HBO Max vs. Disney Plus: Compare and Decide Which Service Is Better for You
This side-by-side breakdown may help you choose one service over the other.
More than two years after its launch in 2020, HBO Max is now available in more than 60 countries and territories around the world. A major contender in the streaming wars, the platform launched roughly six months after Disney Plus, and shortly after NBC Universal's Peacock.
While streaming titan Netflix may be HBO Max's biggest rival, Disney Plus is a close second: Both are major streaming services with extremely popular TV series and films in their catalog, and both carry numerous titles aimed at kids.
With millions of people struggling with financial difficulties due to inflation and other economic factors, paying for both HBO Max and Disney Plus may be too much. But how do you choose?
Here's how the two streaming services stack up, based on content, pricing and user interface.
Disney Plus wins on price
There are a lot of differences in content, which we'll cover below, but the biggest difference up front is the price. HBO Max's ad-supported plan costs $10, but its ad-free version is $15, nearly twice that of Disney Plus.
Disney Plus is much cheaper at $8 a month or $80 a year -- and free for six months or longer with select Verizon mobile phone or internet plans. There are also options to bundle Disney Plus with Hulu and ESPN Plus. Come Dec. 8, Disney Plus' stand-alone price plans will change, as the streamer will begin offering an ad-supported tier at $8 a month while it will cost $11 per month to watch without ads. Prices for the Disney Bundle will also increase, bringing the cost of all subscriptions closer to HBO Max's.
HBO Max wins for variety (especially for grown-ups)
Disney Plus has a large slate of popular films and TV shows thanks to its ownership of Star Wars, Marvel, and The Simpsons -- and the entire library of Pixar, Disney Signature Series and Disney Vault lines of classic hand-drawn animated movies. In 2022, the platform added its first set of mature-rated content with Daredevil, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, The Defender and Iron Fist -- which were all previously on Netflix. Additionally, Disney Plus streams titles from 20th Century Studios, such as Ron's Gone Wrong.
HBO Max offers more variety, especially content for adults as well as children. More than 13,000 hours of content lives on the service, including all the shows and movies on HBO, plus a selection of high-profile licensed content, like The Big Bang Theory and Rick and Morty. It also has the franchises for The Lord of the Rings, Conjuring and The Matrix, DC movies like Joker and The Batman, classic films like The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca, and newer releases like Dune, The Bob's Burgers Movie and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore -- not to mention almost the entire catalog of Studio Ghibli films that were not previously released for streaming in the US. And with the merger of the HBO Max and Discovery Plus apps set for summer 2023, expect to see more unscripted content arriving on the streaming platform, including shows from Chip and Joanna Gaines.
At first, Disney Plus struggled to have breakouts when it came to its original content, but Star Wars and Marvel have changed that. The Mandalorian, Loki and Obi-Wan Kenobi are examples of its massive TV hits, and exclusive theatrical films like Turning Red and Encanto proved to be extremely popular among adult and kid fans alike. But Disney Plus does not churn out its originals on a predictable schedule, so there are times when viewers may have to wait a while for something new to arrive.
HBO Max may be better suited to original content: It's already streaming more than 50 Max Originals, including documentaries, animated shows, dramas, reality series and comedies. Max scored a few hits with its Originals slate, including Emmy-winning Hacks, Our Flag Means Death, The Flight Attendant, Harley Quinn, Peacemaker and The White Lotus.
Plenty for kids on HBO Max and Disney Plus
When it comes to content for kids, you would guess that family-friendly Disney Plus might have the edge over HBO, which made its name on more adult content like The Sopranos and Sex and the City. But HBO Max bet big on families with kids subscribing, too. The service offers kid-friendly originals like new Looney Tunes cartoons and the Cartoon Network catalog. While its Sesame Street catalog recently shrunk, you'll find seasons 39-52 and three earlier seasons. Max is also home to Doctor Who, the Lego movies, and selection of animated DC titles that are age appropriate, including Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited.
While Disney Plus is more focused on shows and movies for kids in general, there is some more intense PG and PG-13 content that might not be appropriate for the youngest viewers. Parents can create a profile for their child, and toggle the Kids Profile setting to On, which prevents PG and PG-13 content from appearing on the profile. But it's not perfect for every age group -- you can't enable PG content and disable PG-13 content. However, Disney Plus updated its parental controls in March so you can change ratings to TV-MA on adult profiles and add a four-digit PIN to prevent kids from watching mature content on someone else's profile.
2022-08-23 06:22:47
