Summary: Max finally pulls the trigger on password sharing restrictions with a flat monthly fee for extra members, strategically positioning itself between Netflix and Disney+’s tiered pricing models while forcing extra users to juggle the inconvenience of single-device limitations.
Max has announced that it will be charging subscribers for sharing passwords with a new plan fee called the Extra Member Add-On, making it the latest service to slash what was once a beloved trait about streaming services over the years. Sharing passwords and thereby sharing access to a single streaming subscription was once heralded by services like Netflix.
After more services came online, there really weren’t many limits, if any at all, when it came to sharing your account password. It was a great way to share access to all the services between friends. Netflix on one, Hulu on another, and so on and so forth. That all changed once Netflix announced it would be cracking down on password sharing. That crackdown, of course, included the option to share your account for an extra fee. Max is finally following suit. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, though.
The Max Extra Member Add-On will cost $7.99 a month
In terms of cost, Max is sitting smack-dab in the middle of what other services are charging. Right now, both Netflix and Disney+ are the only other two services that charge an extra member fee. Max is doing things a little differently than those two, however.
Netflix now has ads, and it has two different extra member fees because of it. You’ll need to fork over $6.99 to add an extra member with ads, or $8.99 without ads. Disney+ has the same starting price for the extra member with ads fee set at $6.99, but increases the no-ads version by one dollar, pushing it to $9.99.
Max, on the other hand, is charging $7.99 a month to share access. Like the others, this will allow you to add one extra member to your account. They also get their own login profile with their own curated library of content. So you don’t have to worry about things getting mixed up if you both watch the same stuff. One difference aside from price is that Max doesn’t appear to be charging more for a plan with no ads.
That’s because the price stays the same regardless of which plan you subscribe to. If you subscribe to the basic plan with ads, then the extra member on that account will also have ads. However, this makes for a better value for the Standard and Premium plan subscribers. Because the extra members get the no ad experience at the same price.
Extra members can only watch on one device at a time
It’s worth noting that Max has confirmed extra member add-ons will have all the same benefits as the plan they’re attached to. Save for one. They won’t be able to log in and watch on more than one device. That means if you’re watching on your phone and then want to switch to your PC or TV, you’ll first need to log out of the account on the phone app, then log in on the new device.
Max doesn’t clarify if users will need to manually log out, or if logging in will force the log out on the initial device automatically. That being said, the latter is how it works for services like Ubisoft Connect and Steam PC gaming clients, and has for a while. It would be odd if that weren’t the case here. The extra member add-on fees take effect immediately.
2025-04-23 15:09:29