The Australian streaming landscape has taken off in a big way over the last few years, which means Aussies now have more entertainment options than ever to choose from. These include the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus, Stan, Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, Binge and now Max, all readily accessible on our TVs and streaming boxes.
Max is the newest streamer on the block, and the biggest drawcard to the new platform is the arrival of the second season of The Last of Us, premiering on April 14. Right now, Max has an exclusive launch offer, with plans starting at AU$7.99p/m until April 30, 2025.
While being spoilt for choice can often be considered a good thing, we imagine few people will be willing to subscribe and pay for every available service, leaving many of us to squeeze just one or two options into our monthly budgets.
Of course, figuring out which services deserve your hard-earned cash isn't as easy as it sounds, as each one offers a wide variety of TV shows and movies along with its own exclusives.
Additionally, each streaming service will have its own pricing structure, list of compatible devices, offline viewing features and available streaming qualities to consider.
To help you pick the right ones, we here at Tom's Guide have put together this in-depth guide detailing the best streaming services in Australia in 2025. Here, we'll give you a quick rundown of what each mainstream service has to offer, while also filling you in on what you need to know regarding pricing tiers, device compatibility and more.
What are the best streaming services?
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
As you'd expect, the Tom's Guide team spends a great deal of time streaming all of Australia's major services, watching movies and shows for ourselves to come up with a definitive list.
While we have seen Netflix top the list a few times, there's always room for change, adding new streamer Max to the list of great streamers in Australia. Binge and Stan have fallen down the list, much to our surprise, as the lack of compelling new releases are slim, but we maintain hope that our true blue streamers will gain rank once again.
So without further ado, here's Tom's Guide's choices for the best streaming services in Australia for 2025.
The best streaming services now
Not long ago, it would have been unthinkable for Netflix to take anything other than the top spot in this roundup, but things have changed in the last few years. Covid had a significant impact on the streaming pioneer's output, and the overall quality of its content has suffered in the process.
Add to this some fierce competition from the likes of Disney and Max, regular price hikes, and Netflix's propensity for cancelling every show you get attached to, and its no wonder subscribers are starting to leave in droves.
That said, Netflix still has by far the biggest selection of exclusive TV shows and movies of any streaming service out there, and the technical quality of its platform is unmatched, offering flawless 4K streams, snappy navigation and unmatched device compatibility.
While some of us have cancelled our Netflix accounts (only to come back), the big list of the best Netflix shows is long enough to keep some hanging on. Shows like Stranger Things, Squid Game, Adolescence, Wednesday, The Residence, Heartstopper and Zero Day have proven to be some of Netflix's biggest recent hits. However, its movie content has been far less impressive of late, but still features some great additions like Back In Action, The Electric State, Hit Man and Kinda Pregnant.
If you can get past Netflix's costly pricing tiers (prices start at AU$7.99 for one standard definition ad-supported stream, all the way to AU$25.99 for four 4K streams), the service is still worthwhile for its enormous number of exclusives and for the overall quality of its service which, as we've already mentioned, is unmatched.
Subscription advice:
Netflix is our top streamer and we think it's worth maintaining a year-round subscription to, thanks to its impressive slate of new arrivals every month. But given its higher than average cost, we think it's fair to wait for truly unmissable shows to reactivate your subscription.
Read our full Netflix review
After a long journey, HBO's streaming platform, Max, has officially crash-landed in Australia. Max first embarked as HBO Max in the US in May 2020, gathering the US TV Giant's catalogue and putting it all together in one online streaming space.
The service made its way around the world, reaching audiences in South America, Canada, the UK, and Europe in 2021, before expanding to Asian audiences with local content integrations in countries like Japan and New Zealand in late 2024. The platform officially rebranded to Max in 2023 for US audiences, with plans for existing services to fully relaunch under the single-name moniker by May 2025.
