Paramount+ Plans: Essential vs Premium Price, Student 50% Off and Walmart+

Paramount+ sells two plans in the US, and the gap between them is one price step and one live channel. As of October 10, 2026, Paramount+‘s help center lists Essential at $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year and Premium at $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year, plus taxes, with a note that “prices have changed for new subscribers.” Around those two prices sit three discounts that most price pages skip: verified college students get 50% off either plan, Walmart+ members get Essential at no extra charge and can upgrade to Premium for $5.49 a month, and the AARP 10% discount closed to new members on December 1, 2025. This guide lays out what each plan includes, the arithmetic Paramount’s page does not do, and the exact terms of the three discounts. If you are leaving, the steps are in our Paramount+ cancellation guide.

The quick answer

Essential: $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year. Ads, 3 streams, 6 profiles, no local live CBS station
Premium: $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year. No ads on demand, your local live CBS station, 4K on select titles, downloads, all of SHOWTIME
Annual saving: 16.6% on either plan by our math, $7.50 and $11.67 a month
Students: “50% off ANY Paramount+ plan,” college or university only, verified by SheerID, valid one year at a time
Walmart+ members: Essential included “at no additional cost”; Premium upgrade ”+$5.49/month”
AARP: “As of December 1, 2025, our AARP member discount is no longer available.” Existing members keep 10% until they switch plans
Taxes: “Plus applicable taxes.”

Key facts at a glance

	Essential	Premium
Monthly	$8.99	$13.99
Annual	$89.99	$139.99
Monthly equivalent of annual (our math)	$7.50	$11.67
Ads	Ad supported	No ads on demand; live content has ad breaks
Local live CBS station	Not included	Included
NFL on CBS	Via separate live feeds	Via your local CBS station
4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10	Not listed	Select titles
Downloads	Not listed	Yes, 30 days or 48 hours after first play
SHOWTIME	Select series	All of SHOWTIME
Streams	Up to 3 at once	Up to 3 at once
Profiles	Up to 6	Up to 6
Student price (50% off, our math)	About $4.50 a month	About $7.00 a month
With Walmart+	Included	$5.49 a month

Prices and features from Paramount+‘s help center plan page, read October 10, 2026, US version, before taxes.

What Essential includes, and what it leaves out

Paramount’s plan page list for the $8.99 plan: “40,000+ full episodes and hit movies on demand,” “Exclusive, subscriber-only originals,” “CBS News 24/7, CBS Sports HQ, plus 20 live channels of curated favorites,” “NFL on CBS**, UEFA Champions League, UFC, and Zuffa Boxing,” “Up to 6 individual profiles for each member of your household, including kids,” the My List watchlist, “Concurrent streaming on up to 3 devices,” and “Select SHOWTIME® series.”

The exclusion is stated in bold on the page: “Please note that the Paramount+ Essential plan does NOT include your local live CBS station. NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League are available via separate live feeds.” So Essential subscribers get the NFL games CBS carries, through a feed inside the app, but not the CBS station itself. The NFL footnote adds “Games vary by market. Please check your local listings.”

What Premium adds for $5 more

Premium is “everything you get with the Essential plan, plus:” “No ads***,” “Your local, live CBS station, including the NFL on CBS, plus more sports & events,” “UEFA Champions League and more live top soccer,” “Select programming in 4K UHD, Dolby Vision or HDR10†,” “The ability to download movies & shows††,” and “All of SHOWTIME®.”

Each of those has a footnote. On ads: “All plans include promotions about Paramount+, trailers before/after content & sponsorship (or similar). Live content (if available) contains advertising breaks.” On picture: “4K UHD, Dolby Vision and HDR10 available only on select titles, subject to your internet service and device capabilities.” On downloads: “Downloaded content is accessible for earlier of 30 days from date of download or 48 hours from start of playback.”

By our math, the step from Essential to Premium is $5.00 a month or $50.00 a year, and it does not change the stream or profile counts, which are the same on both plans.

The annual plans: 16.6% off by our math

Paramount’s page lists the yearly prices without a savings figure. Twelve months of Essential is $107.88, so $89.99 saves $17.89, or 16.6%, and works out to $7.50 a month. Twelve months of Premium is $167.88, so $139.99 saves $27.89, also 16.6%, and works out to $11.67 a month.

Students: half off either plan, one year at a time

The student page is unusually generous for streaming: “If you’re a verified student, you can get 50% off ANY Paramount+ plan.” The limits are strict. The discount “is only available to college or university students currently enrolled at an accredited, Title IV higher education institution. High school students are not eligible.” Both plans qualify: “Both plans are eligible, and you can choose monthly or annual payment options.” By our math, that puts Essential near $4.50 a month and Premium near $7.00, or about $45 and $70 a year.

