Philo Essential runs $25 a month; Bundle+ runs $33 a month, both billed directly through Philo. Most price-focused viewers do fine with Essential, while Bundle+ makes sense once you’d otherwise pay separately for HBO Max, discovery+, or AMC+. Neither number is your final bill, though. Taxes and, if you sign up through an app store, third-party surcharges can push the total higher.
TL;DR:
- The essential plan costs $25 monthly and includes around 70 live channels plus a one-year unlimited DVR, suitable for most viewers.
- The Bundle+ plan charges $33 monthly and adds AMC+, ad-supported HBO Max, and discovery+ content, ideal for those who want bundled premium apps.
- Taxes, third-party surcharges, and regional delivery fees can increase the final bill beyond the advertised prices, especially if signed up through app stores.
- Adding individual premium apps with pay-on-demand pricing can be more cost-effective than subscribing to Bundle+ if only one or two apps are used regularly.
- Users should compare bundle costs against separate subscriptions to apps they already pay for and verify checkout totals before completing the purchase.
Table of Contents
- Philo Price Breakdown: Essential vs. Bundle+ vs. Free Channels
- What You Actually Get With Each Plan
- Add-Ons: Prices for ALLBLK, HBO Max, STARZ, and More
- Why Your Bill Is Higher Than the List Price
- How to Sign Up, Use the Trial, and Cancel Without Surprises
- A Practical Checklist Before You Subscribe
- Which Plan Fits Your Household
- Want a Deeper Cost Comparison Before You Commit?
- Sources
- FAQ
Philo Price Breakdown: Essential vs. Bundle+ vs. Free Channels
Here’s the quick version before you dig into features:
- Essential ($25/month): Around 70 live channels, a large on-demand library, unlimited DVR with one year of storage, and a 7-day free trial for new customers.
- Bundle+ ($33/month): Everything in Essential plus AMC+, ad-supported HBO Max, ad-supported discovery+, and additional bundled content categories.
- Free Channels ($0): A no-signup tier with a rotating selection of ad-supported channels and on-demand titles, no DVR, no trial needed because there’s nothing to cancel.
Both paid plans allow multiple simultaneous streams on one account, and the DVR storage window is the same across Essential and Bundle+. The free trial applies to Essential only, not to Bundle+, so if you want to sample the bundled premium apps before paying, you’ll need to start on Essential and upgrade once you decide the extra $8 is worth it.
What You Actually Get With Each Plan
Essential is built around live TV basics: news, entertainment, lifestyle, and a chunk of reality programming, plus unlimited cloud DVR that holds recordings for a full year. That storage window matters more than people assume. A lot of competing services cap DVR at 50 or 150 hours; Philo’s model is time-based, so a slow binge-watcher doesn’t get squeezed out by storage limits the way they might elsewhere.
Bundle+ layers on real subscription value. You get the AMC+ content library folded in, HBO Max and discovery+ in their ad-supported forms, and access to Philo’s “All Reality” and expanded genre collections. This is where the plan choice actually gets interesting.
- If you’d pay for AMC+, ad-supported HBO Max, and ad-supported discovery+ as standalone add-ons, the combined add-on cost alone can approach or exceed the $8 gap between Essential and Bundle+.
- If you only care about one of those three, buying that single add-on on top of Essential is usually cheaper than jumping to Bundle+.
- Heavy reality-TV or true-crime viewers tend to get more mileage from Bundle+’s expanded catalog than casual viewers do.
Pro Tip: Before upgrading to Bundle+, check which of the three bundled apps you’d actually use in a typical month. If it’s just one, price that single add-on separately first. You might save more staying on Essential.
Add-Ons: Prices for ALLBLK, HBO Max, STARZ, and More
Philo’s add-on catalog lets you build a custom lineup on top of either base plan, and the Philo help center lists the following Philo.com prices:
- ALLBLK: $7/month
- AMC+ ad-free upgrade: $4/month (removes ads from the AMC+ content already in Bundle+)
- discovery+ ad-free: $8/month
- Hallmark+: $8/month
- HBO Max Standard upgrade: $13/month
- MGM+: $8/month
- STARZ: $12/month
- Movies & More: $3/month
A few of these do double duty, and it’s easy to overpay if you’re not paying attention. The AMC+ and discovery+ add-ons on this list are ad-free upgrades, not the base access you already get with Bundle+, so don’t add them thinking you’re unlocking content you don’t already have. ALLBLK, Hallmark+, MGM+, STARZ, and Movies & More are separate catalogs entirely, meaning they add new content rather than removing ads from something included. Check pricing on Philo.com before you subscribe. Prices and availability for these same add-ons can differ if you’re billed through a smart TV platform or app store instead.
