HBO Max Plans: Basic with Ads, Standard and Premium Price and What You Get

HBO Max has three plans, one add-on, and a bundle that quietly leaves the top plan out. As of October 10, 2026, HBO Max’s plans and prices page lists Basic with Ads at $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year, Standard at $18.49 or $184.99, and Premium at $22.99 or $229.99, each annual plan marked as a 16% saving, before taxes. The Extra Member Add-On is $7.99 a month for direct-billed subscribers only. The Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle is $21.99 with ads or $34.99 without, and HBO’s own bundle page says the Premium plan is not available in it. This guide sets out every price, what each tier actually includes, the arithmetic HBO’s page does not do, and the provider rules that decide whether you can change plans at all. If you are leaving, the billing paths are in our HBO Max cancellation guide.

The quick answer

Basic with Ads: $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year. 2 streams, 1080p, no downloads, about 6 minutes of ads an hour
Standard: $18.49 a month or $184.99 a year. No ads, 2 streams, 1080p, 30 downloads, live sports
Premium: $22.99 a month or $229.99 a year. 4K, Dolby Atmos, 4 streams (2 for sports), 100 downloads, live sports
Annual saving: “16% savings” on each plan per HBO’s page; 16.6% by our math
Extra Member Add-On: $7.99 a month, WarnerMedia-billed subscribers only, not with the bundle
Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle: $21.99 with ads (HBO Max Basic with Ads) or $34.99 without (HBO Max Standard). Premium is not offered in the bundle
Taxes: “Prices don’t include applicable taxes.”

Key facts at a glance

Plan	Monthly	Annual	Monthly equivalent of annual (our math)	Streams	Video	Downloads	Live sports
Basic with Ads	$10.99	$109.99	$9.17	2	Full HD 1080p	None listed	Not included
Standard	$18.49	$184.99	$15.42	2	Full HD 1080p	30	Included
Premium	$22.99	$229.99	$19.17	4, only 2 for sports	4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos, as available	100	Included

Prices and features from HBO Max’s plans and prices page, read October 10, 2026, US version, before taxes. Download limits apply per HBO’s footnote.

What each plan includes

HBO’s page opens the comparison with one sentence: “All HBO Max plans are available on all supported devices.” The differences are streams, picture, downloads and sports.

Basic with Ads, $10.99. “Stream on 2 devices at once” and “Full HD 1080p resolution.” The ads page quantifies the trade: “ads will play before and during shows and movies (about 6 minutes of ads per hour),” with breaks marked on the progress bar when you pause. No download line appears under this plan.

Standard, $18.49. The same 2 streams and 1080p, plus “30 downloads to watch on the go” and live sports. By our math, the $7.50 step up buys the ad removal, the downloads and the sports.

Premium, $22.99. “Stream on 4 devices at once (only 2 for sports),” “4K Ultra HD video quality (as available),” “Dolby Atmos immersive audio (as available),” and “100 downloads to watch on the go.” That is $4.50 over Standard. Note the sports cap: the four-stream allowance drops to two for live sports.

Downloads work on phones and tablets only. HBO’s downloads page lists “Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch,” “Android phone and tablet” and “Amazon Fire tablet.”

The annual plans: 16% by HBO’s count, 16.6% by ours

Each plan’s yearly price is labelled “16% savings.” Twelve months of Basic with Ads is $131.88, so $109.99 saves $21.89, which is 16.6%, and works out to $9.17 a month. Standard: $221.88 against $184.99, saving $36.89, or $15.42 a month. Premium: $275.88 against $229.99, saving $45.89, or $19.17 a month. HBO rounds the figure down to 16%.

One line matters before you pick annual: “Some subscription providers offer plans with monthly or yearly billing.” Annual is not offered everywhere, and the provider list below says which ones are monthly only.

Live sports and pay-per-view

Sports sit on the two paid-up tiers: “Live Sports is included with the Standard and Premium plans.” HBO lists “select live events, including MLB, NHL, NCAA Men’s March Madness, U.S. Soccer, and premier cycling events,” streamed “in Full HD 1080p, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR 10 on select broadcasts.” The ads page adds a rule that applies to every plan, including Premium: “Live events have ads regardless of your plan.”

Pay-per-view is separate from the plan: “HBO Max subscribers can purchase PPV events on select devices,” and “Purchased PPV events can only be streamed on 1 device at a time.” Prices for PPV events are not on the plans page.

Extra Member Add-On: $7.99, direct billing only

HBO’s extra members page sets the price and the limits. “Account owners pay $7.99/month (plus applicable taxes) for the Extra Member Add-On.” The extra member gets their own account, password and one profile, can “Stream on any supported device (1 device at a time),” and gets “the same plan features as the account owner,” so an extra member on a Premium account gets 4K for $7.99 rather than $22.99.

The eligibility rules cut most people out. “The Extra Member Add-On is not available to subscribers billed through app stores (e.g. Apple or Google), internet, mobile, or TV providers.” It is for subscribers “billed through WarnerMedia that are not part of the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle.” The extra member must be “18 years or older and be in the same country where the subscription owner signed up for HBO Max.” By our math, $7.99 is $3.00 less than a second Basic with Ads subscription, and the gap widens if the owner is on Standard or Premium.

The Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle: Premium is not in it

HBO’s bundle page gives the two options: “With Ads: $21.99/month” with “HBO Max Basic with Ads, Disney+ Basic, and Hulu (With Ads),” and “No Ads: $34.99/month” with “HBO Max Standard, Disney+ Premium, and Hulu (No Ads).” Then the note: “The HBO Max Premium plan is not available with the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle.” If you want 4K and four streams, the bundle is not the route.

