Paramount+ vs Peacock: Which Is Worth It In 2026?

Short answer: pick Paramount+ if you care about UFC, CBS shows, or Showtime originals; pick Peacock if you care about NBA and NFL Sunday nights, Premier League soccer, Bravo reality, or next-day NBC shows. Price-wise they're close — Paramount+ runs $8.99/month with ads or $13.99/month ad-free (after its January 15, 2026 increase), while Peacock runs $10.99/month with ads or $16.99/month for Premium Plus, with a slimmer $7.99 Select tier for NBC/Bravo basics. Paramount+ is the better pure-value play in 2026 because its ad-free tier is $3 cheaper and now includes every UFC event at no extra charge; Peacock justifies its higher price only if its sports lineup or NBC/Bravo catalog is what you actually watch. Here's the full breakdown.

Pricing In 2026

Paramount+ Essential — $8.99/month or $89.99/year. Ads on demand; includes NFL on CBS and UFC live events.
Paramount+ Premium — $13.99/month or $139.99/year. Ad-free on demand (live events still carry ads), Showtime catalog, downloads, and your live local CBS station.
Peacock Select — $7.99/month. A cut-down library focused on NBC and Bravo current seasons; skips most sports and originals.
Peacock Premium — $10.99/month or $79.99/year. Full catalog with ads, including live sports.
Peacock Premium Plus — $16.99/month or $169.99/year. Mostly ad-free, downloads, plus your local NBC live feed.

Neither service hands out standard free trials anymore — Paramount+ retired its 7-day trial in early 2026, and Peacock dropped trials years ago. Watch for promos instead; both run frequent first-month deals. For the deeper plan-by-plan detail on Paramount's side, see how much Paramount Plus costs.

Content: What You Actually Get

Paramount+

The library leans on CBS, Showtime, and Paramount's film catalog: Taylor Sheridan's stable (1923, Tulsa King, Landman, Mayor of Kingstown), every Star Trek series, Showtime prestige (Dexter, Yellowjackets, Billions), CBS staples next day (Tracker, NCIS, Survivor), the Mission: Impossible and Sonic film franchises, and a deep kids' bench anchored by SpongeBob and PAW Patrol.

Peacock

Peacock is the NBCUniversal vault: The Office, Parks and Recreation, SNL the morning after, next-day NBC shows (Law & Order and One Chicago franchises, The Voice), the entire Bravo universe (Real Housewives, Below Deck, Vanderpump), Peacock originals like Poker Face and Love Island USA, and Universal's theatrical movies when they hit streaming — the Wicked films, Oppenheimer, and the Jurassic and Despicable Me franchises among them.

Sports: The Real Separator

This is where the two services have gone in very different directions:

Paramount+ is now the U.S. home of the UFC: starting in 2026, all 13 numbered events and roughly 30 Fight Nights stream live on Paramount+ with select cards simulcast on CBS — and there's no more pay-per-view upcharge. It also carries NFL on CBS (including AFC playoff games), UEFA Champions League, the Masters, and college football/basketball on CBS. Our guide to watching UFC without cable has the full details.
Peacock carries Sunday Night Football, and with the NBA's return to NBC in the 2025–26 season it streams a national NBA slate including exclusive Peacock games, plus Premier League soccer (the biggest U.S. package), Big Ten college football, golf, and the Olympics — it just carried the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February 2026. One caveat: WWE premium live events left Peacock for ESPN in late 2025, so don't subscribe expecting WrestleMania.

Fight fans and CBS-sports households should go Paramount+; basketball, soccer, and NFL-Sunday households should go Peacock.

Apps, Streams, And Extras

Both services run on every mainstream device — Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, consoles, smart TVs, phones, and the web — and both support profiles and downloads on their ad-free tiers. Paramount+ Premium includes your live local CBS feed; Peacock Premium Plus includes your live local NBC feed. Reliability is comparable; when either one acts up, the fixes are the same session-reset playbook (we keep current guides for both: Paramount+ fixes and Peacock fixes).

Verdict: Which One In 2026?

Best overall value: Paramount+. Cheaper ad-free tier, Showtime included, and the entire UFC calendar without pay-per-view fees is the single biggest value add in streaming this year.
Best for sports variety: Peacock — NBA, Sunday Night Football, Premier League, Big Ten, and the Olympics beat Paramount's lineup unless UFC is your sport.
Best for reality TV and sitcom comfort-watching: Peacock, by a mile — Bravo plus The Office is unmatched.
Best for prestige drama: Paramount+ with Showtime edges out Peacock's originals.

If you can only keep one, match it to the sport you'd actually miss. If neither sticks, both are easy to drop — here's how to cancel Peacock whenever you need it.

FAQ

Is Paramount+ or Peacock cheaper?

Peacock's Select tier is nominally cheapest at $7.99, but comparing full catalogs, Paramount+ Essential ($8.99) undercuts Peacock Premium ($10.99), and ad-free Paramount+ Premium ($13.99) undercuts Peacock Premium Plus ($16.99).

Does Paramount+ still charge pay-per-view for UFC?

No. Under the deal that began in 2026, all UFC numbered events and Fight Nights stream on Paramount+ at no extra cost, with select events also on CBS.

Is WWE still on Peacock?

WWE's premium live events moved to ESPN's streaming service in late 2025. Peacock retains only limited WWE programming, not the marquee events.

Can I bundle either service?

Both show up in carrier and bundle deals — Walmart+ includes Paramount+ Essential, and some Xfinity plans include Peacock Premium — so check subscriptions you already pay for before buying either outright.