Paramount+ will be raising subscription prices in 2026.
The video streaming service recently announced a seven-year, $7.7 billion agreement to be the exclusive home of all numbered UFC events and UFC Fight Nights.
And, as it ushers in a new era of content with that contract set to begin in 2026, it will be making some adjustments to the pricing for all of its subscription tiers.
Let’s look at the details.
New 2026 Pricing Structure for Paramount+
Effective January 15, 2026, both the Essential Plan and Premium Plan tiers of Paramount+ will increase in cost.
This impacts both the monthly and annual subscription options.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
Essential Plan: (Ad-supported)
| Old Pricing | New Pricing | |
| Monthly Subscription | $7.99 | $8.99 |
| Annual Subscription | $59.99 | $89.99 |
Premium Plan: (Ad-free)
| Old Pricing | New Pricing | |
| Monthly Subscription | $12.99 | $13.99 |
| Annual Subscription | $119.99 | $139.99 |
The $1 per month increases on the monthly subscriptions are tolerable, but the bigger spikes on the annual pricing options are disappointing.
The old $59.99 per year for the annual subscription on the ad-supported Essential Plan was one of the better deals in streaming.
Two other noteworthy pricing notes that came along with this announcement:
- Free trials are going away. Effective January 15, you should no longer see a free trial period as an option on the signup menu. Instead, you’ll be prompted to pay and will be charged immediately to gain access to the content.
- Key discounts will remain. The existing student and military discounts will remain at a 50% discount off the new price.
Why Is This Happening?
The snarky answer would be to point out that streaming subscription prices seemingly only go up. So, the cynic might say it was just a matter of time.
But Paramount+ actually does have an increase in the cost of their content that may actually be a net benefit to some subscribers.
As mentioned earlier, Paramount+ acquired the streaming rights to UFC fights beginning in 2026, which is a huge layout.
And rather than charge a pay-per-view fee for the major fights they’re carrying, Paramount has decided to instead make the fight night broadcasts available to all subscribers at no additional cost.
So, if you or someone you know is a UFC fan, this new subscription pricing may actually still save them money over the previous ways that they paid to see UFC content.
Will you continue to subscribe to Paramount+ in spite of the increase? We’d love to hear about your streaming TV strategy for 2026 in the Clark.com community.
