HBO Max
Shares rank 15 of 20 streaming services by recommenders
Recommended for covering most video needs and having less filler than rivals, and still affordable. Critics say post-merger changes, ads, and price rises have hurt it.
Recommended for covering most video needs and having less filler than rivals, and still affordable. Critics say post-merger changes, ads, and price rises have hurt it.
42 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 35
- approval share
- 17%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Covers most video needs
“these two platforms covers 95% of my video content needs”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” Less filler than rivals
“HBO may have less content but there's also less garbage”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” Established, long-running streaming brand
“HBO/Max under Warner is far more established in terms of forward looking/facing”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Judge orders pause to Paramount-Warner Bros merger as states argue antitrust law” Still affordable
“where it is still affordable”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Less good than original HBO
“HBO isn't what it used to be and probably isn't worth combing back to any time soon”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “Discovery's awful content push out quality HBO content was already a major blow.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “HBO was never what you thought it was, and HBO Max definitely wasn't.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” - Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros”
- Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Warner Bros Begins Exclusive Deal Talks With Netflix”
Botched Max rebrand
“After that complete fumble of HBO becoming "Max" they were at their last legs”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “The "Max" fiasco was pretty much the strangest branding mistake ever.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “The branding debacle around HBO streaming service was malpractice”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” Frequent price increases
“the drip-feed of price increases in such a short time pissed me off enough to cancel”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Spotify increases its US subscription prices for the third time in 3 years” “not be able to get access to major releases without paying more on top of the subs”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “The lost joy of music piracy” Slow app loading
“All the streaming apps work well, except for HBO Max which takes a few minutes to load.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options” “On an Apple TV with first gen Homepods connected it is incredibly laggy.”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle”
Other streaming services people recommend
The four most recommended other streaming services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Premium | 197 | 195 | 50% | 13 | 10 yrs10 owners | — |
| Netflix | 181 | 538 | 25% | 12 | 15 yrs10 owners | — |
| Nebula | 58 | 17 | 77% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| HBO | 32 | 32 | 50% | 7 | — | — |
| HBO MaxThis page | 7 | 35 | 17% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
37 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I just dont miss anything about them”
“Could not get higher than 720p, even with chrome”
“Same with Netflix and HBO.”
“flagship apps like HBO/Netflix don't implement this correctly”
“they said they don’t count those as ads”
“you pay for "Ad free" but then get bombarded with ads for their own shows and mobile slop games”
“It is not in our collection, please remain here and we can watch Commando together!”
“HBO/Max under Warner is far more established in terms of forward looking/facing”
“not be able to get access to major releases without paying more on top of the subs”
“and the H(o)BOGo, and then a few more platform fragmentations”
“a HBO Max subscription that I barely use”
“the drip-feed of price increases in such a short time pissed me off enough to cancel”
“All the streaming apps work well, except for HBO Max which takes a few minutes to load.”
“maybe this will make fast forward work on HBO streaming”
“their service is trash, technically speaking”
“HBO has the worst streaming interface of any service.”
“it is a no-brainer to trash the HBO backend over time”
“where it is still affordable”
“The branding debacle around HBO streaming service was malpractice”
“Discovery's awful content push out quality HBO content was already a major blow.”
“these two platforms covers 95% of my video content needs”
“HBO was never what you thought it was, and HBO Max definitely wasn't.”
“WB on the other hand is very typical of other streaming services”
“ending a season with a cliffhanger and then getting canceled regardless of their popularity”
“The "Max" fiasco was pretty much the strangest branding mistake ever.”
“After that complete fumble of HBO becoming "Max" they were at their last legs”
“HBO may have less content but there's also less garbage”
“all the crappy "discovery" content they tacked on was just annoying”
“is not the HBO it was before David Zaslav got his hands on it.”
“I find hbo max to be aysmal these days”
“This makes me think they're lazy and greedy, doesn't make me want to go and consume their slop.”
“HBO isn't what it used to be and probably isn't worth combing back to any time soon”
“HBO is the worst about remembering what episode I just watched.”
“Their app isn’t otherwise noteworthy”
“marketing for people to engage with HBO Max and Mad Men”
“On an Apple TV with first gen Homepods connected it is incredibly laggy.”
“easily the slowest I regularly use on Samsung smart tv”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.