Thinking about paying for Paramount Plus? Then you probably want three straight answers: what it costs, what you can watch, and whether it beats the other services you already pay for. This guide gives you all three, using prices and plan details taken from the official Paramount Plus website.
The short version: Paramount Plus is the streaming home of CBS, Star Trek, the Dutton family westerns and a strong lineup of live sports. It is not the biggest streaming service, but for the right viewer it is one of the best value ones. Below is the full picture, including the parts many reviews skip, like the missing free trial and the Yellowstone catch.
What Is Paramount Plus?
Paramount Plus is a subscription streaming service from Paramount, the company behind CBS and Paramount Pictures. It launched on October 28, 2014 under the name CBS All Access, one of the first streaming services from a big American TV network. Back then it was mostly CBS shows plus a live stream of local CBS stations.
After CBS merged with Viacom, the service added Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET and the Paramount Pictures movie library. On March 4, 2021, it was relaunched with a new name: Paramount Plus. In 2023, SHOWTIME was folded into its top plan, and the separate SHOWTIME app was shut down.
Today the official site says the library holds more than 40,000 episodes and movies. You watch on demand, like Netflix, and some sports and (on the higher plan) your local CBS station stream live.
The prices in this guide are the US prices. Paramount Plus also runs in Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, much of Latin America and parts of Europe, with local pricing and slightly different catalogs in each country, because film and TV rights are sold country by country.
A Quick Word About Free Streaming Sites
Searches for big games often lead to free streaming sites with names like StreamEast. Be careful with those. They are not legal, they change web addresses constantly, and they are a common source of aggressive pop-ups and malware. Paramount Plus is the legal home of CBS sports such as the NFL on CBS and the UEFA Champions League. We cover the full story in our guide to StreamEast, including what happened to the site and the legal ways to watch instead.
Paramount Plus Plans and Prices
Paramount Plus sells two plans in the United States. The details below match the Paramount+ website, where you can also see the current plan table before you sign up.
| Essential | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year | $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year |
| Ads | Yes, during shows and movies | No ads on demand; live TV still has ads |
| Your local live CBS station | No | Yes |
| SHOWTIME | Select titles only | Everything |
| Downloads | No | Yes |
| 4K UHD, Dolby Vision, HDR10 | No | On select titles |
Both plans include the same big on-demand library, the live sports feeds (NFL on CBS, UEFA Champions League and UFC), streaming on up to 3 devices at the same time, and up to 6 profiles per account. Prices are in US dollars and tax is added on top.
One naming point that confuses people: the Premium plan used to be sold as Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. If you see that name on older websites or in an old bill, it is the same plan with a new name.
Streaming prices in general rise every year or two, so treat the numbers above as current prices rather than permanent ones, and check the official site once more before you commit to a full year of either plan.
So which one should you pick? Choose Essential if you mainly want the shows and the live sports and you can live with ads. Choose Premium if you want all of SHOWTIME, downloads for travel, 4K picture quality, or your local CBS station live for news and extra sports.
Is There a Free Trial?
Here is the honest answer: in the United States, Paramount Plus does not currently offer a standard free trial on its website. When we checked the official site, new subscribers chose a plan and paid from day one. The official help pages note that 7-day free trials are only available in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Ireland.
Promotions do show up from time to time through partners, such as TV and mobile providers, and around big shopping events. But there is no everyday trial to count on. If an unfamiliar website promises you a long free Paramount Plus trial, treat it as a warning sign and sign up only through the official site or your device app store.
What Can You Watch on Paramount Plus?
Star Trek lives here. Paramount Plus is the streaming home of Star Trek in the US: the 1966 original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, plus the modern shows Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, the animated Lower Decks and Starfleet Academy, and the Star Trek movies up to Section 31. For a Trek fan, this service is close to essential.
The Dutton family and Taylor Sheridan. The second big draw is the western universe built by Taylor Sheridan: Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown and Landman, plus the Dutton saga with 1883, 1923, Dutton Ranch and Marshals. One honest warning, though: the original Yellowstone series itself is not on Paramount Plus in the US. An older licensing deal sent it to Peacock, so you need both services to watch the whole story in order.
CBS hits, kids shows and movies. For everyday TV there are current CBS hits such as Tracker, NCIS and Ghosts, full runs of older favorites, and thousands of episodes from BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. Kids get SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol and the rest of the Nickelodeon catalog. Movies rotate through the Paramount Pictures library, with new releases arriving after their cinema run; the homepage currently promotes titles such as The Naked Gun and The Running Man.
