NOW Broadband vs Sky Broadband: What’s the Difference in 2026?

What does “NOW Broadband Powered by Sky” actually mean?

This is more than simple shared ownership. NOW’s own help centre says a customer taking NOW Powered by Sky has a broadband contract with Sky, not NOW, and Sky manages the service. That makes the present-day comparison very different from the old NOW Hub-era service.

NOW vs Sky Broadband at a glance

Current NOW Broadband prices versus Sky

NOW’s public broadband page currently shows three simple new-customer prices. These are live offer prices checked on 18 Sep 2026, so they can change.

Sky’s headline broadband price is more address- and offer-dependent, so a single static Sky price table ages quickly. The more useful comparison is that Sky gives you far more speed tiers, while NOW deliberately keeps the range smaller and currently lists lower headline prices for its three products.

Speed is where Sky pulls away

For many households, 300Mbps is already plenty. That means NOW’s ceiling is not automatically a problem. But if you want 500Mbps, 900Mbps or multi-gigabit broadband, the comparison changes because NOW simply does not sell those tiers at present.

Sky’s standard Full Fibre range reaches 900Mbps, while its Gigafast+ range adds 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps packages in eligible areas. Sky says those two fastest plans use its CityFibre partnership and are delivered with the newer Gigafast+ Hub.

If you want the network detail behind that difference, our guide to whether Sky Broadband uses Openreach explains why some Sky addresses can get Openreach-based packages while others can access CityFibre-based multi-gig services.

Routers and Wi-Fi: the gap is now more complicated

The old version of this comparison framed NOW as having the weak router and Sky as having the good router. That is no longer a reliable way to describe the current products.

Sky currently advertises WiFi Max from £6 extra per month on eligible fibre products, with Gigafast+ including it. If you are comparing Sky extras, our separate guide explains Sky Broadband Boost and how that older add-on differs from the newer WiFi Max approach.

What about TV?

NOW and Sky still take different approaches to television even though the broadband relationship has become much closer. NOW remains the flexible streaming brand, with Entertainment, Cinema and Sports memberships delivered through the NOW app. Sky offers the broader integrated TV ecosystem, including Sky Stream and its larger TV-and-broadband bundles.

If you only want broadband, that distinction may not matter. If you want a single combined TV and broadband bill with Sky’s wider channel and hardware ecosystem, Sky has the more integrated proposition.

Which one makes more sense for your home?

The important change in 2026 is that NOW is no longer best understood as an entirely separate budget ISP running alongside Sky. For new Powered by Sky customers, the service relationship is much tighter: Sky provides the broadband contract and support, while NOW mainly gives you a smaller, simpler set of packages and pricing.