The honest answer about Crave’s free trial is more complicated than most sites admit. Whether one exists at all depends on how and when you subscribe. This guide cuts through the confusion, covers every legitimate way to access Crave without committing long-term, and explains every current plan in plain language.
Before you spend time trying to find something that may not exist right now, here’s what’s actually true about Crave’s free trial in Canada — and the practical alternatives if the trial isn’t currently running.
- 1 Does Crave actually offer a free trial right now in Canada? It depends on when and how you’re signing up. Crave’s direct free trial — historically a 7-day window — has not been permanently removed, but it is not consistently available either. Some sign-up flows show the trial; others don’t. Bell Media has quietly toggled it on and off, and some sources report it active while others report it gone. The safest approach: visit crave.ca, start the subscribe flow, and look for a trial offer before entering payment information. If no trial appears in the flow today, it may appear again later — these promotions cycle. What is confirmed: a 7-day free trial for the Crave Mobile plan has been offered. The standard (Total/Standard) plan trial availability fluctuates.
- 2 My cable provider has Crave listed — does that mean I already have it? Possibly — and it’s worth checking before you sign up for anything paid. Many Canadian TV providers include Crave in higher-tier TV packages through Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, Cogeco, Videotron, and others. If you have a cable package, log into crave.ca and click “Sign In With TV Provider” instead of creating a direct account. Enter your provider credentials — if Crave is part of your package, you’ll get full access at no extra cost. Some providers include Crave as a temporary promotional add-on that you may not have noticed. A 5-minute check could save you from signing up for something you’re already paying for through your TV bill.
- 3 What happened to the cheapest Crave plan — I can’t find it anymore? Bell Media discontinued the Crave Basic with Ads plan in October 2025. The Basic tier — which originally launched at $9.99/month in 2023 and later increased to $11.99/month in May 2025 — was quietly removed from the website on October 9, 2025. The entry-level plan is now Crave Standard with Ads at $11.99/month, which offers 1080p video and two concurrent streams. The cheapest plan still uses ads, just as Basic did, but without some of the device limitations Basic had. Bell customers on plans of $85/month or higher receive Crave Standard with Ads as a free inclusion.
- 4 If I sign up and hate it, can I get a refund? No — Crave’s official policy states it does not provide refunds, pro-rated billing, or credits for unused subscription periods. This is confirmed directly on Crave’s support page: it is a pre-paid service, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, not immediately. You keep access until the billing period expires, but no money comes back. There is no 14-day cooling-off period for digital streaming subscriptions in Canada at the federal level. Provincial consumer protection rules around digital services are limited and generally don’t cover subscription streaming. The practical implication: if you’re unsure, wait for the trial offer to appear rather than subscribing and hoping for a refund.
- 5 What exactly is on Crave — is the HBO content worth it? Crave is Canada’s exclusive home for HBO and Max Originals — the partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery has been extended for multiple years. That means every season of The White Lotus, The Last of Us, Succession, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and the entire HBO back catalogue are on Crave and nowhere else in Canada. Since Bell Media’s November 2025 platform expansion, Crave now also includes live CTV and Noovo channels, news, select sports, award shows, and over 40,000 hours of content total. If the HBO library is what’s drawing you, the content justification is real — Max doesn’t operate directly in Canada, so Crave is the only legal path to those titles here.
- 6 Can I use Crave outside Canada? No — Crave is only available in Canada. If you travel internationally and try to access your Crave account, it will be blocked by geolocation. This is a content licensing issue — the rights Crave holds for HBO and other programming are specific to Canadian territory. The Google Play Store listing for the Crave app explicitly notes that Crave is only available in Canada. Using a VPN to access Crave from outside Canada violates their terms of service and can result in account suspension, though this enforcement is uneven in practice. If you’re a Canadian travelling abroad and need temporary access to your paid subscription, that’s a known frustration with no official supported solution.
- 7 Is Crave worth the price compared to Netflix in Canada? It depends almost entirely on whether you want HBO content. For HBO fans — Euphoria, The Wire, Barry, Boardwalk Empire, and every new Max Original — Crave is not just worth it, it’s the only option in Canada. For general entertainment, Netflix’s Canadian library is broader and more varied. The two services serve different enough content niches that many subscribers have both — Crave for premium HBO drama and some Canadian originals like Shoresy, Netflix for everything else. At $11.99/month for Standard with Ads, Crave is now competitively priced with Netflix’s ad-supported tier. The premium ad-free plan at $22/month is a bigger ask, but includes 4K and four simultaneous streams.
