Discovery+ now costs $6.99 a month with ads and $11.99 without them in the US, up from $5.99 and $9.99. The change was announced on 13 October 2026, a week after Paramount closed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and renamed the combined company Skydance. New customers pay the higher prices straight away; existing subscribers see them on or after 12 November 2026, according to Android Headlines.
Two dollars a month sounds small. Over a year it is $24 more for an ad-free household, and it makes the ad-free plan 72% dearer than it was when the service launched in 2021. That arithmetic, plus the timing, says a lot about what the new owner plans to do with its pile of streaming apps.
$6.99 With Ads, $11.99 Without, Billed From 12 November
- Discovery+ with ads rose $1 to $6.99 a month (up 16.7%); the ad-free plan rose $2 to $11.99 (up 20%).
- New sign-ups pay the new price now. Current subscribers get 30 days’ notice and are charged the new rate on or after 12 November 2026.
- It is the third Discovery+ increase in under four years and the first under Skydance, which closed its Warner Bros. Discovery deal on 6 October.
- Skydance says its streaming products will unify into a single service over time, and it has promised at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years.
- An ad-free subscriber who drops to the ad tier saves $60 a year at the new prices.
What the Discovery+ Price Increase Changes, Plan by Plan
Only the two standalone US plans moved. The ad-supported tier went up by a dollar and the ad-free tier by two, TheWrap reported on the day of the announcement. The content library, the number of tiers and the basic product did not change.
| Plan (US, monthly) | Old price | New price | Rise | Yearly cost now | Extra per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery+ (with ads) | $5.99 | $6.99 | +16.7% | $83.88 | $12.00 |
| Discovery+ Ad-Free | $9.99 | $11.99 | +20.0% | $143.88 | $24.00 |
Yearly figures assume 12 monthly payments at the new rate. Prices as of October 2026.
The bigger dollar rise landed on the ad-free plan. That pattern is now standard across subscription video on demand (SVOD): keep the entry price low enough to win sign-ups, and charge more for the privilege of skipping commercials. The gap between the two Discovery+ tiers widened from $4 to $5 a month.
When Existing Subscribers Pay the New Discovery+ Prices
- New customers: charged $6.99 or $11.99 from 13 October 2026, the day the change was announced.
- Current monthly subscribers: a 30-day notice period applies, so the new rate shows up on bills dated on or after 12 November 2026.
- Timing of your own bill: the increase applies from your first billing date after the notice period ends, so a subscriber who renews on 20 November pays the new price that day, while one who renewed on 10 November keeps the old rate for one more cycle.
Android Headlines noted that the rise had been planned several months before the merger closed. In other words, the new owner inherited the decision rather than inventing it in its first week, though it chose to let it go ahead.
Five Years of Discovery+ Price Rises
Discovery+ launched in the US in 2021 at $4.99 with ads and $6.99 without. The ad tier held that price for four years; the ad-free tier did not, NewscastStudio’s record of the January 2025 change shows.
| Change | With ads | Ad-free | Gap between tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 launch | $4.99 | $6.99 | $2.00 |
| 2023 increase | $4.99 | $8.99 | $4.00 |
| January 2025 increase | $5.99 | $9.99 | $4.00 |
| October 2026 increase | $6.99 | $11.99 | $5.00 |
| Total change since launch | +40.1% | +71.5% | +$3.00 |
Read down the last column. In 2021 removing ads cost an extra $2 a month. Today it costs $5. Discovery+ has spent five years teaching its audience that the cheap tier is the default and the clean tier is a luxury. If you want to check the percentages yourself, our percentage calculator shows the working.
The Skydance Merger Behind the Timing
Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on 6 October 2026, according to the press release filed with the SEC. The combined group took the name Skydance, began trading on the NYSE as SKYD and pulled WBD shares from Nasdaq the same day. The AV Club put the deal at roughly $110 billion.
- Price paid: WBD shareholders received about $31.02 in cash per share, funded partly by $47 billion of new equity priced at $12 a Class B share.
- Scale: nearly $70 billion in combined revenue and more than 200 million streaming subscribers across its platforms.
- Cost promise: at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years, mainly from technology, integration and procurement, marketing and real estate.
- Balance sheet goals: a net debt ratio brought back to its 3.0 times target by the end of 2029 and more than $10 billion of free cash flow expected by 2030.
- Streaming plan: the direct-to-consumer products “will unify into a single service over time,” the company said, with no date attached.
- Leadership: David Ellison is chairman and CEO, with Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO.
One detail stands out. The closing announcement named Paramount+, HBO Max and Pluto TV as the group’s streaming brands. Discovery+ did not get a mention. Acquirers often spell out early which products survive, as Salesforce did in its Braze acquisition. Skydance has not done that for its streaming apps yet.
