ESPN Unlimited Review: Best for Bundlers and ESPN Lovers

ESPN Limitless combines a legion of choices for watching extremely anticipated video games and different dwell sporting occasions, all below one streaming service. Disney calls the platform its ESPN flagship service, the place now you can watch all of ESPN’s programming — no cable subscription or dwell TV streaming service required.

ESPN Limitless is the principle plan however there’s additionally ESPN Choose, a tier that solely supplies ESPN Plus content material. I am specializing in Limitless right here, which unlocks the complete suite of ESPN content material. Between standalone subscriptions and bundles, I did really feel overwhelmed by all of the methods to join the brand new service (although I did not dock it any factors for that).

What are the brand new ESPN plans, and what do they price?

Once more, there are two plans — Limitless and Choose — however the principle attraction is ESPN Limitless. It presents 12 ESPN networks and providers: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. The subscription permits you to stream concurrently on as much as three units for many content material, all accessed in an upgraded ESPN app.

The ESPN Choose plan is the place ESPN Plus lives on for brand new and former subscribers. The ESPN Plus streaming service debuted in 2018 and offered extra content not available on ESPN’s main network, however not the NFL or NBA. Present ESPN Plus subscribers robotically turned ESPN Choose subscribers with entry to the identical programming.

ESPN Limitless prices $30 month-to-month or $300 a 12 months by itself, and ESPN Choose is $12 per thirty days or $120 yearly (the identical value as ESPN Plus). An Oct. 21 price increase will have an effect on ESPN Choose, elevating it to $13 per thirty days or $130 per 12 months, and bundles that embrace ESPN Choose. There’s additionally a stack of bundle choices. You may get both ESPN Limitless or Choose with Disney Plus and Hulu. You too can select  bundles of ESPN Limitless and NFL Plus Premium, which incorporates NFL RedZone, and beginning Oct. 2, ESPN Limitless and the brand new Fox One service.

What are the ESPN bundles?

Bundling is massive with the brand new ESPN streaming service. That route may attraction to you, as there’s most likely extra sports activities and leisure you need to stream than simply what’s accessible with ESPN Limitless, and bundles may cut back the price of having a number of providers. Disney hopes to spice up engagement and cut back churn (aka folks cancelling and resubscribing) with bundle sign-ups, based on The Hollywood Reporter.

ESPN Limitless or ESPN Choose content material can be accessible on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers or folks with linked subscriptions. (You’ll be able to equally watch Hulu in the Disney Plus app.) I am all for giving streaming leisure followers extra alternative however there could be too many packages occurring right here.

• The Disney providers. You may get a trio of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Limitless (or ESPN Choose as a substitute of Limitless). The model with ESPN Limitless and ad-supported Hulu/Disney Plus prices $36 per thirty days usually however there’s presently a promotion that reduces the worth to $30 in your first 12 months.
  A package deal with ESPN Limitless and the ad-free variations of Disney Plus/Hulu prices $45 per thirty days and $39 with the limited-time provide. If you buy a Hulu plus Stay TV plan, you may obtain “entry to the complete ESPN Limitless expertise throughout the ESPN app.” The model of Hulu plus Stay TV that provides you ESPN Choose, ad-supported Hulu/Disney Plus prices $83 per thirty days nevertheless it’ll rise to $90 per thirty days on Oct. 21. You’ll be able to stream some ESPN networks within the Hulu app and all different ESPN channels and providers within the ESPN app.

• NFL Plus Premium. When you have an ESPN Limitless subscription or a Disney Trio bundle that features ESPN Limitless, you possibly can add an NFL Plus Premium streaming subscription to the combination. Premium NFL Plus supplies entry to video games on NFL Community, NFL RedZone and any local and national games in your cellphone or pill. The bundle value for Limitless with NFL Plus Premium is $40 month-to-month (NFL Plus Premium often prices $15 per thirty days or $100 per season). A combo of NFL Plus Premium, ESPN Limitless, ad-based Hulu and ad-based Disney Plus often prices $46 per thirty days however a present provide makes it $40 in your first 12 months.

• Fox One (coming quickly). Fox’s new streaming service, Fox One, arrived in August, and you’ll bundle it with ESPN Limitless for $40 per thirty days starting Oct. 2. Standalone Fox One prices $20 per thirty days or $200 per 12 months.
• A mega possibility with HBO Max. In keeping with the Disney Plus help site, in case you have the bundle with Disney Plus, Hulu and HBO Max, you possibly can pay further and get an ESPN Limitless add-on. When you have this bundle with ESPN Limitless, NFL Plus Premium is on the market as an extra add-on. You are not likely saving cash, however the possibility is there in order for you it.

When you have Hulu plus Stay TV, DirecTV (streaming solely), Fubo TV, Spectrum TV or Verizon FiOS, it’s possible you’ll have already got ESPN Limitless as a part of your pay-TV package deal, according to ESPN.

What dwell sports activities can I stream on ESPN Limitless?

An ESPN Limitless subscription encompasses quite a lot of sports activities — greater than 47,000 dwell occasions a 12 months, according to ESPN. There’s the NFL and WWE with recent major deals, and ESPN’s rights portfolio additionally contains the “NBA; NHL; MLB; WNBA; UFC; UFL; SEC; ACC; Large 12; Faculty Soccer Playoff; 40 NCAA championships together with the NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Championship; LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL and FA Cup soccer; Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open tennis; The Masters, PGA Championship, PGA TOUR and TGL golf” and extra, based on the sports activities leisure firm.

Nonetheless, it is extremely unlikely ESPN would be the solely streaming service you may want to look at the video games you need, and that is necessary to remember as you weigh getting the service. For instance, proper now, when you can stream each NFL Monday Evening Soccer sport on the platform, you may want extra providers to catch Sunday video games and video games unique to Netflix, Prime Video and NFL Community. 

