 | Basic with Ads $109.99 $9.17/mo Plus sales tax where applicable Source · Checked | Standard up to 2 devices at once $184.99 $15.42/mo Plus sales tax where applicable Source · Checked | Premium up to 4 devices at once $229.99 $19.17/mo Plus sales tax where applicable Source · Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose a plan | Choose a plan | Choose a plan | |
Billed once for the full year, up front. | Billed once for the full year, up front. | Billed once for the full year, up front. |
Streaming in the US
HBO Max plans, prices and terms
HBO Max has three plans in the US: Basic with Ads, Standard and Premium. All three can be billed monthly or yearly. Basic with Ads and Standard both stream in 1080p on two screens; Standard removes ads, adds 30 downloads and live sports. Premium adds 4K, Dolby Atmos, four screens and 100 downloads.
- Yearly billing on every plan. Each plan can be paid for a year at a time — HBO Max lists the saving at 16% compared with monthly.
- Live sports included. Standard and Premium include select live sports, such as NHL and MLB games.
- 4K and Dolby Atmos on Premium. As available — not every title is in 4K or Atmos.
- Extra Member add-on. If you’re billed by WarnerMedia, you can share your plan with someone who doesn’t live with you.
Most important before you pay
Tomas StankevičiusUpdated 2026-10-14Facts from the HBO Max Help Center for the US, with dates
At a glance
- Plans
- Basic with Ads, Standard, Premium
- Screens at once
- 2 / 2 / 4 (sports: 2)
- Picture quality
- 1080p / 1080p / 4K
- Downloads
- None / 30 / 100
- Live sports
- Standard and Premium
- Billing
- Monthly or yearly
Plans and catalog change — check the provider’s own page before you pay.
Prices with dates
Every price has a source and the date it was checked.
From the US Help Center
The HBO Max Help Center has a separate version for the United States. The facts here come from that version.
Affiliate links are labeled
If a link is an affiliate link, we say so right next to it.
Short summary
I’d pick HBO Max for its own shows and, on Standard, for the live sports. For most people Standard is the sweet spot: no ads, 30 downloads and sports, at 1080p on two screens. Basic with Ads only makes sense if you never watch offline. Premium is worth it for 4K, Atmos or four screens — but remember that sports still stop at two.
Yearly billing everywhere
If you know you’ll stay, a year costs less than twelve months — on every plan.
The ad plan can’t download
Basic with Ads streams in 1080p, but without a single download.
- We recommend first:
- People who watch HBO originals and want sports without a separate subscription.
- With caveats:
- Anyone who wants the cheapest plan and downloads for travel — that combination doesn’t exist here.
Who HBO Max is for, and who it isn’t
The plan decides ads, downloads, sports and screens.
A good choice
If you want to prepay a year
Yearly billing is available on all three plans.
If you follow NHL or MLB
Select live games are included on Standard and Premium.
For a home theater
Premium has 4K Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos, as available.
A weaker choice
If you watch offline on the cheapest plan
Basic with Ads has no downloads.
If four people want sports at once
Even on Premium, sports stream on two devices at a time.
If you pay through an app store and want to share
The Extra Member add-on is for subscribers billed by WarnerMedia.
Three plans
Prices are in the block above. All plans work on all supported devices.
| Plan | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Basic with Ads | What it means in practiceAds, two screens at once, Full HD 1080p. No downloads and no live sports. |
| Standard | What it means in practiceNo ads, two screens at once, Full HD 1080p, 30 downloads, live sports included. |
| Premium | What it means in practiceNo ads, four screens at once (two for sports), 4K Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos as available, 100 downloads, live sports included. |
| Billing | What it means in practiceEvery plan monthly or yearly; HBO Max puts the yearly saving at 16%. |
The order is simple: lowest price and no offline viewing → Basic with Ads; no ads, downloads or sports → Standard; 4K, Atmos or four screens → Premium.
Our score and what it’s made of
This is our own assessment based on checked facts. It isn’t an average of user reviews or the provider’s claim. Below — every criterion with its weight and source.
