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Coming onto the scene in 2021, Paramount+ might get mistaken for a newcomer, but it got its start in 2014 as CBS All Access. And so far the rebrand has been a success.
The platform had 11 straight quarters of growth from 2021 to Q3 2023, when it went from 16.5 million to more than 63 million subscribers.
With its extensive library of movies and TV shows, live TV, sports, and affordable price plans, Paramount’s revamped streaming service is an attractive option in an increasingly crowded market.
But whether it’s right for you is the question. Our Paramount+ review dives into the streamer’s pricing plans, content offerings, user experience, and more to help you determine if Paramount+ is worth your hard-earned money in 2024.
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How much does Paramount+ cost in 2024?
Paramount+ went through a lot of changes in 2023, revamping its price plans in June after Showtime was merged into the platform. It now keeps things simple with 2 plans instead of 4—one with ads and one without.
It raised its prices a couple of bucks during the revamp, although the entry-level that was planned to increase to $6.99/month only went up to $5.99/month. So its price increase was less than expected. How often does that happen?
Paramount+ Essential: $5.99/month
- Full access to the Paramount+ on-demand library
- Some live sports (NFL, UEFA Champions League)
- 24/7 live news from CBS News
- Ads: Yes
- User profiles: 6
- Downloads: No
- Simultaneous screens: 3
- Quality: 1080p (720p HD for live TV)
- Annual Plan: $59.99/year
Paramount+ with Showtime: $11.99/month
- Everything in the Premium plan
- Live feed of your local CBS station
- Ads: No
- User profiles: 6
- Downloads: Up to 25 videos
- Simultaneous screens: 3
- Quality: Up to 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10
- Annual Plan: $119.99/year
Paramount+ vs. the alternatives
Even after its price increase in 2023, Paramount+ remains one of the least expensive on-demand streaming services on the market. The Paramount+ Essential plan is the same price as Peacock’s ad-supported plan and a buck cheaper than Netflix’s (fairly new) plan with ads.
You can see how Paramount+ compares to the major on-demand streaming services in the table below.
| Streamer | With Ads | Ad-free | Premium | Annual Plan | Simultaneous Screens | 4K | Downloads | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC+ | $4.99 | $8.99 | - | $83.88* | 5 | No | Yes | 7 Days |
| Apple TV+ | - | $9.99 | - | $99.99 | 6 | Yes | Yes | 7 Days |
| Disney+ | $7.99 | $13.99 | - | $139.99* | 4 | Yes | Yes | None |
| Hulu | $7.99 | $17.99 | - | $79.99** | 2 | Yes | Ad-free Only | 30 Days |
| Max | $9.99 | $15.99 | $19.99 | $99.99 / $159.99 / $199.99 | 2–4 | Premium Only | Ad-Free+ Only | None |
| MGM+ | - | $6.99 | - | $58.99 | 4 | No | Yes | 7 Days |
| Netflix | $6.99 | $15.49 | $22.99 | No | 2–4 | Premium Only | Yes | None |
| Paramount+ | $5.99 | $11.99 | - | $59.99 / $119.99 | 3 | Ad-free Only | Ad-free Only | 7 Days |
| Peacock | $5.99 | $11.99 | - | $59.99 / $119.99 | 3 | Yes | Ad-free Only | None |
| Prime Video | $8.99 | $11.98 | - | $139*** | 3 | Yes | Yes | 30 Days |
| Starz | - | $9.99 | - | $69.99 | 4 | No | Yes | None |
| * Annual plan is only for the Ad-free plan ** Annual plan is only for the With Ads plan *** Annual plan is only for the full Prime membership | ||||||||
What kind of content does Paramount+ have?
Being the streaming service of CBS and parent company Paramount, you’ll find a lot of popular classic TV shows and features films. You also get sports, such as NFL and UEFA Champions League, reality TV, and live news. And Premium subscribers get a live stream of their local CBS channel.
Original content on Paramount+
While you might expect a television network to simply share its slate of broadcast programming on its streaming platform, that’s not the case here (or with Peacock, for that matter). You’ll find shows here that you can’t watch on CBS. In fact, a lot of them wouldn’t be allowed on CBS—without being heavily censored first.
