Elon Musk’s X has increased the price of its ad-free Premium+ subscription service to $22 per month from the previous $16 ($168 to $229 per year), TechCrunch reported. This represents a 37.5 percent increase, the largest since Elon Musk acquired the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022.
One reason for the price increase is that Premium+ is now “completely ad-free,” which X claims is a “significant enhancement” to the previous ad-free experience. Several other features were also promised. “Premium+ subscribers enjoy more prioritized support from @Premium, access to new features like Radar (X’s advanced search tool), and higher limits on cutting-edge Grok AI models,” the company said. As mentioned in the help page article. X also promised to distribute more subscription revenue to creators.
Premium+ prices have increased in Europe, the UK, Canada, and Australia as well. Existing users with monthly subscriptions will keep their current price until January 20th, and prices for other tiers (Basic and Premium) will remain unchanged.
X first introduced its Premium+ subscription tier in October 2023, promising an ad-free experience and a timeline to follow, along with existing premium benefits like a blue checkmark. However, users quickly noticed that ads were appearing elsewhere on X, such as in their profile, replies, and Explore. A further update in August 2024 promises to remove these as well, but X said users will still “occasionally see branded content in less common areas.” Well, apparently those will be defeated too.
X has reportedly lost 2.7 million active users in the past two months, and rival Bluesky has gained about the same number in that time. This may have led to some loss in ad revenue, and the platform may be hoping to make up for it by raising subscription prices.