There’s a lot of outdated or contradictory information floating around about Crave’s free trial. Here’s the current state of things and every legitimate route to accessing Crave before committing to a full monthly charge.
Crave has historically offered a 7-day free trial for new subscribers, most reliably for the Crave Mobile plan. The trial is not a permanent fixture — Bell Media activates it during promotional periods and has been reported as unavailable by some users at various times. The most reliable way to check: visit crave.ca, click Subscribe Now, and go through the plan selection process. If a free trial is available, it will appear in the plan description before you reach the payment step. Never skip directly to entering your card information — always read the plan details page first to see whether a trial is included in the current flow.
If you find the trial, you’ll need to provide a valid payment method. The subscription begins automatically after the 7 days unless you cancel. To avoid being charged: cancel before the 7-day trial period ends. You keep access through the end of the trial period even after cancelling — you won’t lose access the moment you click cancel. Set a phone reminder for day 6 if you’re only testing the service.
This is the step most people miss entirely. Crave is distributed through most major Canadian cable and satellite TV providers as a channel package add-on or premium tier inclusion. If you subscribe to Bell Fibe TV, Rogers Ignite, Telus Optik, Shaw (now Rogers), Cogeco, Videotron, or any of their regional equivalents, there is a real possibility that Crave is already bundled into your package — or was included as a promotional add-on at some point. Bell wireless customers on plans of $85/month or more automatically receive Crave Standard with Ads as a plan benefit.
To check: go to crave.ca and look for the “Sign In With TV Provider” option instead of the standard email sign-up. Select your provider from the list and enter your provider account credentials. If Crave is part of your package, access is granted immediately with no additional payment. If it’s not included, your provider will typically offer to add it. Some providers run promotional free trial periods for new Crave add-ons — worth asking about when you call.
Rogers has run promotions offering Rogers TV customers one free month of Crave when they add it to their package. This is a longer trial window than the 7 days available through direct sign-up, and it applies to customers who don’t already have Crave in their bundle. Promotions like this come and go — the only reliable way to confirm current availability is to call Rogers directly or check rogers.com for current add-on promotions. Ask the representative specifically about Crave trial offers rather than waiting for them to volunteer it. Similar one-month trial promotions have appeared through other providers at various times — if you’re a subscriber to Bell, Telus, or Cogeco, it’s worth making the same inquiry.
Crave is available as a channel add-on through Amazon Prime Video in Canada, but this route does not include a free trial and costs more than subscribing directly. If you primarily watch content through the Prime Video interface and prefer the convenience of a single billing point, this is a valid option — but it’s the worst route from a value perspective. Subscribing directly at crave.ca gives you the same content at a lower monthly rate, plus the possibility of a free trial offer that Amazon’s channel billing does not include. Unless you have a specific reason to consolidate bills through Amazon, go directly to Crave’s own website instead.
Bell Media simplified and adjusted the Crave plan lineup after discontinuing the Basic tier in October 2025. Here’s what each current plan includes and who each is suited for.
After the Basic plan was discontinued on October 9, 2025, Standard with Ads became the entry point for new Crave subscribers. At $11.99/month, it gives access to the full Crave content library — including all HBO content, Crave Originals, French-language programming, and the live CTV and Noovo channels added during the November 2025 platform expansion. Video quality is 1080p, and two people can watch simultaneously on separate devices. Ads run in 15- and 30-second blocks during on-demand content. Offline downloads are not available on this tier. Bell wireless customers on plans of $85/month or higher receive this plan included as a benefit without paying separately.
The Premium Ad-Free plan is the top tier — and for households where multiple people watch different things at the same time, or where the ad interruptions in the lower tier create frustration, the price difference is relatively modest. Four simultaneous streams, 4K content on supported titles, offline downloads for viewing without an internet connection, and no ads make this the cleanest experience the service offers. For serious HBO watchers who are binging multiple long-form series, the $10/month difference over Standard with Ads is easy to justify. AirPlay and Chromecast support are included at this tier (and also on Standard). An annual plan offers savings — $200 billed annually works out to roughly $16.67/month, a meaningful discount against the monthly rate.
