Software · pricing
YouTube Music pricing
YouTube Music publishes 4 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
- Entry price
- Free, then $11.99/month
- Model
- Not recorded
- Tiers
- 4
- Free tier
- Yes
YouTube Music plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 2 | Entry tier |
| Student | $5.99/month | 2 | +$5.99/month, 2 more features |
| Premium | $11.99/month | 3 | +$6/month, 2 more features |
| Family | $18.99/month | 2 | +$6.999999999999998/month, 2 more features |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Free
FreeThe entry tier. It covers ad-supported listening, music videos.
Student
$5.99/monthOver Free, this tier adds:
- Ad-free
- YouTube Premium included
Premium
$11.99/monthOver Student, this tier adds:
- Offline downloads
- Background playback
Family
$18.99/monthOver Premium, this tier adds:
- Up to 6 accounts
- Parental controls
Where YouTube Music stops being free
Free, Free
- Ad-supported listening
- Music videos
Student, $5.99/month
The first thing you pay for:
- Ad-free
- YouTube Premium included
What the product covers
The full YouTube Music feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Core
- Music streaming
- Music videos
- Live performances
- Personalization
Integrations
- Google services
- Smart speakers
- Android Auto
Security
- Google account security
- Family controls
Platform
- Web support
- Ios support
- Android support
- Smart-speakers support
People bring YouTube Music in for music streaming, video watching, discovery. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to YouTube Music are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
Before you pay for YouTube Music
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 4 tiers between Free and $18.99/month, with the jump itemised above. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
YouTube Music runs on web, ios, android, smart-speakers, and is published by Google LLC of San Bruno, CA. The full record is on the YouTube Music review.
YouTube Music pricing questions
- How much does YouTube Music cost?
- YouTube Music publishes 4 tiers, from Free for Free up to $18.99/month for Family. The entry tier costs nothing.
- Does YouTube Music have a free plan?
- Yes. The Free tier costs nothing and covers ad-supported listening, music videos. Paying starts at $5.99/month for Student.
- What is the difference between Free and Student on YouTube Music?
- Student costs $5.99/month against Free, and adds ad-free, youtube premium included.
- Is the Family plan on YouTube Music worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is up to 6 accounts, parental controls. It costs $18.99/month against $5.99/month for Student. Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- What am I actually paying for with YouTube Music?
- The record lists 13 features across 4 areas: core, integrations, security, platform. In practice it is brought in for music streaming, video watching, discovery.
- Does YouTube Music charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 4 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these YouTube Music prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare YouTube Music against before paying?
- Nothing else in this directory is filed close enough to YouTube Music to make a useful price comparison.