HBO Max Review – A Mixed Bag (and Library)

While HBO Max has gone through a number of changes over the past few years, its focus on HBO + other content has largely remained the same. Whether HBO Max is the right service for you depends on how much value you place on HBO originals and the additional filler content.

Streaming Better Rating

★★★★☆

HBO Max is a good streaming service and offers good value overall. However, it is a very mixed bag in terms of content, and that filters through to the experience.

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HBO Max is the current version of Max, which itself was previously the new face of the original HBO Max service.

The constant rebranding isn’t just name-based either. When HBO Max switched to Max the change reflected how the service had become a lot more than just HBO. So much so that it didn’t seem to need the HBO name any more.

However, in recent years, the service has again redefined its position and the current version of HBO Max appears to be an attempt to once again focus on how the service is, first and foremost, the home of HBO.

Overall, HBO Max offers better value than the original HBO Max service, but less value than Max. In spite of this drop in value, the varied catalog means the streaming service will continue to appeal to more homes and more family members within a home.

HBO Max Full Review

Unsure of whether Max is the right subscription service for you? Here is our full review.

HBO Max Key Information

Below is a summary of some of the key details of HBO Max, including the price, number of streams, and whether you can download videos.

HBO Max Experience – Navigating a Huge Library

One of the good things about Max is its general level of device support. HBO Max is easily accessible on a variety of platforms and devices, including smart TVs, streaming players, mobile devices, and more.

With the switch from HBO Max to Max, one of the big selling points was the improved app and user experience. At launch, however, we found the app to be a little buggy, and we weren’t alone

Those early teething problems have since been ironed out, with the general experience now considered to be reliable and what you would expect from a top-tier streaming platform in 2026.

Performance aside, the general HBO Max interface feels more limiting than before. The side menu has been slimmed down greatly, and while not necessarily harder to navigate, it can feel harder when considering the sheer size of the catalog.

The side menu includes My Stuff, Search, Home, Series, Movies, HBO, Channels, Sports and Categories as top level filters.

While similar to other services, the current interface can result in more steps to reach certain hubs and sub-libraries.

As an example, those specifically interested in say ID or TLC content need to navigate to Categories, then down to the Brand Spotlight row, and then across to the ID or TLC categories.

While not massively time consuming, it is still longer than Max’s old design where the Brand Spotlight row was easily accessible from the Home screen.

HBO Max has looked to somewhat overcome this problem through the inclusion of various rows to help with finding non-HBO content. For example, a Life with TLC row for TLC titles. However, these are few in general, and not reflective of all of the brands HBO Max is home to.

An example of the switch from Max to HBO Max reflecting a broader reverting back to a focus on HBO.

Speaking of which, in addition to all of the featured HBO Originals showcased on the Home screen, a dedicated HBO section is easily accessible from the side menu.

Another navigation element that we feel to be now worse is the inability to clearly see what is leaving the platform soon.

While HBO Max does include Coming Soon to HBO Max and Just Added rows on the Home screen, there are no Last Chance or Leaving Soon rows.

Instead, individual titles simply display a small Leaving Soon banner. While still useful, they are only visible if you happen to stumble across the title or specifically search for it.

This is another notable difference from Max, which did include a Last Chance row on the Home screen, and an even greater change from the original version of HBO Max which included Just Added, Last Chance, Coming Soon, and similar categories under the Browse category (in the side menu).

While none of these complaints are massive issues on their own, or even collectively, they are examples of how HBO Max continues to feel busier and harder to navigate than it probably needs to be.

HBO Max Content – When Too Much Can Be a Problem

In a past version of this review, we criticized HBO Max (then Max) for focusing too much on quantity over quality. However, that’s changed, as HBO Max has removed quite a lot of content over the past year.

Although this downsizing of the library results in less content overall, it does help to paint a slightly clearer picture of what HBO Max now thinks it is – HBO plus other stuff instead of HBO and mostly other stuff.

While a move we recognize as somewhat beneficial from a business and identity perspective, less content is still less content, and that may be something some homes view as a negative, and especially considering less content hasn’t resulted in a lower price.

When looking at the library as it lives and breathes today, it does rely heavily on the HBO name and content. Here you will find all your favorite HBO titles including:

• Barry
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Deadwood
• Euphoria
• Game of Thrones
• House of the Dragon
• Succession
• The Last of Us
• The Sopranos
• The White Lotus
• The Wire

In addition to these premium HBO titles, the library is also filled with additional non-HBO content, including popular shows from the Discovery family of brands like Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, ID, and TLC.

However, this is also one of the areas where a lot of content has been removed in recent years.

While HBO Max used to be home to pretty much all episodes from many popular Discovery family-branded series, nowadays subscribers are much more likely to only get access to the most recent seasons of those same shows.

Another big non-HBO selling point with HBO Max is the access to Warner Bros. movies. As the official home of Warner Bros. content, HBO Max subscribers typically get streaming access to the studio’s movies before anyone else, and very soon after their theatrical window.

