YouTube isn’t immune to the wave of streaming service price hikes. The video giant has confirmed in a statement that it’s raising prices for both YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscribers.
The YouTube Premium family plan will see the largest increase, with a subscription jumping from $23 to $27 per month. Individual customers will see their bill climb from $14 to $16 per month. If you’re using YouTube Premium Lite, which doesn’t strip ads from music but does allow downloads and background playback, you’ll now pay $9 per month instead of $8.
A YouTube Music individual plan is climbing from $11 per month to $12 per month, while the family plan is increasing from $17 to $19 per month. For all services, the changes take effect immediately for new customers and with new billing cycles for existing members.
YouTube points out in its statement that it’s the first U.S. price increase since 2023 and claims that it’s needed to “continue delivering a high-quality experience” that still backs artists and creators. However, customers aren’t getting new features. The increase lets YouTube “maintain the features our members value most,” such as ad-free viewing and the YouTube Music song catalog.
- Subscription with ads
-
No, plans are ad-free
- Live TV
-
No
Are YouTube Premium and Music still good value?
Other services have raised prices as well
The price hikes are likely unwelcome when affordability is a mounting problem across the economy. However, YouTube Premium’s appeal remains value for money: that $16 per month gets you both ad-free videos and YouTube Music, so it’s still a bargain if you want more than pure music. Premium Lite is a tougher sell as it’s only useful for videos.
There’s no direct comparison with dedicated video services. While providers like Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video Ultra ($5 per month on top of Prime) and Netflix ($9 with ads, $20 without) both saw price increases recently, those focus on conventional movies and TV shows. YouTube Premium is a complement to those services, not a replacement.
For YouTube Music, it’s a different proposition. It now costs as much as Spotify Premium and Amazon Music Unlimited, both of which recently leaped to $13 per month (Amazon’s offering is $12 per month with Prime). YouTube doesn’t offer the audiobook listening time of either competitor, however. Apple Music also remains at $11 per month, so it might be the better deal if you’re strictly interested in music (yes, it works on Android and Windows).
- Subscription with ads
-
No, all ad-free
- Live TV
-
No
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