Examined Sep 25, 2026 No US free trial No refund once billed Paramount+ gives a US customer no free trial: the 7-day trial is for six other countries, you pay $8.99 or $13.99 a month from day one, and fees you have paid are not refunded.
The help center's cancellation article says it in a footnote, asterisk and all: “*7-day free trials are only available in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK & Ireland.” The plan picker on paramountplus.com shows Paramount+ Essential at $8.99 a month and Paramount+ Premium at $13.99 a month, each with a Continue button and no trial. The Terms of Use, dated September 15th, 2026, do describe a trial in general terms: “Your Subscription may start with a free trial period. Free trial periods are available to new subscribers only (one per subscriber).” In the United States, on our read date, nothing starts with a trial.
What pays what
| Paramount+ Essential: ad supported, 3 devices at once, NFL on CBS, UEFA Champions League, UFC, select SHOWTIME series | $8.99 a month |
|---|---|
| Paramount+ Premium: no ads except live TV, 4K on select titles, downloads, CBS live, all of SHOWTIME | $13.99 a month |
| Annual billing on either plan | Offered at a 23% saving; no dollar figure shown to us |
| The 7-day free trial, in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Ireland | Not offered in the United States |
| A new customer's sign-up bonus or referral reward | None |
| Cancelling partway through a paid period | No refund, access to the end of the period |
Both prices are from the plan picker on September 25, 2026, which says only “Cancel anytime.” above them. Our arithmetic: twelve months of Essential at $8.99 is $107.88, and twelve months of Premium at $13.99 is $167.88; the gap is $5.00 a month, or $60.00 a year. We do not compute the annual price, because the page states the saving as a percentage and never printed the figure. The Terms of Use cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the named US territories.
Do this, in this order
- Do not wait for a trial. The help article that lists the six trial countries is dated May 12, 2026 and is Paramount's own. If a promotional offer does exist when you sign up: “You may take advantage of any “new customer” Promotional Offer only once.”
- Pick Essential or Premium, then monthly or annual, knowing the money does not come back. The Terms charge the first fee on the purchase date, then at the interval you chose, at the then-current price, unless you cancel first.
- Write down the renewal date, because that is the only cut-off Paramount+ publishes. No hour is given. On prices: “Price changes will not come into effect during your current billing period, so will only apply on renewal (if you have a Subscription that auto-renews).” You may cancel before the new price starts.
- Do not expect a later deal to be applied to you. “Where a new or subsequent Promotional Offer is made available after you have signed up to your Subscription, no retrospective refunds, adjustments or price protection will be applied to your payment in light of that Promotional Offer.”
- To stop, go to paramountplus.com/account and click Cancel Subscription. The help article says: “Cancellation will take effect for free trials*, at the end of the free trial* period; at all other times, including where a promotional offer applies to your subscription, cancellation will take effect at the end of your current billing period.” If an app store bills you, cancel there; the Terms say deleting your account through the app ends access immediately, with no refund from Paramount.
YOU WILL NOT BE REFUNDED FOR ANY FEES YOU HAVE PAID. However, there are certain circumstances in which you may be legally entitled to a refund, which are set out in these Terms of Use.
A stale $4.99, a trial the Terms describe but the US does not get, and what is not published
The $4.99 that no plan carries. The plan picker's page description, the text search engines show rather than the page itself, reads: “Stream tens of thousands of episodes and movies, watch live NFL on CBS games and Champions League matches, and more starting at $4.99/mo.” The plans a reader actually sees are $8.99 and $13.99. If a search result promised $4.99, that is where it came from; it is leftover copy, not an offer.
A trial in the Terms, none on the page. Section 5.5 of the Terms of Use describes free trials as a normal way a subscription may start and says a trial ends in an automatic charge unless you cancel. The help center says the 7-day trial is for six countries outside the US, and the US plan picker offers none. Both are Paramount's words; the plan picker is the one that bills you.
Where the Terms live. The Terms link on paramountplus.com passes through a redirect page before landing at the document on viacomcbs.legal. We link the destination, since that is the page a reader can actually read.
Disputes. Section 18 requires a call to customer service and a written notice first, then individual arbitration or small claims court: “Class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted.”
Not published. The annual price in dollars, a cut-off hour, an end date for the current prices, and any referral reward.
Is it worth your time?
If you want to watch Paramount+ this month, pay $8.99 for this month and put the renewal date in your calendar. The plan picker says cancel anytime, and cancelling stops the next charge while leaving you the rest of the period. Nothing on offer makes today better than next month, so there is no deadline to chase.
Think twice if you came for the 7-day trial, because it is not offered in the United States, and think twice about annual billing until the checkout screen shows the price in dollars, since the page we read gave only a percentage and the Terms refund nothing once it is paid.
