Hulu has increased the cost of its HBO Max add-on to $15.99 per month, an increase of $1 per month. Unlike other price increases, this one is not unexpected. If anything, it is actually overdue.
Back in January, HBO Max increased the cost of its monthly ad-free subscription from $14.99 to $15.99 per month. While Hulu and YouTube TV both initially held off on increasing the price, YouTube TV began charging the extra $1 in February.
In contrast to YouTube TV, Hulu decided against increasing the cost of its add-on. That is until now. Starting from today, HBO Max on Hulu costs $15.99 per month, the same price YouTube TV and HBO Max charge. Hulu still does offer a 7-day free trial with its add-on, something that’s not available when signing up to HBO Max directly.
For reference, Hulu does still offer an HBO-only add-on and that has also now increased in price from $14.99 to $15.99 per month. As the name suggests, this add-on only unlocks access to HBO content and not the HBO Max app.
The timing here is unlikely to be a coincidence. Even though the initial price increase was months ago, HBO Max is set to become Max next week. While the price of the ad-free Max plan isn’t expected to change, Hulu had already confirmed that its existing HBO Max add-on will provide access to the new and rebranded Max app.
It would seem that Hulu has opted to increase the price before those wider app and content changes take place.
While Hulu only offers the one (ad-free) HBO Max subscription option, the new Max service will not only continue to offer the ad-supported and ad-free subscription tiers, but also a new Ultimate Ad-Free tier. Priced at $19.99 per month, Ultimate Ad-Free is set to provide the best experience Max has to offer.