Three rules decide whether you can use it:

New subscriptions only. Paramount says “we cannot apply the student discount to existing Paramount+ subscriptions,” so an existing subscriber has to cancel first
Web sign-up only, at paramountplus.com/account/edu/. Verification runs through SheerID, which matches your name, school and date of birth against an enrolment database, or asks for a school ID with an expiry date, a transcript or another school document showing current enrolment
One year at a time. “Once you’ve been verified, your student discount is valid for 1 year,” and you can re-verify each year you remain a student

Walmart+: Essential included, Premium for $5.49

Paramount’s Walmart+ page states the benefit plainly: “Walmart+ includes Paramount+ Essential, which is ad-supported, at no additional cost.” Its comparison grid prices the step up as ”+$5.49/month” for Premium, with ad-free on-demand streaming, live CBS and all of SHOWTIME. Upgrading bills at once: “you’ll be charged immediately at the time of the upgrade.”

Three conditions sit under the offer. The benefit lives and dies with the membership: “If you cancel your Walmart+ membership, your Paramount+ benefit will also be canceled.” It is managed through Walmart, not Paramount: “Your Paramount+ subscription is managed through Walmart+.” And current subscribers cannot simply attach it: “If you’re a Walmart+ member who already has a Paramount+ subscription, you must first cancel your existing subscription and wait until the end of your billing cycle to take advantage of this benefit.” Walmart+‘s own membership price and pause rules are in our Walmart Plus guide.

By our math, $5.49 for Premium through Walmart+ is $8.50 a month less than Premium bought direct, and 49 cents more than the direct $5.00 step from Essential to Premium.

AARP: closed to new members since December 2025

Paramount’s AARP page is blunt: “As of December 1, 2025, our AARP member discount is no longer available.” Members who already had it keep it: “If you’re an existing, active AARP member who has already subscribed to Paramount+, you will KEEP your 10% discount for the life of your current plan.” The catch is in the next line: “If you switch your plan after December 1, 2025, you will forfeit the 10% discount. If you cancel on or after December 1, 2025, and want to resubscribe later, the 10% discount will not be available.” A plan change, in either direction, ends it.

Where the pages are silent or need a second look

“Prices have changed” has no date. The plan page says prices changed for new subscribers but does not say when, or what the previous prices were. Our streaming price tracker carries the same note.

Two plans here, three abroad. Paramount’s regional price page lists Australia and Canada with a three-tier lineup, Basic with Ads, Standard and Premium, while the US page has only Essential and Premium. The names and tiers do not carry across borders.

Essential’s sports are feeds, not the channel. NFL on CBS and the Champions League come “via separate live feeds” on Essential; the local CBS station itself is Premium only.

Ads survive on Premium in two places. Promotional trailers and sponsorship on every plan, and “Live content (if available) contains advertising breaks.”

Student price is not printed. Paramount states 50% off; the resulting prices are our arithmetic, and taxes still apply.

Before you pick a plan

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

Do you want your local CBS station live? That is the line between the plans; Essential has the NFL feed but not the station
Price the year. $89.99 or $139.99 is 16.6% less than twelve monthly payments by our math
Enrolled at a college or university? Half off either plan, but only on a new subscription signed up on the web
Already a Walmart+ member? Essential is included, and Premium is $5.49 rather than $13.99, but a direct Paramount+ subscription has to be cancelled first
On the old AARP discount? Changing plans or cancelling ends it, per Paramount’s page
Need 4K or downloads? Premium only, and 4K is limited to select titles

Quick answers to what people search

How much is Paramount+ a month? $8.99 for Essential with ads, $13.99 for Premium, plus taxes, per Paramount+‘s help center read October 10, 2026.

How much is Paramount+ a year? $89.99 for Essential or $139.99 for Premium, which is 16.6% less than monthly billing by our math.

Does Paramount+ Essential include CBS? Not the local live station. Paramount’s page says Essential “does NOT include your local live CBS station”; NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League come through separate live feeds.

What is the Paramount+ student discount? “50% off ANY Paramount+ plan” for verified college or university students, on new subscriptions only, valid one year at a time.

Is Paramount+ free with Walmart+? Essential is included at no additional cost. Premium is a $5.49 a month upgrade managed through Walmart.

Does Paramount+ still have an AARP discount? No. It closed to new members on December 1, 2025; existing members keep their 10% unless they switch or cancel.

How many devices can stream Paramount+ at once? Up to 3, on either plan, with up to 6 profiles.

How long do Paramount+ downloads last? Until the earlier of 30 days from download or 48 hours after you start playback, on Premium only.

Bottom line

As of October 10, 2026, Paramount+ is $8.99 or $13.99 a month, $89.99 or $139.99 a year, and the Premium step buys no ads on demand, your local CBS station, 4K on select titles, downloads and all of SHOWTIME, while streams and profiles stay the same. Verified college students pay half on either plan, Walmart+ members get Essential free and Premium for $5.49, and the AARP discount is closed to anyone who does not already have it.

Prices, plan features and quotations from Paramount+‘s help center plan, student discount, Walmart+ benefit, AARP discount and regional price pages, read October 10, 2026, US versions. The savings, monthly equivalents and student prices are our own calculation. Paramount+‘s pages are the authority and may change. This is general information, not financial advice.