AMC Plus is an unusual service in the sense that it is actually provides access to multiple different services through the one subscription. Subscribers not only get access to AMC content, but also content from BBC America, IFC Films Unlimited, Shudder, and Sundance Now.
An AMC Plus subscription costs either $4.99 or $8.99 a month, depending on ads, and is a good way to get access to all of these services through the one app and subscription. However, this combined approach does result in compromises along the way, and especially in the case of Shudder.
AMC+ $4.99/$8.99
- Experience
- Content
- Features
- Price
Streaming Better verdict
AMC+ can be a good streaming service but it probably isn’t for everyone. If you specifically want access to content from AMC, IFC Films Unlimited, Sundance Now, and Shudder, it is hard to argue with the low bundle price.
Overall
3.5Pros
Cheap bundle
Includes Shudder
Ads and ad-free tiers
Good for TWD fans
Cons
Apps can be buggy
No LG TV support
Small library
Too reliant on TWD and Shudder
Overall, we do feel AMC Plus is worth a subscription, and we do like the annual price (which breaks the ad-free cost down to around $6.99 a month). That said, this is one of those services you will need to test out for yourself, as it won’t suit everyone.
AMC+ full review
If you’re still unsure of whether AMC Plus is the right service for you, here’s our full review.
How we reviewed this service: This review is based on using AMC Plus across a variety of devices, including Apple TV, Google TV, Android mobile, and amcplus.com. We signed up to the $8.99 a month ad-free tier to review AMC Plus.
AMC+ specs — what you need to know
Below are some of the main specs and features you might want to know about ahead of time.
Monthly Price | $4.99 (With Ads) $8.99 (Ad Free) |
Annual Price | $88.88 (Ad Free) |
Simultaneous Streams | 5 |
Ad Free | ✔ ($8.99 plan) |
On Demand library | ✔ |
Live TV | ✔ |
Downloads | ✔ (Ad Free) |
AMC+ experience — what it’s like to use
The combining of multiple services and subscriptions into one directly impacts on the design of the app and, in turn, the user experience. In fact, this is fairly obvious as soon as you open the app for the first time.
While the app opens to a typical home screen, with a featured title and a left-side navigation menu, AMC Plus attempts to balance all of the include services as equally as possible. One of the ways this is achieved is through the use of shortcuts to each service, and these shortcuts are one of the first things you see after opening the app.
Clicking through any of these shortcuts leads to a smaller library of content from only that service. In this sense, and similar to Max, each of these hub sections act as a standalone streaming app within the main AMC Plus app.
Of course users don’t have to click through any of these shortcuts. Instead, they can browse through the recommendations provided on the home screen. Recommendations are broken down into genre and themed rows such as Most Popular, New Arrivals, Coming Soon, Epic Worlds, Critically Acclaimed Series, True Crime Stories, and Make it A Movie Night.
There’s also the option to navigate the library through the left-side main menu, which includes Search, Home, Explore, Live, and My Stuff options.
As to be expected, My Stuff is where everything the user has bookmarked is stored. Unlike some other streaming apps, however, My Stuff is a little on the basic side. For example, subscribers won’t find any of their ‘continue watching‘ content here. It is simply a watchlist.
Clicking on a title opens up the option to play the title, Save (add to My Stuff), play a trailer (if available), or be recommended similar content. If a series, subscribers will also be able to browse through episodes.
While visually attractive, we found the design of title pages to be a little clunky, increasing the time it takes to browse episodes, and especially compared to other popular streaming service apps.
In terms of device support, AMC Plus is available to download on a variety of platforms and devices, so homes shouldn’t run into too many issues when looking for a compatible device. The one notably exception here are LG smart TVs, which are currently unsupported.
For those that like to watch while on the go, the mobile app looks and works identical to the smart TV apps. Ad-free subscribers also gain the ability to download videos for offline playback when using the mobile app.
Here’s a closer look at the mobile app.
