Peacock raised prices again in August, and this is now the fourth price hike in four years. Before you pay full price — or overpay for a plan you don’t need — here is exactly what each tier covers, who qualifies for steep discounts, and which memberships you already hold that might make Peacock free.
Three paid tiers, a free plan that no longer exists, and an August price increase that pushed every tier up by one to three dollars. If you have not checked your bill since you signed up, you may be paying more than you expect. This guide covers what each plan actually includes, which people qualify for prices as low as $5.99 per month, and which memberships you already hold that could make Peacock free entirely — no discount code required.
The questions people search first, answered plainly. Eight things worth knowing before you subscribe, upgrade, or cancel.
Three plans, all with prices effective as of August 18: Select is $8.99 per month (or $89.99 per year) — a narrower tier covering NBC and Bravo shows plus a rotating library selection, but no movies, no sports, and no Peacock Originals. Premium is $12.99 per month (or $129.99 per year) — the full library, live sports, all Originals, movies, and news, but with ads throughout. Premium Plus is $19.99 per month (or $199.99 per year) — mostly ad-free on-demand viewing, offline downloads on mobile, and a live 24/7 stream of your local NBC station. Note that ads remain on live sports events on Premium Plus regardless of tier. Peacock raised these prices on August 18, the service’s fourth price increase in four years.
No. Peacock ended its free ad-supported tier in January 2023. There is no free plan you can sign up for today. However, there are legitimate ways to access Peacock at no extra cost through services you may already pay for. Walmart+ members ($12.95/month) get Peacock Premium included. Instacart+ members ($9.99/month) get Peacock Premium included. Spectrum cable TV subscribers get Peacock Premium included at no extra charge. If you want to sample the service before committing, Amazon Prime Video currently offers a 7-day trial when you add Peacock Premium as a channel through Prime Video — it is the only remaining trial pathway, and Peacock’s own website no longer offers one.
Yes — and this surprises a lot of new subscribers. Peacock Premium at $12.99 per month is fully ad-supported. You will see commercials during shows and movies. The ad load has been a consistent complaint — independent reviews describe Peacock’s ad frequency on Premium as heavier than comparable services. Premium Plus at $19.99 per month removes ads from on-demand content, but live sports and live events still carry commercials even at the top tier. There is no plan on Peacock that is completely free of all ads. If you pay for streaming specifically to avoid commercials, you need Premium Plus — and at that price, it becomes a fair question whether ad-free Netflix or other competitors fit your needs better.
Choosing an annual plan saves roughly two months of streaming each year. Premium annually is $129.99 — that is $10.83 per month effective, compared to $12.99 paid monthly. Over a year you save about $26. Premium Plus annually is $199.99 — about $16.67 per month effective, saving roughly $40 versus monthly billing. The Select annual plan runs $89.99, saving about $18 over monthly. Annual plans make sense if you know you will watch consistently — NFL season alone runs September through February, so any sports household watching regularly will come out ahead on the annual Premium plan. If you are unsure about committing, stay monthly until you know.
Sports are Peacock Premium’s primary selling point, and they are excluded entirely from the cheaper Select tier. What Peacock carries: Sunday Night Football and select exclusive NFL games; Premier League soccer (more live EPL matches per week than any other single U.S. streaming service); WWE — every premium live event including WrestleMania and SummerSlam, exclusively on Peacock in the U.S.; the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics (exclusive streaming coverage); NBA playoff games; Big Ten football; NASCAR; PGA Tour golf. For Premier League fans specifically, there is no other legal U.S. option for this volume of matches. For WWE subscribers, the old WWE Network no longer exists as a standalone service — Peacock is the only place that content lives. For those two audiences in particular, Premium pays for itself.
Peacock maintains verified discount programs through SheerID. College and university students pay $5.99 per month for 12 months — a $7 monthly saving on the standard Premium rate. Adults ages 18 to 24 who are not enrolled students qualify for a comparable reduced rate through a separate young adult verification. Active military, veterans, reservists, National Guard members, and military retirees pay $6.99 per month for 12 months. Teachers and educators at public or private institutions pay $6.99 per month for 12 months. First responders and medical professionals — including firefighters, law enforcement, paramedics, nurses, and physicians — pay $6.99 per month for 12 months. All discounts require annual re-verification. After 12 months, the subscription auto-renews at the then-current full Premium rate unless you cancel or re-verify your eligibility.