The Crave Mobile plan is the cheapest available, but it comes with a significant restriction: content can only be watched on phones, tablets, and web browsers — it will not stream to any television. That means no Chromecast, no AirPlay to Apple TV, no Roku, no smart TV app, no gaming console playback. For a solo viewer who genuinely only watches on a phone or laptop and has no interest in the living room TV, this is a usable option at $9.99/month. For anyone who primarily watches on a TV, this plan will be frustrating within the first day. Annual billing at $99.90 brings the effective monthly cost down to about $8.33, which is roughly $20/year cheaper than the monthly rate. The free trial, when available, is most commonly reported for the Mobile plan specifically.
Starz is available as a paid add-on to Crave Standard or Premium — at $5.99/month extra, or $71.88/year for an annual commitment. If you’re choosing the annual Crave Total plan and adding Starz, the combined first-year cost comes to $221.88 and subsequent years at $271.88. The Starz library includes original series like Outlander, the Power franchise, P-Valley, and Heels, as well as a rotating library of Lionsgate films. If those specific titles are what you’re after, the add-on makes sense. If you’re not a Starz watcher already, it’s easy to start without it and add later if you want access to a specific show.
Cancellation is straightforward if you subscribed directly through Crave. It gets more complicated if you signed up through Apple, Google, Amazon, or a cable provider — the cancellation path differs for each.
- Go to crave.ca and sign in to your account.
- Click your profile icon or name in the top-right corner and select Account.
- Navigate to Subscriptions in your account settings.
- Find your active plan and select the cancellation option.
- Confirm the cancellation. You’ll receive an email confirming the end date.
- You retain access to all content until your current billing period expires — you do not lose access immediately.
If you signed up for Crave through the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Google Play, the subscription is managed through those platforms — not through Crave’s website. Cancelling through your Crave account settings will not cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription. On iPhone or iPad: go to Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Crave → Cancel Subscription. On Android: open Google Play → tap your profile photo → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → Crave → Cancel. Confirm cancellation through Google Play’s support page for refund eligibility — Google’s refund policy for subscriptions is separate from Crave’s, and Google may provide a refund for recent charges in some circumstances that Crave itself would not.
If Crave is part of your cable or satellite package, you cannot cancel it through crave.ca — you need to contact your TV provider directly. Call Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Videotron, or whichever provider bills you for Crave and request removal. Depending on your package, removing Crave may affect your bundle pricing. Some providers have online self-serve portals where you can manage add-ons without calling. Check your provider’s website under account management or TV package settings first before calling.
Crave’s official support page states directly: “Crave is a pre-paid service and does not provide refunds. When you cancel, you are cancelled on your next renewal date. You will continue to have access to Crave until the end of your current billing period.” There are no exceptions publicly described. There is no cooling-off period, no pro-rated refund for unused days, and no credits applied to future subscriptions. If you forgot to cancel during a free trial period, the best first step is to contact Crave’s support through crave.ca/en/support and ask — while the policy is no refunds, some users have reported receiving goodwill credits for a first-time accidental charge, though this is not guaranteed. If you subscribed through Google Play, Google’s own refund window may apply separately from Crave’s policy.
Use this to pick the right plan or confirm whether a cheaper option fits your viewing habits. Prices are before applicable taxes.
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| Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Video Quality | Streams | Ads? | TV Devices? | Downloads? | Free Trial? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Phone Only | $9.99 | $99.90/yr | Up to 1080p | 1 only | Yes | No TVs | Partial | Most likely |
| Standard with Ads Entry | $11.99 | No annual listed | 1080p | 2 | Yes — 15s & 30s | Yes | No | Check at sign-up |
| Premium Ad-Free Best Value | $22.00 | ~$200/yr (~$16.67/mo) | 4K on eligible content | 4 | No ads | Yes | Yes | Check at sign-up |
| Starz Add-On | +$5.99/mo | +$71.88/yr | — | — | — | — | — | No trial |
| Via Amazon Channels | $22/mo (higher) | No annual | Same content | Same | Varies | Yes | No | No trial |
| Cable Provider Add-On Check First | May be free in bundle | Varies by provider | Full access | Varies | Varies by plan | Yes | Varies | Ask provider |
If you’re deciding whether Crave is worth paying for at all, these legitimate free options are worth knowing about first — no credit card required, no trial expiry date.
