How Much Is Paramount Plus? 2026 Plans & Prices
Paramount+ costs $8.99 per month for the Essential plan (with ads) or $13.99 per month for Premium (ad-free, with SHOWTIME included) as of this writing. Annual plans run $89.99 per year for Essential and $139.99 per year for Premium, which works out to roughly two months free versus paying monthly. Both plans went up on January 15, 2026, so if a price you remember seems lower, that is why. Here is exactly what each tier includes and the legitimate ways to pay less.
Paramount+ Plans At A Glance
- Paramount+ Essential — $8.99/month or $89.99/year. Ad-supported. Full on-demand library, NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League via separate live feeds, but no local live CBS station and no downloads.
- Paramount+ Premium — $13.99/month or $139.99/year. Ad-free on demand (live TV and a few promos still carry ads), the full SHOWTIME catalog, your live local CBS station, and offline downloads on mobile.
What The January 2026 Price Hike Changed
Paramount raised US prices on January 15, 2026: Essential went from $7.99 to $8.99 per month and Premium from $12.99 to $13.99. The annual plans jumped harder — Essential from $59.99 to $89.99 per year and Premium from $119.99 to $139.99. The increase applies to existing subscribers as well as new ones, so it shows up on everyone's bill, not just new signups. Annual plans still undercut month-to-month pricing, but the days of the $60 streaming year are over.
What Each Plan Actually Gets You
Essential: The Budget Pick
Essential covers the entire on-demand catalog — Star Trek, Yellowstone-universe shows like Landman and Tulsa King, South Park, CBS series, Paramount movies — with ad breaks. Sports fans are better served than you might expect: NFL on CBS games and UEFA Champions League matches stream on separate live feeds even without the local CBS station. What you give up: downloads for offline viewing, SHOWTIME originals, and the live CBS channel.
Premium: SHOWTIME, CBS, And Downloads
Premium removes ads from on-demand content and folds in the full SHOWTIME library (Yellowjackets, Dexter, Billions and the rest), live streaming of your local CBS affiliate, and offline downloads. If you already pay for cable or an antenna covers CBS for you, Essential closes most of the gap — the SHOWTIME catalog is the real differentiator.
Ways To Pay Less
- Go annual. $89.99 vs $107.88 (12 × $8.99) saves about $18 on Essential; $139.99 vs $167.88 saves about $28 on Premium.
- Walmart+ includes Essential. A Walmart+ membership ($12.95/month or $98/year, with a 30-day free trial) bundles a Paramount+ Essential subscription at no extra cost — effectively free streaming if you already use Walmart+ for delivery.
- Student discount. Paramount+ offers a discounted Essential plan for verified students — verify through their signup page for the current rate.
- Watch for promos. Paramount+ runs steep limited-time offers several times a year (Black Friday, season premieres). Direct free trials come and go with promotions rather than being a standing offer, so check the signup page before paying full price.
Paramount+ vs The Other Streamers
At $8.99 with ads, Essential sits in the middle of the pack — cheaper than Netflix's ad plan pricing tier structure on a per-content basis for sports fans, and Premium at $13.99 undercuts the top tiers of HBO Max and Hulu while bundling SHOWTIME, which used to be a separate $11.99 subscription all by itself.
How To Sign Up (And Where It Works)
Sign up at paramountplus.com on the web rather than through a TV or phone app store — app-store billing can hide plan options and makes switching or canceling clumsier later. The apps themselves run essentially everywhere: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung, LG, and Google TV on the big screen, plus iOS, Android, and any modern web browser. Once you subscribe, signing in on a TV takes about a minute with an on-screen code — our Paramount+ activation guide walks through it device by device.
Is Paramount+ Worth It In 2026?
If you watch NFL on CBS, Champions League soccer, or the Taylor Sheridan universe, Essential at $8.99 is one of the better value plays in streaming — live sports at that price is rare. Premium makes sense if you would otherwise pay for SHOWTIME content or genuinely hate ads; folding an $11.99 add-on into a $13.99 plan is the quiet bargain in the lineup. If you mostly watch one or two shows, remember streaming works fine month-to-month: subscribe, binge, cancel, and come back when the next season lands.
FAQ
Is SHOWTIME included with Paramount+?
Only on Premium. The merger folded SHOWTIME into Paramount+ entirely — there is no separate SHOWTIME app subscription anymore, so Premium is the way to get it.
Can I switch between plans?
Yes, from your account page at paramountplus.com — upgrades apply immediately, downgrades at the end of the billing period. Having trouble with your account? See our guides to activating Paramount+ on your TV and canceling Paramount+.
Does the app still glitch during big games?
Live sports load spikes are Paramount+'s known weak spot. If streams fail on game day, our Paramount+ troubleshooting guide covers error codes 3005 and 3304 and the fixes that actually work.