The arithmetic: Disney+‘s plans page lists Disney+ at $12.49 with ads and $21.49 for Premium, and Hulu’s page lists the same two prices for Hulu. HBO Max Basic with Ads plus the two ad-supported services would be $35.97, so the $21.99 bundle saves $13.98 a month by our math. Standard plus Disney+ Premium plus Hulu Premium would be $61.47, so the $34.99 bundle saves $26.48. The bundle’s other services are priced in our Disney+ plans guide and Hulu plans guide.

Two operational notes from HBO’s bundle page. “You need to activate your subscriptions before you can sign in and stream all 3 services.” And on double billing: “To help prevent duplicate charges, we may pause your existing HBO Max subscription billed through us when you purchase the bundle and activate HBO Max via Disney+ or Hulu.”

Which providers sell which plans

HBO’s provider list is specific about limits. HBOMax.com, Amazon Appstore, Roku and Samsung are listed without restriction. Three are limited to the two lower tiers and monthly billing: “Cox (Basic with Ads or Standard, monthly billing),” “Prime Video Channels (Basic with Ads or Standard, monthly billing),” and “Xfinity (Basic with Ads or Standard, monthly billing).” Xumo is “all plans, monthly billing.” So Premium is not sold through Cox, Prime Video Channels or Xfinity, and annual billing is not offered by any of the four providers with a billing note.

Changing plans: not every provider lets you

“Depending on your provider, you may be able to change your subscription plan.” The page then routes each billing path separately. Cox says “To change your plan, contact Cox.” Prime Video Channels has no plan switch at all: “To change plans, cancel your subscription, wait for it to expire, then resubscribe to HBO Max and choose a different plan.” Only adult profiles can manage subscriptions, from your profile, then Subscription, on phone or computer, or from the Settings icon on a TV.

If you see “Plan change unavailable,” HBO’s first explanation is location: “To change your plan, you need to be located in the country where you started your subscription.” Travellers are told to wait until they return home.

Where the page is silent or needs a second look

Ads on the top tiers. Standard and Premium remove ads from shows and movies, but “Live events have ads regardless of your plan,” and trailers still play before titles with a Skip button.

Annual availability. Yearly billing exists on HBO’s own site; the provider list marks four providers as monthly only, and the others are not described either way.

Download counts are caps, not guarantees. “Download limits apply,” and HBO’s downloads page has separate rules for renewing and expiring downloads.

Old prices are not on the page. Our streaming price tracker dates the last HBO Max increase to fall 2025 from press reports, not from HBO’s page.

PPV pricing. The plans page says PPV events can be purchased but gives no prices.

Before you pick a plan

This is a list of things to check, not a recommendation:

Decide whether downloads or sports matter. Basic with Ads has neither; both arrive at Standard
Price the year if you will keep it. Each annual plan is 16.6% cheaper by our math, if your provider sells annual billing
Want 4K? The bundle cannot give it. Premium is excluded from the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle, per HBO’s bundle page
Sharing with someone outside your home? Extra Member is $7.99, but only on WarnerMedia billing and not on the bundle
Buying through Prime Video Channels, Cox or Xfinity? Premium is not sold there, and Prime Video Channels requires cancelling and resubscribing to change plans
Already pay HBO directly and want the bundle? HBO may pause the direct subscription when you activate through Disney+ or Hulu

Quick answers to what people search

How much is HBO Max a month? $10.99 for Basic with Ads, $18.49 for Standard, $22.99 for Premium, before taxes, per HBO’s plans page read October 10, 2026.

How much is HBO Max a year? $109.99, $184.99 or $229.99, each labelled a 16% saving. By our math the monthly equivalents are $9.17, $15.42 and $19.17.

What is the difference between HBO Max Standard and Premium? Premium adds 4K and Dolby Atmos where available, four streams instead of two (two for sports), and 100 downloads instead of 30, for $4.50 more a month.

Does HBO Max Basic with Ads have downloads? No download allowance is listed for Basic with Ads. Standard has 30 and Premium 100.

How much is the HBO Max Extra Member? $7.99 a month plus taxes, for WarnerMedia-billed subscribers who are not on the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle.

How much is the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max bundle? $21.99 with ads or $34.99 without. The HBO Max tier inside is Basic with Ads or Standard; Premium is not available in the bundle.

Do live sports on HBO Max have ads? Yes. “Live events have ads regardless of your plan.”

Can I change my HBO Max plan through Prime Video? Not directly. HBO’s page says to cancel, wait for the subscription to expire, then resubscribe and choose a different plan.

Bottom line

As of October 10, 2026, HBO Max is $10.99, $18.49 or $22.99 a month, with annual plans 16% cheaper by HBO’s label and 16.6% by our math. Standard is where ads leave and downloads and live sports arrive; Premium adds 4K, Atmos, 100 downloads and two extra streams. The Extra Member costs $7.99 but only on direct billing outside the bundle, and the bundle itself, at $21.99 or $34.99, never includes the Premium tier.

Prices, plan features and quotations from HBO Max’s plans and prices, extra members, bundle and ads help pages, read October 10, 2026, with Disney+ and Hulu standalone prices from their own plans pages read the same day, US versions. The savings and monthly equivalents are our own calculation. HBO Max’s pages are the authority and may change. This is general information, not financial advice.