Max is one of the biggest and best streaming services around. The Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) platform, which was previously known as HBO Max before its rebranding in May 2023, has plenty in the way of competition but, with its massive library of movies and TV shows, the price you pay for a monthly or yearly subscription is well worth it.
With Max's password sharing crackdown due to be rolled out in early 2025, you'll have to sign up for your own plan if you've been using a family member or friend's account for the past few years. To that end, we've rounded up all of the latest information on Max's various subscription tiers, including how much they cost and what you get for your money. You can also find out if there are any current deals available, too – although, with Black Friday 2024 having ended, it's unlikely that there'll be any cheap deals around. But we digress: here's everything you need to know about the price of Max.
Max subscription price and plans: your quick guide
As of December 2024, these are the three plans that Max has to offer:
- Ad-Lite plan – $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year
- Ad Free plan – $16.99 a month or $169.99 a year
- Ultimate Ad Free plan – $20.99 a month or $209.99 a year
Each subscription offers all of the WBD-owned content you know and love, too, including a seemingly infinite amount of offerings from Warner Bros. Pictures, DC, Cartoon Network, HBO, and Max Originals.
On top of that, you can also watch the likes of Fixer Upper, 90-Day Finance, and other hit reality TV shows by way of Discovery Plus, while a WBD-A24 deal means any A24 developed movie will exclusively launch on Max before other streamers in the US. A recently implemented in-app featured called 'Channels' will allow subscribers to seamlessly watch a live feed of various HBO programs across a plethora of channels.
There are a couple of key differences, though, between these three plans. Anyone who signs up for one of the ad-supported tiers can only watch Max on two concurrent devices at 1080p resolution and with 5.1 surround sound quality. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Ad Free plan allows up to four people to watch some of the best Max movies and best Max shows at the same time, offers 4K resolution and allows for Dolby Atmos sound quality.
On the downloadable content front, the Ad-Lite plan doesn't let you download films and TV series to watch on the go, the Ad Free tier gifts you 30 offline downloads, the Ultimate package allows you download up to 100 movies and shows for offline viewing.
Devices compatible with Max include Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, iPad, Android, and iPhones.
Max offers: are there any cheap HBO Max deals available right now?
Yes. Black Friday 2024 may have ended, but there are a couple of Max-based deals that may appeal to you. Firstly, new or existing customers of Cricket Wirelesscan sign up to its Unlimited package and bag themselves an Ad Free Max subscription at no extra cost.
Elsewhere, readers can get three of the world's most popular streamers for an unbeatable monthly price – indeed, a Max, Disney Plus, and Hulu mega bundle is available to buy for the surprisingly cost-effective price of $16.99 a month. Finally, anyone who acquires an Amazon Prime account, which comes packaged with a Prime Video subscription of your choosing, can also add Max to their Prime Video plan. To do so, you'll need to fork out an extra $15.99 every 30 days.
"What about a Max free trial?", we hear you ask. Unfortunately, the seven-day offer was discontinued in December 2020 and it hasn't been seen since.
How does the price of Max compare to other streaming services?
To get a good idea of how Max's price points stack up against its competitors, we've compiled a table comparing the biggest platforms ad-free plans.
| Streaming service | Ad-free rate |
|---|---|
| Max | $16.99 - $20.99 a month |
| Disney Plus | $15.99 a month |
| Netflix | $15.49 - $22.99 a month |
| Hulu | $18.99 a month |
| Paramount Plus | $12.99 a month |
| Apple TV Plus | $9.99 a month |
| Peacock TV | $11.99 a month |
Depending on which of Max's ad-free subscriptions you pick, then, only two of its rivals – Netflix and Hulu – cost more. While Max is one of the pricier streaming platforms to sign up to, though, its absolutely massive back catalog of movies and shows, plus the recent addition of a live 24-hour news channel, make it worth the money in our view.
How does the cost of Max compare to Netflix?
Netflix has three plans to choose from:
- Standard with ads: $6.99 a month
- Standard: $15.49 a month
- Premium: $22.99 a month
Netflix’s Standard with ads plan, which is temptingly priced at $6.99 a month, lets you stream on two devices at the same time at up to 1080p, with no downloads. That makes its $3 cheaper than Max's A-Lite tier for the exact same benefits.
Meanwhile, at $15.49 per month, Netflix’s Standard plan is similarly price to Max's Ad Free tier and you get the same benefits on both services. However, Netflix's Standard subscription allows you to download up to 100 shows and/or movies – Max's Ad Free tier is capped at 30.
When it comes to each platform's high-end plans, though, the $20.99 per month Max Ultimate Ad Free plan ramps things up with 4K streaming quality, four concurrent streams, 100 downloads, and Dolby Atmos sound quality. It's also $2 less expensive than Netflix's most costly subscription, but the latter's Premium plan allows you to download onto up to six devices and comes packaged with Netflix Spatial Audio, so the extra cost might not seem so steep when you factor those into it.
All in all, there’s not a lot between them in terms of price, but their libraries are very different. Indeed, Netflix certainly has the upper hand in terms of quantity, with its library boasting nearly three times as much content as Max (17,000 titles globally to Max’s 2,500-plus), meaning there are many more options to include in our best Netflix shows and best Netflix movies guides compared to Max's own library. Netflix also trounces Max regarding the number of titles available to stream in Ultra HD – over 500 whereas Max has somewhere around 40 available in 4K.
How does Max compare to Prime Video?
Like Netflix, there are a couple of Prime Video-related plans to select from:
- Amazon Prime (comes packaged with Prime Video): $14.99 a month (or $139 a year)
- Prime Video membership only: $8.99 a month
An Amazon Prime subscription lets you stream on three devices at once, and download films and TV shows, with video quality topping out at 4K.
