Max streaming review: Can Max survive on HBO alone?

After many months of teasing, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming app Max, the service formerly known as HBO Max, has officially launched in Australia. With a premium offering of HBO and Max exclusives, Australia’s latest contender in the streaming wars commands a premium price. But does it offer the same value as the well-entrenched Netflix or even its predecessor Binge? We’ve tested Max Basic with Ads and Max Premium over the last few weeks. Here’s what we think.

While most new streaming services launch at a rather modest price in Australia (typically below the $10 per month mark,) Max started life Down Under as a premium service, roughly matching Binge’s asking price. Max Basic with Ads is the cheapest plan, costing $11.99 per month (or $119.99 per year,) while Standard and Premium cost $15.99 per month ($159.99 per year) and $21.99 per month ($219.99 per year) respectively.

For comparison, ad-supported plans from Netflix start at $9.99 per month, while Binge Basic + Ads costs $10 per month.

Read on for a deeper look at how Max’s pricing compares with other Australian services.

While Max launched at a heavily discounted price (as cheap as $7.99 per month for Max Basic with Ads,) that deal was strictly an introductory discount. As of the 1st of May 2025, those deals are no longer available. Max also doesn’t offer a free trial of any kind. It does, however, come free if you’re a paying Foxtel customer with an iQ3 box or later.

Here’s a quick round-up of Foxtel plans that are eligible for free Max Basic:

While I’m fully prepared for the ad breaks to slowly increase over time, the honest truth is that they’re not too bad at launch. At least not as bad as other services (like Amazon Prime Video.)

In fact, despite testing the service on Max Basic with Ads, I didn’t see a single ad break during the season 2 premieres for The Last of Us and The Rehearsal. Subsequent episodes had ad breaks, as did movies, but all examples are generously paced for the time being.

If you’re signing up to Max this early, it’s probably because you’re looking for one or a few of HBO’s currently running TV shows. The Last of Us, The Pitt, The Righteous Gemstones and The White Lotus were all in full swing when Max first launched in Australia.

Then there are classic collections of film series that haven’t been as easy to stream in the past as you might think. I’m specifically talking about the Harry Potter movies, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Dark Knight trilogy. Entries to those series have hopped from service to service here in Australia, sometimes leaving half of the series behind. So it’s nice to have a single home for a few of the most rewatchable franchises of the 2000s.

It won’t matter to most paying subscribers but that level of Hollywood sheen is also one of Max’s only downfalls when it comes to content. Scroll the main page and you’re only going to see movies you’ve not only heard about but probably watched a few times before.

Don’t get me wrong, the landing page for movies is a feast for the eyes: Superman The Movie, Scooby-Doo The Movie, Superman II, Scooby-Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed and every Final Destination movie to date. Pure gold. But you’ve probably seen all of those before. Max isn’t great for discovering new things because there simply isn’t anything new to discover.

Max has committed to producing some Australian programs in the future, even if there isn’t anything currently in the works.

That’s all well and good but there’s no doubt that a percentage of Binge and Foxtel’s asking price could be associated with local productions like Colin From Accounts and the swathe of Australian reality shows Foxtel produced. HBO was a massive part of those services’ appeal but it wasn’t everything. Only time will tell if Max can survive primarily on its back catalogue of classics.

Personally, I never did consume a lot of media on Foxtel or Binge that isn't now on Max, so I'm getting basically the same thing in a more intuitive app. But I'm not allergic to the occasional episode of Real Housewives and was only just getting into Mr Inbetween, so I'll be subscribed to both Max and Binge for a little while longer. 

I've been streaming Max on an iPhone, laptop (via a web browser) and a 4K Sony Smart TV and haven't experienced a single hiccup in terms of buffering or quality. 

We'll see if the silky smooth performance holds up but even on a, frankly, terrible NBN connection, I've had no issues streaming movies like Companion and TV shows like The Last of Us on Max. None of the artifacting I would regularly experience through Binge and Amazon Prime Video, no buffering. No downtime at all. Not a single hitch. In fact, this might be the smoothest onboarding I've ever had with a streaming service; granted, one that had five years (or ten if you count HBO Now) to get things right before launching in Australia. 

Profile settings are so similar, you almost wouldn't realise you're not using Binge. Though, as a parent of two small people, the default Kids profile at launch was a nice touch (even if there isn't all that much for the weens to watch.)

Here's what devices you can currently stream Max on in Australia: 

When you think back to rockier streaming launches in Australia (like Disney Plus,) how bad both the HBO Max app used to be in the US, and how unreliable the Foxtel Now app was in Australia, Max comes off looking slick as hell. 

We'll see if the silky smooth performance holds up but in the meantime, I'm struggling to find any quality issues to highlight. 

Now that the generous introductory offer is over, the pricing is a little bold. Sure, it's not that far removed from what Binge charges, but Binge also offered a lot more Australian and lifestyle content in addition to its HBO library. Binge also offers 4K on its Standard plan.

Is Max worth it? Well, were you paying for Binge or Foxtel primarily for the HBO and Max originals? Then, yes, it is. Do you get just as much enjoyment from shows like Colin From Accounts, Mr Inbetween, Day of the Jackal, Taskmaster and The Real Housewives series? If so, you now have to make a decision: pay for two streaming services or decide which shows matter to you the most. Right now, if I had to pick one, it would be Max. 

When it comes to competition, Max has its work cut out for it in Australia. Take a look at the table below to see how Max compares for price and features against every other major streaming service available.