Why Your Bill Is Higher Than the List Price
Streaming subscriptions aren’t tax-free in most of the country. States and cities have been folding services like Philo into existing tax structures for years, and at least 33 states with general sales tax, plus Washington, D.C., now apply that tax to streaming subscriptions. Some municipalities go further and layer on amusement or communications taxes specific to entertainment services.
Streaming subscriptions in much of the country now carry the same sales tax treatment as other digital goods, with the taxable amount typically determined by “destination sourcing,” meaning the location tied to your billing address rather than where Philo’s servers sit.
Which state and local rates apply depends on rules like the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement’s sourcing hierarchy, which generally looks at your billing address on file. On top of tax, Philo warns that signing up through certain third-party billers, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku, Samsung, and Vizio, can trigger a surcharge and a different price than what’s listed on Philo.com. The fix is simple: preview your checkout total on Philo.com before entering payment info, confirm your billing address is accurate, and compare that final number against whatever a third-party platform is showing before you commit either way.
How to Sign Up, Use the Trial, and Cancel Without Surprises
- Sign up directly on Philo.com to lock in the base price and access the 7-day free trial on Essential. Bundle+ does not carry its own separate trial.
- If you subscribed through an app store (Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku), manage billing and cancellations through that platform, not through Philo. Philo’s own system cannot stop charges initiated by an outside biller.
- Check your next billing date and method under account settings on Philo.com or in the third-party app where you subscribed, and cancel there if you’re ending service, since forgetting this step is the most common reason people get charged after they thought they’d canceled.
A Practical Checklist Before You Subscribe
Run through this before entering a card number:
- Confirm whether you’re checking out on Philo.com or through a device app store, since the price and cancellation path differ.
- Preview the checkout screen for tax and surcharge line items rather than assuming the advertised price is final.
- Compare Bundle+’s $33 against buying HBO Max, discovery+, and AMC+ ad-free separately. If those three alone would cost more than $8 combined, Bundle+ wins on math alone.
- Check for local amusement or franchise fees tied to your billing ZIP code. Philo itself doesn’t carry regional sports network fees the way some live-TV services do, but the general lesson about local fees inflating a “flat” monthly price still applies.
Pro Tip: Screenshot your checkout total before your first payment clears. If a later bill jumps for no obvious reason, that screenshot is your fastest way to spot a tax rate change or an added surcharge.
Which Plan Fits Your Household
Essential is the right call for anyone who mostly wants live news, general entertainment, and a deep on-demand library without paying for anything they won’t use. Bundle+ earns its $8 premium the moment you’d otherwise juggle separate subscriptions to HBO Max, discovery+, and AMC+. Single-stream households focused purely on cost should start with Essential’s free trial and upgrade only after confirming they’d actually watch the bundled apps.
— ANASS
Want a Deeper Cost Comparison Before You Commit?
Philo’s pricing is refreshingly simple compared to a lot of live-TV bundles, but “simple” doesn’t mean it’s automatically the cheapest fit for your household once you factor in the apps you already pay for elsewhere. Live-TV and IPTV pricing can be broken down with real numbers to avoid guessing about what a checkout screen will actually show you.
If you’re weighing Philo against other live-TV options before you commit to a full year of any one service, the complete guide to IPTV types and how they work walks through how these services differ in structure and cost. For a side-by-side look at where Philo lands next to other providers on price and channel count, the top live TV streaming services reviewed for 2026 is the next page to check.
Sources
- Pricing, Packages & Add-Ons — Philo
- Philo add-ons overview — Philo help center
- Cities and states find new ways to tax streaming services — Stateline
FAQ
What Are the Different Philo Packages and Their Prices?
Philo offers two paid tiers: Essential at $25 a month and Bundle+ at $33 a month, plus a free ad-supported channel tier with no signup cost. Bundle+ adds AMC+, ad-supported HBO Max, and ad-supported discovery+ on top of everything in Essential.
Why Is Philo So Expensive?
Philo isn’t expensive compared to most live-TV streaming bundles. It’s actually priced lower than many competitors, though your final bill can rise above the listed price due to state and local streaming taxes or a surcharge if you subscribed through a third-party app store.
Which Is Cheaper, Philo or Hulu?
Philo’s Essential plan at $25 a month is generally cheaper than Hulu + Live TV, since Hulu’s live tier includes broadcast and sports channels that push its price well above Philo’s. Philo trades broadcast networks and live sports for a lower price, so the “cheaper” answer depends on whether you need those channels.
Is Philo TV Free With Amazon Prime?
No, Philo is not included free with an Amazon Prime membership. Philo does offer a free, ad-supported channel tier with no subscription required, but the paid Essential and Bundle+ plans require their own separate payment regardless of any Prime subscription.