How $11.99 Compares With HBO Max, Paramount+ and Netflix
Discovery+ remains the cheapest service in this comparison on both tiers. The comparison below uses rival prices listed in Yahoo’s streaming price tracker dated 31 August 2026, set against the new Discovery+ rates.
| Service (US) | Cheapest tier with ads | Cheapest tier without ads | Cost of dropping ads | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery+ | $6.99 | $11.99 | $5.00 | Skydance |
| Paramount+ | $8.99 (Essential) | $13.99 (Premium) | $5.00 | Skydance |
| HBO Max | $10.99 (Basic with Ads) | $18.49 (Standard) | $7.50 | Skydance |
| Peacock | $12.99 (Premium) | $19.99 (Premium Plus) | $7.00 | Comcast |
| Netflix | $8.99 (Standard with ads) | $19.99 (Standard) | $11.00 | Netflix |
Rival prices as of 31 August 2026; Discovery+ as of October 2026.
Three of the five rows now belong to one company. A household that pays ad-free for all three Skydance services spends $44.47 a month before any bundle discount. That figure is the number Skydance has to beat, or at least match, when it eventually folds them into one app.
Our Take: A Discovery+ Price Rise Built for the Single-App Future
We read this increase as preparation rather than a quick cash grab. Three reasons.
It narrows the gap between sister services. Before 13 October, Discovery+ ad-free sat $4 below Paramount+ Premium. Now it sits $2 below, and both apps charge the same $5 to remove ads. When a company plans to merge products, aligning their price ladders first makes the eventual migration less jarring. Nobody likes being moved from a $9.99 app into a $15 one; moving from $11.99 feels smaller.
It pushes viewers toward advertising. A $5 premium for no ads is large for a catalogue built on lifestyle and reality shows that many people watch in the background. Some ad-free subscribers will downgrade. That is fine for Skydance, because an ad-tier viewer earns subscription revenue plus ad revenue, and a merged group with 200 million-plus subscribers can sell that audience to advertisers at a scale neither Paramount nor WBD had alone. Creators live by the same ad maths on the other side of the screen, as our explainer on how YouTubers make money sets out.
It tests churn before the big decisions. Skydance has committed to $6 billion of synergies and a 3.0 times net debt target. Cost cuts deliver part of that; pricing delivers the rest. A small app is a low-risk place to learn how many subscribers walk away after a 20% rise. If the answer is “few”, expect the same medicine at HBO Max and Paramount+.
The risk is real, though. Discovery+ has always sold itself as the cheap, single-genre option. Each increase chips at that position: at $11.99 the ad-free plan now costs $3 more than Paramount+ Essential, a general entertainment service. If the single service arrives late, Discovery+ could spend a year as an expensive orphan, which is the worst place for a niche app to be.
Should You Switch Discovery+ Plans Before 12 November
The decision comes down to how much you watch and how much ads bother you. The numbers below use the new prices.
| Your situation | Option | Cost per year | Change vs your old plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad-free today, keep it | Stay on Ad-Free | $143.88 | +$24.00 |
| Ad-free today, accept ads | Move to the ad tier | $83.88 | -$36.00 |
| Ad tier today, keep it | Stay on ads | $83.88 | +$12.00 |
| Watch one season, then stop | Ad tier for 3 months only | $20.97 | Pay only while watching |
- Heavy viewers who hate ads: the extra $2 a month adds up to $24 a year. If Discovery+ is the app you open most, staying put is defensible.
- Background watchers: dropping to the ad tier saves $60 a year compared with the new ad-free price, and still leaves you $36 better off than you were before the rise.
- Seasonal viewers: monthly billing rewards rotating. Subscribe for the show you want, then cancel before the next renewal.
- Households holding several Skydance apps: waiting for a bundle may pay off, but Skydance has given no date or price for one, so do not keep paying for apps you no longer open on that hope alone.
For more on the money behind film, TV, music and gaming, browse our entertainment business coverage.
Will Discovery+ Merge With HBO Max or Paramount+?
How Much Is Discovery+ per Month Now?
In the US, $6.99 a month with ads and $11.99 a month without ads, as of October 2026.
When Does the Discovery+ Price Increase Hit Existing Subscribers?
On or after 12 November 2026, at your first renewal after the 30-day notice period. New subscribers have paid the higher price since 13 October.
Why Did Discovery+ Raise Its Prices?
The company did not give a price-specific reason. The rise was planned months before the merger and took effect a week after Skydance closed its Warner Bros. Discovery deal, which comes with a $6 billion synergy target.
Will Discovery+ Merge With HBO Max or Paramount+?
Skydance says its streaming products will unify into a single service over time. It has not named a date, a price or which brand survives.
How Many Times Has Discovery+ Raised Prices?
Three: the ad-free plan in 2023, both plans in January 2025 and both plans again in October 2026. The ad-free tier has gone from $6.99 to $11.99 since the 2021 launch.
Skydance’s SEC Filing and Trade Press on the Price Rise
- Skydance (formerly Paramount Skydance) press release on completing the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, SEC
- TheWrap: Discovery+ raises prices one week after the merger closes (13 October 2026)
- Android Headlines: Discovery Plus subscribers will now pay more (13 October 2026)
- AV Club: Skydance raises Discovery+ prices (13 October 2026)
- NewscastStudio: Discovery+ plans see $1 per month increase (January 2025)
- Yahoo Tech: Streaming price hike tracker (31 August 2026)