4,1
out of 5 · average of 3 plans · 11 of 12 criteria checked
The score is calculated from the criteria you see below: each criterion shows its weight, what exactly we found and where. Where we have the provider’s page, there’s a link with a check date; where the number comes from our catalog, we say so. “Not checked” means we don’t have the data and the criterion isn’t counted. “Provider doesn’t say” means we went through the provider’s pages but the information isn’t there; that criterion isn’t counted either. If you disagree with the weights — in the methodology you’ll see all the parts and can weigh them your own way. We don’t put app store ratings into structured data: they were collected on other websites, so they stay as visible text.
Scores for individual plans: Basic with Ads 3,8 · Standard 4,1 · Premium 4,4
The same for all “HBO Max” plans
| Criterion | What we found | Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content you can’t get for free(18 %) | content only with a subscription | 5,0 | our catalog |
| Fit for US viewers(15 %) | US channels, network libraries and local originals | 5,0 | source |
| Advertised price is the final price(10 %) | sales tax is added at checkout | 3,0 | our catalog |
| Free way to try it(10 %) | provider doesn’t say | — | source |
| Profiles(4 %) | up to 5 | 4,0 | source |
| App rating(3 %) | 4,9 out of 5 | 4,9 | our catalog |
Depends on plan
| Criterion | Basic with Ads | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price compared with others(10 %) | 9,17 USD/mo5,0 | 15,42 USD/mo5,0 | 19,17 USD/mo5,0 |
| Maximum resolution(7 %) | 1080p Full HD3,0 | 1080p Full HD3,0 | 4K UHD (HDR not for all content)4,0 |
| Simultaneous streams(5 %) | 2 screens at the same time3,0 | 2 screens at the same time3,0 | 4 screens at the same time5,0 |
| What else is included(9 %) | the catalog only2,0 | 1 extra content type at no extra cost3,0 | 1 extra content type at no extra cost3,0 |
| Offline viewing(7 %) | can’t be downloaded1,0 | phone or tablet only4,0 | phone or tablet only4,0 |
| Spatial audio and HDR(2 %) | no2,0 | no2,0 | yes5,0 |
Availability in the US
The final price in the US is clear
You pay in dollars, and the price is the one the provider lists — sales tax, where your state charges it, is added at checkout.
- price in dollars
- tax terms are known
- price list tailored to the country
Content
What you actually get to watch: catalog, languages, sports and events.
What HBO Max is, and what it isn’t
HBO Max is built on HBO and Warner Bros. shows and movies, with select live sports on the ad-free plans.
HBO originals
Series and films you won’t find on another subscription.
Live sports
Select NHL and MLB games on Standard and Premium; some broadcasts in Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Atmos.
Pay Per View
Some events are sold separately as pay-per-view.
Live sports on HBO Max
Standard and Premium include Sports on HBO Max — more than 1,700 live events a year, with pre- and post-game studio shows and Bleacher Report coverage. The 2026 lineup includes MLB Tuesday night games, select NHL games and the 2027 Stanley Cup Final, select NCAA March Madness games, more than 900 Roland-Garros matches, U.S. Soccer national team matches, NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, the World Endurance Championship and over 300 cycling races.
- Choose Sports in the app, then Watch Live, Watch from the Start, or Quick Catch-Up for highlights before you join.
- You can pause, rewind and fast-forward live, then use Go Live to jump back.
- Multiview shows several pre-set live streams on one screen on phones, tablets, computers and TVs.
- Alerts flag key moments in related games, like a goal, so you can switch.
- On a phone or tablet you must share your location; league blackouts can block some games where you live.
- Replays are available for NHL, cycling, March Madness and U.S. Soccer matches.
Live sports have ads on every plan
What US App Store reviewers say
HBO Max has 4.9 out of 5 stars from 5.8 million ratings on the US App Store. We also read the 50 most recent US reviews — 14 of them gave one or two stars. Recent reviews skew toward people with a problem, so read them as a list of what can go wrong, not as a verdict.