Naturally, you can expect a hefty dose of the Star Trek universe, but there’s a lot more than that. Here are some original miniseries and shows on Paramount+ from oldest to newest:
- Star Trek Discovery (since 2017)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks (since 2020)
- 1883 (2021)
- Mayor of Kingstown (since 2021)
- 1923 (since 2022)
- Beavis and Butt-Head (since 2022)
- Tulsa King (since 2022)
- Halo (since 2022)
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (since 2022)
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves (since 2023)
- Special Ops: Lioness (since 2023)
- Sexy Beast (since 2024)
Movies on Paramount+
Paramount is the 2nd-oldest film studio in America (and 5th-oldest in the world), so they’ve got a huge film library to draw from. For new movies with theatrical releases, Paramount takes a varied approach employing the now-standard 45-day theatrical window, shorter windows for select titles, and concurrent streaming for others.
Some of the most popular movies on Paramount+ right now are:
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (streaming exclusive)
- June (exclusive)
- Milli Vanilli (exclusive)
- South Park (Not Suitable for Children)
- South Park: Joining the Panderverse (original)
- Finestkind (original)
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie
- Scream VI
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The entire Scream franchise—except for Scream 4—is streaming on Paramount+. Check out our Scream VI Review for our thoughts on the latest installment and a glimpse at each film in the series.
TV shows on Paramount+
Anybody who grew up watching traditional broadcast television is going see a lot of familiar faces. From The Fonz to Frasier Crane, the CBS television network created some of the most iconic characters in small screen history. You’ll find the complete Star Trek franchise and some of the biggest sitcoms ever produced.
Here are some of the most popular TV series on Paramount+ right now:
- Blue Bloods
- Ghosts
- Picard (original)
- Star Trek TOS (exclusive)
- Hawaii Five-O
- Ink Master (original)
- Sky+Med (original)
- NCIS complete franchise
- CSI complete franchise except for CSI: Cyber
Live TV on Paramount+
Paramount+ is currently one of the only on-demand content streaming services that offers live TV, allowing you to access news, sports, and entertainment in real-time.
However, the streamer has both “Live Channels” and “Live TV”—and they are not the same thing.
Live Channels on Paramount+ are non-stop, linear channels with curated programming, similar to what you’ll find in Prime Video Channels and other so-called “live channels”. Live Channels are available to all subscribers, meaning you can watch them with the Paramount+ Essential plan.
But why would you watch Live Channels if you can watch everything on-demand? Because there are no commercials, even for Paramount+ Essential subscribers.
Live TV is the same as live broadcast television. It is only available to Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers and gives them a live feed of their local CBS affiliate. (You can, of course, change your “local” affiliate by using a VPN to connect to a server in a different market.)
Kids content on Paramount+
When you create a kids account you get a separate content hub just for kids. It’s got videos categorized into curated collections, such as Preschool Corner, Exciting Adventures, and Animal Friends. The library is quite extensive, so there should be something to keep every kid entertained.
You won’t find any Disney, Star Wars, or Marvel obviously, as they’re all on Disney+. But some parents will enjoy fresh takes on nostalgic favorites like SpongeBob and Blue’s Clues.
Some of the popular kids shows on Paramount+ are:
- Transformers: EarthSpark
- Star Trek:
- PAW Patrol
- Peppa Pig
- Blue’s Clues & You
- Dora the Explorer
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years
- Bob the Builder
- The Adventures of Paddington
Sports on Paramount+
Another content type that sets Paramount’s streaming service apart is live sports. Peacock launched with sports (thanks to NBC), and Amazon and Apple have caught on to the value in sports with their own major league deals, but sports are still not a priority for many on-demand streaming services.
Some NFL games and other sporting events are available to all subscribers, meaning those with Paramount+ Essentials can watch the games live as well.
However, for most of the live sports you need the Paramount+ with Showtime plan. You get access to plenty of live games (and on-demand after they end) in a range of sports and leagues. It’s a particularly great choice for soccer fans, with matches for Serie A, NWSL, AFA, Brasileirão, and EUFA Champions League.
Other sports on Paramount+ include:
- SEC On CBS
- The Masters
- NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship
- PGA TOUR
- The PGA Championship
- Women’s Soccer
- Combate Global MMA
Paramount+ interface and usability
Navigation
Navigation is simple with a user-friendly interface, making it easy enough to find what you’re looking for. In the browser, the top navigation menu has 8 main categories: Shows, Movies, Collections, Live TV, Sports, News, Showtime, and My List.
Each category has rows of curated content, while Shows and Movies both have an additional genre navigation menu along the top. So, if you’re looking for horror you don’t need to scroll to find it.
The menu is bookended on the left by the logo, which returns to the home page from anywhere on the platform, and a search icon on the right.
Language settings
Language settings are one of the platform’s weakest and most disappointing features. Subtitles are mostly limited to English and you can occasionally get audio in Spanish.