Max is home to all of HBO and Warner Bros. biggest franchises, including Friends, Harry Potter, DC Comics, and Max originals, like The Last of Us, Euphoria and The White Lotus. Up until recently, all of these great shows and movies were found on Aussie streamer Binge, but were subsequently taken away when Max launched.
Max's plans are well within range for most streaming services, but its Basic with Ads offering is on the higher end of the spectrum. Compared to Netflix's ad-supported plan, Max's subscription is AU$4 more, reaching AU$11.99p/m. As for its Standard plan, Max's offering is in the dead middle of the tier at AU$15.99p/m, but its Premium tier is the closest to the average, costing AU$21.99p/m compared to the median of AU$19.99p/m.
That said, alongside its debut, Max has an exclusive launch offer until the end of April 2025, discounting all subscription plans for an entire year. You can read more about the special pricing in our dedicated Max Australia streaming guide.
Max is supported on all smartphones, computers, tablets and is compatible with Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles. Max is also compatible with Foxtel iQ, Hubbl, Android and Apple TV.
Subscription advice:
If you love all things The White Lotus, The Last of Us and everything else that HBO has to offer, there's no better time to subscribe to Max than right now.
Read our full Max review.
When Disney Plus first arrived on the Australian streaming scene, it was considered the family-friendly alternative to Netflix. This was thanks to its enormous back catalogue of Disney animated and live-action classics, along with its position as the streaming home of Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.
That's all well and good for households with children but sooner or later, adults were going to need something more stimulating. Thankfully, Disney figured this out early, eventually doubling the service's content library with the inclusion of Star and recently added ESPN — Disney Plus sub-hubs that offers more grown-up fare, including Hulu and FX originals, and live sporting channels.
While the addition of Star and ESPN did bring a slight (and entirely mandatory) price hike along with it, the amount of additional content did make the extra cost easy to justify. Now priced at AU$15.99p/m for Standard subscribers and AU$20.99p/m for Premium users, Disney Plus is still one of the best at providing quality over quantity.
In terms of exclusive content, Disney Plus was on a good winning streak, delivering one major blockbuster after another — on the TV front, Andor was the service's most critically acclaimed Star Wars show to date, alongside FX's The Bear season 3.
In terms of movies, Disney is quick to release their franchises on the streamer, with most films becoming available three months after theatrical release, like 2024's top release — and only Marvel film — Deadpool and Wolverine.
However, with interest in Marvel films and TV shows beginning to wane, it could be argued that Disney Plus isn't as much of a draw as it previously was.
Subscription advice:
There's a lot of great stuff on Disney Plus, but your decision to stay subscribed will likely come down to how much enthusiasm you still have for Marvel and Star Wars.
Read our full Disney Plus review.
This Aussie streamer has suffered in recent weeks, but Binge still makes our list of the best streaming services for good reason. Binge hails from cable giant Foxtel and its streaming arm, Hubbl, which includes Flash News and Kayo Sports.
After Max's launch late last month, all HBO content was stripped from Binge and Foxtel Now. Of course, there's more to Binge than HBO—it also offers a huge selection of recent and classic movies, all the reality and true crime content you would expect from a Foxtel-adjacent product, and access to several live Foxtel channels. Yes, that does mean you can stream many of the same shows and movies that are available on Foxtel at a far more appealing price point.
Binge has also welcomed content integrations with sister sites, Kayo Sports and Flash News, offering 24/7 live news channels and sports events with no ad breaks during play. This is a major drawcard for sports lovers who want to indulge in popular games, as NRL, AFL and Cricket events are livestreamed for less than half the price of a Kayo Sports sub.
And while Binge has been slow off the mark with regards to expanding its device compatibility, we're happy to report that the service has finally added support for Xbox One S/X and Xbox Series S/X consoles.
While much of its content is also available on the Foxtel Now streaming service, Binge is way, way cheaper: after a free trial, prices start at just AU$10 per month for Basic (a single ad-supported HD stream), going up to AU$19 a month for Standard (two ad-free 4K streams) and AU$22 per month for Premium (four ad-free 4K streams).
