How Much Is Paramount+? Is It Worth It?

Plan	Price	Features
Essential	$4.99/month	Access to tens of thousands of movies and episodes of television series; includes NFL on CBS live and Champions League live plus 24/7 live news from CBS News; includes limited ads.
Premium	$9.99/month	Access to tens of thousands of movies and episodes of television series; includes NFL on CBS live and a package of additional sports, including soccer; 24/7 live news from CBS News; includes your local CBS station; no ads unless watching live television and selected shows; download content for later viewing.

What Is Paramount Plus?

With an interesting mix of Star Trek, reality television, SpongeBob and NFL games, Paramount Plus is appealing to a wide cross-section of viewers. It even has a low monthly price, but it doesn’t really compare with Netflix and other heavy hitters in the streaming arena.

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Paramount Plus may be a good idea for sports fans, those who love cartoons and even those who are avid watchers of NCIS. A good collection of popular films also can make this a popular choice. Now, you can even add Showtime to your subscription for just a few dollars more.

Similar to Netflix, Paramount Plus boasts a fairly impressive library of reality shows and television series that you’ll find familiar and comforting. In addition, you can discover a few originals. In some ways, Paramount Plus also is similar to Hulu in that you can choose a subscription that is supported by ads or pay a little more each month to watch ad-free.

Paramount Plus further has some similarity to Peacock in that there is a portion of live television that’s offered to subscribers. With plenty of content from Nickelodeon, Paramount Plus is even a bit like Disney Plus. The service further bears some kinship to HBO Max since it features big new movies shortly after they debut in the theater.

Overall, Paramount Plus has approximately 2,500 movies and 30,000 episodes of television series. You also can watch the handful of original series that is being produced by the service. Unfortunately, you won’t find some things that you might expect, like Yellowstone, the hit from the Paramount Network. It’s being shown on Peacock. Similarly, Paramount Plus does not have popular CBS sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, which is on Peacock, and The Big Bang Theory, which is on HBO Max. It’s licensing deals that prevent Paramount Plus from showing these and other shows on their platform.

Still, Paramount Plus isn’t a bad option, especially if you only pay five dollars a month for it. At the same time, it is not as essential as streamers like Hulu and Netflix.

How Much Does Paramount Plus Cost?

When you subscribe to Paramount Plus, you’ll have access to live news and sports in addition to series and films on-demand, some of them originals that you won’t see elsewhere. Paramount Plus draws some of its content from its parent company, Paramount Global. Accordingly, the streamer boasts content from the Paramount Network, BET, MTV, CBS, Nickelodeon, VH1 and movies from Paramount Pictures. Also available are approximately one dozen live channels featuring curated content as well as Showtime titles.

You have two subscription tiers from which to choose. The cheaper is the Essential plan. At $4.99 per month, this is a low-cost membership for which you get access to tens of thousands of films and television episodes in addition to NFL games on CBS live. News is available on a live basis at all times, and you’ll be able to view top-tier soccer action from Champions League. This subscription includes limited ads.

If you would like to get rid of most of the ads, you can upgrade to the Premium subscription for $9.99 per months. You get access to all of the same programming, but now there are no ads unless you are watching live television or select on-demand shows. This is the tier at which you gain access to your local CBS affiliate on a real-time basis. The other advantage of this subscription level is that you can download shows to watch later when you don’t have Internet access.

You can pay for these subscriptions by the month, which makes it easier to cancel at any time. However, you can save some money if you choose to pay on an annual basis. The Essential subscription can be yours for $49.99 a year, which works out to $4.17 per month. Choose the Premium membership for $99.99 per year, which averages out to $8.33 per month.

Recently, Paramount Plus began offering package deals that put Paramount Plus and SHOWTIME together. Once again, you may choose from between Essential and Premium packages, and you may pay either on a monthly or yearly basis. The Essential membership includes SHOWTIME for just $7.99 a month while the Premium Subscription with SHOWTIME runs just $12.99 per month. On an annual basis, you’ll pay $79.99 for the Essential package and $129.99 for the Premium bundle.

When you add SHOWTIME to your Paramount Plus subscription, you get access to all of SHOWTIME’s content without commercial interruption.

How Can You Watch Paramount Plus?

You won’t have any difficulty accessing Paramount Plus’ programming. It is readily available on any web browser, and you can watch on mobile platforms for both iOS and Android. Media streaming devices such as Android TV, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Chromecast all are compatible with Paramount Plus. Both PlayStation 4 and Xbox work with Paramount Plus, and smart TVs such as Vizio, Samsung and LG similarly support Paramount Plus. While other streaming services offer Microsoft Store apps, Paramount Plus does not.

What Can You Watch on Paramount Plus?