For instance, CNET’s Matt Elliot compared streaming services and mixtures of providers to look at the 2025 NFL season and really helpful pairing Fubo Sports activities and Peacock Premium over ESPN setups, primarily as a result of it concerned fewer apps and the worth did not differ a lot.

However, I will level out that with ESPN Limitless, you additionally get entry to all of ESPN’s studio applications, documentaries and originals. In different phrases, you get extra than simply dwell sports activities to stream. 

The improved app and streaming expertise

I examined the brand new ESPN streaming service in August and September, catching the US Open and the beginning of the NFL season. I switched between a TV utilizing a Roku streaming system, an internet browser and an iPhone.

The service is not the one novel providing. There’s additionally a revamped ESPN app with new options comparable to Verts, a TikTok-y vertical video expertise, and the AI-powered SportsCenter For You. The latter “is a personalised, day by day model of SportsCenter” that comes with “AI-generated commentary derived from the voices of SportsCenter anchors Hannah Storm, Gary Striewski and Christine Williamson, and ESPN Digital and Social commentator Omar Raja,” based on a Disney statement. 

You’ll be able to sync the ESPN apps in your cellphone and TV as a part of a brand new StreamCenter expertise, make amends for a sport that is underway by viewing quick-turn highlights and watch as much as 4 video games directly with multiview, a pre-existing function that is increasing to all main platforms, based on Disney. You too can entry dwell sport stats, ESPN Fantasy outcomes, ESPN Guess info and extra in your TV whereas viewing a dwell sport.

I examined out all of those options and preferred some greater than others. I assumed the StreamCenter linking possibility — which let me view synced Gamecast, fantasy and ESPN Guess information on my cellphone — properly complemented livestreaming a soccer sport on my TV. I may even management my TV app from my cellphone, turning on closed captioning and switching between ESPN and ESPN2. 

I may entry a load of knowledge on my TV through the sport by launching “Interactive Mode” from the suitable nook of the display screen. This shrunk the sport on my TV and displayed tabs for Stats, Key Performs, Bets, Fantasy and Store on the suitable aspect of the display screen. I am unsure how a lot I might use this in comparison with viewing related info on my cellphone. I seen that Interactive Mode differs relying on this system; whereas viewing a US Open tennis match, I may solely see the important thing performs and store tabs. Some dwell video games do not present Interactive Mode in any respect.

Then there’s Verts and SC For You. Verts seems like TikTok, however you possibly can’t add feedback or create movies. You’ll be able to solely watch, like and share content material labeled as being from the MLB, NBA, NWSL, WNBA, UFC, and so forth. My pal, who’s a much bigger sports activities fan than I, listened to my day by day SC For You, and he stated the information and highlights within the video appeared correct. However neither of us loved listening to the unnatural AI voice narrating it.

With multiview, you are restricted to viewing prebuilt choices. I may alternate which sport I needed to listen to by utilizing the arrows on my distant. 

Some streaming hiccups

I discovered the expertise of streaming video games dwell with ESPN Limitless completely wonderful general. You’ll be able to’t skip adverts however I did not really feel bombarded by them, both. There is a countdown throughout advert breaks so you possibly can see how a lot time is left. Total, the streams labored and did not often freeze or kick me out. 

The app presents a number of rows of content material, together with Featured, Upcoming and Advisable for You, plus rows for leagues (US Open, NCAA Males’s Soccer, NCAA Ladies’s Soccer, and so forth.) and sports activities (tennis, soccer, volleyball, discipline hockey, soccer, and so forth.). A banner on the high of the homepage shows any appointment viewing for the day or days forward. 

Applications embrace the title and community, comparable to ESPN2, ESPN Plus and SECN. Inside a program, you possibly can restart, pause or go dwell. Under these choices, you possibly can choose “extra dwell” and “multiview” to see different applications and multiviews. The button for Interactive Mode, if it is there, can be off to the suitable.

I did encounter cases of the app being laggy, glitchy and displaying typos. For instance, as soon as I clicked on a program shortly earlier than a Monday Evening Soccer sport began. The stream continued, however the app did not appear to register that this system had modified. In an effort to entry Interactive Mode options, I needed to exit and re-enter. 

When utilizing the app on my TV, I as soon as noticed textual content on the high of the display screen overlapping different textual content, making it so I could not learn what it stated. I additionally noticed a typo within the identify of a tennis match, “Males’s Doubles Thrid Spherical,” through the US Open, and a program that hadn’t been up to date to replicate the names of the present tennis gamers competing. The takeaway: You’ll be able to anticipate to see some flaws — a minimum of for now — with this new service.

Must you get ESPN Limitless?

Sports activities streaming is a fragmented panorama, and ESPN Limitless adds to the fray. The $30 per thirty days subscription provides sports activities followers extra alternative in the case of streaming their favourite sports activities. It is very best for Disney bundlers and newcomers to ESPN, however the possibility to look at ESPN utilizing conventional strategies like cable, satellite tv for pc or a live TV streaming service will stay for these clients. 

Whereas the upgraded app and new options are a part of what you are getting, they are not the only purpose to subscribe to ESPN’s new package deal. ESPN most likely will not be the one service you might want to watch all of the sports activities you need, and that could possibly be a figuring out think about whether or not it is best to get it. There are providers or mixtures of providers on the market that may swimsuit you higher, such because the ESPN-including YouTube TV or the aforementioned duo of Peacock Premium and Fubo Sports for soccer. However ESPN Limitless holds up as a dependable solution to stream dwell video games, and large followers of the wide range of sports activities on ESPN, or one of many many bundle choices, will need to test it out.