But the 67+ million Americans who speak something other than English or Spanish at home, won’t find much to watch in their first language.
Parental controls
The standard parental controls let you create kid profiles that require a PIN code to exit. You get 2 choices when creating a kid profile: Younger Kids for TV-Y and G-rated shows, and Older Kids, which adds TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-G, TV-PG, and PG-rated content.
Paramount+ account sharing and simultaneous screens
With the Netflix password-sharing crackdown now in full effect, people are more concerned about account sharing than ever before. Fortunately, Paramount+ is not going to hunt you down for sharing your account.
How many people can watch Paramount+ at once?
You can watch Paramount+ on 3 devices simultaneously. That’s across all services, such as live TV, the on-demand library, news, and sports. But there’s no limit on the number of devices that can log into your account or any other restrictions.
Three devices is around the industry average, with Netflix and Hulu both only allowing 2 and Apple TV+ allowing the most with 6 simultaneous screens.
How many profiles can you make on Paramount+?
You can create up to 6 profiles on Paramount+ and it’s as easy as clicking Add Profile and giving it a name. There’s no need for emails or connecting other accounts like you need to do with Apple TV+ and YouTube TV.
Paramount+ supported devices
Paramount+ isn’t breaking any records with the number of devices it supports, but it’s got all the major ones covered. You won’t find an app or skill for your Google Nest or Alexa Show, but you can watch it on you (discontinued) Facebook Portal, if you happen to be one of the people who bought one.
- Streaming devices: Apple TV, Chromecast, DirecTV Gemini, Fire TV, Roku
- Cable & satellite boxes: Cox Contour, Xfinity, Xumo Stream Box
- Phones & tablets: Android, iPhone, iPad
- Smart TVs: Android TV, Portal TV, LG, Samsung, Vizio, VIDAA (Hisense)
- Smart home devices: Facebook Portal (defunct)
- Game consoles: PlayStation, Xbox
- Desktops & laptops: Windows, Mac, all major browsers
- Blu-ray players: None
Paramount+ streaming quality
With the Paramount+ Essential plan, you’ll get only up to 1080p to go with your ads. By upgrading to Paramount+ with Showtime, you get up to 4K UHD and Dolby Vision or HDR10+.
However, not all content is at this premium level even with the Paramount+ with Showtime plan. The show page indicates the quality available, but sometimes this is at the end of a long show description, so it’s not exactly easy to find. Also, there is no search filter or even a content hub to quickly 4K/DV/HDR10+ content.
In addition to the Paramount+ with Showtime plan, you need a device that supports premium video streaming. To stream Paramount+ in 4K, the currently supported devices include:
- Android and iOS mobile devices
- Apple TV 4K HDR (5th Gen)
- Fire TV (4K Stick, Cube)
- Roku
- Google TV 4K
- Samsung 4K TV
You also need high speed internet above 25 Mbps and, obviously, a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR10 or Dolby Vision. For the most up-to-date list visit this Paramount+ page.
Is there a Paramount+ free trial?
Both plans have a 7-day free trial available. This means you can choose either Paramount+ Essential or Paramount+ with Showtime (and monthly or annual billing), then get a week free before the billing kicks in. If you cancel before 7 days are up, you’re not charged. One day is measured according to the time you sign up.
Free trials are available to new subscribers only and require a credit card.
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Paramount+ Review Verdict: Who’s it good for in 2024?
First and foremost, Paramount+ is perfect for lovers of CBS TV shows. From classics as far back as Gunsmoke, The Andy Griffith Show, and I Love Lucy, through The Love Boat, Happy Days, and Cheers, and all the way to Criminal Minds, NCIS, Blue Bloods, and beyond, you could never watch them all.
Secondly, it’s without a doubt the best—or rather, only—streaming service for Trekkies. With a dozen shows and 13 movies in the Star Trek franchise, Paramount+ is the only place you can stream them all. In fact, it’s the only place you can even stream most of them.
Third, it’s a solid option for fans of blockbuster movies. From Tombstone and Saving Private Ryan to Mean Girls and Titanic, the Paramount movie library is huge. You won’t find many arthouse or indie films, so it’s not the best streamer for high-brow viewing. But there are a lot of old Westerns if that’s your thing. A lot.
And coming in fourth, but not necessarily last, are the soccer—or football—fans. For $12/month, Paramount+ is a great deal for fans of the leagues mentioned above.
If you’re any of the above, and thinking about a new streaming service, it’s worth taking a closer look at Paramount+. Click the banner below to sign up for your 7-day free trial and see if it’s right for you.
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