People who subscribe to this service typically do so to gain access either to The Good Fight or Star Trek. Now that the service also boasts an iCarly reboot, Evil and the prequel to Yellowstone entitled 1883, these also are good reasons for buying a monthly package.

When Paramount Plus launched, it included 20 exclusive original shows. This was more than double the number of originals that Apple TV could boast at its beginning. Many of those initial originals were brought about by familiar properties, many of which you may have watched on CBS All Access if you were a subscriber to that now-defunct service. These originals included The Stand and the reboot of The Twilight Zone helmed by Jordan Peele.

A major draw to the platform has always been access to the entire Star Trek library. This includes every single episode of the many Star Trek series as well as originals that include Picard, Lower Decks and Discovery. If you opt for the SHOWTIME bundle, you’ll be able to watch their television series. If you do not, these choices will be marked with a padlock on the service.

Other subscribers love Paramount Plus for programming such as The Real World: Homecoming, which debuted with the launch of the streaming service. Additional MTV content such as MTV Unplugged, The Hills, Behind the Music and Love & Hip Hop also can be viewed here. Moreover, the service is promising new reality television series to include international iterations of The Shore, The Challenge: War of the Worlds and All Star Shore.

If you have kids in the house, then Paramount Plus could be a good bet for you. The service has approximately 7,000 episodes of shows for kids and families from Nickelodeon. Among the kid-friendly fare are iCarly, Paw Patrol, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Kamp Koral, an animated spinoff of SpongeBob SquarePants. Among Paramount Plus’ live channels are five that are themed especially for the younger crowd from preschool age up to teenagers. Millennials may appreciate the availability of Are You Afraid of the Dark, Kenan & Kel, All That and others. While Paramount Plus doesn’t have quite as much programming for kids as Disney Plus, it still does a decent job.

CBS Sports HQ is integrated into Paramount Plus, which means that you’ll be able to watch more than 1,000 sports events each year. This programming includes the NFL on CBS, Europa League, UEFA Champions League and The Masters. A Premium subscription is needed for viewers who want to see Sunday NFL games on their local CBS affiliate.

Paramount Plus also has a connection to Comedy Central, granting subscribers plenty of opportunities to enjoy stand-up specials. Just click on “Brands” from the service’s main menu to find Comedy Central programming as well as MTV, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian, CBS and BET.

When you’re in the mood for a movie, you’ll have plenty from which to choose. Browsing the options may take you for a trip down memory lane with titles such as Beverly Hills Cop, Superstar and The Addams Family. Entries from the Mission Impossible franchise are here too, and you’ll be able to view certain new theatrical releases fairly quickly after they are released in theaters. The movie library probably isn’t something that you can’t live without. Other services definitely offer a better assortment.

Viewing Your Paramount Plus Account

Managing your Paramount Plus subscription is easy. If you need to do something such as changing your billing method, updating your password or switching your subscription plan, you can do so from a web browser or via your tablet, smart phone or streaming device with your TV. It may be easiest to do so from a computer where you can use a full keyboard.

Just go to paramountplus.com, and click on the “Sign In” button at the top right-hand side of the screen. Enter your email address and password, then click on “Account.” From here, you can manage all six of your profiles and all of the various devices on which you may view Paramount Plus. There’s even an option for simultaneously signing out of all of these devices if this is necessary.

The interface on the Account screen makes it really easy to edit your password, upgrade or downgrade your subscription, add SHOWTIME to your subscription or change you payment method.

Cancelling your subscription is just as simple and straightforward. If you signed up at Paramount Plus, just visit the paramountplus.com website and click on your user initials in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click on “Account,” and then scroll down until you see “Cancel subscription.”

Users who subscribed via Roku, the App Store, Amazon or Google Play have to go back to these platforms to cancel their subscription.

Contacting Customer Support

From the paramountplus.com website, you can click the “Contact Us” button at the bottom of your screen. The website will ask you a few questions to get a sense of the issues that you are having. Answering these questions will direct you to potentially helpful articles. If you still need help, you can start a chat, send an email or call customer service at 1-888-274-5343.

Alternative methods include the ability to contact support through Twitter by sending a tweet at @AskParamount or visiting them on Facebook at facebook.com/paramountplushelp. You can DM the service on Instagram @ParamountPlusHelp or utilize Google Business Messenger.

Is Paramount Plus Worth It?

For die-hard Star Trek fans, a Paramount Plus subscription is an obvious choice. The same can be said if you or your kids love the programming on Nickelodeon or MTV. Nonetheless, this is not a must-have service for most viewers.

You might want to sign up for the one-week free trial to try it before you subscribe. It may make sense to pay for a membership for a couple of months so that you can binge the programming that’s of the most interest to you. Otherwise, this streaming service will have limited long-term appeal for most viewers.