Music Streaming Prices in 2026: Every Official Plan, Compared

Music streaming went through its own round of price increases in 2026, quieter than the video services’ but just as broad: Spotify in February, YouTube Music in the spring, Apple Music in July, Tidal in August. The result is that the six major US services now sit within two dollars of each other on the individual plan, and the real differences are in the family and student tiers, the annual options, and what comes bundled. Every price below was read from the service’s own plans page on September 6, 2026; where an increase date comes from press coverage rather than the company, the table says so.

The quick answer

• Individual plans, cheapest to priciest: Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and Pandora Premium $11.99 (Pandora was $10.99 until its fall 2026 increase); Spotify and Amazon Music Unlimited $12.99 (Amazon is $11.99 for Prime members and now includes one Audible audiobook a month)
• Family plans: YouTube Music $18.99 (5 members), Apple Music and Tidal $19.99 (Tidal allows 6), Spotify $21.99. Per person on a full plan, YouTube Music is under $3.20
• Student plans: YouTube Music $5.99; Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal $6.99
• Annual plans that save money: YouTube Music 12 months for $119.99 and YouTube Premium 12 months for $159.99, both “Save 15% vs. monthly plan,” and both marked “Doesn’t automatically renew”
• Free trials: Apple Music, YouTube Music, and YouTube Premium one month; Tidal 30 days; Pandora Plus 30 days and Premium 60 days; Spotify “$0 for 1 month” for people who have never tried Premium (its 3-month offer ended September 23, 2026); Amazon now offers new subscribers “Free for 30 days” (it was four months free in September)
• The bundle question: YouTube Premium ($15.99) is YouTube Music plus ad-free YouTube, so the music-only plan saves $4 a month if you never watch video ad-free; Apple One “plans start at $21.95 per month” for Music plus other Apple services

Every plan, from the official pages (read September 6, rechecked September 30 and October 6, 2026)

Service	Plan	Monthly	Annual	Trial on the official page	Last increase
Spotify	Premium Individual	$12.99	n/a	”$0 for 1 month, then $12.99 per month after,” new to Premium (the 3-month offer ended Sept 23, 2026)	Feb 2026 (from $11.99), reported
Spotify	Premium Duo	$18.99	n/a	Not stated	Feb 2026, reported
Spotify	Premium Family	$21.99	n/a	Not stated	Feb 2026 (from $19.99), reported
Spotify	Premium Student	$6.99	n/a	$0 first month	Feb 2026, reported
Apple Music	Individual	$11.99	n/a	”first month free for new subscribers”	July 2026 (from $10.99), reported
Apple Music	Family	$19.99	n/a	”one month free for new subscribers”	July 2026 (from $16.99), reported
Apple Music	Student	$6.99	n/a	”first month free for new subscribers”	July 2026 (from $5.99), reported
Apple Music	Apple One (bundle)	from $21.95	n/a	Not stated on the Music page	July 2026, reported
YouTube Music	Music Premium Individual	$11.99	$119.99, “Doesn’t automatically renew”	1 month for $0, “eligible new members only”	Spring 2026 (from $10.99), reported
YouTube Music	Music Premium Family	$18.99	n/a	1 month for $0	Spring 2026, reported
YouTube Music	Music Premium Student	$5.99	n/a	1 month for $0	Spring 2026, reported
YouTube Premium	Premium Individual (video + music)	$15.99	$159.99, “Doesn’t automatically renew”	1 month for $0	Listed Oct 2026
YouTube Premium	Premium Family	$26.99	n/a	1 month for $0	Listed Oct 2026
YouTube Premium	Premium Student	$8.99	n/a	1 month for $0	Listed Oct 2026
YouTube Premium	Premium Lite (no music benefits beyond ad-free YouTube Music app)	$8.99	n/a	1 month for $0	New plan
Amazon Music Unlimited	Individual	$12.99 ($11.99 for Prime members)	n/a	”Free for 30 days,” new subscribers only	Listed Oct 2026
TIDAL	Individual	$11.99 ”+ applicable taxes”	n/a	30-day free trial, new customers	Aug 2026 (from $10.99), reported
TIDAL	Family (up to 6)	$19.99	n/a	30-day free trial	Aug 2026, reported
TIDAL	Student	$6.99	n/a	30-day free trial	Aug 2026, reported
TIDAL	DJ	$19.99 (student $14.49)	n/a	30-day free trial	Listed Sep 2026
Pandora	Plus	$5.99	$65.89 (help center)	“Get 30 Days Free”	Sep 22, 2026 for new sign-ups; billing on or after Oct 22 for existing subscribers (from $4.99; the plans page showed $4.99 on Sep 6 and $5.99 on Oct 6)
Pandora	Premium	$11.99	$131.89 (help center)	“Get 60 Days Free”	Same dates (from $10.99, same readings)
Pandora	Premium Family (up to 6 accounts)	$19.99	$219.89	Not stated	Same dates (from $17.99, earlier help-center text)
Pandora	Student Premium (up to 4 years)	$6.99	$83.88	Not stated	Same dates (from $5.99, earlier help-center text)
Pandora	Military Premium	$9.99	$109.89	Not stated	Same dates (from $8.99, earlier help-center text)

“Reported” means the current price is from the official page but the increase date or the prior price comes from press coverage, because the plans page shows only today’s number. “Listed Sep 2026” or “Listed Oct 2026” means the page shows the price with no increase history, as of that month’s check.

What the differences actually buy

Spotify charges the most, and its long trial is gone. At $12.99 Spotify’s individual plan is the highest full price of the six (Amazon matches it for people without Prime). Until September 23 the plans page listed 3 months free for first-time subscribers; it now says “$0 for 1 month, then $12.99 per month after.” The offer is available only to people who “haven’t tried Premium before”; a trial years ago disqualifies you.