All three paid Peacock plans allow up to three simultaneous streams — three different people can watch three different shows at the same moment on the same account. You can create up to six individual user profiles, each with its own watchlist and viewing history. Parental controls let you set age-appropriate content ratings per profile, locked by PIN. Unlike Netflix, Peacock does not currently charge extra per-member fees for people in the same household, and there is no formal household enforcement policy that restricts account sharing the way Netflix’s Household system does. The three-stream cap is the practical limit on simultaneous household use.
The Select tier at $8.99 per month was introduced as a lower entry point for viewers who primarily want NBC and Bravo shows and nothing else. What Select includes: current-season episodes of NBC and Bravo shows, a rotating selection of library titles, 50+ live streaming channels, and up to three simultaneous streams. What Select excludes: live sports, movies, Peacock Originals, and offline downloads. For most people, this exclusion list is disqualifying — Peacock’s appeal is built on sports, movies, and Originals. Select is only a logical choice if you specifically want The Real Housewives, Bravo reality content, and NBC current-season shows, with no interest in sports or Peacock’s original productions. For anyone who wants the service’s standout content, Select is not the plan to choose.
Three plans, and the differences between them go well beyond ads and downloads. What is excluded from each tier matters just as much as what is included.
Select is Peacock’s lowest-priced plan and also its most limited. It was designed for viewers who want primarily NBC and Bravo television and nothing else. You get current-season episodes of NBC shows, the full Bravo reality catalog, a rotating library of older titles, and over 50 curated live streaming channels. What you do not get is where the plan falls short for most shoppers: no live sports of any kind, no movies, no Peacock Originals, and no offline downloads. Ads run throughout all content. Three people can watch simultaneously, and up to six profiles can be created. For anyone who wants Sunday Night Football, Premier League, The Traitors, or Universal Pictures films on Peacock, Select is the wrong plan entirely — Premium is required for all of those.
Premium is the plan most subscribers need and the one that unlocks what Peacock is actually known for. The complete on-demand library is available — every Universal Pictures film in Peacock’s window, all live sports (NFL, Premier League, WWE, Olympics, NBA), every Peacock Original series, and live news. 4K HDR is available on select titles. The critical detail that catches people off guard: Premium at $12.99 is fully ad-supported. Ads run during shows, movies, and sports. The frequency of commercial breaks has been the most common subscriber complaint since the last price increase. If you are paying specifically to avoid ads, you need Premium Plus. Three simultaneous streams and six profiles are included.
Premium Plus removes ads from on-demand content and adds offline downloads, a live 24/7 stream of your local NBC station, Dolby Vision picture on compatible content, and Dolby Atmos spatial audio on select titles. It is the best experience Peacock offers — but two things remain true even at $19.99. Live sports and live events still carry ads at every tier; there is no plan where a live game is truly commercial-free. And downloads are mobile-only — you cannot download to a TV or laptop — with a 25-title cap and a 30-day expiration on files. For the right viewer: someone who watches Peacock daily on-demand, downloads episodes regularly for travel or commuting, and wants the cleanest possible picture, Premium Plus is the correct choice. For occasional sports watchers, Premium at $7 less per month serves the same games.
Every feature that differs between plans in one view. The table appears on larger screens. On a phone, scroll through the cards below.
| Feature | Select · $8.99/mo | Premium · $12.99/mo | Premium Plus · $19.99/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $8.99 | $12.99 | $19.99 |
| Annual cost | $89.99/yr | $129.99/yr | $199.99/yr |
| Ads on content | Yes — all content | Yes — all content | On-demand: no · Live: yes |
| Live sports | None ✗ | Full sports ✓ | Full sports ✓ |
| Movies | None ✗ | Universal + catalog ✓ | Universal + catalog ✓ |
| Peacock Originals | None ✗ | All ✓ | All ✓ |
| NFL Sunday Night Football | No ✗ | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ |
| Premier League soccer | No ✗ | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ |
| WWE content | No ✗ | Exclusive ✓ | Exclusive ✓ |
| Offline downloads | No ✗ | No ✗ | Mobile only · 25 titles ✓ |
| Local NBC live stream | No ✗ | No ✗ | Yes ✓ |
| 4K HDR | No ✗ | Select titles | Select titles + Dolby Vision ✓ |
| Dolby Atmos audio | No ✗ | No ✗ | Select content ✓ |
| Simultaneous streams | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| User profiles | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 50+ live channels | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ |
| Annual savings vs. monthly | ~$18/yr | ~$26/yr | ~$40/yr |
Premium Plus is described as “mostly ad-free” — but that caveat covers more than it sounds. Live sports, live events, and certain sponsored content within on-demand programming still carry commercials even on Premium Plus. If you subscribe primarily to watch Sunday Night Football or Premier League games without any ads, you should know going in: that is not possible at any Peacock price point. Both Premium and Premium Plus carry commercial breaks during live sports. The ad-free benefit at Premium Plus applies to on-demand shows and movies only.
