Our resident expert’s review of HBO Max
Our resident expert’s review of HBO Max
Is HBO Max worth the price of a subscription? Read the thoughts of one longtime subscriber.
Sorting your way through all the various streaming services now available can feel like a full-time job. Deciding which streamer has the library you want to watch at a price you can afford shouldn’t require hours of study, but that’s exactly what it feels like streamers are asking for these days.
At The Streamable, we think trying to choose between streaming services should be easy. So, if you’re thinking about signing up for HBO Max, keep reading; we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the service’s library, features, and pricing to help you decide if HBO Max is a good choice for you!
Reviewing HBO Max: Is the streamer worth it?
What is HBO Max?
HBO Max is an on-demand streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It includes a selection of TV shows and movies sourced from WBD-owned cable channels, with a focus on content from the premium channel HBO.
News and sports content are also available on HBO Max, but the HBO library lies at the core of the streamer. Audiences can watch HBO Max in more than 100 countries around the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, and other areas.
How much is HBO Max?
| HBO Max plan | Price | Ads? | Full library? | Live sports? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic with Ads | $11 per month $110 per year |
Yes | Yes | No |
| Standards | $18.49 per month $185 per year |
No | Yes | Yes |
| Premium | $22 per month $220 per year |
No | Yes | Yes |
Is HBO Max available in any bundles?
At the moment, HBO Max is available in one SVOD bundle that can be purchased by the general public: the Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max bundle, which costs $20 per month for ad-supported service or $33 monthly to go ad-free. Viewers can sign up for this bundle through the Disney+ website.
Customers can also get HBO Max in one of several StreamSaver bundles from Xfinity. These are only available to subscribers of Xfinity internet and TV packages, however. Audiences can enjoy access to HBO Max’s Standard plans with a Philo Bundle subscription for $33 per month, or to its Basic plan with DIRECTV’s MyEntertainment Genre Pack for $43 per month.
How is the ad experience on HBO Max?
When we reviewed the HBO Max ad experience in 2025 — when the service was still called simply “Max” — the streamer had one of the best experiences of any on the market. But things have changed since then; a few months after our review, HBO Max increased its ad load to around six minutes of commercials per hour.
What’s in HBO Max’s content library?
As mentioned, HBO Max is built around prestige TV shows from HBO’s past and present. That includes older shows like “The Sopranos” and “The Wire,” and spans the intervening decades. Modern HBO titles like “Dune: Prophecy,” “Euphoria,” “Hacks,” “House of the Dragon,” and more are also found on the streaming service.
HBO Max also offers TV shows and movies from Warner Bros. and includes some of the company’s biggest franchises. Series and films from DC Comics, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, and Lord of the Rings are found on HBO Max, as are a selection of Turner Classic Movies and decades’ worth of classic films from the WB archives. A24 films also stream on HBO Max first, thanks to a pay-1 deal between the studio and WBD.
The streamer’s content collection doesn’t stop there; it also features on-demand streams of titles from cable channels owned by WBD, including Animal Planet, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, Magnolia Network, OWN, and Travel Channel. Nearly all of the most popular titles from these various networks stream on HBO Max.
Live news doesn’t have a big presence on HBO Max any longer, but the streamer still features titles like “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and other CNN Original titles on demand. For live CNN content, viewers will now have to seek out a CNN+ subscription.
Does HBO Max have live channels?
You won’t find live channels like CNN or other WBD-owned networks on HBO Max. But the streamer does offer linear feeds of HBO Networks, as well as curated always-on channels made up of popular titles in the HBO Max library, such as the Harry Potter movies.
What sports are available on HBO Max?
HBO Max’s ad-free plans allow viewers to watch live sporting events found on TNT, TBS, and truTV. This inventory includes regular-season and playoff games from the NBA and NHL, games from the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the French Open, College Football Playoff games sublicensed from ESPN, U.S. national soccer, AEW programming, auto racing, cycling, and more.
Customers who are subscribed to the ad-supported HBO Max Basic plan cannot watch live sports with their subscription. Ad-free HBO Max subscribers get live sports included at no extra cost.
What are HBO Max’s key features?
HBO Max allows subscribers to stream on up to two devices in the same household simultaneously on both the Basic and Standard plans. The HBO Max Premium plan increases the stream limit to four devices, but they must all be in the same household.
Customers cannot use premium audio or visual formats on the HBO Max Standard plan; those are reserved for Premium subscribers. Two of the three HBO Max plans also allow downloads for offline viewing — see details in the table below.
| HBO Max plan | 4K video | Premium audio | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic with Ads | No | No | No |
| Standards | No | No | Up to 30 titles |
| Premium | Yes | Dolby Atmos | Up to 100 titles |
What devices can you watch HBO Max on?
HBO Max is available on a wide selection of top smart TV and streaming device operating systems, including
- Apple TV
- Amazon Fire TV
- Google TV
- LG
- Roku
- Samsung
- VIZIO
- Xumo
The HBO Max app is also found on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Xfinity X1 and Flex devices, Cox devices, the DIRECTV Gemini player, and Android and iOS mobile devices. Viewers can also watch the streamer on its website on all major web browsers.
One subscriber’s perspective of HBO Max
HBO Max is actually one of my favorite streaming services. The allure of its prestige content has always been strong for me; HBO hooked me 20 years ago with “Band of Brothers,” and while I haven’t loved all titles from the channel since, I continue to maintain an HBO Max subscription for rewatches as well as new titles.
The rewatch value of the streamer is quite high thanks to shows like “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones.” And for fans of WBD cable channels, the service is an invaluable repository for bingeable shows like “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and “Property Brothers: Forever Home.” And that’s before even mentioning the thousands of movies from the Warner Bros. studio and its decades of history found on HBO Max.
As an ad-free subscriber, I get access to the live sports on TNT — another big plus from my perspective. I take advantage of this availability most often during the NHL playoffs, but it also comes in particularly clutch during March Madness time. HBO Max allows me to skip a live TV streaming service that would otherwise be required to access TNT Sports events, adding quite a bit of value to the service in my eyes.
The HBO Max interface is also one of my favorites in streaming. It’s simple, easy to navigate, and effectively laid out. Viewers can sort by brand, genre, series, or movies on HBO Max, and its algorithm is one of the most effective at surfacing truly relevant recommendations, in my view.
If you’re not a fan of prestige TV, HBO Max probably won’t be for you. But if you are, a subscription is going to be well worth your time, even if you opt for the ad-supported basic plan. There’s simply too much high-quality content on HBO Max not to at least try the streamer if you’ve never signed up before.
HBO Max
HBO Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library and exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Within HBO Max, B/R Sports allows users to watch live NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.