Does HBO Max have a free trial? What you need to know

HBO Max had a free trial period for a while but got rid of it in December 2020. (Image credit: Warner Bros. Discovery)

Warner Bros. Discovery can't decide what to call its streaming service, and as the name returns to HBO Max, you might be wondering if there's a free trial to 'encourage' us to forget how confusing the change to and from Max was.

HBO Max — I had to catch myself as I nearly called it Max — costs $9.99 per month for the ad plan or $16.99 to stream ad-free, and it's one of the best streaming services because of its prestige TV shows, bank of Discovery shows catalog of Warner Bros. movies.

So is there a streaming trial that'll help you enjoy all of the HBO Max Originals without that cost?

Unfortunately not. There used to be a HBO Max deal back the first time it was called that, but that was removed. Here's why, but the gist is that you have to pay for the full price (unless you sign up over Black Friday).

What happened to the HBO Max free trial?

When HBO Max launched in the spring of 2020, it did so with great fanfare — and a free seven-day trial for those who wanted to kick the tires a little before buying into the $14.99-a-month service.

But 2020 — also known as the longest year in the history of years — changed a lot of things, particularly (if not also a little superficially compared to thousands of people dying a day in the United States from the global pandemic) in the entertainment industry.

With theaters closed for much of the year, and an extremely uncertain future ahead of them, WarnerMedia — which owns HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures, among other entities — announced in the fall that Wonder Woman 1984 would be released on HBO Max on the same day it would be released in theaters. And in December 2020 Warner Bros. announced that its entire 2021 slate of theatrical releases would see a simultaneous premiere on HBO Max, with a monthlong exclusive streaming period.

While we don't know for certain that losing the free trial on HBO Max was a concession to help slow the loss of revenue that comes with not having as many people in theaters, it certainly makes sense. (Even if that's of little consolation to the theater chains.)

But let's back up a second. What is HBO Max, exactly? It's all the legacy HBO content you know. The Larry Sanders Show . Game of Thrones . Veep . All the series and specials and movies and shows that you've watched for decades. But as the name implies, HBO Max means you get a lot more.

HBO and HBO Max are owned by WarnerMedia. And WarnerMedia owns a number of other content creators, including Warner Bros., and the old Turner properties, which include TBS, TNT, and truTV, among others. Plus you'll get select films from Turner Classic Movies, and the full D.C. Universe of shows. Or if anime is your thing, check out Studio Ghibli — there really is nothing else like it.

And it's the only place to watch Friends..

That's a ton of content from all kinds of genres — and we haven't even mentioned the new HBO Max original shows yet — that you'll get to try out for free for one week.

So there really is nothing to lose here.

Just don't expect a free trial anymore.