YouTube Premium Cost: Here's How Much You'll Pay For Ad-Free YouTube
YouTube Premium is the easiest way to get rid of ads on YouTube videos, but as with all things in life, it comes at a cost. YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the planet. It has well over 2 billion active users, hundreds of thousands of hours of content is uploaded to the site every day, and it's often ranked as the number two largest search engine on the planet (second only to Google Search). While it's free to use from virtually any device, YouTube gets even better with a YouTube Premium subscription.
It might seem silly to pay for a website that's already free to use, but YouTube Premium has a few killer features that are hard to overlook. The main draw is ad-free playback. YouTube Premium subscribers don't have to watch ads before, during, or after any videos. They also get support for background playback, offline video downloads, and access to YouTube Music Premium — Google's answer to Spotify and Apple Music. For avid YouTube users, the Premium subscription is well worth considering.
That is, if folks can afford it. A standard YouTube Premium subscription costs $11.99/month for one user. That's just $2 more per month than Spotify Premium, and YouTube Premium objectively offers a lot more value. It's also considerably cheaper than a Netflix Standard plan, which now retails for $15.49/month. However, that's just one of many YouTube Premium plans that are available. If paying the $11.99/month cost is just too much, there are other ways to make it more affordable.
Another option is to pay for a YouTube Premium annual plan. Instead of shelling out $11.99/month, users can spend $119.99 for an entire year of Premium. While it's a lot more money upfront, the effective monthly cost goes down to just $9.99. Furthermore, YouTube's running a special promotion now through January 23 that takes the annual plan down to $107.99 — bringing the monthly cost down to only $8.99.
If the annual plan is too rich for someone's blood, they could also consider getting YouTube Premium's family plan. The $17.99/month cost might come as a sticker shock, but this provides YouTube Premium access for up to six people instead of just one. That lowers the effective cost to $8.99/month per user when split between two people. If you and five other people share the family plan, each person is basically spending just $2.99/month for YouTube Premium.
And, last but not least, there's YouTube Premium's student plan. If someone's currently enrolled in college and can prove that enrollment, YouTube Premium goes from $11.99/month to $6.99/month. The student plan requires yearly verification of someone's enrollment and can only be used for up to four years. It's not a permanent way to save on YouTube Premium, but there's no reason not to take advantage of it if you're eligible.
Source: YouTube