For better or for worse, Stan Sport is the only place to watch big-ticket rugby union.
Stan Sport review: More than just rugby

It wasn’t so long ago that a starry-eyed telco sought to stand up to the sporting exclusivity of Foxtel by pinching local cricket and netting a whole lot of big-ticket international soccer. While good intentioned, Optus Sport had a rocky launch and, these days, is only essential for soccer diehards.
Meanwhile, Kayo is Foxtel’s answer to those who want to cut cables and not be reliant on a Foxtel box or the less-than-stellar Foxtel Now. And while Optus didn’t kick it out of the park with what amounted to single-sport dominance with Optus Sport, that hasn’t stopped entertainment streaming service Stan from lining up a sideline penalty kick from over halfway and having a punt at scoring subs from rugby union fans.
Stream for free tonight with these trials
Looking for something new to stream tonight? These services offer free trials so you won’t pay a cent unless you decide to keep subscribed once your trial’s up.
- Britbox 7-day free trial: Stream the best of the Brits
- Paramount+ 7-day free trial: Stream Dexter, Criminal Minds, Taskmaster and more
- Apple TV+ 7-day free trial: Stream Severance, CODA and more award-winning TV shows and movies
- Prime Video 30-day trial: Award-winning originals and shopping perks
- Foxtel Now 10-day trial: Wide range of live and on-demand content, including TV shows, movies and sports events
- Binge 7-day free trial: Foxtel's streaming service offering some of HBO's most popular series
Stan Sport plans and pricing
At the time of writing, it costs at least $58 a month to have a wealth of sports content via Foxtel Now.
Kayo Sports is the cheaper alternative, with the same content albeit with prices at $30 for Kayo Standard (one HD stream) and $40 for Kayo Premium (two 4K streams.) You can also trial a month of Kayo for $1.
While Stan Sport's pricing is clearly built to compete with Kayo, it’s sad to see Stan Sport mirror the Foxtel approach of forcing punters to pay for a Stan subscription before being able to pay for a Stan Sport add-on. That’s not so bad if you already have a Stan subscription, then you’re only weighing up the $15 Stan Sport add-on fee. If not, it costs $27 for Stan Sport via Basic (one SD stream), $32 for Stan Sport via Standard (three HD streams), and $37 for Stan Sport via Premium (four 4K streams).
It's also worth flagging that Stan Sport has gone up from $10 to $15 in the last couple of years.
How does Stan Sport compare?
What is Stan Sport?
Stan Sport is a sports-focused add-on for a Stan Basic, Stan Standard or Stan Premium subscription. The Stan Sport add-on includes football (soccer), rugby, motorsport, combat , cricket and cycling content.
Which sports are on Stan Sport?
At launch, Stan Sport only offered rugby union, which it had then recently swiped from Foxtel. Nowadays, Stan Sport has the following sport options:
- Tennis (Australian Open, United Cup, Wimbledon and others.)
- Soccer (UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League and Super Cup)
- Rugby (Six Nations, Super Rugby Pacific, World Cup and others)
- Motorsport (IndyCar, WRC and others)
- Professional Fighters League
- UCI cycling
Stan Sport also lists cricket in its dedicated drop-down menu, but the content isn’t there to justify its inclusion. Whichever sport you choose, the sections are padded with ‘Enjoy more entertainment on Stan’ sections with a tenuous range of options which are, apparently, enjoyed by fans of that sport (with a healthy smattering of crossover in recommended content.)
What devices is Stan Sport available on?
Stan Sport technically works on any streaming device that supports Stan, which makes sense given Stan Sport is a navigation tab nestled between ‘Kids’ content and ‘My List’. However, not every device supports live sports.
Here’s a list of smart TVs that can be used to watch Stan Sport:
- Samsung TVs (Live sports available on 2016 models and onwards)
- LG TVs (Live sport available on 2015 models and onwards)
- Sony TVs (selected 2014 models and onwards + Live sports supported on all Sony Android TVs)
- Hisense TVs (Live sports available on 2017 models and onwards)
- Panasonic TVs (Live sports on 2017 models and onwards)
- TCL TVs (Live sports on all TCL Android TVs and TCL Smart TVs from 2017 onwards)
- Philips Android TVs (Live sports on all Phillips Android TVs)
- Kogan Smart TV (Live sports on all models)
- Toshiba Smart TV (Live sports on all Toshiba Android TVs)
- FFalcon Smart TVs (Live sports on all models)
- EKO Android TV (Live sports on all EKO Android TV models)
- Linsar Smart TV (Live matches are supported on all Linsar Tizen and webOS TVs.)
- Hubbl Glass Smart TV (Live matches are supported Hubbl Glass Smart TVs)
- Bauhn Smart TV (Live matches are supported on all webOS, Android and Tizen Bauhn TVs)
And here’s a list of compatible gaming consoles, streaming devices and set-top boxes:
- PlayStation consoles (Live matches are supported on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles, not PlayStation 3.)
- Xbox consoles (Live sports available on Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X)
- Apple TV (Live sports supported on all Apple TV devices)
- Google TV (Live sports supported on all Google and Android TV devices)
- Chromecast (Live sports supported on all Google Chromecast devices)
- Fetch TV (Live sports supported on Gen 3 Fetch hardware and later)
- Foxtel iQ (Live sports supported on Foxtel iQ3 and later)
- Hubbl Box (Live sports supported on all Hubbl devices)
- Amazon Fire TV (Live sports supported on all Amazon Fire TV devices)
Finally, Stan Sport is also available for streaming on these mobile devices and web browsers:
- iOS phones or tablets (iOS 11.0 and above)
- Android phones or tablets (Amndroid 5.0 and above)
- Google Chrome (107+ on Windows 7 and later or MacOS 10.01 and later)
- Microsoft Edge (v107+ on Windows 10 and later)
- Firefox (version 88+ on Windows 7 and later or MacOS 10.12 and later)
- Safari (10+ on MacOS 10.10 and later)
What’s Stan Sport like to use?
Stan Sport isn’t a separate service, which means you can use your usual Stan login details to access it via your Stan account. There’s a very obvious full-caps “SPORT” tab at the top of the Stan home screen, which you select to get to all of the sports content. Alternatively, hover over ‘SPORT’ and select the code you’re most interested in.
The Stan Sport interface is easy to learn because it has a logical layout. Featured content is in a carousel up the top, with a choice of different sports codes below (where relevant.) Below that is a list of live and upcoming sports, followed by a breakdown of extras and replays. I particularly enjoy that Stan Sport replays for popular content tend to offer a full match replay, a shorter 20-minute replay and then a mini replay of about 10 minutes.
Less popular sports content tends to be relegated to full match replays. Still, whether it’s a live stream or replay, content loads incredibly fast, and Stan plays nice with most virtual private network (VPN) services, meaning it’s great for expats or keeping up with sport while travelling.

