ESPN Unlimited Review 2025: The Worldwide Leader in Sports Apps

ESPN has been synonymous with sports fandom for decades. Since its founding in 1979, it’s become a TV staple in the households of tens of millions of people, whether they love the NBA, NFL, or even some of the less popular sports that still get featured on the platform.

But with the rise of streaming, fewer people have been going to ESPN through traditional means over the last decade-plus, which has led to multiple rounds of layoffs. In September 2025, though, the company rolled out ESPN Unlimited, a direct-to-consumer streaming product that gives users all ESPN has to offer right at their fingertips.

I spent a few days using ESPN Unlimited on my smart TV and smartphone. What you’re about to read is my honest review of the service, and my recommendation on whether you should pay money for it.

ESPN Unlimited plans are relatively affordable

Before ESPN Unlimited, sports fans needed a multichannel TV provider to access ESPN and its other owned channels. Those can get expensive—like approaching the $100 per month mark.

But ESPN Unlimited plans are much less expensive. And for those who just want access to ESPN+ content, that monthly cost is even cheaper.

Remember: If you already subscribe to Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, DIRECTV, Spectrum, or Verizon Fios, you get ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost. You just have to log in to the ESPN app with your credentials.

Below are the available plans. You can bundle ESPN Unlimited with several services, but we’ll save that information for another article.

ESPN Unlimited has two main pricing options

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

ESPN Unlimited has its kinks, but offers good value overall

As someone with more than a decade of experience following and writing about various sports, I’m in real need of services that will help me keep up with my job and personal fandom. And while I’m aware that a limited number of people write about sports, I know there are millions out there who are even bigger sports fans than I.

That’s why I needed to see what this ESPN Unlimited was all about. You’re telling me that with one service, one login, I’ll get all of ESPN at my fingertips? NBA, college football, major tennis tournaments, and more, all live or on demand? That seems a little too good to be true. As if!

But I’m here to tell you—it’s pretty rad, albeit imperfect in its current status. Here’s why.

ESPN Unlimited has a ton—maybe too much?—of live content

It probably goes without saying that a service featuring more than a dozen channels will have a bunch of stuff to watch in real time. Through testing the service, I learned that it’s always sports o’clock somewhere, and it’s being broadcast on some part of ESPN’s umbrella.

I liked how easy it felt to find something to watch. Every live sporting event was front and center, and clearly marked with a red dot. All I had to do was click on the game I wanted, and I was golden.

I will say, though, that seeing all of those “Live” labels felt quite overwhelming. For example, during one portion of my testing period, there were six live NCAA women’s basketball games, four live soccer matches, and six live events labeled NCAA College Sports (this is stuff like swimming and diving).

Look. It’s not like I’m trying to watch 16 events at once. Fans won’t do that either—they’re just trying to find their favorite team’s game. But the browsing experience on the home page is just a little much.

ESPN Unlimited does provide a multiview feature organized by sport. It allows viewers to watch up to four games simultaneously. But you can’t pick what games or channels to watch because they’re all predetermined. This feature is inferior to services like YouTube TV or DIRECTV, which have much more dynamic multiview options.

ESPN Unlimited’s user experience is a mixed bag

Below are some other things I found while giving ESPN Unlimited a spin that could use fixing:

• No “View All” or “See More” function. I had to scroll horizontally for what felt like forever to find what I was looking for. This was frustrating and annoying.
• I didn’t like that when I tried to rewind or fast forward, the TV app didn’t display how many seconds the video jumped. This is not the case with the mobile app. Also, rewinding and fast-forwarding with the TV app were clunky and had a slight lag.
• When I was on a series page for a film or show, using the Back button on my remote took me all the way to the Browse page instead of the most recent page. It worked when I accessed a film or show directly from the Browse section. I hope this is just a quirk of my TV and not a universal issue.
• I had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the home page to find the hubs for each channel the service provides. This menu needs to be much higher on every page it appears.
• Eventually, ESPN should probably add a watchlist for its on-demand films and shows. But I will say that, personally, I didn’t really miss it. I was more focused on what was live, and I think that’s the whole point of the service.

Discovering random content is an underrated aspect of ESPN Unlimited

There’s a silver lining to having literally all of ESPN at your fingertips—the likelihood of stumbling upon something fun, interesting, unexpected, or downright quirky increases exponentially.

For instance, I found a fascinating 30 for 30 short called Subject to Review about the Hawkeye technology in professional tennis. What’s crazy is, tennis is my second-favorite sport ever, and I had no idea this piece of filmmaking even existed. I gave it 3.5 stars on Letterboxd.

Browsing all the ESPN channels also introduced me to a sport called Jai-Alai. I found it streaming live on ESPN3. It’s kind of like handball, but with a big scoop-type thing shaped like a toucan’s beak. I had never heard of this sport until that moment. It felt like watching ESPN8 The Ocho.

And on ACCNX, I found a women’s swimming and diving competition between Kentucky and Louisville. That’s just cool.

Here are some of my favorite ESPN Unlimited features

With any app aiming to be a one-stop shop for content, the bells and whistles matter. ESPN Unlimited isn’t Netflix or Peacock. It’s pretty simple, actually. But it does have some cool features to hang its hat on.

My favorite, by far, is the interactive data that updates in real time while watching a game. I tested this mainly with a men’s college basketball game airing on ESPN, but it worked even with a game on ESPN+ between Southern Utah University and Bethesda University of California.

ESPN Unlimited has a robust slate of channels

ESPN Unlimited boasts access to 12 of the company’s channels. That’s a lot for one specialized service. But technically, it offers 15 if you include ESPN PPV, Big 12 Conference, and @ESPN. Each of them has a kind of hub on the app where you can see live events and rewatch past broadcasts.

To make it easy for you, here’s a list of all the service offers.

ESPN Unlimited review FAQ