Thanks to an exclusivity deal, this is also the case with A24 movies. All of which tend to make their streaming debut on HBO Max.

However, and similar to what we’ve noticed in general from the switch from Max to HBO Max, Warner Bros. and A24 as brands now receive less prominence in the app, There are no shortcuts to filter the library, with movies from these studios simply mixed in with the rest of the titles in the Home and Movies sections.

Overall, with the ability to jump from an HBO show like Succession to a TLC show like 90 Day Fiancé or an A24 movie like Marty Supreme, HBO Max does offer an interesting collection, and one that will appeal to even more family members than HBO alone ever could.

That said, some people are likely to take issue with the variety of content. For those subscribers, HBO Max still does offer too much. Specifically, too much unscripted and reality content.

HBO Max Live TV – Mainly Just Sports for Now

Unlike some other streaming services, Max doesn’t really offer much in the way of live TV. However, that’s not to say you don’t have access to any.

If signed up to one of the more expensive ad-free plans, you do get the HBO linear channels. This includes the main HBO network, HBO Hits, HBO Comedy, HBO Movies, and HBO Drama.

All of these channels can be found in the dedicated Channels section in the side menu.

In this section, HBO Max also offers what can best be described as a randomizer. Basically, HBO Max provides recommendations of random episodes or movies from various genres and franchises.

While not live, they do offer a way to just jump into something without thinking too much about what it is, providing a similar effect to jumping into a live TV experience and watching whichever random episode or movie is currently showing.

Outside of HBO and the randomizer, the main live TV element that HBO Max subscribers get is live sports.

Again, live sports are limited to those on the ad-free plan so those signed up to Basic with Ads won’t be able to watch any of these live sports events.

In terms of the selection, subscribers get access to live sports including college football, cycling, MLB, NASCAR, NHL, Unrivaled, and U.S. Soccer. This is in addition to select sporting events including NCAA March Madness and Roland-Garros.

HBO Max Cost – Cheap and Expensive at the Same Time

Value is always directly related to content, and that’s all the more true with HBO Max. For those that do want quantity over everything else, HBO Max offers a good selection, and from a wide variety of networks.

In this sense, HBO Max offers very good value overall.

In the past, we found the abundance of Discovery content was significant enough that it removed the need for us to pay for a standalone Discovery+ subscription.

However, since that level of content has consistently been eroded in recent years, that’s no longer the case. If you are primarily interested in Discovery content then you may feel a Discovery+ subscription is worth paying for.

Still, with some Discovery+ content available, including new seasons of popular reality shows, some homes will get just enough Discovery+ to avoid paying for another subscription, saving a minimum of $6 each month.

‘Basic with Ads’ Compared to Other Ad-Supported Plans

HBO Max offer multiple plans to choose from. At $10.99/mo, the cheapest Basic with Ads plan is a little on the expensive side for an ad-supported plan.

While higher up the ad-supported price ladder, we have always found the ad load to be very light compared to ad-supported plans offered by other services.

For this reason, we continue to strongly recommend most homes try the ads plan first.

Here’s an overview of the differences between the three main plans.

As seen in the table above, an important caveat to our start with the ads plan recommendation is that live sports are only available with the ad-free plans.

If you are interested in sports typically shown live on the likes of TBS and TNT, then the ad-supported plan is not going to be for you.

When it comes to going ad-free, HBO Max offers two options – Standard and Premium. Both of which provide access to all of the live sports available to stream on HBO Max.

For those that do want the best experience possible, the Premium plan costs $22.99/mo, making it $4.50 more expensive than the cheaper Standard ad-free plan.

Based on our experience with the service, we find $23 to be too high, as we don’t really see enough value with HBO Max’s Premium ad-free plan to justify the higher cost.

‘Standard’ Compared to Other Ad-Free Plans

Unless you absolutely need to watch in 4K, you’ll probably get much more value for your subscription dollar if you opt for the Standard ad-free plan.

Again, if you don’t need live sports, you’ll get the best value with the Basic with Ads tier.

Is HBO Max Worth It? – What We Really Think

Yes, we think HBO Max is worth a subscription. However, we would recommend signing up to the $10.99/mo Basic with Ads plan and avoiding the $22.99/mo Premium plan.

HBO Max is a good streaming service overall, and the injection of non-HBO content has resulted in plenty of added value.

In homes where a subscription is likely to be shared with multiple people, who all have different viewing tastes, we suspect HBO Max will offer even better value.

For legacy HBO subscribers, and those specifically interested in HBO’s original programming, HBO Max is more of a mixed bag, literally.

While all of your favorite HBO shows are there and ready to be streamed, you will need to get used to navigating the app and filtering out the content you’re not interested in.

★★★★☆

• HBO
• Discovery shows
• Live sports

From $10.99/mo

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