What’s the Difference between HBO Max, HBO GO, and HBO NOW?

Updated

Learn the difference between HBO Max, HBO GO, and HBO NOW. Make choosing your HBO streaming service a lot easier.

HBO Max Difference

The online streaming landscape has seen tremendous growth over the past few years, but frankly, it’s getting a bit absurd. Every network that has ever released a single piece of content seems to be starting a streaming service. But why start one streaming service when you can have three? At least that seemed to be HBO’s thinking at one point. HBO operated three different streaming platforms for a time, HBO GO, HBO NOW, and HBO Max. But what’s the difference between all three, and which should you choose as a new subscriber? 

Whats the difference between HBO Max, HBO GO, and HBO NOW?

Long story short, HBO GO and HBO NOW no longer exist. If you’re a new customer looking to get an HBO subscription, HBO Max is the clear choice. 

HBO Max is the only current HBO streaming platform

As of this writing, both HBO GO and HBO NOW are no longer offered by HBO. In days past, HBO GO was the streaming service people used who had a cable TV subscription to HBO. HBO NOW was the next evolution and acted as the standalone subscription service for HBO. HBO Max is the next installment of the service, encompassing the previous two. 

Since HBO Go and Now have gone the way of the dodo, those services have turned into an HBO Only subscription option within HBO Max. A subscription option that makes little to no sense since you can do the Ad-Free subscription option for the same price and get more content included. 

Check out the current HBO Max Subscription offerings.

With Ads – $9.99/Mo

  • Does NOT include access to Warner Bros. 2021 movie premieres the same day as theaters
  • Stream thousands of hours of entertainment in HD
  • Ad-Free – $14.99/Mo

  • Get Warner Bros. 2021 movie premiers the same day as theaters – at no extra cost
  • Stream thousands of hours of entertainment in HD with select titles in 4K UHD
  • Download your favorite titles to watch anytime
  • HBO Only – $14.99/Mo

  • All of HBO’s original series, documentaries & movies
  • 4,000 hours of entertainment with no ads
  • Watch in HD, with select movies available in 4K UHD
  • Download your favorite titles to watch anytime
  • You can see that there isn’t much reason to go with the HBO Only option and the Ad-Free subscription, in our opinion, gives you the best value. You can safely forget about HBO GO and HBO Now and go ahead and subscribe to whatever HBO Max package fits your needs. Happy streaming out there!