While no issues in device support, we found that some devices provide a better experience than others. We tested AMC Plus on different platforms, but primarily used the Google TV app, and found it to be the worst.
The app was often slow to respond, not always recognizing the last episode I watched and, on more than one occasion, was unable to connect – citing a connection error. This was in spite of the app working perfectly fine on Apple TV 4K at the same time, and while connected to the same network.
For those specifically considering signing up to the ad-free plan, it is also worth noting that ad-free subscribers still have to sit through a preview before each title. These previews typically last between 15 and 30 seconds and can’t be skipped. They are occasionally shown before trailers as well, which is something we found extremely annoying.
Overall, the experience of using AMC Plus was good, albeit a little basic. There are no premium features and the app is pretty much just an outlet to access the content. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not as premium of an experience as what’s offered with some other streaming services.
AMC+ content — what you can watch
One point we think is worth making right away is that AMC Plus is heavily focused on shows. While there are plenty of movies available to watch as well, they are buried within the interface. Not a huge deal, but it does highlight that AMC Plus is not a great service for those that prefer movies over shows.
As AMC Plus combines multiple services, it does offer a variety of content for you to watch. That said, it can feel like it is over reliant on The Walking Dead universe and on Shudder.
AMC Plus seems to love recommending The Walking Dead and Shudder content, and while recommendations are somewhat personalized, this emphasis on TWD and Shudder is immediately obvious when signing up and launching the app for the first time.
For those unfamiliar with Shudder, this is a horror and thriller-based service, so its availability through AMC Plus unlocks access to plenty of horror movies and shows.
Outside of TWD and Shudder, AMC Plus also includes content from BBC America, IFC Films Unlimited, and Sundance Now.
BBC America unlocks access to a variety of programming from the UK, including movies and shows. We did notice a little overlap in terms of content available through BritBox.
IFC Films Unlimited is home to theatrically-released titles from IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. Basically, a selection of horror, sci-fi, thriller, and action movies, along with American independent, documentaries and world cinema.
Sundance Now offers access to a variety of original and exclusive dramas, comedies, and true crime series, along with foreign-language movies and documentaries.
Naturally, AMC+ is also home to a number of popular AMC shows, including the following:
- A Discovery of Witches
- Dark Winds
- Fear the Walking Dead
- Gangs of London
- Hell On Wheels
- Interview with the Vampire
- Kevin Can F**k Himself
- Mad Men
- Mayfair Witches
- The Walking Dead
On the surface, you would think that, with so many services included, AMC+ is packed with content. While this is somewhat true, AMC+ has far fewer exclusives than many other streaming services. In other words, far fewer reasons why it is a must-have subscription.
AMC+ live TV — even more Walking Dead
Similar to many other streaming services, AMC Plus offers a live element. Basically, there’s a handful of linear channels available, all of which continually play content from the AMC Plus library.
There is no guide or anything, so while you can’t check what’s due to start soon or later that day, you can see what’s on now, tune in, and start watching live.
In terms of the channels, there’s one for most of the services included with the subscription. While no Shudder channel, there’s a The Walking Dead channel, an AMC channel, a BBC America channel, an IFC channel, a Sundance Now channel, and an AMC+ channel.
From what we could tell, the AMC+ channel tends to mostly play content from The Walking Dead universe, so it is like having access to two TWD channels.
Overall, we didn’t find much value in the live experience offered by AMC Plus. If you are a huge fan of TWD, then it is nice to be able to just flick on the channel and start watching a random episode. For everything else, we preferred to watch the on-demand versions than versions shown on the live channels.
AMC+ value — how much you pay
The cost of an AMC Plus subscription depends on whether you’re willing to sit through ads. If so, the ad-supported plan costs $4.99 a month, which is in line with a number of ad-supported plans from other services.
For those not willing to sit through the ads, the ad-free plan costs $8.99 a month, and there’s the option to save even more with an annual plan. If signing up on a yearly basis, the cost is $83.88 which breaks down to around $6.99 a month.
