ESPN Plus Review 2024: Everything to know before subscribing

ESPN Plus user experience

As an entirely sports-focused streaming service, the user experience of ESPN Plus is a little different from what you’ll find with other OTT platforms. Once you’re into your subscription for the first time, you may find the interface somewhat disorienting. ESPN Plus is built into the larger ESPN website and streaming app, so you’ll have to navigate to the ESPN Plus page to find content you can watch.

On your ESPN Plus page, you’ll find a slider with numerous live events playing at once. Hover over these to hear audio or click to go to the full-screen broadcast. Below that, you’ll see thumbnails for more live events, followed by top replays you can watch on demand and a slider of upcoming games and events to put on your calendar.

Below these main sliders, you can browse by sports, leagues and college conferences or scroll down for more content, such as ESPN series and documentary films. It’s a lot to take in on the first pass, and there aren’t great options for customizing your feed, so it takes some time to get used to it. 

ESPN Plus content

From a fan’s perspective, ESPN Plus is a smorgasbord of sports content. The service offers a broad selection of sports, from NHL hockey and European soccer to MLB baseball and pro tennis. There’s UFC fighting, PGA golf and niche sports like Premier League lacrosse.

As our ESPN Plus review shows, however, the platform does more than just offer a large menu of live sports. There’s a lot to help serious fans dig deep here, too. Whether you want to watch deep analysis on “ESPN FC” or “NFL Live” or dive deep into some of sports’ biggest moments with classic games, you can find it here. Plus, ESPN’s award-winning “30 for 30” documentary series will be enough to satisfy some of the most devoted fans.

This mix of live sports and on-demand depth is unique among sports streaming services. So, if you’re wondering, “Is ESPN Plus worth it?” the answer depends on how much time you have and how deep you want to go.

ESPN Plus DVR

At the moment, ESPN Plus doesn’t offer an option to record any programs to cloud DVR. This isn’t unusual for an OTT service, but it’s a little disappointing, given how many live sporting events air on the platform at any given time. The good news is that many games and event replays are available to watch for a limited time after they air. However, we would have liked to see a bit more customizability to allow you to bookmark events and save them for later rather than having to dig around to find them.

ESPN Plus viewing experience and video quality

In terms of the viewing experience, ESPN Plus is fairly similar to other live sports-focused streamers. Content streams in high definition at up to 1080p, and you can adjust this down to standard definition if you’re trying to conserve data or free up bandwidth. In most cases, ESPN Plus will automatically adjust this based on your device and available bandwidth.

In our experience, content can be a little slow to buffer and render in full HD quality. This isn’t a huge issue, and it depends on your bandwidth, but you may need to wait a minute for the picture quality to catch up when you start watching a game. The biggest knock against ESPN Plus in this department is its lack of any 4K Ultra HD content.

ESPN Plus for sports fans

Limitations aside, this streaming service largely accomplishes its goal of offering a wide range of sports coverage and deep dives for serious fans. With so many live events, in-depth analyses, and award-winning documentaries, it’s hard to argue that this shouldn’t be part of any fan’s streaming repertoire. 

However, even though ESPN Plus is worth it for many sports lovers, it’s largely meant to supplement a subscription to cable or a live TV streaming service that has major networks like ESPN and FS1. UFC fans may also be disappointed by the hefty $79.99 price tag for pay-per-view fights.

How does ESPN Plus compare?

ESPN Plus lands at a similar price point to many other OTT services, and it’s much cheaper than full-blown, sports-oriented streaming services like FuboTV. Here’s how it stacks up against some of its closest competitors.

ESPN Plus is quite unique among the streaming options available today. No other platform offers an entirely sports-oriented subscriber experience, and many fans will find the $10.99 monthly price tag to be a bargain. There’s simply a breadth and depth of sports content on the platform that you can’t find anywhere else.

Whether ESPN Plus is worth it for you compared to other streaming options will depend on your goals and budget. OTT services like Paramount Plus and Peacock have much less sports content, but they offer a more balanced library of entertainment and news programming at a lower monthly price. Others, like Max, are purely focused on entertainment without any sports coverage. And platforms like Sling TV or FuboTV offer major sports networks for viewers who want to catch the main events — but you’ll pay a lot more.

How to subscribe to ESPN Plus

The sign-up process for ESPN Plus is similar to other streaming services and only takes a few minutes.

1. Go to the ESPN Plus home page in your web browser.
2. Choose the Disney Bundle or ESPN Plus.
3. Enter your email and verify your subscription.
4. Provide your credit card information.

Once you complete the process, you’ll be charged immediately. Your subscription will renew on the same day each month thereafter. You can cancel anytime, but you’ll still have access to ESPN Plus until the end of your billing cycle.

How to cancel your ESPN Plus subscription

If you decide ESPN Plus isn’t right for you, you can cancel your subscription in a few easy steps:

1. Log in with a web browser.
2. Click on your avatar at the top right, then select “Manage my subscriptions.”
3. Verify your password if prompted.
4. Click “Cancel subscription” and confirm.

Note that if you purchased your subscription through a third-party service, you’ll need to process your cancellation through that company.

Is ESPN Plus worth it?

Overall, we were quite impressed by our ESPN Plus review. The platform offers a one-of-a-kind fan experience, and there’s almost always something on or an award-winning program to explore. NHL and MLB fans will be particularly happy, as will soccer lovers and followers of college sports. For most fans, it will serve as an ideal supplement to other national and regional sports coverage through a cable plan or live TV streaming service. Others will be thrilled to bundle it with Hulu and Disney Plus for only a few more dollars per month. The user experience could be improved, but there’s a lot to like on ESPN Plus.

FAQ

Does ESPN Plus have NFL?

Although ESPN Plus doesn’t have any live NFL games, there’s a lot of football content on the platform. You’ll find live analysis in programs like “NFL Live,” along with several great programs that can supplement live game coverage.

Is ESPN Plus free with Hulu?

ESPN Plus isn’t available for free, but you can purchase it in the Disney Bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus for only $14.99 per month. If you’d rather avoid ads in on-demand content, you can upgrade to the premium version for $24.99 a month.

Can I watch live games on ESPN Plus?

ESPN has tons of live, out-of-market games and many live national broadcasts. You can watch many NHL games, MLB contests, UFC fights, golf events, European soccer matches and more.