Praised
Reviewers like the variety — classic films, series and live events in one app.
Ads
Most recent low ratings are about ads on the plan with ads: long, repeated and the same ad several times in a row.
Catalog changes
Some longtime subscribers complain that titles they liked were removed.
If ads bother you, the reviews are a strong argument for Standard or Premium instead of Basic with Ads.
Quality and devices
What picture and sound depend on, and where it works.
Picture and sound on each plan
| Where you watch | Maximum quality | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Basic with Ads | Maximum qualityFull HD 1080p | What it meansTwo screens, with ads, no downloads. |
| Standard | Maximum qualityFull HD 1080p | What it meansTwo screens, no ads, 30 downloads, sports. |
| Premium | Maximum quality4K Ultra HD + Dolby Atmos (as available) | What it meansFour screens (two for sports), 100 downloads. |
“As available”
Where you can watch
| Group | Examples | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| All supported devices | ExamplesTVs, streaming players, game consoles, phones, tablets and browsers | CaveatHBO Max says every plan is available on all supported devices. |
App ratings in the stores
These are ratings from store users. They rate how the app works; they say nothing about whether the subscription price is fair.
Ratings change constantly and often drop after price increases or removed features. We show the value from the check date together with the number of reviews, because 4.8 from two hundred and 4.5 from two million ratings aren’t the same thing.
Account and household
Profiles, downloads, sharing and how to cancel.
Screens and downloads
- Watch at the same time: Basic with Ads 2, Standard 2, Premium 4 devices.
- Sports: two devices at once, even on Premium.
- Downloads: none on Basic with Ads, 30 on Standard, 100 on Premium — download limits apply.
Premium’s four screens don’t cover sports
Downloads
| Condition | How it works |
|---|---|
| Basic with Ads | How it worksNo downloads |
| Standard | How it works30 downloads |
| Premium | How it works100 downloads |
Sharing and the Extra Member add-on
HBO Max offers a paid way to share with someone outside your home: subscribers billed directly by WarnerMedia can add an Extra Member to their plan.
How the household is determined
- Available to subscribers billed by WarnerMedia, not through every provider.
Extra Member — Available
If HBO Max bills you directly, you can share your plan with someone who doesn’t live with you through the Extra Member add-on. If you pay through an app store or another provider, check whether the add-on is offered there.
What to check in your account:
- • Who bills you — the add-on is for WarnerMedia-billed subscribers.
- • The add-on price at checkout; it isn’t on the plans page.
Canceling
Where you cancel depends on who bills you. If you subscribed on HBO Max directly, you cancel in your HBO Max account; if an app store, a TV provider or another partner bills you, you cancel there.
Billed by HBO Max
Cancel in your HBO Max account settings. A yearly plan is paid up front, so check the terms before you buy it.
Billed by someone else
If Apple, Google Play, Amazon or a TV or internet provider bills you, cancel with them.
Deleting the app isn’t canceling
Streams, sports and downloads by plan
HBO Max counts simultaneous streams per household. Sports have their own, lower cap.
| Feature | Limit | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Streams at once | LimitBasic with Ads 2, Standard 2, Premium 4 | What it depends onFind your plan under Profile → Subscription |
| Live sports at once | Limit2 devices on every plan that has sports | What it depends onEven on Premium |
| Extra Member | Limit1 stream of their own | What it depends onNot counted in the account holder’s streams |
| Downloads | LimitStandard up to 30, Premium up to 100 | What it depends onNone on Basic with Ads; some content may be restricted |
Managing devices
- Account and Devices lists every signed-in device with profile name, sign-in date and country.
- Sign a device out with the X beside it.
Only Adult profiles can manage devices.
“Too many devices” message
Plans and terms
Who each plan is for and what terms it requires.
Student discount, trials and payment
HBO Max offers a student plan and partner bundles, but most subscription providers don’t give new subscribers a free trial.
