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ESPN Plus offers a lot. The ESPN streaming service gives you access to an eclectic selection of sports, such as exclusive UFC pay-per-view bouts, matches from several global soccer leagues and every Formula 1 race. It also offers simulcasts of some Monday Night Football NFL games and exclusive out-of-market access to select MLB and NHL games.
The problem is what it doesn't offer. Most importantly, you'll still need a cable subscription if you want to enjoy ESPN's cable networks. That means ESPN Plus misses out on marquee programming — NBA games, big-time college football and basketball match-ups, and even some Monday Night Football games, to name just a few.
When ESPN Plus was a low-cost alternative for cord cutters that was one thing. But now that it costs $12 a month, it's a much less compelling offering. Unless you're a fan of international soccer leagues not called the Premier League, some lower-profile college sports teams or love F1 racing, it's harder than ever to justify signing up.
However, there is one way that ESPN Plus becomes suddenly affordable again. If you sign up for the Disney Bundle Trio Basic, you pay $16.99 a month to get Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus. Given that this is just $5 more than a standalone ESPN subscription, this is really the only way you should subscribe to ESPN's streaming service. Here's our full thoughts on ESPN Plus, including cost, content and more.
ESPN Plus review: Cost and availability
You access ESPN Plus through the same apps and websites you've been using to check on sports scores and news. On ESPN's website, there's a new ESPN Plus tab added to the menu bar. For mobile users, ESPN updated its self-titled app for Android and iOS to include a Watch tab that highlights ESPN Plus content. ESPN's Apple TV now supports ESPN Plus, and the sports network says the new service will work on Amazon devices (Fire TV set-top, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV smart TVs and Fire tablets) as well as with Android TV and Chromecast.
ESPN Plus currently costs $119.99 per year or $11.99 per month, a huge price hike from its previous $69.99/$6.99 pricing. And anyone who wants to watch UFC live streams will need to pay an additional $79 per pay-per-view event.
As we mentioned earlier, you can save a lot on ESPN Plus by bundling it with Hulu and Disney Plus. You get all three for $16.99 per month, just $5 more than a standalone subscription to ESPN Plus. It's also worth checking our ESPN Plus promo codes page for the latest offers if you don't want the Disney Bundle.
If you want to save even more money, ESPN Plus is free if you have Hulu with Live TV, as that service now bundles in live TV with Hulu, ESPN Plus and Disney Plus for a total of $82.99 per month.
How to get ESPN Plus
We tested ESPN Plus on an iPhone SE and a fourth-generation Apple TV. Getting the service was as simple as launching the updated ESPN app on my iPhone, tapping the Watch tab at the center of the menu on the bottom of the screen, and following the on-screen prompts to sign up for the service, with iTunes helpfully reminding me when my trial period ended. On my Apple TV, all we had to do was log in to my ESPN account, and the ESPN Plus subscription transferred over.
If you open the ESPN Plus sign-up page via a web browser, though, you'll be greeted with something different. For some reason, ESPN Plus is pushing the aforementioned Disney bundle instead of selling itself outright above all else.
The process works exactly the same on Android devices, with the Android version of the ESPN app prompting you to sign up for ESPN Plus when you select a live match or original programming associated with the service. One disappointment: The ESPN app on the Pixel 2 XL wouldn't recognize the subscription that was purchased on the iPhone SE iPhone, even though the same ESPN account was logged in to ESPN on both devices. A similar thing happened when trying to access the service from ESPN.com on a MacBook Pro.
ESPN says that if you buy ESPN Plus from a mobile device, you should be able to access the service on multiple devices by going to the settings of the ESPN app and linking your account. However, the Subscriptions section of the ESPN app on my iPhone wouldn't let us do that; it gave us a message that it was still processing my purchase. Perhaps this is a kink ESPN has since worked out, but it's a hassle our reviewer had never experienced when watching Netflix on multiple devices.
ESPN Plus review: Content
ESPN Plus puts a lot of its own content front and center, though this isn't programming you're going to find on the cable channel. SportsCenter, for example, is boiled down to a "best of" package of its feature stories.
Instead, you'll get ESPN Plus exclusives such as Draft Academy, which is a behind-the-scenes look at some of the top players angling to be selected in the upcoming NFL draft, and a 30 for 30 documentary on disgraced basketball coach Bobby Knight. Other original programming includes a nightly hockey highlight show, a Kobe Bryant-hosted series about basketball, and the roundtable soccer discussion program ESPN FC, which has moved over from cable to this service. You also get access to an on-demand library of past ESPN programs and documentaries.
