How High Will Max Prices Rise This Year? What Streaming Alternatives Are Available to Help You Save?
Reports circulated Wednesday that Max is highly likely to raise its prices by the end of 2024 amidst other cost-saving measures.
Warner Bros. Discovery officials warned us it was coming, and now it’s about to arrive. On Wednesday, reports emerged that WBD’s streaming platform Max was set to raise its price at some point in 2024, as CEO David Zaslav continues to try and dig out from a $40 billion mountain of debt. The Streamable has been tracking the price of a Max subscription since the streamer originally launched as HBO Max in 2020, and we have come to an expert opinion on how much we think you’ll have to pay for the streamer when the price goes up; we’ve also assembled a number of lower-cost alternatives if the rate hike is too much for your budget.
Key Details:
- With an ad-supported plan starting at $9.99 per month, Max is already one of the market’s most expensive SVOD services.
- The streamer’s first price increase came in 2023, when the cost of an ad-free subscription rose from $14.99 to $15.99.
- Disney+, Paramount+, and NBC all offer entertainment and sports options similar to those found on Max.
The news of Max’s impending price increase was not accompanied by any details on when exactly subscribers could expect to see the cost go up, or how much more they could expect to pay. But given what we know about Max’s past price increases it is safe to assume that the streamer could be in for a hefty increase.
WBD has always felt comfortable charging a premium price for Max. Back when the streamer launched in 2020 as HBO Max, it charged $14.99 per month for an ad-free streaming plan, $3 more than viewers would pay for Netflix’s cheapest ad-free plan and almost twice as much as the $7.99 per month Disney+ was charging at the time. The presence of prestige TV from HBO justified the price in the minds of many viewers, especially considering that the only other way to get that content was to pay for a cable or satellite plan that included the channel.
When HBO Max did increase prices for the first time in 2023, it jumped just $1 from $14.99 per month to $15.99 to stream ad-free. The ad-supported plan remained steady at $9.99 per month, and when HBO Max rebranded as Max in May 2023 it also rolled out a more expensive “Ultimate” ad-free plan with additional features for $19.99 per month.
We predict that all plans will rise in price for Max this time. The ad-supported tier will likely jump by $2 or $3 per month, as will the ad-free tier. The Ultimate plan could see the biggest jump of all, as its viewers are already accustomed to paying more for additional features, and it does not have the added revenue benefits of also including advertising.
| Max Plan | Current Price | Predicted New Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ad-supported | $9.99 per month | $12.99 per month |
| Ad-free | $15.99 per month | $18.99 per month |
| Ultimate | $19.99 per month | $24.99 per month |
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with 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. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.
What Alternatives to Max Offer Similar Programming?
Disney+ stands out as a fantastic alternative to Max, particularly considering recent news that it will add an ESPN tile with select live content from that sports network before 2024 ends. That means the streamer will offer live sports in addition to content from Hulu and Disney+ originals all in one app, making it a highly diverse streaming bundle. Fans can get Hulu and Disney+ for as little as $9.99 per month in the Duo Basic Bundle, or bump the price to $14.99 per month and get even more sports content from ESPN+.
Paramount+ is one of the few streaming services not to announce a price increase this year. It carries a great selection of popular titles like the “NCIS” and “FBI” franchises, but its content ranges from kids favorites like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and the new series “Knuckles” to much darker, more adult options like “1923” and “Mayor of Kingstown” from the pen of Taylor Sheridan. Viewers can get all that, plus NFL football every Sunday and UEFA Champions League soccer for just $5.99 per month. Those who choose to upgrade to the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME tier for $11.99 can get all of that, remove ads during streaming playback, get access to content from SHOWTIME, and enjoy a livestream of their local CBS station to get more news and sports choices, rivaling the content variety of Max itself for a much lower price.
Peacock is an excellent choice for viewers seeking an alternative to Max as well. This service recently announced a price increase of its own, warning viewers that it would begin charging $7.99 per month for ad-supported streaming or $13.99 for ad-free starting this summer. That’s still cheaper than either Max plan as it stands currently, however, and Peacock carries a wider range of sporting events than any service, even Max’s Bleacher Report Sports add-on. It offers “Sunday Night Football” NFL games every week, as well as Big Ten football and basketball games, every event of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, Notre Dame football, auto racing, and it may well end up snagging TNT’s package of NBA games as well. Even if Peacock doesn’t land the NBA, it offers a great selection of originals, movies from Universal, and even news options from MSNBC. Viewers who upgrade to the ad-free plan can stream their local NBC station on the platform for even more news that matters most to them.