CBC Gem is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s free on-demand platform, and it’s genuinely good for Canadian-made content. Available at gem.cbc.ca with no account required for most content, it offers CBC originals and archives, documentaries, dramas, comedies, kids’ programming, and live 24/7 news streaming from CBC News Network. A free account unlocks more titles. A paid premium tier at $4.99/month removes ads and adds a 24/7 CBC News Network live feed — making it the cheapest paid streaming upgrade available in Canada. For anyone who watches CBC programming, Dragon’s Den, The National, or wants Canadian drama without a paid subscription, CBC Gem covers a meaningful portion of that content for free.
Tubi operates in Canada and offers over 40,000 movies and TV episodes at no cost, supported by ads. The library skews toward older content and catalogue titles rather than current seasons, but the depth is genuinely impressive. There’s no account required to browse and watch, though creating an account (also free) allows for watchlists. Tubi is available on practically every streaming device — Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, Android, and web browser. If the newer HBO titles on Crave aren’t what you’re after and you mainly want movies and older series, Tubi covers a huge amount of content at zero cost.
Pluto TV launched in Canada in late 2022 and has been expanding its Canadian channel lineup since. It operates differently from other streaming services — instead of on-demand browsing, Pluto offers over 250 “channels” that run scheduled programming you tune into, much like cable TV. No account is required at all. The channel mix includes movies, news, entertainment, sports, kids content, and themed channels. It’s a good fit for people who miss the passive experience of turning on TV and having something playing — but it doesn’t let you choose exactly what you watch or when the same way an on-demand service does.
Both CTV (ctv.ca) and Global TV (globaltv.com) offer free streaming of their current-season programming through their websites and apps — full episodes of shows currently airing in Canada, with no subscription or account required for most content. This includes many US network hits that air in Canada on CTV and Global. If you’re primarily interested in shows like The Late Show, Survivor, or the NCIS franchise, you may be able to catch full current-season episodes on CTV’s app for free rather than paying for a streaming subscription that includes those same titles.
Where you are in the decision process changes the right next step. Here’s direct guidance for the scenarios that come up most often.
Not before checking. Go to crave.ca and click “Sign In With TV Provider” instead of the standard account creation flow. Select your TV provider and enter your credentials. If Crave is included in your cable package, you’ll have full access immediately without any additional charge. Bell Fibe, Rogers Ignite, Telus Optik, Shaw, Cogeco, Videotron, and several regional providers all distribute Crave this way. Bell wireless customers on plans of $85/month or higher already receive Crave Standard with Ads as part of their plan. If your provider does carry Crave but it’s not in your current package tier, ask about adding it — some providers run trial promotions for new Crave add-ons that aren’t publicly advertised.
At $11.99 for Standard with Ads, one month to binge a specific HBO series is reasonable value if you cancel before the second billing date. If the show you want is a single season of 8–10 episodes, you can realistically finish it within the first month without needing to renew. Plan your binge at the start of the billing cycle so you get the maximum time available, then set a cancellation reminder. If a 7-day trial is currently active when you sign up, you can potentially catch a shorter series entirely within the trial window. Remember: no refund if you forget to cancel, so the calendar reminder is not optional.
Standard with Ads at $11.99/month gives you two simultaneous streams — enough for two people watching different things at the same time. For three or four people watching concurrently, the Premium Ad-Free plan at $22/month provides four streams and eliminates the ad interruptions that become more noticeable when you’re watching as a family routine rather than an occasional individual binge. The annual Premium plan at roughly $200/year works out to about $16.67/month — over four concurrent viewers, that’s around $4 per person per month for the full HBO library in 4K. If your family watches enough television to justify it, that math is easy to defend.
The Crave Mobile plan works exactly as described if you truly only watch on your phone or tablet and never want to cast to a TV. At $9.99/month it’s the cheapest tier, and the free trial offer is most commonly reported for this plan. The important restrictions: it does not support Chromecast, AirPlay, Roku, or any smart TV app — the phone or tablet screen is the only destination. If you occasionally want to watch something on your TV, the Mobile plan will frustrate you. Ask yourself whether you’ve ever plugged your phone into a TV or cast to a screen in the past six months. If yes, go with Standard instead.