"You'll still need a cable subscription if you want to enjoy ESPN's marquee programming — NBA games, big-time college football and basketball matchups, and Monday Night Football."
If that were all ESPN Plus had to offer, you'd expect the company to pay you $5 a month to watch it. But ESPN Plus's value lies in its live sports coverage. You'll get a daily Major League Baseball game, though it's subject to local blackout rules. If you want more baseball, you can tack on MLB.TV to ESPN Plus for an extra $24.99 a month.
Other sports feature prominently as well. ESPN Plus promises to feature PGA tour majors, Grand Slam tennis matches and live boxing. You can expect college sports featuring schools from outside the major conferences, as well as sports like softball, volleyball, track and swimming, which don't always get the spotlight on cable.
"ESPN Plus's value lies in its live sports coverage. The service is especially appealing to soccer fans."
That lineup gives you a pretty good sense of just who ESPN Plus is for. While sports fans with eclectic tastes will certainly like the streaming service's variety, fans of sports that don't otherwise get a lot of airtime on U.S. television — that would be you, Formula 1 fans — may find $11.99 a small price to pay to get their fix.
In August 2023, ESPN announced that was merging ESPN Plus with its Insider service. That means your ESPN Plus subscription will give you access to articles and services on ESPN's website that live behind a paywall. That's a nice addition that makes ESPN Plus more attractive, especially if you were already paying for an Insider subscription.
ESPN Plus review: Performance
Should ESPN Plus' slate of sports intrigue you, you can expect a pretty solid viewing experience, once you navigate your way through a fairly cluttered menu to find the exact sport you want to watch.
We've got no complaints about the stream itself, which is delivered in HD quality. Even on a 4-inch iPhone SE screen, the action in an Aston Villa vs. Leeds EFL League Cup match looked crisp and clean enough for me to follow along. A Pause button lets you halt the stream, and you can rewind and fast-forward by dragging on a timeline. I wish those two latter controls offered finer control, like a 30-second rewind button.
ESPN built in some fairly clever controls, like a picture-in-picture feature that lets me still watch a livestream while I peruse other areas of the ESPN app. Tap the picture-in-picture icon, and your livestream shrinks to a little window in the lower corner of the app, freeing you up to check scores and news.
When it comes to streaming original or on-demand content, the app remembers where you left off if you pause to handle tasks outside the app, like answering emails or making a phone call, or if you switch between programs during single viewing sessions. Try to resume watching that program on another device — say, moving from an iPhone to an Apple TV — and you'll have to start over. Again, that's something that will surprise fans of Netflix's seamless viewing experience.
The biggest flaw of ESPN Plus right now is clutter, particularly on a mobile device's limited screen. ESPN Plus stacks programming in a series of scrollable tiles featuring live events, upcoming shows and featured on-demand content. To find what you're looking for in this layout, you've got to hunt and peck.
A better option, at least in the mobile app, is to tap on the calendar icon. That brings up a list of upcoming events that you can filter by sport or network. Of course, there's no apparent way to set a reminder for a live broadcast you're interested in. Even tapping on the event in the Upcoming section only brings up a pop-up menu telling you when the event takes place, but there's no way to enable any notification.
ESPN Plus review: Bottom line
ESPN Plus offers a healthy variety of live sports but in an increasingly expensive package. And the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" needs to find a way to make it easier to discover and remember when live sporting events are scheduled.
The bigger concern, though, is to smooth out the kinks so that subscribers can watch on multiple platforms — mobile, web and set-top boxes — without running into too many obstacles. The kinks don't appear often, but one hiccup is one too many.
We're guessing UFC fans just look at ESPN Plus as an obligation rather than a benefit. How else are you supposed to react to a service you have to pay for in order to pay a lot more money for PPV events?
But if you're a mainstream sports fan, you're unlikely to find enough on ESPN Plus to justify the subscription. There are exceptions, like baseball fans who want the daily out-of-market game but don't want to pay five times as much for MLB.TV, the odd Monday Night Football game and a decent amount of NHL hockey.
No, ESPN Plus isn't really for mainstream or casual sports fans. But if you're really passionate about sports outside of the big four of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, ESPN Plus has something to offer, especially with its extensive soccer lineup. It's no cable killer, but ESPN Plus will serve the needs of sports fans with a very particular set of passions.
