HBO Max is becoming pricier at all tiers, with new monthly and annual rates taking effect immediately for anyone signing up now. Current subscribers will pay the higher fee starting with their next billing cycle after a notice period of 30 days.
This is the streamer’s second price bump in just over a year and a half, and its first shuffle on the ad-supported plan since its debut. Warner Bros. Discovery leadership has contended the service had been underpriced given its content slate, an argument heard at recent investor conferences as streaming services push for more robust average revenue per user.
New monthly and yearly plans: updated prices and savings
Basic with Ads has increased in cost from $9.99 a month to $10.99. The annual plan costs $109.99, compared to the previous price of $99.99. Annually is still a savings over month-to-month; now it’s $21.89 cheaper over the full year in comparison to paying each month.
Standard plan jumps to $18.49 per month (up $1.50). The annual plan jumps to $184.99, making the annual plan about $36.89 less expensive than paying monthly.
Premium, which offers features like 4K on supported titles and more concurrent streams, now costs $22.99 per month (up $2).
The annual rate goes up to $229.99, or about $45.89 in savings compared with monthly for an entire year.
Bottom line: while everyone’s plan prices are higher, signing up for a year still cuts around 16%–17% off the corresponding monthly total in comparison with new pricing.
When the price change hits your account and billing
New subscribers will see the higher prices when they sign up. HBO Max will give current customers 30 days’ advance notice so they can move to the new rates at their next renewal. If you’re billed through an intermediary (like Apple, Google, a cable provider, or a wireless bundle), timing may vary based on the partner’s billing cycle and notice practices.
To find out what you’ll pay and when, view your account’s plan details and renewal date in the HBO Max app or through your billing provider. If you are on a promotional or legacy plan, the rate increase is expected to kick in when that term expires and you renew at standard pricing.
How HBO Max’s new pricing compares with streaming rivals
With a price now at $22.99, HBO Max is at the upper end of the market, along with Netflix’s most expensive tier. Its midtier price puts it in the range of ad-free offerings from other leading services, several of which have also raised rates in the last year. Disney’s ad-free plan increased recently, and Amazon added an extra monthly fee to remove commercials from Prime Video. Peacock and Paramount have also moved to hike prices, particularly for ad-free or premium bundles with live sports.
Industry data companies including Antenna and Ampere Analysis have observed that, after several consecutive price increases, many ad-free plans now hover in the mid-to-low teens per month — with premium tiers breaking north of $20. That has made annual discounts, carrier-bundled packages, and ad-supported plans more appealing to price-sensitive viewers.
Why HBO Max subscription prices are rising right now
Warner Bros. Discovery executives have made it clear that they believe pricing needs to better reflect the perceived quality of HBO’s originals and library, from its big-ticket series to Warner Bros. films. Streaming profitability and higher ARPU are also things the company has heavily emphasized in earnings reports and at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. At the same time, HBO Max has been clamping down on account sharing — taking a page from a playbook that Netflix used to drive revenue growth after its own crackdown.
Content costs, sports rights, and production inflation keep pressuring streamers. A number of them have been gravitating toward less frequent but larger “event” releases and relying on price hikes, ad tiers, or bundles to reconcile subscriber growth with revenue per user.
What subscribers need to do now to manage higher costs
If you are planning to stick around, the yearly plan comes with a built-in discount.
If you can handle ads, moving to Basic with Ads reduces the monthly price considerably. Consider whether you really need Premium’s add-on features — many households will barely notice them if they’re not streaming to multiple 4K screens.
Bundling can soften the blow. Some wireless carriers, cable companies, and credit card perks include HBO Max as part of reduced-cost packages. Finally, if you are a multi-subscriber, rotate services by month around big releases — a common viewing strategy in the United States, where market researchers have detected higher-than-usual churn as viewers manage their budget across an expanding slate of platforms.
The take: You can expect to pay more for HBO Max right now or the next time you have a renewal if you’re an existing customer. These increases follow the trend of broader streaming, but there are still ways to cut back without losing access to the shows and films you love.