Visit crave.ca and go through the subscribe flow to see if a free trial is currently offered — this takes about two minutes and you don’t have to enter payment information until the final step. If there’s no trial visible today, check back in a week or two — they come and go. If you want to test it without any commitment risk: sign up for the Mobile plan at $9.99 if a trial is available, watch what you want to test during the trial period, and cancel before day 7. If you decide to keep it, you can upgrade to Standard or Premium from account settings afterward. If the trial isn’t active and you’d rather not pay without testing, the CBC Gem and Tubi free options above will give you a sense of whether on-demand streaming fits your viewing habits before you commit anywhere.
Crave works on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari), Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox, Android TV and Google TV devices, and Chromecast. AirPlay is supported on Premium and Standard plans. The Crave Mobile plan is an exception — it works only on phones, tablets, and web browsers, and is not compatible with any TV-connected device. PlayStation 4 and 5 are notably absent from Crave’s official supported device list; if you plan to stream through a gaming console, check crave.ca’s current device support page before subscribing, as this has changed over time.
Crave has a very extensive but not identical HBO library to what’s available on Max in the United States. The partnership between Bell Media and Warner Bros. Discovery — extended for multiple years — gives Crave subscribers access to HBO and Max Originals, as well as the full HBO back catalogue. Some titles that appear on Max in the US are not on Crave due to separate Canadian licensing arrangements that predated the partnership. Crave’s library has grown significantly following Bell Media’s November 2025 platform expansion, which added over 10,000 hours of new content to the existing 30,000+ hours. If there’s a specific title you’re trying to access, search for it on crave.ca before subscribing — Crave’s search works without logging in.
Crave allows a maximum of 5 registered profiles per account and up to 4 simultaneous streams on the Premium plan (2 on Standard). Whether account sharing between separate households is permitted depends on Crave’s evolving terms of service — Bell Media has not made the same aggressive anti-sharing moves that Netflix did in 2023, but their terms do generally reference use within a household. Crave allows registering up to 10 devices per month, which is generous for a single household. If you’re thinking of sharing with a sibling or parent in another city, it’s technically against the spirit of the terms, though enforcement has not been as aggressive as some other platforms.
User feedback on the Crave app is genuinely mixed. The content library gets strong praise — particularly from HBO fans who have no other legal Canadian option for that programming. Technical complaints are common in public reviews and forum posts: excessive or repetitive ads on the ad-supported tier, buffering and freezing on some smart TVs and Roku devices, app instability after updates, audio quality issues, and subtitle/caption failures. The interface redesign following the November 2025 expansion added Top 10 lists, enhanced personalization, and a redesigned connected TV layout — early reception to these changes has been broadly positive, though some long-time subscribers found the layout shift disorienting. The web browser experience tends to be more stable than the TV app for users who report device-specific issues.
Yes — Crave Premium Ad-Free offers an annual payment option that works out to approximately $16.67/month versus $22/month on the monthly plan, saving roughly $64 per year. The Crave Mobile plan annual option is $99.90/year versus $119.88 on monthly billing, saving about $20/year. The Standard with Ads plan does not currently list an annual option, though this can change. Annual payment requires commitment for 12 months upfront — given that Crave’s refund policy is no refunds, make sure you’re confident you’ll use it before locking in an annual payment. For someone who watched through a full month’s trial and knows they want to keep it, the annual math is straightforward and worth taking.
Crave has produced a number of well-regarded Canadian original series that are exclusive to the platform. Shoresy — a Letterkenny spinoff following a foul-mouthed hockey enforcer — has been one of the most-praised Canadian streaming originals of the past few years. Letterkenny itself is a flagship Crave Original, with over a dozen seasons. Canada’s Drag Race is a Crave exclusive, as are a number of documentary originals and comedy specials. Following the November 2025 expansion that added CTV programming directly to the Crave platform, the library of Canadian content available in one place has expanded significantly. If Canadian television is part of the appeal, that’s a more compelling argument for Crave than it was even a year ago.
This page provides general information about Crave’s subscription plans, free trial availability, and pricing in Canada. Streaming service pricing, plan availability, free trial offers, and content libraries change frequently — always verify current details at crave.ca before subscribing. Free trial availability is not guaranteed and may vary by signup method, timing, and promotional period. Cancellation and refund information is based on Crave’s publicly stated policies, which may be updated at any time; consult crave.ca/en/support for current terms. This page is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Bell Media, Crave, or any streaming service mentioned. Alternative streaming service information is accurate to the best of our knowledge but is subject to change.