Both plans are cheaper than the $16.99/month Ad-Free Max plan, which is limited to two concurrent streams at Full HD, and the $20.99 per month Max Ultimate Ad-Free plan, which lets you stream in 4K on up to four devices at once.
However, it’s fair to say that each service caters to completely different needs. At best, Amazon’s enormous content library can be described as eclectic, with the e-commerce giant catering to all kinds of genres with varying degrees of success. Indeed, the entries on our best Prime Video shows and best Prime Video movies lists won't appeal to everyone, with some people more likely to get much more entertainment out of Max’s Ad-Lite plan than they would from the entire Prime Video library.
However, the ace up Prime Video’s sleeve is the package of bonus extras that it offers. A subscription comes with free delivery and free music streaming, while in NFL’s Thursday Night Football, Prime Video also has a major stake in live sport. The 30-day free trial for new users is very tempting, too, meaning you can consume as much content as you like and, if you don't like what you've seen, you can cancel your subscription before any money leaves your bank account. Without a similar offer, Max simply can't compete with that.
How does Max's price compare to Disney Plus?
There are a wider variety of Disney Plus subscriptions on offer:
- Disney Plus Basic: $9.99 a month
- Disney Plus Premium: $15.99 a month (or $159.99 a year)
- Disney Bundle Duo (Disney Plus & Hulu with ads): $10.99 a month
- Disney Bundle Duo Premium (Disney Plus & Hulu without ads): $19.99 a month
- Disney Bundle Trio Basic (Disney Plus, Hulu, & ESPN Plus with ads): $16.99 a month
- Disney Bundle Trio Premium (Disney Plus, Hulu, & ESPN Plus without ads): $26.99 a month
Disney Plus is one of the most popular streaming services with a beloved collection of lucrative brands, including Marvel, Star Wars, The Simpsons, and Pixar. If you don't mind ads, its $7.99 a month price point provides strong value for money. The variety of bundles on offer, too, mean you'll save money if you don't sign up for individual accounts on all of the Disney-owned platforms (read more details on what you get with each one in our dedicated Disney Plus price guide).
However, the recent price hike means those not wanting adverts will have to pay around the same amount, if not more (depending on which plan you sign up for) as Max's ad-free tiers – particularly if you're an adult yearning for more grounded content.
From a content perspective, the House of Mouse has a relatively slim bounty, with 500 films compared to over 2,000 on HBO Max, and all available for not much more. Still, there are plenty of reasons to snag a Disney Plus subscription, and our best Disney Plus movies and best Disney Plus shows articles are full of reasons why.
How does the cost of Max compare to Apple TV Plus?
Apple TV Plus keeps things simple with a single subscription option:
- Apple TV Plus: $9.99 a month (or $99.99 a year)
At $9.99 per month, an Apple TV Plus subscription costs less than half of Max's most expensive tier. One account can be shared between an additional five people, too, which is more than any other streamer listed here. Furthermore, new Apple TV Plus subscribers get a 7-day free trial as standard. You also also get either three, six, or 12 months for free if you buy any Apple-related product.
Apple TV Plus has been a slow-burn VOD service, quietly accruing subscribers with its high-quality exclusive TV series and films including Ted Lasso, Severance, and surprise 2022 Best Picture Oscar winner CODA. You can see what other top-tier projects are on offer in our dedicated best Apple TV Plus movies and best Apple TV Plus shows guides.
However, given it’s mainly home to Apple Originals, its library of titles is incredibly lean. Indeed, it’s only got about 115 feature films and series, whereas Max has thousands. Still, Apple TV Plus is available for a fraction of the cost of Max, so it's certainly worth trialling if you're looking for films and TV series that are on a par (production quality-wise, at least) as HBO.
How does Max's price points compare to Hulu?
Hulu offers two primary plans:
- Hulu With Ads: $9.99 a month (or $99.99 a year)
- Hulu Ad-Free: $18.99 a month
Like Disney Plus, there are a number of Hulu bundles on offer to customers. Some of them are confusing to cover in brief detail, though, so your best bet is to check out the official Hulu price page for further information.
In terms of price, Hulu no longer undercuts Max from a cost perspective – its on-demand only plan costing $9.99 a month or $99.99 annually costing the same amount as its rival. However, with an impressive library of more than 4,000 titles to stream, Disney Plus' sister streamer gives Max a run for its money in the content stakes. Read our best Hulu movies and best Hulu shows articles for more.
However, in order to provide a similar functionality to a fully-fledged Max subscription, you need to purchase a few add-ons that bump up the price. Want to forgo the annoying adverts? You’ll need to pick the No Ads option. Want to stream on more than two devices at once? Unlimited Screens costs another $9.99, which brings us to a monthly total of $28. Suddenly, that $16.99 HBO Max price for its ‘Ad Free’ plan doesn’t seem so extravagant.
There’s no question that Hulu still offers great value and flexibility. Its Basic plan, which is available to students, is still an unbelievable $1.99 per month, while those looking for a cable TV experience can upgrade to Hulu with Live TV for $76.99 a month. On top of a roster of more than 75 live channels and a vast VOD library, you'll get Disney Plus and sports service ESPN Plus thrown in for good measure.
While Hulu beats HBO Max in the price wars, though, few would disagree that, when it comes to sheer quality of content, HBO takes the crown – and any naysayers can take their disputes to Tony Soprano.
For more streaming coverage, check out our guides on the best Paramount Plus movies, best Paramount Plus shows, how to watch the Marvel movies in order, and how to watch the DC movies in order.
