Paramount+ Review: A Tale of Two Subscriptions

Paramount+ is a good streaming service and most people will find value in paying for a subscription. However, and unlike many other streaming services, Paramount+ offers two very different experiences so choosing the right one is all the more important.

Streaming Better Rating

★★★★☆

We like Paramount+ overall, but the two plans are very different. While Paramount+ Premium offers good value, Essential subscribers get a lot less for their ad-supported dollars.

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Paramount+ offers two main plans to choose from – the $8.99/mo Essential plan and the $13.99/mo Premium plan.

While many other streaming services also offer more than one plan, they don’t tend to differ quite as much as the two Paramount+ plans.

Whether you should sign up for the Essential or Premium plan not only comes down to whether you want to skip the ads, but also whether or not you want access to a fair amount of additional content, including the full Showtime library.

Key Features – What You Need to Know

Below is a summary of the main differences between the Paramount+ Essential and Premium plans.

With two very different subscriptions on offer, the Paramount+ experience can vary greatly, depending on the plan you subscribe to.

This is one of our biggest issues with Paramount+, as there’s no option to sign up to an an ad-supported plan that includes Showtime, locking Essential users out of a significant chunk of the library.

If access to the entire catalog matters to you, then you will need to consider signing up to the more expensive ad-free plan. While Essential offers good value in general, it is a more limiting experience.

★★★★☆

• Originals
• Showtime
• Live Sports

From $9/mo

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Full Paramount+ Review

Unsure whether Paramount+ is the right service for you? Here’s our full review.

Experience — What It’s Like To Use Paramount+

As Paramount+ replaced the old CBS All Access app, the service comes with a fairly good level of device support and most homes should find that they can access the service on most of the smart TVs and streaming players they already have access to.

Generally speaking, the experience is also fairly consistent across devices, and this all begins with users arriving on the app’s Home screen.

Typical of most Home screens, the home section of the smart TV app is broken down into rows. These include Your Next Watch (recommended), Now Featuring (Originals), Just Added, and Hot Right Now (trending), among others.

The Home screen also includes dedicated Keep Watching and My List rows. Unlike the others, these are based on user behavior and not recommendations.

Also similar to other apps, Paramount+ utilizes a left-side navigation menu. This menu is always visible in icon form when navigating the app and can be expanded to reveal the additional filter options.

Options in the main menu include Search, Home, Shows, Movies, Collections, Live TV, Sports, News, and My List.

Clicking on any of these categories filters the content down and unlocks additional filters along the top of the screen to further help narrow down the library.

Clicking through to an individual title opens up access to the usual options, including Watch Now, the ability to add to My List, and the ability to browse episodes (if a series).

If the title is a movie, users will also have the ability to watch a trailer.

Depending on the title, there may be some additional options and content available. For example, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds features Extras and The Ready Room sections, unlocking access to clips, interviews, and other additional content.

The mobile app offers a very similar experience overall. It is largely made up of the same main sections, and comes with many of the same filters and features.

Here’s a closer look at the mobile app.

One feature that’s available on the mobile app that you won’t find in TV apps is the option to download videos to watch offline. That’s providing you are subscribed to the Premium plan, as downloads are not available to Essential subscribers.

Once a movie or episode has been downloaded, mobile users have 30 days to watch it. The video is then automatically removed from the app after the 30 days have expired.

If you’ve already started watching a video, it will only remain available as a download for the next 48 hours.

When comparing the Essential/Premium experience, one of the annoying things about the Essential plan is that the app still shows content that the subscriber doesn’t have access to, and this isn’t necessarily clear at first.

For example, clicking on any of the shows or movies will open up the title page as normal, along with a Watch option. Only when clicking on Watch does it becomes clear that the subscriber doesn’t have access to that content with their current plan.

While it is easy enough to just avoid these additional titles, the added problem is that premium shows and movies are integrated throughout the app.

So, for example, if browsing the Shows section for something to watch, premium shows will are listed, even though they are unavailable to watch.

Although these areas of the app do show a little padlock next to any titles that are unavailable to Essential subscribers, the padlock is easy enough to miss when browsing quickly through the catalog for something to watch.

Obviously, if signed up to the Premium plan, none of this is an issue, and the integration of Showtime content within the main Paramount+ library is a benefit.

Overall, the Paramount+ app is packed full of content, and while this can result in the app feeling a little busy, we found it easy enough to navigate and use.

Content — What You Can Watch on Paramount+

It’s usually pretty easy to review the content of a streaming service without having to distinguish between plans, but that’s not the case with Paramount+.

In June 2023, Showtime was merged with Paramount+ and now all Premium subscribers get access to all of the Showtime library. The problem here is Essential subscribers don’t get access to Showtime content, resulting in two different libraries.

Technically, Essential subscribers do get access to some Showtime content, but the list of series is very small, and in some cases, it is only a few episodes and not full seasons.

