Paramount+ plans and prices (November 2026): Essential vs Premium compared

How much does Paramount+ cost in 2026?

Paramount+ sells two plans in the US, each billed monthly or yearly. These are the prices on paramountplus.com when we checked on November 10, 2026, before tax:

• Paramount+ Essential (with ads): $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year.
• Paramount+ Premium: $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year.

We save the Paramount+ plans page every day, and these monthly prices have not changed since we started on October 19, 2026. Both prices took effect on January 15, 2026. The page also advertises a 50% student discount. Check the student offer page for who qualifies before you count on it.

What each Paramount+ plan includes

Here is what the plan table on paramountplus.com lists for each plan as of November 10, 2026.

Both plans

• Watch 40,000+ episodes and movies.
• Stream on 3 devices at once.
• Catch NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League.
• Watch all UFC live fights and more.

Essential ($8.99)

• Ad supported.
• SHOWTIME originals: "Select series" only. The footnote says Essential "Series may not include all episodes."
• No downloads and no live local CBS station in its feature list.

Premium ($13.99)

• Ad free, "Except Live TV."
• All SHOWTIME originals.
• Download movies and shows ("Download restrictions apply").
• Stream CBS live, "with more sports and events." The page says to upgrade to Premium "to watch even more sports on your local CBS station."
• 4K UHD, Dolby Vision and HDR10, but only "on select titles, subject to your internet service and device capabilities."

Even Premium isn't completely free of ads. The plans page says: "Plans include promotions about Paramount+, trailers & sponsorship (or similar). Live TV has ads."

Monthly vs yearly billing

A year up front costs less than 12 monthly payments on both plans. Our math, using the November 2026 prices:

• Essential: $107.88 over 12 months, or $89.99 a year. You save $17.89 (about 17%), which works out to about $7.50 a month.
• Premium: $167.88 over 12 months, or $139.99 a year. You save $27.89 (about 17%), which works out to about $11.67 a month.

The yearly plans have risen faster than the monthly ones, though. On January 15, 2026, yearly Essential went from $59.99 to $89.99 (+50%), while monthly Essential went up $1.

Is Paramount+ Premium worth $5 more?

Premium costs $5 more a month than Essential, or $60 more over 12 months of monthly billing. Paid yearly, the gap is $50. For that you get no ads on on-demand shows and movies, your live local CBS station, all of SHOWTIME, downloads and 4K on select titles. Both plans have the same 3 streams at once, and both include NFL on CBS, UEFA Champions League and UFC. If you mainly watch the sports and don't mind ads, Essential has the same headline sports. If you want your local CBS station live or want to download shows, you need Premium.

Paramount+ price history: every increase since 2021

These are US list prices for new subscribers, from Paramount's announcements and the coverage linked below. Paramount+ replaced CBS All Access on March 4, 2021. The ad-free plan was called Paramount+ with Showtime from June 2023 and is now called Premium.

Premium (ad-free, monthly): $9.99 (March 4, 2021), $11.99 (June 27, 2023, when Paramount+ with Showtime replaced the $9.99 plan), $12.99 (August 20, 2024) and $13.99 (January 15, 2026). That is three increases and +40% in total.

Essential (with ads, monthly): $4.99 (June 7, 2021), $5.99 (June 27, 2023), $7.99 (August 20, 2024) and $8.99 (January 15, 2026). That is three increases and +80% in total.

Yearly plans: Essential was $59.99 a year from June 27, 2023 and Premium $119.99 a year in 2024. Paramount left both yearly prices unchanged in August 2024 and raised them to $89.99 and $139.99 on January 15, 2026.

Existing subscribers haven't always paid the new price right away. In August 2024, Variety reported that existing Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers moved to $12.99 at their next billing date on or after September 20, while existing monthly Essential subscribers kept paying $5.99.

To support this continued investment, we plan to implement price increases in the US early in the first quarter of 2026

How often does Paramount+ raise prices?

Prices held for about two years after launch, then went up in June 2023, August 2024 and January 2026: gaps of about 14 and 17 months. The last increase was on January 15, 2026, about 10 months before this guide was written. If the pattern held, the next one would come some time in 2027, but Paramount has not announced one.

Is a Paramount+ price change or HBO Max bundle coming?

Paramount Skydance completed its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery in early October 2026, so Paramount+ and HBO Max now have the same owner. On October 7, David Ellison said the two services will be run separately for now and combined over time. On November 9, 2026, with its first earnings report since the merger, the company said it will bundle Paramount+ and HBO Max in early 2027, Business Insider reported. It has not said what the bundle will cost and said it would share more details "in the coming months."

Bought separately at November 2026 prices, the two services cost $19.98 a month with ads (Paramount+ Essential $8.99 plus HBO Max Basic with Ads $10.99) and $32.48 without ads (Premium $13.99 plus HBO Max Standard $18.49). We found no announced new US Paramount+ price in coverage we checked on November 10, 2026. We'll update this guide when the bundle price or any new price is published.

What you can do

1. Check which plan you have and when it renews in your Paramount+ account. If another company bills you for Paramount+, the plan and renewal date are managed there; see the Paramount+ Help Center for your provider.
2. Pick the cheapest plan that fits. Essential is $5 a month less than Premium and includes the same NFL on CBS, Champions League and UFC streams. You give up your live local CBS station, downloads and most of SHOWTIME.
3. Pay yearly only if you'll watch all year. It saves about 17%, or $17.89 on Essential and $27.89 on Premium.
4. Before switching plans, check your promo. Paramount+'s site warns: "If you are currently in a free trial, your free trial will be lost. If your current plan is discounted by a promotional code, it may not apply to your new plan."
5. If you're thinking about canceling, Paramount+'s sign-up page says you can "Cancel anytime (effective next billing cycle)."
6. If you also pay for HBO Max, wait for the early 2027 bundle price before prepaying a year of both.

How we keep this page current

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

Sources

• Paramount+ plans page (our daily snapshots, October 19 to November 10, 2026; plan data checked Nov 10)
• Business Insider: Paramount+ and HBO Max bundle coming in early 2027 (Nov 9, 2026)
• The Hollywood Reporter: Paramount+ price hikes early 2026, Jan 15 monthly and yearly prices (Nov 10, 2025)
• The Verge: Paramount Plus price hike in early 2026
• Variety: Paramount+ prices to increase starting August 2024 (Jun 24, 2024)
• The Verge: Paramount Plus raises Essential price, adds Paramount+ with Showtime (Jun 27, 2023)
• TechCrunch: $4.99 Essential plan, $9.99 Premium (Jun 3, 2021)
• Variety: Paramount+ launch on March 4, 2021 (Feb 24, 2021)
• New York Post: Paramount and HBO Max subscriptions after the merger (Oct 7, 2026)
• HBO Max Help Center: plans and prices (our daily snapshots)

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