- Student discount
- Basic with Ads at 50% off for up to 12 months, for students 18+ verified by UNiDAYS
- College access
- Some U.S. colleges include HBO Max — check before you pay
- Free trial
- Not offered by most subscription providers
- Paying on HBOMax.com
- Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Amex, JCB, PayPal, Apple Pay; card must be U.S.-issued
- Gift cards
- HBO Max doesn’t sell them
- Bundle
- Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle
What we don’t claim
Common claims about HBO Max, next to what the US Help Center says.
Every plan includes sports.
Live sports are included with Standard and Premium — not with Basic with Ads.
Premium means four people can watch sports at once.
Premium streams on four devices, but only two for sports.
All of HBO Max is in 4K.
4K Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos are on Premium, and only as available for each title.
If there’s no price on the page, the service isn’t available in the US.
Not necessarily. More often it means the provider doesn’t publish a fixed price or shows it only at checkout. Availability and a published price are two different things.
An annual plan always works out cheaper.
Cheaper than the monthly plan only if you use the whole period. You pay for the whole year up front, and when you cancel you usually don’t get the unused part back — so it’s a saving for people who already know they’ll stay all year.
Deleting the app cancels the subscription.
No. Deleting the app doesn’t stop the payments — only canceling in the account where you bought the subscription does. The app disappears, the bill stays.
Every plan looks the same in every country.
No. The list of plans, the features in the same plan and the available languages can differ. That’s why we don’t carry data from another country over to the US page.
The price on the pricing page is exactly what you’ll be charged.
Not always. US providers list prices before sales tax, and whether tax is added at checkout — and how much — depends on your state. On one VPN order page we saw a 6.25% sales tax added on top of the listed monthly price.
This list isn’t an accusation against the platform — these are common simplifications. If you find something on our page that doesn’t match the official source, write to us.
When HBO Max is a good choice
Prepay a year
Yearly billing on every plan.
Compromise: Paid up front — worth it only if you stay.
Live sports
Select NHL and MLB games on Standard and Premium.
Compromise: Two devices at once, even on Premium.
4K and Atmos
Premium, as available.
Compromise: Not on Standard or Basic with Ads.
Offline
30 downloads on Standard, 100 on Premium.
Compromise: None on Basic with Ads.
Pros and cons
Pros
Yearly billing
Available on all three plans.
Sports included
On Standard and Premium, without a separate add-on.
A paid way to share
The Extra Member add-on for WarnerMedia-billed subscribers.
Cons
No downloads with ads
Basic with Ads can’t download anything.
Sports capped at two screens
Even on Premium.
Tax on top
HBO Max lists prices without applicable taxes.
HBO Max compared with other platforms in the US
Plan terms side by side — prices are on each platform’s page, with dates.
| Criterion | HBO Max | Netflix | Disney+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan with ads | Basic with Ads | Standard with ads | Disney+ (With Ads) |
| Pay for a year | Yes, every plan | Not offered | Yes, on Premium |
| Downloads on the ad plan | None | 15 per device a month | Not listed for this plan |
| Top quality | 4K + Atmos on Premium | 4K + HDR on Premium | 4K UHD & HDR on both plans |
| Share outside the home | Extra Member add-on | Extra member on Standard/Premium | Extra Member add-on |
- Plan with ads
- Basic with Ads
- Pay for a year
- Yes, every plan
- Downloads on the ad plan
- None
- Top quality
- 4K + Atmos on Premium
- Share outside the home
- Extra Member add-on
- Plan with ads
- Standard with ads
- Pay for a year
- Not offered
- Downloads on the ad plan
- 15 per device a month
- Top quality
- 4K + HDR on Premium
- Share outside the home
- Extra member on Standard/Premium
- Plan with ads
- Disney+ (With Ads)
- Pay for a year
- Yes, on Premium
- Downloads on the ad plan
- Not listed for this plan
- Top quality
- 4K UHD & HDR on both plans
- Share outside the home
- Extra Member add-on
If sports and yearly billing matter — HBO Max
Live sports on Standard and Premium, and every plan can be paid yearly.
If you want simple monthly plans — Netflix
Same catalog throughout, extra members on the ad-free plans.