This is a major point to be aware of when deciding whether Paramount+ is the right service for you, as you will have to decide on how much content you want, and this directly impacts how much you’ll pay.

Showtime aside, subscribers of both plans get access to the same Paramount+ on-demand library, including the streaming service’s selection of Originals.

While the selection of Originals isn’t bad, it’s not exactly great either, and is far too aimed towards fans of the Star Trek and Yellowstone universes.

In addition to Originals, all Paramount+ subscribers get access to a number of Paramount movies soon after their theatrical release.

Popular movies that made their way to Paramount+ following their theater runs include:

• 80 For Brady
• Babylon
• Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
• Roofman
• Scream 7
• Smile and Smile 2
• The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
• Top Gun: Maverick

Paramount+ also offers access to a varied back catalog of movies and shows, and from a variety of popular brands including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Smithsonian.

When it comes to CBS shows, new episodes tend to become available to stream on Paramount+ just 24 hours after airing.

It is also possible to watch CBS shows as they air live on the channel. However, this does require you to be signed up to the Paramount+ Premium plan.

Live TV — FAST and Local CBS

Similar to many other services, Paramount+ offers a live TV experience within its apps, and it is not bad either. However, this can be another area that varies depending on the plan you are subscribed to.

If signed up to the Essential plan, you do get access to a decent selection of FAST channels. Many of these are curated channels based on a theme (like Movies or Drama) or a specific show (like Paw Patrol or Star Trek).

FAST channels available on Paramount+ include:

• 24/7 Laughs
• 48 Hours
• 60 Minutes
• 80s Sitcoms
• Animation Favorites
• CSI
• ET
• South Park
• Movies
• PAW Patrol
• SpongeBob Universe
• Star Trek

Those signed up to the Premium plan not only get access to all of the same channels as Essential subscribers, but they can also watch their local CBS station. This is in addition to Showtime linear channels like the Paramount+ with Showtime channel.

Sports – Live, FAST and CBS

One of the additional benefits of a Paramount+ subscription is the access to live sports, and Paramount+ includes a dedicated Sports section within the app making it super easy to find sports programming, including live events.

Some of the sports and leagues available to stream throughout the year include NFL, NCAA, UEFA, NWSL, Concacaf, Serie A, AFC, AFA, UFC, and Zuffa Boxing.

Although most of these sports are streamed on CBS, and a Premium subscription is required to access live CBS stations, Paramount+ does provide separate feeds to Essential subscribers, allowing them to stream many live games and events throughout the year without upgrading.

However sports fans may want to consider upgrading to Premium if they want access to live sports events including NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball, Big Ten Football on CBS, The Masters, PGA TOUR, The PGA Championship, and Women’s soccer.

All Paramount+ subscribers also get access to a variety of sports-themed FAST channels.

Dedicated sports channels available on Paramount+ include:

• CBS Sports HQ
• CBS Sports Golazo Network
• UEFA Champions League
• UFC
• Zuffa Boxing
• World Rugby

In addition to live sports and FAST channels, Paramount+ is home to a catalog of on-demand sports content, including replays, documentaries, and series.

Cost — How Much You’ll Pay for Paramount+

Paramount+ offers two main tiers. The cheapest is the Essential plan, which is priced at $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year.

Although the Essential plan has increased in price multiple times over the years, it remains competitive and in line with the cost of ad-supported plans offered by many other top tier streaming services.

While Essential offers good value overall, the Premium plan offers much better value. Thanks to the inclusion of Showtime, you’re basically getting two subscriptions for the price of one, and both of them are ad-free.

With the Premium plan priced at $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year, it is also a lot more competitively priced than the ad-supported plan, and cheaper than ad-free plans offered by many other popular streaming services.

With ad-supported and ad-free plans available, Paramount+ does offer different subscriptions to suit the needs of most homes. However, choosing the right one is more important than with other services, and this decision directly impacts the cost.

Is Paramount+ Worth It? — What We Really Think

Yes, we think Paramount+ is worth a subscription. However, with two very different plans on offer, the streaming experience varies a lot more than with subscriptions tiers offered by other streaming services.

If you are not interested in Showtime content or access to your local CBS station, then the Essential plan offers good value overall.

The one downside with this plan is that there isn’t any option to upgrade to an ad-free version without Showtime. If you want to watch without the ads, you’ll have to pay for Showtime content as well.

For this reason, we do feel that the Premium plan offers significantly better value overall.

Not only do you get a wide variety of on-demand content, access to additional live TV channels, including more live sports, but you also get ad-free access to all of the Paramount+ and Showtime on-demand catalogs.

In an ideal world, Paramount+ would offer an ad-supported plan that includes Showtime content. In our opinion, this would make for a much better product for those willing to sit through ads to save on the cost.

Until that happens, however, if you are considering the Essential tier then our recommendation is to skip it. Premium is much better and offers better value overall.

★★★★☆

• Originals
• Showtime
• Live Sports

From $9/mo

Save 50% with saveannual50

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