YouTube has increased the price of YouTube Premium, its subscription service for ad-free viewing, and YouTube Music Premium for new subscribers and current subscribers in the United States
The new price for an individual YouTube Premium plan is $13.99 per month (down from $11.99), while YouTube Premium Music subscribers will pay $10.99 per month (down from $9.99). Members who subscribed five or more years ago, including those who originally signed up through Google Play, will get an additional three months at their current price.
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It’s the first price increase for US subscribers since the Google-owned video platform launched YouTube Premium in 2018 (which succeeded the YouTube Red subscription service that debuted in 2015 at $9.99 per month).
With the price increase on YouTube Music to $10.99/month, the streaming service is priced the same as Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited (for non-Prime members) after those providers’ fee hikes. Spotify’s individual plan remains at $9.99/month in the US, although CEO Daniel Ek said the company is also considering raising prices.
“We are updating the price for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers in the US to continue to provide quality service and features,” a YouTube representative said in a statement. “We believe this new price reflects the value of YouTube Premium which allows subscribers to enjoy ad-free YouTube with background and offline playback and uninterrupted access to over 100 million songs with the YouTube Music app.”
YouTube Premium allows viewing videos without advertising; the ability to save videos and playlists to mobile devices and play them offline; and the ability to continue playing videos when you’re using other apps or when your screen is off. The YouTube Music Premium plan offers the same benefits but is limited to music content.
The price hikes for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music come after the video giant in March 2023 raised the price of YouTube TV, its U.S. internet pay TV package, from $8 to $73 per month.
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