Here’s how the monthly price of the AMC Plus ad-free plan compares to the cheapest ad-free plans from other popular streaming services.
AMC+ | $8.99 |
---|---|
Apple TV+ | $6.99 |
Discovery+ | $6.99 |
Prime Video | $8.99 |
Starz | $9.99 |
Disney+ | $10.99 |
Paramount+ | $11.99 |
Peacock | $11.99 |
Hulu | $14.99 |
Netflix | $15.49 |
Max | $15.99 |
AMC Plus not only offers good value for money when compared to other ad-free subscriptions, but it also offers good value for money in general.
To put this point into perspective, and ignoring all of the AMC and BBC America content for a moment, a standalone subscription to IFC Films Unlimited costs $5.99 a month, Shudder $6.99 a month, and Sundance Now $4.99 a month.
These three services alone would cost $18 a month if subscribing to them all separately. As a result, ad-free AMC Plus subscribers save around $9 a month and, again, that’s without taking into consideration any of the AMC or BBC America content.
Likewise, if signed up to the $4.99 a month ad-supported plan, subscribers still get access to all of the same content, offering even greater savings compared to paying for all of the included services separately.
That said, if already subscribed to Shudder, we do feel as though a lot of the value offered by AMC Plus is lost. This issue is made all the worse if also subscribed to Acorn TV or BritBox at the same time.
Potentially, the value is decreased even further if also signed up to a live TV plan that includes AMC. For example we’re also subscribed to Philo and many of the AMC shows available to watch on AMC+ are readily available to watch through our Philo subscription.
While the sum of AMC Plus offers a lot more than the parts, whether there’s enough additional value on top to warrant the bundled subscription might depend on your existing subscriptions.
For some people, they may actually find that they get much better value by canceling Shudder (and potentially Acorn TV or BritBox) and just signing up to this combined subscription instead. Not to mention, ad-free access to all of the content with the $8.99/month plan, which was the major benefit of watching AMC content through AMC Plus rather than our live TV service.
For those that do opt to go with the bundle, and especially if canceling Shudder, it is worth keeping in mind that you won’t have as much freedom as you do with an individual subscription. For example, while AMC Plus subscribers are technically Shudder subscribers, they can’t access the Shudder app. They also lose access to the live Shudder channels.
Is AMC + worth it? — what we really think
AMC Plus is worth a subscription but it’s not necessary a must-have subscription. For homes predominantly interested in Shudder, they’re probably better off with a standalone Shudder subscription.
Likewise, those mainly interested in British TV might find that they get a better overall product, including access to more British TV, with an Acorn TV or BritBox subscription.
That said, the variety of content on offer with AMC Plus does make it worth the subscription cost, and a good way to add content from all of the included services at one low price.
While we do like that there is an annual plan, which lowers the cost, we would recommend signing up to the monthly plan and taking advantage of the free trial to check if AMC+ is right for you before paying for a full year in advance.
AMC Plus FAQs
Below are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about AMC+.
AMC+ costs a minimum of $4.99 a month. For those wanting to skip the ads, the ad-free plan costs $8.99 a month.
Yes, AMC+ does offer an annual plan. The standard price of the yearly subscription is $83.88, which breaks down to $6.99 a month on average. There is no annual plan option for the With Ads plan
AMC+ does include ads with the $4.99 a month tier, but there is also the option to sign up to an ad-free plan. While not exactly ads, ad-free subscribers still have to sit through previews, which are typically shown before watching a video and usually last between 15 and 30 seconds.
AMC+ can be streamed on up to 5 devices at the same time. There is no limit to how many devices the app can be installed on.
AMC+ supports a good selection of streaming players and smart TVs powered by Android TV, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku. The service can also be accessed on Samsung and Vizio smart TVs, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices.
Yes, many videos on AMC+ are available to download on Android and iOS mobile devices. However, not every title is available to download, and downloads are only available to those subscribed to the ad free plan.
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