At first glance, streaming service Discovery+ looks like a cable killer: “90 Day Fiancé, Property Brothers, Home Town, and more all on one service for under $10 a month? Consider that cord Chopped!” But, like a widower’s alibi on Fatal Vows, Discovery+ seems too good to be true. . . (dun-dun!) because it is.
The basics: Discovery+ hosts over 55,000 hours of classic and exclusive content from the Discovery collective of cable TV channels. Besides Discovery Channel, those include (deep breath) HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery (ID), Animal Planet, OWN, A&E, Lifetime, History, Travel Channel, and Science Channel.
While it does have enough background reality TV to fold your laundry to for days, most of the Discovery+ catalog is previously aired content. The latest episodes and seasons of your favorite shows aren’t on Discovery+; they’re still on cable. Discovery+ doesn’t do next-day cable-to-streaming drops as you might expect. You’ll have to wait for the season to conclude, and maybe months after that.
But Discovery+ does have several exclusive shows to reel in fans of the Discovery Cinematic Universe, including three new 90 Day Fiancé spinoffs, and the monthly subscription rate ($4.99–$6.99/mo.) won’t eat much out of your deconstructed crudité budget.
Discovery+ offers a seven-day free trial to sample the service. You’ll be able to watch all of the available content on any supported device.
Verizon Unlimited mobile customers, new and current, are eligible for six free months of Discovery+.
| Plan | Price | Streams | Video | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery+ | $4.99/mo. | 4 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Discovery+ (Ad-Free) | $6.99/mo. | 4 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
While viewing Discovery+, we counted an average of three short blocks of ads per hour-long episode—not too annoying, and less than what you get with cable or satellite TV. But, if your tolerance for commercials is lower than Guy Fieri’s cargo shorts, spend the extra $2 on the Ad-Free plan.
| Service | Price | Streams | Compatible devices | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Discovery+ Best for reality TV |
$4.99–$6.99/mo. | 4 | 12+ | View plans |
| Netflix | $6.99–$19.99/mo. | 1–4 | 14+ | View plans |
| Hulu | $7.99–$14.99/mo. | 2 | 13+ | View plans |
| Prime Video | $8.99–$14.99/mo. or $139.00/yr. | 3 | 13+ | View plans |
| Disney+ | $7.99–$10.99/mo. or $109.99/yr. | 4 | 13+ | View plans |
| HBO Max | $9.99–$15.99/mo. or $99.99–$149.99/yr. | 3 | 10+ | View plans |
| Apple TV+ | $6.99/mo. | 6 | 7+ | View plans |
| Paramount+ | $4.99–$9.99/mo. | 3 | 12+ | View plans |
| Peacock | $4.99–$9.99/mo. or $49.99–$99.99/yr. | 3 | 12+ | View plans |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Discovery+ skews lower on the price scale than most other on-demand streaming services, and it’s also one of the few to offer a cheaper, ad-supported tier (along with Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock). Even one of those House Hunters couples who can’t properly valuate a penthouse loft in the boho district could probably budget for a Discovery+ subscription.
Like most on-demand streaming TV services, Discovery+ has no live channels. If you want to watch live content from Discovery Channel or any of the other networks under the Discovery+ umbrella, you’ll need to subscribe to a cable or satellite TV provider or a live TV streaming service.
The Discovery+ library includes past seasons of over 2,500 shows from Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery (ID), Animal Planet, OWN, Travel Channel, and Science Channel. Outside of Discovery’s networks, there’s also licensed content from A&E, Lifetime, History, and animal-centric digital media brands The Dodo, Seeker, POPSUGAR, and NowThis News.
Also, Discovery+ has plenty of spinoffs featuring your favorite Discovery networks stars. Hint: they’re usually the ones with a colon in the title.
For more detailed information on the Discovery+ library, check out our Discovery Plus Channels guide.
Discovery+ launched with several exclusive original series, a mix of spinoffs, talk shows, and new shows from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ soon-to-launch Magnolia Network.
One even addresses the national pastime of mocking House Hunters: Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) and Natasha Leggero (Another Period) host House Hunters: Comedians on Couches Unfiltered, bringing those catty internet memes to life.