Peacock maintains one of the more generous identity-based discount programs in streaming. The discounts apply to Premium only, verified through SheerID, and require annual renewal — but for people who qualify, they are substantial.
Actively enrolled college and university students get Peacock Premium for $5.99 per month for 12 months — the deepest standalone discount Peacock offers to any individual subscriber. That is a $7 monthly saving versus the standard Premium rate, or $84 over the 12-month promotional period. Verification goes through SheerID; you will need your school email address and current enrollment status. The discount applies to Premium (ad-supported) only — it does not apply to Premium Plus. After the 12-month period ends, the subscription auto-renews at the then-current full Premium monthly price unless you cancel or successfully re-verify eligibility for another 12-month period. Important for existing subscribers: if you currently have a paid Peacock account, you may need to cancel it first before redeeming the discounted rate at checkout.
Eligible military members pay $6.99 per month for 12 months on Peacock Premium — saving $6 per month compared to the standard rate, or $72 over the promotional year. Verification through SheerID requires your military status documentation. The discount covers active duty service members, veterans, reservists, National Guard members, and military retirees age 18 or older. After 12 months, re-verification is required to continue at the discounted rate; otherwise the subscription rolls over to the full monthly price. This discount cannot be combined with other promotional offers or applied to Premium Plus.
Active first responders and healthcare professionals qualify for Peacock Premium at $6.99 per month for 12 months. Peacock explicitly extends eligibility to both public and private institutions — healthcare workers at private hospitals and community clinics qualify equally alongside those at public facilities. Eligible professions include firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, law enforcement officers, search and rescue personnel, registered nurses, licensed physicians, and other licensed healthcare providers. SheerID verification requires current professional credentials or employment documentation. Annual re-verification is required to maintain the discounted rate.
Verified teachers and educators receive Peacock Premium at $6.99 per month for 12 months — the same rate as military and first responder discounts, and $6 per month below the standard Premium price. Verification through SheerID requires your current employer and a school-affiliated email or credentials. The discount applies to K–12 teachers and higher education faculty equally, at public and private institutions. Peacock’s own terms confirm this offer applies “regardless of whether you work for a public or private institution.” After 12 months, the plan auto-renews at the full standard Premium price unless you cancel or successfully re-verify annual eligibility.
Adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who are not enrolled college students qualify for a reduced Premium rate through Peacock’s separate young adult verification pathway — at pricing comparable to the student discount. This acknowledges that adults in their early earning years face the same cost sensitivity as enrolled students, even without active enrollment. Age verification through SheerID confirms eligibility. As with all discount programs, the rate applies to Premium (with ads) only, for 12 months, with annual re-verification required to renew the promotional pricing afterward.
Before paying full price for a standalone Peacock subscription, check these five options. Many people already pay for a service that includes Peacock at no extra cost and have never activated the benefit.
Walmart+ members ($12.95 per month or $98 per year) get a choice of either Peacock Premium or Paramount+ Essential included with their membership — you select one at activation through the Walmart+ account portal. If you already use Walmart+ for free delivery and the fuel discount benefit, Peacock comes at zero incremental cost. Do not sign up for Peacock directly through PeacockTV.com if you hold a Walmart+ membership — you will create a separate paid account that doesn’t connect to your membership benefit. Activate through the Walmart+ portal instead. This offer covers Peacock Premium (with ads) only — it does not apply to Premium Plus.
Instacart+ subscribers ($9.99 per month or $99 per year) receive Peacock Premium included as a standard membership benefit, for as long as the offer remains available and their membership stays active. If you already order groceries online regularly, Instacart+ can pay for itself through free delivery savings — and Peacock comes along at no extra cost. This benefit applies to new Peacock accounts only; it cannot be used to upgrade an existing paid subscription to Premium Plus, and it is not available to people who already have an active Peacock paid subscription. Activate through the streaming benefit section of your Instacart+ dashboard.