If you want 4K on the cheaper plan — Disney+
Disney+ lists 4K UHD and HDR on its plan with ads too.
Final verdict
HBO Max in the US is three plans that differ in ads, downloads, sports and screens — with yearly billing on all of them. Standard is the most balanced; Premium adds 4K, Atmos and four screens.
Choose it if
You watch HBO originals and want NHL or MLB games without another subscription.
Think twice if
You want the cheapest plan and downloads — Basic with Ads has none.
Skip it if
Several people want to watch sports on separate screens at once.
Netflix bills monthly only but has extra members on its ad-free plans; Disney+ lists 4K on both of its plans and comes in bundles with Hulu and HBO Max.
HBO Max prices
Three plans as the HBO Max Help Center lists them for the US.
Monthly or yearly?Every plan can be billed monthly or yearly; the yearly price is paid up front. HBO Max notes that its prices don’t include applicable taxes. If you subscribe through another provider, that provider may offer only monthly or only yearly billing.
HBO Max deals and discounts
We have no confirmed deals or promo codes for HBO Max right now. When the provider publishes one and we have checked it, the dates and terms will appear here — we never list made-up promo codes.
HBO Max free trial
We found no free trial for HBO Max on the provider’s website right now. If one appears, we will mark it here and in the free trials list.
How to pay less for HBO Max
- Annual billing for “Premium”: $229.99 for 12 months instead of $275.88 if you pay monthly — you save 17%.
- Annual billing for “Standard”: $184.99 for 12 months instead of $221.88 if you pay monthly — you save 17%.
- Annual billing for “Basic with Ads”: $109.99 for 12 months instead of $131.88 if you pay monthly — you save 17%.
Compare the price with alternatives: Disney+ price · Netflix price · YouTube Premium price
We only show the provider’s official options — no shared accounts and no region switching.
FAQ
How we work
This page is a comparison, and for every claim we say where it comes from.
The provider’s sources
The facts come from the HBO Max Help Center for the United States (plans, prices and what each plan includes) and the Disney+ Help Center for the bundle.
We don’t write prices into the text
Prices are in the price block, in the price list’s currency, with a source and a date.
Product facts are shared, market facts aren’t
How many screens a plan allows, how many devices an account works on, how many servers a network has — that doesn’t depend on the country, and on our pages those numbers are the same in every language; a separate tool watches over that. Price, promotions, availability and app language belong to the market, and we never carry them over from another country.
The provider’s list is the same for everyone
If a service publishes a list of countries or languages, we can say whether the US is on it — that list looks the same for everyone. Checkout, however, can look different for every account, so for amounts a provider shows only at checkout we write: check before you pay.
A shorter section doesn’t mean something is missing from the product
If a section here is shorter than for another service, it’s because the provider publishes less about it. We don’t fill the gap with generic wording just to make the page look more complete.
Three different answers
We distinguish between “none”, “the provider doesn’t say” and “we didn’t find it”. They’re three different situations — mixing them up would turn our own limitation into a flaw in the product.
A price without a source isn’t shown
If an amount has no source and date, we don’t show it. An empty spot is more honest than a number that only looks right — and prices change more often than articles get updated.
Data from the US market
This page isn’t a translation of another language version. Numbers from other countries don’t end up here: markets differ, and that’s exactly why this page exists.
Affiliate links are labeled at the link
If a link is an affiliate link, we say so right next to it. The commission doesn’t affect what we write — and you know about it before you click.
We fix errors openly
If we got something wrong, we fix it and note what changed. A silent correction would mean you never find out you once relied on wrong information.
If anything on this page has gone out of date, write to us — we’ll fix it and note the date.
The order in the comparison is decided by the type of service; commission size doesn’t affect it.
Some links to providers are affiliate links: if you subscribe through them, we may earn a commission. It affects neither the price nor the placement in the comparison. Affiliate links are always labeled next to the link itself.
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Read next
Other pages that cover HBO Max.
Comparisons with competitors
Who wins, and when the cheaper one is worth choosing.
Guides
How to save, cancel and choose — not tied to one product.