There are also exclusive new—of course—murder shows (including one starring Investigation Discovery vet Joe Kenda), bolstering Discovery+’s claim of having “the biggest library of true crime content on any streaming service,” and four 90 Day Fiancé spinoffs.
If Discovery+’s main library is the entree, then its originals are the fan-service dessert.
Anyone who’s ever used Discovery networks apps like HGTV Go and TLC Go will notice that Discovery+ is a major step up, both in functionality and aesthetics. It works well and it looks cool—good on Discovery+, because not every company gets an app right even after several tries (right, Prime Video and Disney+?).
| Service | Included streams | Upgrades | Offline downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery+ | 4 | N/A | Ad-Free plan only |
Four streams—not bad, Discovery+. You can also create up to five separate user profiles and choose from nine channel-related avatars (donut, alien, shark, astronaut, classic car, crime scene, hot air balloon, or—yup—sasquatch). This is great for identifying your profile quickly, but Discovery+ doesn’t allow for uploading your own avatar photo like most other services.
| Device | Discovery+ |
|---|---|
| Amazon Fire Cube, Stick, TV | ✓ |
| Android phones, tablets | ✓ |
| Android TV | ✓ |
| Apple TV (4th gen.) | ✓ |
| Apple TV 4K | ✓ |
| Chromecast, Chromecast with Google TV | ✓ |
| Echo Show | ✓ |
| iPhone, iPad | ✓ |
| LG TVs | ✗ |
| Nintendo Switch | ✗ |
| NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro | ✓ |
| PC , Mac Web browsers | ✓ |
| PlayStation 3, 4, 5 | ✗ |
| Roku Ultra, Express, Premiere, Stick, TV | ✓ |
| Samsung TVs | ✓ |
| Wii | ✗ |
| Xbox 360 | ✓ |
| Xfinity Flex, X1 | ✓ |
See how easy that was, Disney+ and HBO Max? Discovery+ is available on all the major streaming platforms right out of the gate. Well, except for PlayStation and Nintendo—sorry, gamers.
Discovery+ streams at 1080p resolution, with some shows (like Planet Earth) in 4K. Likewise, the audio is standard stereo 2.0 with select content streaming in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. You’ll be able to see and hear every spectral movement on Ghost Adventures—or not, depending on your skepticism level.
The Discovery+ home screen features a top menu of topics: “Relationships,” “Food,” “Paranormal & Unexplained,” and more “Home” could be confusing because it refers to house shows, not the home screen. You can also collect your favorites in “My List” for quick access, or browse by network.
Discovery+ gives a lot for a little. For five or seven bucks a month, 55,000 hours of content ain’t bad (that’s about six years of continuous viewing, BTW).
But if you thought Discovery+ would completely replace your cable or satellite subscription, no such luck. Because of licensing agreements, the latest Discovery networks seasons are still embedded deep in old-school TV; not even Dr. Pimple Popper could extract them.
But, even without the newest seasons, Discovery+ could still be essential to Discovery superfans who want to keep up on the exclusive spinoffs or newbies looking to discover all 55,000 hours of content.
With a Discovery+ subscription, you get access to past seasons of shows from the Discovery networks HGTV, Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery (ID), Animal Planet, OWN, Travel Channel, and Science Channel. You also get licensed content from A&E, Lifetime, History, and The Dodo. You’ll also get over 20 new Discovery+ original series.
Discovery+ has two pricing tiers: an ad-supported $4.99 a month option and an ad-free $6.99 a month version. Both tiers include the same access to Discovery+’s 55,000 hours of content.
Although Discovery+ now owns HBO, a bundle with the two streaming services is unlikely. Instead, HBO Max will absorb the Discovery+ library. We’ll update this piece as soon as we have more information.
If you’re a new or current Verizon Unlimited mobile customer, you may be eligible for a free year of Discovery+. You can also try out Discovery+ at no cost for seven days (credit card or PayPal payment info required).
Our experts employed hours of hands-on testing with Discovery+, rating the streaming service on bang for your buck, reliability, and features. Then we matched up Discovery+ with other on-demand streaming services head to head to give a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.
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