Stream quality is determined by both content and your subscription tier, but it reaches up to 4K, which is a great point of difference. That said, I did find myself lamenting the absence of Kayo features, like ‘No Spoilers!’ and the option to stream multiple sports in a split-screen view. Outside of the addition of extra sports, the biggest improvement to Stan Sport in the past couple of years is a fidelity boost.
In the past, an alleged HD stream had average quality, making it hard to spot player jersey numbers even on a 4K TV that was upscaling the stream via Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Nowadays, that isn’t an issue. The only time I’ve seen a Stan Sport stream suffer is when it first starts, as Stan is a little too eager to play content before first buffering to a decent fidelity. That’s a minor quibble, though, and I appreciate getting into a game faster, particularly if I’ve missed kick-off.
How much data does Stan Sport use?
All Stan content, including Stan Sport, lets you change the quality of the stream by using the settings cog during playback. Select from Auto, Ultra (4K), High (HD), Med (SD) or Low (SD) options. Not every Stan Sport stream is available in 4K but you can expect the ones that are to use around 7GB per hour.
The table below outlines the bandwidth requirements and data usage for Stan Sport:
Sports-loving streamers should opt for a mobile plan with at least 40GB of data to stream Stan Sport on the go. Below are some popular mobile plan picks from our database.
For home streamers, we recommend streaming with at least an NBN 50 plan to ensure there’s enough bandwidth to stream Stan Sport on multiple screens at up to 4K resolution. Here are some popular NBN 50 plans from our comparison engine.
Is Stan Sport worth paying for?

The value of Stan Sport is ultimately determined by two things: whether you already have a Stan subscription and whether you’re into enough of the sports on offer to justify the cost. Kayo has dozens of sports, so there’s always something to watch. Stan Sport doesn’t have that luxury. But that's just the local players, Foxtel's new owner DAZN is also making a big push globally and ESPN will be making its way to Disney Plus in Australia some time in 2025.
But at the end of the day it comes down to whether or not you're a fan of what Stan Sport is serving. If you're a rugby head or tennis aficionado, Stan Sport is worth considering.
How we review sports streaming services
Reviewing a sports streaming service starts with the price. Foxtel used to be the only way to watch sports, so costs are taken in relation to how much it costs to get sports via Foxtel Now. The more sports a service offers, the better the overall value, but we do factor in the quality of the sporting codes available.
The next step is to check out features like how many simultaneous streams are available and the quality of those streams. We much prefer 1080p streaming as a minimum, but bonus points if 4K streaming is available.
We then spend time streaming the sports, taking note of any features like multi-view videos or user-interface detractors that get in the way of sports.
Stan Sport FAQs
Is sport free on Stan?
No, it costs extra to access Stan Sport with an existing Stan subscription. Stan used to offer a 30-day free trial for Stan and a 7-day free trial for Stan Sports but ahead of the 2024 Olympics, Stan removed the free trial offer and still hasn't bought it back.
What sports are on Stan?
Can I just buy Stan Sport?
No, Stan Sport is a $15 per month add-on for an existing Stan subscription. The cheapest way to get Stan Sport is via Stan Basic, which has a combined cost of $27 per month, albeit limited to one stream and SD quality.
Related Articles