Spectrum cable TV subscribers receive Peacock Premium included with their cable package at no additional charge. The benefit is not automatic — you must activate it through the Spectrum Streaming app or your account portal rather than through the Peacock website. Creating a standalone Peacock account while on Spectrum cable will result in a separate billed subscription that duplicates the benefit you already have. If you have Spectrum cable TV and have not activated Peacock, log into your Spectrum account or open the Spectrum TV app and look for the streaming perks section.
Apple TV ($12.99 per month) plus Peacock Premium ($12.99 per month) bought separately would cost $25.98 per month. The Apple TV + Peacock Premium bundle costs $14.99 per month — you effectively get Peacock for $2 more than Apple TV alone. The Apple TV + Peacock Premium Plus bundle costs $19.99 per month, combining Apple TV’s ad-free originals with Peacock’s mostly ad-free on-demand content and downloads — a saving of roughly $13 per month compared to both services at standard price. These bundle prices did not increase when Peacock raised standalone prices in August, meaning the gap between bundle and standalone grew larger. If you already pay for Apple TV and want Peacock, the bundle is the only logical path. Visit peacocktv.com/bundle/apple-tv to subscribe. Formula 1 fans have particular reason to bundle — the 2026 season marks the start of F1’s exclusive U.S. deal with Apple TV.
Xfinity internet subscribers can add StreamSaver for approximately $15 per month, which bundles Peacock Premium, Netflix Standard with ads, and Apple TV+ together on one bill. Subscribing to those three services separately at current prices would cost roughly $30 or more per month — the bundle saves about 40 to 50 percent. StreamSaver requires an active Xfinity post-paid internet subscription and is not available without one. All services in the bundle carry ads; no tier includes ad-free viewing. If you are an Xfinity internet customer currently paying for any of these services separately, switching to StreamSaver and canceling individual subscriptions is the most straightforward cost reduction available. Check your Xfinity account page to add StreamSaver.
Log into your Walmart+ account, your Instacart+ account, and your internet or cable provider account. Look for streaming benefits, perks, or add-on sections in each. Many subscribers are paying Peacock at full price month after month while a Walmart+ or Instacart+ benefit sits unclaimed in an account they have never checked. The activation process takes two minutes. The cost of skipping it is $12.99 every month.
Before canceling, work through three quick checks in order. First: do you qualify for a discount? Student, military, teacher, first responder, or age 18 to 24 discounts bring Premium to $5.99 or $6.99 per month — that changes the value calculation entirely. Cancel your current subscription and re-subscribe through the SheerID link if you qualify. Second: are you on the right plan for what you actually watch? If you only use Peacock for NBC and Bravo shows and never watch sports or movies, the Select plan at $8.99 covers that for $4 less per month. Conversely, if you watch daily and find ads disruptive, Premium Plus at $19.99 may be worth the $7 upgrade over Premium. Third: check whether Walmart+, Instacart+, or Spectrum already covers this. If none of these change the math, a single-month subscription during the NFL playoffs or a specific WrestleMania weekend, then canceling, is a completely reasonable approach at $12.99.
Start by checking whether you pay for Walmart+. If you do, Peacock Premium is likely already included in your membership at no extra charge — it costs nothing additional. If you pay for Spectrum cable TV, same situation. If neither applies, the honest assessment is whether you are subscribing for sports, for specific shows, or out of habit. Peacock without sports is a thin library at $12.99 per month. With sports — NFL, Premier League, WWE — it is a genuinely compelling value. For someone primarily watching NBC shows and not sports, the Select plan at $8.99 covers that content for $4 less. Annual billing at $129.99 for Premium saves $26 versus paying month to month across a full year — but only if you are confident you will watch consistently. If you use the service mainly for one or two sports seasons, monthly and canceling in the off-season is the financially smarter approach.
