Earlier this week, rumour of Netflix testing a new, more affordable plan focusing only on mobile devices started making its round on the internet. Lo and behold, the extremely popular streaming service did just that. Well, for certain markets, anyway.

One such market is Malaysia, and we’re going to discuss if it’s worth subscribing to, especially if the plan is available to you.

Before we get to it, do note that current Netflix subscribers cannot sign up for the plan – it’s simply not available to them. Rather, only new subscribers has access to the new mobile-only subscription tier. It’s probably because of this reason that this plan is only a test at this point in time.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, should you sign up for the new plan? Only if you plan to stream Netflix exclusively on your mobile device. As its name suggests, you can only access Netflix either on a smartphone or tablet. You can’t use the service on a laptop, and obviously, you can’t do so on a TV either. Then again, the question still remains whether or not you can cast to a TV from your mobile device with this plan.

But what makes the new mobile-only subscription such an attractive plan is its price. In Malaysia, it’s priced at only RM17. In comparison, the next most affordable plan costs RM33, which is still limited to only one screen at a time. You do, however, have the freedom to stream on a laptop or TV, but you’ll be paying almost double the price for it. Besides that, both of these plans are also limited to only SD quality – you don’t get HD or Ultra HD (obviously) streaming.

Without a doubt the mobile-only subscription plan offers great value for money, but this is only if you plan on using Netflix as a single individual. If you have others who also want to sign up to the streaming service – especially family members – this new plan is not the best choice.

Of course, we’re talking about account sharing. Although this isn’t in line with Netflix’s terms of use, the CEO of the company, Reed Hastings, encourages this practice. However, Hastings did mention that this should be limited to family members. Personally, we agree: sharing your password with a random stranger isn’t advisable.

So with that in mind, which is the most ideal subscription tier for sharing with other people? The premium plan. For the Malaysian market, it costs RM51, and this tier offers simultaneous streaming on four screens, as well as HD and Ultra HD quality.

Since this plan offers four screens, you can share this plan with up to four different individuals. If you were to split the cost evenly, each of them will only have to fork out RM12.75 – that’s more affordable than the new RM17 mobile-only plan. It gets even better if you happen to be using an iOS device in Malaysia: the premium plan costs RM49.90 instead of RM51. It’s only a slight difference, but hey, it’s still more affordable.

However, you can do this if you have four different people to share with, which is not always possible. But let’s say you’re sharing the premium account with two people – that’s still only RM25.50 each. Considering the fact that you can get Ultra HD streaming and the ability to stream on a laptop or a TV with this plan, the slight extra is pretty darn worth it.

Nonetheless, Netflix’s new mobile-only plan is certainly a very good deal for those who don’t plan to share their account with anyone. It doesn’t necessarily offer the best value for money (assuming you have people to share your account with), but hey, we imagine it will appeal to some folks. After all, account sharing isn’t something everyone is comfortable with, even with family members.