Yes, you read that correctly — Binge has upgraded its service to include 4K streaming tiers, and it's about flippin' time if you ask us.
Subscription advice:
With its steady stream of Binge Originals incoming and large movie selection, we think Binge is still worth subscribing to. But if you're only interested in HBO shows, we'd suggest subscribing to Max.
Read our full Binge review
Stan was Australia's first major Netflix competitor, and it came out of the gate with a bang thanks to it counting the Breaking Bad spin-off series, Better Call Saul, as an exclusive. Of course, that brilliant series came to a close this year, and it has forced us to take a look at Stan's other streaming exclusives to see which ones can be considered must-see TV.
At the top of that list would be Yellowstone, the smash-hit American western series that pits Kevin Costner and his family against encroaching forces who seek to not only destroy his cowboy way of life, but also take his unblemished land and put up condominiums, resorts and airports. The final season of the show just aired, so there's much left to be desired for diehard fans.
For reality TV lovers, RuPaul's Drag Race could also be considered appointment TV, and Stan has around 18 other Drag Race spin-offs on offer for those who can't get enough glam.
Aside from those, and a smattering of Australian-produced Stan Originals, much of Stan's exclusive content can be described as B-tier — and that's not necessarily a bad thing! It just means that while there's a huge selection of quality shows on offer, there's not a lot that would be considered 'zeitgeist' television. Showtime and Starz are good, but they aren't HBO.
On the other hand, Stan's movie library is quite excellent, with a large number of new and classic films available to stream, and there's a growing selection of well-received, Stan-produced features on offer, such as Nitram, Gold and The True Story of the Kelly Gang.
In terms of pricing, Stan is up there with Netflix, which we suppose is fair enough considering it does offer 4K HDR content. Pricing starts at AU$12 per month for a one SD stream, followed by AU$17 per month for two HD streams, and then AU$22 per month for four 4K streams.
On top of this, Stan now offers a separate AU$15 sports package for live (and catchup) sports coverage, which includes rugby, tennis, motorsports, cycling and more.
Subscription advice:
Lots of great content to stream, but unless you're a RuPaul megafan, you should probably consider just reactivating your account for fast-tracked, must-watch shows as they air.
Read our sister site TechRadar's Stan review.
For those who do most of their shopping online, Amazon Prime is a no-brainer. From just AU$9.99p/m, a Prime subscription gets you access to Amazon Music, Prime Reading, Prime Gaming, same-day delivery services, and Prime Video, a streaming service that provides a wide variety of TV shows and movies to stream.
The best Amazon shows range from sharp comedies like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I'm a Virgo, to action-packed spectacles like Reacher, The Boys, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time. Some of the top releases in the past year include The Summer I Turned Pretty and video game-turned-television-show, Fallout.
Additionally, Amazon boasts a massive and continually changing library of films to stream, including many older titles and VHS-era favourites, with more B-grade horror, action and thriller movies than any one person could ever conceivably watch.
And, on top of its own content, the Amazon Prime Video app now allows you to sign up for smaller outside streaming services, such as Paramount Plus, Shudder, AMC+ and more — simply add your desired service as an additional charge to your Amazon subscription and start streaming. It's a great alternative to downloading numerous other apps and setting up separate accounts and logins for each.
Subscription advice:
Worth staying subscribed to for movie buffs for its huge back catalog, but if it's new shows you're after we'd just dip in and out a few times a year.
Read our full Prime Video review.
At first, Apple seemed crazy for getting into the content creation game, but then the Cupertino company proved everyone wrong by delivering a string of award-winners and hit shows.
Aside from Ted Lasso, the service's breakout feel-good success, Apple TV Plus has been knocking it out of the park with quality shows like Silo, Severance, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, For All Mankind and The Morning Show, and has even delivered its very own mega-budget space opera in Foundation.
Apple TV Plus even took home the Best Picture Oscar for CODA, proving the service is more than just a home for Ted Lasso. It's serving up programming that continues to surprise and charm, while competitors like Netflix feel routine and boring by comparison.