For NFL specifically: Sunday Night Football is on Peacock, along with select exclusive games. NFL season runs September through February — six months. At $12.99 per month for those six months, you spend about $78 for a full NFL season on Peacock in addition to what NBC broadcasts over the air. Whether that is worth it depends on whether you already have access to the over-the-air NBC broadcast for Sunday Night Football, which is free with any TV antenna. If you do not have antenna access or a cable subscription, Peacock gives you SNF plus the exclusive games. For Premier League: Peacock carries far more EPL matches per week than any other single U.S. service. If you follow the league regularly, there is no practical alternative. The annual Premium plan at $129.99 makes sense for anyone who watches both NFL and EPL — the combined sports value more than justifies the annual cost.
Students pay $5.99 per month for 12 months on Peacock Premium through the SheerID verification at peacocktv.com/student. That is $71.88 for a full year of the complete Peacock library with ads — less than six months at the standard monthly price. If you already have an active paid Peacock subscription, cancel it first, then use your school email to verify through SheerID and redeem the discount code on a new subscription. The promo code is valid for 30 days after SheerID issues it, so do not let it expire. If you are between 18 and 24 but not enrolled, the young adult verification at peacocktv.com offers a comparable rate. Set a calendar reminder 11 months from today to re-verify before the discount period ends — otherwise the subscription rolls to full price automatically without any warning that day.
A single month of Peacock Premium at $12.99 is the right approach. Subscribe the day before the event you want to watch, and cancel before the next billing date. Peacock allows cancellation at any time with no fee, and you retain access through the end of the billing period you have already paid for. For WrestleMania specifically — which is typically held over two nights in late March or early April — a one-month subscription covers the entire event window for $12.99. For the Winter Olympics, coverage runs approximately two weeks; a single month covers the full Games. For the Super Bowl: when Peacock has exclusive broadcast rights to a Super Bowl, the same one-month approach applies. There is no penalty for this pattern — subscribing, watching, and canceling is a legitimate and financially sensible way to use a monthly service.
Run the math: Apple TV alone is $12.99 per month. Adding Peacock Premium as a standalone subscription is another $12.99. That is $25.98 per month for both services separately. The Apple TV + Peacock Premium bundle at $14.99 per month gives you both services for $11 less per month — $132 per year in savings. Even if you only occasionally use Peacock for a game or a show, $2 more than what you already pay for Apple TV is essentially no cost. The Apple TV + Peacock Premium Plus bundle at $19.99 per month gives you both services plus mostly ad-free Peacock, offline downloads, and the local NBC stream — for $10 per month less than subscribing to both at full price. Go to peacocktv.com/bundle/apple-tv to switch. These bundle prices did not increase in August, making the value gap even wider now.
Canceling is straightforward and carries no fees or penalties. The details that trip people up are the billing timing and where to cancel if you signed up through a third party.
- You retain full access through the end of the billing period you have already paid for — access does not end on the day you cancel.
- Your account, watchlist, and viewing history are preserved for 10 months. If you re-subscribe within that window, your data is exactly where you left it.
- Annual plan subscribers do not receive refunds for unused months. If you are on a yearly plan and cancel partway through, you keep access until the annual period ends but cannot recover the unused months in cash. Stay monthly if you are uncertain about a full year.
- If you subscribed through Apple, Google, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV, you must cancel through that platform — not through Peacock’s website. Canceling on peacocktv.com does not cancel a subscription billed through Apple or Google Play.
- To cancel directly: go to peacocktv.com, sign in, and look for the Subscriptions tab in your account. The cancellation option is in the “Cancel All Subscriptions” section listed on the account page.
Peacock does not offer prorated refunds for unused days in a billing period. If your billing date is the 10th and you cancel on the 1st, you paid for nine days you will not use. Find your next billing date in your account settings, set a reminder for the day before, and cancel then. You will have used the full period you paid for and the charge stops at the correct moment.
This is an independent informational guide for U.S. subscribers. All pricing reflects the August 18, 2026 increase: Select at $8.99/month ($89.99/year), Premium at $12.99/month ($129.99/year), and Premium Plus at $19.99/month ($199.99/year), as confirmed by Peacock’s official pricing help page. Discount pricing (student, military, teacher, first responder, young adult) reflects Peacock’s verified promotional rates of $5.99 or $6.99 per month for 12 months as published at peacocktv.com/student, peacocktv.com/military, and peacocktv.com/teacher at time of publication. Bundle pricing (Apple TV, Xfinity StreamSaver, Walmart+, Instacart+) is subject to change and partner eligibility. Always verify current rates and terms directly at peacocktv.com before subscribing. This content is entirely original and is not affiliated with Peacock or NBCUniversal.