information with them to their new membership. It’s going to cost your friend more money, but, then again, Netflix is probably right in implying that they’ve been enjoying free access for long enough.

4. Pay Up for the Extra Member

If the thought of splitting up your Netflix friendship is just too much to bear, you still have the option to pay to keep your arrangement in place.

Netflix is going to charge you $7.99 per month per extra member on the account. This price point may force some tough decisions on whether to keep your non-household members on the account.

You may want to suggest they look to buy a membership on their own. At $6.99 per month, the ad-supported version of Netflix (Standard with Ads) is actually a little cheaper as a standalone option than paying to keep someone on an existing account.

Note: If you pay for Netflix through a third-party, such as T-Mobile, you will not be able to pay to add an extra member at this time.

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Final Thoughts

We all knew this day would come.

Netflix has been signaling for months that the United States would experience a crackdown on password sharing between households.

But they’ve done plenty to soften this announcement.

First, they introduced an affordable ad-supported subscription option for those on a tight budget. Then, they announced that they’d let users transfer a profile from an existing account to a new membership to keep you from losing your favorites.

And, now, they’re even offering a way to keep the party going for $7.99 per month per person outside the household.

It’s a bummer that password sharing for Netflix appears to be ending, but you can’t say they haven’t given ample notice and provided a variety of solutions.

Do you share a Netflix account with someone outside your household? How will this impact your situation? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.

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