Ultimately, though, its content library isn't very deep — you won't find back catalogue favourites here, because Apple would rather sell them to you. Instead, you get a focused offering of high-quality Originals, and we think that will probably be worth the service's monthly fee.
Apple TV Plus currently costs AU$12.99p/m for a solo subscription, and you can bundle the service with an Apple One account. When you consider the relatively small number of TV shows and movies on offer, and the complete lack of licensed content, it does make the new price a little harder to swallow.
Apple also needs to pick up its game when comes to device support, especially for Android phones and tablets. Some say this is a strategic move on Apple's part to force more people to buy Apple TV 4K streaming boxes, and it's hard to argue with that, especially since it actively removed its app from the Android TV platform for seemingly no reason.
Thankfully, Apple TV Plus is available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles – and PS5 owners can even claim six months of the service after downloading the app to the new console, which is an extremely attractive incentive to try the service out.
Subscription advice:
Apple TV Plus was once affordable enough to stay subscribed year-round, but with recent price hikes and Ted Lasso done and dusted, some people may find it hard to justify.
Check out our full Apple TV Plus review
Has Paramount Plus stealthily become one of the better streaming services over the last year? When Paramount Plus first launched in Australia, it had a pretty weak selection of exclusives and originals, making it tough to recommend.
That said, with the addition of several high-profile releases, such as the new Taylor Sheridan-penned action series Special Ops: Lioness, which stars Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, and Sylvester Stallone's excellent show Tulsa King, also from Sheridan (and the makers of The Sopranos), Paramount Plus has quietly become a formidable service.
Speaking of the TV juggernaut known as Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Plus is also the home of the writer's two Yellowstone prequels, 1883 and 1923, as well as the Jeremy Renner-starring drama Mayor of Kingstown and the soccer-based thriller, Yellowjackets.
You also have the live-action Halo TV series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and the Beavis and Butt-Head revival series ready to stream.
And while it wasn't available at the service's launch, Aussies now have access to 4K HDR streaming with its Premium tier, priced at AU$13.99 per month for four simultaneous streams. Users also have the option of a cheaper Standard tier, which is limited to two simultaneous HD streams, priced at AU$9.99 per month or its basic tier with ads, for just AU$6.99p/m.
On top of its original shows, Paramount Plus offers a fairly good selection of on-demand movies and shows from Viacom’s various holdings, which includes the likes of Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and the Smithsonian Channel.
While it took a little while for Paramount Plus to find its way, we're happy to see it finally living up to its promise. Hopefully, Aussies will get a more full-featured version of the service in the future.
Subscription advice:
There are some great original shows on Paramount Plus, making it easier to recommend as a secondary streaming service.
Read our sister site TechRadar's Paramount Plus review
For years, access to Foxtel required users to sign up for a traditional pay TV subscription — that meant getting technicians over to install a box in your living room, usually involving cabling and other hassles.
Foxtel Now's biggest draw is that it allows users to get the full Foxtel experience without having to sign up for a traditional pay TV subscription. No longer would you have to bring technicians into your home to install a box under your telly with a bunch of additional cables.
Instead, you could simply stream Foxtel directly to your smart TV (if compatible) or to one of your existing devices.
Sounds easier, right? Well, it is, but it's also very expensive, because Foxel Now splits its content into several different packages, all of which (outside of the mandatory Essentials base package, which costs AU$25 per month) come with an additional cost. That means it can cost up to AU$104 per month to get everything that Foxtel Now has to offer.
If you're a sports nut, that might be worth it, but since the arrival of the Binge streaming service, which has much of the same non-sporting content (including all of its HBO shows), it's become much harder to justify Foxtel Now's high pricing. That said, you could sign up for Foxtel Now's free 10-day trial to see for yourself.
Subscription advice:
Unless you're a sports fanatic, you're better off signing up for Binge — it's much more affordable and also offers a more streamlined experience.
Read our sister site TechRadar's Foxtel Now review
