The big differences between R99 vs R199 Netflix
South Africans can stream movies and TV shows on Netflix, the world’s most popular streaming service, at monthly fees ranging from R49 to R199.
The streaming giant offers four plans in the country — Mobile, Basic, Standard, and Premium — each of which lets you stream from the same catalogue of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows.
Excluding the recently-launched Mobile plan, the other three options have been available in the country since 2016 and let subscribers watch on a TV, computer, smartphone, tablet, and media boxes or streaming sticks.
For five years after Netflix officially became available in South Africa, the price difference between the Basic and top-end Premium options was around R60 to R70.
At launch, a Netflix Basic plan cost $7.99 (R126 at the time), Standard was $9.99 (R158 at the time), and Premium cost $11.99 (or about R190 at the time).
Netflix began denominating its South African prices in rands in August 2018, charging R99 for Basic, R139 for Standard, and R169 for Premium.
In October 2021, Netflix announced its first price increase for South Africa. It increased Netflix Standard to R159 and Premium to R199 per month.
That makes Premium more than double the cost of Basic and raises the question — what are you getting for the extra money?
Streaming quality and other enhancements
The first and most obvious difference is the maximum streaming resolution — which directly impacts the overall visual quality of content.
Mobile and Basic cap streaming resolutions at the standard definition of 480p, roughly the resolution of old analogue TV broadcasts.
While it’s more than adequate for viewing on a small mobile device’s screen, the picture becomes a bit soft when you stream at that resolution on a 32-inch TV and bigger.
Standard gets you up to 1080p full high definition (FHD), which dramatically increases the sharpness of the image, which is great for viewing on larger TVs.
Most new TVs on the South African market, even at the entry-level, can support at least 720p high definition, a standard often referred to as HD Ready.
Netflix Premium lets you enjoy content at a resolution gradually becoming the industry standard — 2160p, or 4K ultra-high definition.
This quality boasts four times as many pixels as Full HD, resulting in a crisp and more life-like image.
But aside from a sharper picture, Premium also supports visual and sound-enhancing technologies like HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos in supported titles.
HDR10 and Dolby Vision are standards that certain high-end TVs support that show they are capable of excellent dynamic range and colour reproduction, with super bright highlights and deep blacks.
Dolby Atmos is a virtual surround sound technology which mimics a surround sound system on supported TVs and soundbars.
Recommended speeds and data usage
Keep in mind that the quality you stream at will significantly influence your data usage, and Netflix recommends having a certain download speed to support different resolutions.
The table below outlines its recommended speeds for typical resolutions and the estimated data usage per hour when streaming at that quality.
| Netflix recommended speeds and data consumption | ||
| Streaming resolution | Recommended download speed | Data usage per hour at max quality |
| 480p (SD) | 1Mbps | 0.3GB |
| 720p (HD) | 3Mbps | 1GB |
| 1080p (Full HD) | 5Mbps | 3GB |
| 4K (Ultra HD) | 15Mbps | 7GB |
If you don’t have a FHD or 4K TV, Standard or Premium might still be your preferred option if you have a household with multiple people who want to watch different shows simultaneously.
That is because Standard and Premium offer up to two or four concurrent streams, respectively, while Basic only allows for streaming on one device at a time.
Fortunately, while some video streaming services impose a limit on the number of devices you can use to sign in, Netflix does not.
The only curbs it puts on devices is how many you can use to download movies or TV shows for offline watching when you don’t have a connection.
Mobile and Basic permit one device to have downloads at any given time, while Standard increases this to two, and Premium allows for downloads on up to four devices.
When to go mobile
While Basic might not be a great option for many TV owners, it certainly offers bang for buck for those who are not too bothered about quality.
If you don’t have a TV or computer but own a smartphone or tablet, Netflix Mobile is ideal at just R49 per month.
Its features are nearly identical to Basic but can only be used on a mobile device.
The table below compares the features and pricing of the four Netflix plans available in South Africa.
| Netflix South Africa plans compared | ||||
| Mobile | Basic | Standard | Premium | |
| Supported devices | Mobile phone, tablet | Mobile phone, tablet, computer, TV, streaming box | Mobile phone, tablet, computer, TV, streaming box | Mobile phone, tablet, computer, TV, streaming box |
| Device sign-in limit | None | None | None | None |
| Device download limit | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Number of personalised profiles | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Concurrent streams | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Maximum streaming quality | 480p (SD) | 480p (SD) | 1080p (Full HD) | 2160p (4K Ultra HD) |
| Dolby Vision or HDR10 | No | No | No | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | No | No | No | Yes |
| Dolby 5.1 Surround | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Price | R49 | R99 | R159 | R199 |
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