Blockbuster vs Netflix: Online Movie Rental Plans Compared

It’s been a couple years since we started renting movies over the web at our house. And while we’re having fun playing in the early stages of the full-video-access-over-the-web revolution, renting DVDs via the mail will probably be a vital part of our home entertainment world for a while to come. And even though the we’ve been satisfied with our current rental plan, every once in a while the age-old question pops up, and it’s as relevant in 2008 as it was four years ago: Which is better, Netflix or Blockbuster?

While there are some smaller players in the rental business, for the critical items like option plans and movie selections, more is definitely better. Both Blockbuster.com and Netflix will are at the top of the game when it comes to selection, convenient returns, reviews, personalized recommendations, gift cards — and a place to buy DVDs on the cheap.

For all their similarities, there’s a lot to pick and choose from between these two. In fact, the differences between the two are much greater now than in past years, which makes it easier than ever to pick the plan that suits your needs best.

Ask yourself a few basic questions about what’ll make your life easier . How many videos do you go through in an average month? How important is access to video games as opposed to movie streaming? Is driving to the neighborhood store no big deal or an inconvenient drag? Once you consider your priorities, picking the right plan is a snap.

Blockbuster’s In-Store Exchanges

When Blockbuster Total Access service came out in 2004 with free unlimited in-store exchanges for DVDs received through the mail, it was an offer that Netflix ultimately couldn’t match. But while this extra value was key in helping Blockbuster gain new subscribers, the program proved just too expensive to maintain — Blockbuster’s profitable in-store rentals were being cannibalized by their own customers moving online and exchanging DVDs in-store for free.

So last year, Blockbuster came out with Blockbuster By Mail (a mail-only plan similar to Netflix), put caps on monthly in-store exchanges for regular Total Access members, and introduced Total Access Premium, with unlimited in-store exchanges for a higher monthly fee. These changes were intended to drive profitable traffic back to their 2,000 brick & mortar locations nationwide.

While there’s a degree of potential convenience in the mail-and-store strategy, you’d best be careful here: Blockbuster prices its products differently online and off. While an online DVD rental is free from due dates and late fees, once you exchange your title in a retail store, the new rental will probably come with a return deadline. Miss it and you’re racking up late fees again.

After you’ve enjoyed your movie, you’ll need to return that in-store exchange back to the store where you rented it. While you can return a mailed DVD to a store, you can’t return store-rented movies by mail.

So if the local Blockbuster store fits into your day, Total Access or Total Access Premium deserves a close look. You can also use your in-store exchanges for video game rentals — a nice plus that you won’t find on Netflix. Blockbuster’s running a special deal on the Total Access 3-at-a-time plan, offering half price for the first month.

Netflix: More Movies, More Plans

If making additional trips to stores isn’t your idea of a time saver, then the Netflix vs. Blockbuster comparison becomes much simpler.

For mail-only plans, prices are comparable. Even though Blockbuster will save you a buck a month on a couple of its plans, Netflix has the larger library. Either one will have you covered for recent releases and Hollywood hits, but when you’re looking for that hard-to-find classic or indie title, that additional thousand titles can make a big difference.

And even though Blockbuser has eleven different plans to choose from, they max out at three simultaneous rentals. At our house, we started off with the 3 at-a-time plan, but quickly realized the benefits of giving everyone a movie of their choice. For us, four at-a-time is the magic number, and Netflix has the plan that fits. And, they offer a cool free trial.

DVDs by Mail: Netflix.com and Blockbuster

	Netflix.com	Blockbuster.com
		Blockbuster Total Access	Blockbuster By Mail
Subscribers	7,500,000	2,600,000
DVD Titles	100,000	80,000
Postal Delivery
DVD Distribution	free delivery via 1st class mail
Postal Returns	postage-paid return envelope
Distribution Centers	100+ mail distribution centers in US	39 distribution centers across US, plus X,000 in-store exchange loactions
Pricing Plans
Unlimited Monthly Rentals	Price per Month
8 DVDs at-a-time	$47.99	N/A
7 DVDs at-a-time	$41.99	N/A
6 DVDs at-a-time	$35.99	N/A
5 DVDs at-a-time	$29.99	N/A
4 DVDs at-a-time	$23.99	N/A
3 DVDs at-a-time	$16.99	$19.99 includes 5 in-store exchanges $34.99 Premium, unlimited in-store exchanges	$15.99
2 DVDs at-a-time	$13.99	$16.99 includes 3 in-store exchanges $29.99 Premium, unlimited in-store exchanges	$13.99
1 DVD at-a-time	$8.99	$11.99 includes 3 in-store exchanges $21.99 Premium, unlimited in-store exchanges	$8.99
2 Monthly Rentals:
1 DVD at-a-time	$4.99	$9.99 includes 2 in-store exchanges	$3.99

Movies on Your Laptop: Netflix.com or Blockbuster’s MovieLink

Now that you’ve figured out the best way to get DVDs into and out of your life, let’s talk instant access to watching movies online.

Both Netflix and Blockbuster offer online movie viewing, but the two companies have taken dramatically different approaches.

Netflix includes free streaming of over 7,000 titles directly to your PC with each of its DVD-by-Mail plans. Though the lowest threshold rental plan (2 DVDs per month) limits you to 2 hours instant access per month, all other Netflix plans include unlimited instant access. And all this instantly available view-on-demand full-length commercial-free content is absolutely free with your monthly subscription.

And while 7,000 online titles is a small fraction of the entire Netflix library, my S.O. and I currently have 78 movies in our queue. Seventeen of these — over 20% — are available to watch instantly, streaming full-length, commercial-free, on demand. A nice option, especially when we’re on the road or if the DVDs are en route.

Comparing Blockbuster’s instant access solution is almost unfair. Last year Blockbuster purchased MovieLink, an online rental site which offers movie rentals via download. Similar to the iTunes movie rentals, you pay per movie. The file downloads to your PC, and will be erased 24 hours after viewing begins. Blockbuster and MovieLink are separate services, there’s no need to subscribe to Blockbuster to rent (or buy) digital movies from MovieLink. With 5,000 titles available, MovieLink puts Apple TV’s current selection to shame. But here again, BlockBuster pales in comparison to the NetFlix instant access library.

Online Access: Netflix vs MovieLink

Choose and Enjoy

Deciding which company is right for you can be pretty simple — once you’ve figured out how many movies you’re likely to consume, and how you value getting movies in a store versus on your laptop.

Both Blockbuster and Netflix are good bets to be around for the long run, and as web-based delivery methods get faster and easier, we’re sure to see these guys revise their offerings and their prices. Both companies have hinted at new strategies and partnerships to be introduced this year, and the entire online video market is heating up with new competition like never before. Which reminds me of one other appealing aspect to both Netflix and Blockbuster: unlike your mobile phone company, you can change or cancel your plan anytime and move on to the next new thing.