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HBO Max plans and prices (November 2026): Basic with Ads, Standard and Premium compared

Short answer: HBO Max has three US plans as of our November 5, 2026 check: Basic with Ads at $10.99 a month, Standard at $18.49 and Premium at $22.99. All three went up on October 21, 2025, and Standard has risen three times since HBO Max launched at $14.99 in May 2020.

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How much does HBO Max cost in 2026?

HBO Max's Help Center page "HBO Max plans and prices" lists three plans in US dollars, each with a monthly and a yearly price. HBO Max says prices don't include applicable taxes. We have saved that page every day since October 19, 2026, and it has not changed since, so these are the prices now.

HBO Max labels each yearly price "(16% savings)." The page also mentions a Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle at "a discounted price" but gives no price for it on that page, so check the bundle's own page if you are interested.

What each HBO Max plan includes

HBO Max says all plans are available on all supported devices. Here is what its plan table lists for each one.

Basic with Ads

Standard

Premium

The page also mentions an Extra Member Add-On: WarnerMedia-billed subscribers "can share their HBO Max plan with someone who doesn't live with them." The plans page gives no price for it, so check HBO Max's Extra Member Add-On page before you count on it.

Monthly vs yearly billing

Paying for a year up front costs less than 12 monthly payments on every plan:

HBO Max says only "some subscription providers offer plans with monthly or yearly billing," so the yearly price depends on where you subscribe. See the provider list below.

How much more is ad-free HBO Max?

Going from Basic with Ads ($10.99) to Standard ($18.49) costs $7.50 more a month, or $90 over 12 months. Going from Standard to Premium costs $4.50 more a month, or $54 over 12 months. Standard removes the ads and adds downloads and live sports; Premium adds 4K, Dolby Atmos, two more streams at a time and more downloads.

Live sports on HBO Max

HBO Max says: "Live Sports is included with the Standard and Premium plans." Basic with Ads does not include it. The page describes the sports this way:

Watch select live events, including MLB, NHL, NCAA Men's March Madness, U.S. Soccer, and premier cycling events on HBO Max.

On Premium, you can stream on 4 devices at once but "only 2 for sports."

Where you can subscribe

HBO Max lists these providers as offering plans:

So if you want Premium, you can't get it through Cox, Prime Video Channels or Xfinity, and if you want yearly billing, those three and Xumo only offer monthly.

HBO Max price history: every increase since 2020

These are US list prices for new subscribers from our sourced price history. The service has changed names along the way: it launched as HBO Max in May 2020, became Max on May 23, 2023, and went back to HBO Max on July 9, 2025, with no change to plans or prices at that rename. Plan names changed too: the ad-supported plan was HBO Max With Ads, then Max Ad-Lite, and is now Basic with Ads; Standard was the Ad-Free plan; Premium was Max Ultimate Ad Free.

Standard (ad-free): $14.99 (May 2020), $15.99 (January 12, 2023), $16.99 (June 4, 2024) and $18.49 (October 21, 2025). That is three increases and +23% in total.

Basic with Ads: launched at $9.99 on June 2, 2021, then $10.99 on October 21, 2025. That is one increase, +10%.

Premium: launched at $19.99 with Max on May 23, 2023, then $20.99 on June 4, 2024 and $22.99 on October 21, 2025. That is two increases and +15% in total.

Standard billed yearly: $149.99 (May 23, 2023), $169.99 (June 4, 2024) and $184.99 (October 21, 2025). That is +23% in total.

In the latest increase, on October 21, 2025, Basic with Ads went up $1.00, Standard $1.50 and Premium $2.00 a month. New subscribers paid the new prices right away; existing monthly subscribers moved over at their first billing date on or after November 20, 2025. None of these prices has gone down in our history.

How often does HBO Max raise prices?

Standard's price held for about two and a half years after launch, from May 2020 to January 2023. Since then it has gone up in January 2023, June 2024 and October 2025, roughly every 16 to 17 months. The last increase was on October 21, 2025, a little over a year before this guide was written. These dates describe the past and don't predict the next change.

Is an HBO Max price change coming?

None had been announced when we checked news coverage on November 5, 2026. Paramount Skydance completed its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026, and on October 7 David Ellison said HBO Max and Paramount+ will be run separately for now and combined over time. TheStreet reported that an updated HBO Max customer FAQ says there are no immediate changes to HBO Max subscriptions or pricing, and the company hasn't said what a combined service would cost. HBO Max's plans page still showed $10.99, $18.49 and $22.99 a month on November 5, 2026.

What you can do

  1. Check which plan you have. In HBO Max, on a phone, tablet or computer choose your profile and then Subscription; on a TV device choose the Settings icon and then Subscription. Only Adult profiles can manage subscriptions.
  2. Pick the cheapest plan that fits. Basic with Ads is $7.50 a month less than Standard but has ads, and its plan table lists no downloads and no live sports. Premium is $4.50 a month more than Standard and mainly adds 4K, Dolby Atmos, 4 streams at once and more downloads.
  3. Consider yearly billing. If your provider offers it, a year of Standard costs $184.99 instead of $221.88 paid monthly.
  4. Change your plan through whoever bills you. From the same Subscription screen, note who your subscription is billed through. HBO Max says you may be able to change plans depending on your provider. Cox subscribers contact Cox; Xfinity subscribers contact Xfinity or sign in at xfinity.com/buy/plan/myplan and choose Manage Channels. On Prime Video Channels you have to cancel, wait for the subscription to expire, then resubscribe and choose a different plan. If you see "Plan change unavailable," HBO Max says you need to be in the country where you started your subscription, so wait until you're home, try again in a few minutes, or contact whoever bills you.
  5. Compare with other services. Our streaming price history table lists launch price, today's price and the last increase for each service, and our HBO Max price history page has the same history with a chart.

How we keep this page current

QuietlyChanged saves HBO Max's plans and prices page every day and records what changes. This guide is updated when that snapshot or our sourced price history changes. The service page has the same price history with a chart and a dated timeline.

Sources

Written from the sources above and our own dated snapshots. Things change: always check the official page before you act. This guide is not legal advice. Spotted an error? Contact & corrections · About