Live sports are a real strength. Both plans stream the NFL games that air on CBS in your area, every UEFA Champions League match, and UFC events live with no extra pay-per-view fee. Premium adds your local CBS station live, which brings even more sports, including PGA Tour golf and college basketball, plus local news and the full CBS schedule.
Supported Devices
The official supported devices list covers nearly everything in a modern home: Roku, Fire TV and Fire Stick, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung and LG smart TVs, Chromecast, iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Xbox, PlayStation 5, and web browsers on Windows and Mac. Either plan lets you stream on up to 3 devices at the same time.
Streaming sticks, smart TVs and game consoles are now standard parts of the connected home. If you like knowing how all these gadgets work together, our internet of things examples guide walks through the setup in plain English.
One practical note: Paramount Plus is sold country by country, and like most streaming services it blocks many connections that hide your location. If your home internet runs through a VPN router, you may need to switch the VPN off for your TV before the app will play.
Downloads and Offline Viewing
Downloads are a Premium plan feature, and they only work in the phone and tablet apps on iPhone, iPad and Android. There are no downloads in the TV apps or in a web browser, which is worth knowing before a long trip with only a laptop.
The rules are simple:
- You can keep up to 25 downloads at one time. To add another, delete one first.
- An unwatched download lasts up to 30 days.
- Once you press play, you have 48 hours to finish it.
- Not every show or movie can be downloaded. If a title has no download button, it is stream only.
Download a few episodes the night before you travel, and reconnect the app to the internet now and then so it can confirm your subscription is still active.
Profiles and Parental Controls
Every account can have up to 6 profiles, and each profile keeps its own watch history and recommendations, so your kids do not fill your home screen with cartoons. Profiles work on every supported device, so the same profiles follow you from the living room TV to your phone. You can set a profile to Kids Mode, which limits it to kid friendly content.
Parental controls are stronger than Kids Mode, but they are switched off by default, and Kids Mode alone does not turn them on. To set them up, go to your account page at paramountplus.com, turn Parental Controls on, and create a 4-digit PIN. You then choose which age ratings to lock, and the PIN will be required to watch or download anything above that rating, on any device using the account. It takes about two minutes and is worth doing on any shared account.
How to Subscribe
- Go to paramountplus.com, or install the Paramount Plus app on your TV or phone and open it.
- Choose your plan: Essential or Premium, billed monthly or yearly.
- Create your account with an email address and a password.
- Add your payment details and confirm.
- Sign in on your other devices with the same account and start watching.
Yearly billing is the quiet discount here: paying for a year up front costs about the same as 10 monthly payments, so it is like getting two months free. Just be sure you will keep the service that long.
You can also subscribe through Apple, Google Play, Roku or Amazon instead. That is convenient, but your billing and cancellation then live with that platform rather than with Paramount, which matters in the next section.
How to Cancel
Cancelling is straightforward, and the official cancellation guide covers every platform. If you signed up on the website:
- Sign in at paramountplus.com and open your Account page.
- Click the Cancel Subscription link.
- Follow the on-screen prompts until you see the confirmation.
If you subscribed through Apple, Google Play, Amazon or Roku, cancel in that platform’s subscription settings instead. Deleting the app does not cancel anything. After you cancel, you keep full access until the end of the billing period you already paid for, and fees already paid are not refunded. You can resubscribe at any time with the same account.
Who Should Pick a Rival Instead?
Paramount Plus is good value, but it is not the right first subscription for everyone:
- You mainly want Yellowstone. Get Peacock, where the original series actually streams, and add Paramount Plus later for the prequels.
- You want prestige drama above all. Max is the home of HBO shows, which still set the standard for big-budget drama.
- Your home runs on kids and family films. Disney+ has the deeper family library, from Pixar and Marvel to Star Wars.
- You want one giant library for everything. Netflix still has the widest mix of shows, films and international content in one place.
- You want free. Pluto TV, run by the same company, is free with ads, and your local CBS station is free over the air with an antenna.
The Bottom Line
Paramount Plus earns its money if you watch CBS shows, Star Trek, Taylor Sheridan dramas or CBS sports. Essential at $8.99 a month is the value pick for shows and live sports feeds; Premium at $13.99 a month is worth the extra if you need SHOWTIME, downloads or your local CBS station live. Just do not sign up expecting a free trial, and do not sign up only for Yellowstone.
One last tip: many people now subscribe for a month or two when a favorite show lands, watch it all, and cancel until the next season arrives. Paramount Plus works fine that way, because there is no contract and cancelling takes about a minute.
For more plain English guides like this one, browse the tips and tricks category.