Apple Music and YouTube Music are tied, except for families and students. Both are $11.99 individual. YouTube Music’s family plan is a dollar cheaper ($18.99 vs $19.99) and its student plan a dollar cheaper ($5.99 vs $6.99). Apple’s advantage is the bundle path: Apple One “plans start at $21.95 per month” and fold Music into iCloud storage, TV+, and Arcade, which is the only way to get Apple TV+ (itself $14.99) and Music for less than buying both.

YouTube’s annual plans do not auto-renew. Both YouTube Music ($119.99) and YouTube Premium ($159.99) annual plans carry the line “Doesn’t automatically renew,” which makes them the only music plans here where the trial-to-renewal trap covered in our free trials guide does not apply. The price is 15% under twelve monthly payments. The catch is the Premium Lite tier at $8.99. YouTube now sums it up as “Everything ad-free, except Music and Shorts,” and the page is explicit that “music videos, concerts, and songs may still have ads,” so it is not a music plan.

Amazon’s price includes an audiobook. Amazon’s audiobooks page says Amazon Music Unlimited “auto-renews at $12.99/mo. after ($11.99/mo. for Prime members),” that “Audible is now included,” and “Listen to one audiobook each month.” For a Prime member that makes it $11.99 for music plus a monthly audiobook, the same price as Apple Music or YouTube Music alone. The free offer changes often. In September Amazon offered four months free, or three without Prime; on October 14 the same page read “Free for 30 days” for “New subscribers only.”

Tidal is the same price as Apple with a bigger family cap. Tidal’s individual plan is $11.99 ”+ applicable taxes,” its family plan is $19.99 “for up to 6 members” (Apple and YouTube cap at the account holder plus five, Spotify at six total), and it is the only service listing a DJ plan ($19.99) for software integrations. The site’s FAQ limits the 30-day trial to people who “haven’t tried TIDAL before.”

Pandora raised its prices this fall and lost its price lead. When we read the plans page on September 6 it listed Plus at $4.99 and Premium at $10.99; on October 6 it lists $5.99 and $11.99, so Premium now ties Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Tidal. Pandora Plus is still a different product: ad-free personalized stations with limited on-demand play. The help center FAQ fills in what the plans page leaves out: on the website Plus is $5.99 a month or $65.89 a year and Premium $11.99 or $131.89, Premium Family covers up to six accounts at $19.99 or $219.89, Student Premium is $6.99 or $83.88 a year for up to four years, and Military Premium is $9.99 or $109.89. Buying through an app store costs more: the upgrade article lists Plus at $6.99 and Premium at $14.99 through Apple, and $6.99 and $12.99 through Google Play, while its Roku and Amazon Appstore lines still carry the old $4.99 and $10.99. The trials are still the longest here: 30 days for Plus, 60 days for Premium. Pandora’s rate change FAQ dates the increase: the new rates are “effective as of September 22, 2026” for new purchases, existing subscribers see the new rate “for any billing that takes place on or after October 22, 2026,” and “You will not be charged the updated price before your current billing cycle ends.” Annual plans move at the yearly renewal, so a direct-billed annual subscriber keeps the old price until then. Our Pandora price increase guide has every plan’s old and new price, the Apple and Google Play prices, and the switch, cancel, and refund rules.

Cheapest route by situation

• One person, no video: Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, or Pandora Premium at $11.99. If you already pay for Prime, Amazon Music Unlimited at $11.99 adds an audiobook a month for the same money
• One person who also wants ad-free YouTube: YouTube Premium $15.99 monthly or $159.99 for a non-renewing year
• Household of five or six: YouTube Music Family $18.99, then Apple Music or Tidal $19.99. Spotify Family at $21.99 costs $36 more a year than YouTube Music
• Student: YouTube Music $5.99; the others are $6.99 with annual verification
• Trying before paying: Pandora Premium’s 60 days is the longest trial on these pages; Amazon Music Unlimited cut its new-subscriber offer from four months to 30 days in October

If you are switching, cancel the old service before its next billing date rather than the day you sign up for the new one; the step-by-step for each is in our cancel guides for Spotify, YouTube Premium, and Tidal. Video service prices, with the same official-versus-reported labeling, are in the 2026 streaming price table.

Want these prices applied to your own plans? Our free Subscription Tracker totals what you pay, flags announced increases, and sets renewal reminders in your calendar.

Bottom line

As of October 6, 2026, the individual music plan costs $11.99 at Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and now Pandora, which raised Premium from $10.99 this fall, and $12.99 at Spotify and Amazon (or $11.99 with Prime, audiobook included). Families save most at YouTube Music ($18.99), students at YouTube Music ($5.99), and one-year buyers at YouTube’s non-renewing annual plans. Spotify is the priciest plan here now that its 3-month trial offer has ended. Every page above changes without notice; the price at checkout is the one that binds. YouTube’s Premium, Premium Lite and Music Premium tiers are set side by side in our YouTube Premium plans guide. Spotify’s plans, with the per-person math and the student offer’s four-year limit, are in our Spotify plans guide. Earlier prices and trial terms for these services, and when each changed, are recorded in our verified change log.

Prices read from the official plans pages linked above on September 6, 2026, rechecked on September 30, 2026, when the Spotify and Amazon offers were updated, on October 6, 2026, when Pandora’s new prices were added from its plans page and help center, and as of October 14, 2026, when Amazon’s trial dropped to 30 days and YouTube reworded Premium Lite. Increase dates marked “reported” come from press coverage because the companies’ pages show only current prices. This page will be updated when any of the six services posts a new price.