As expected last year, Spotify is putting its US subscription pricing up yet again. Rolling out across the US, Estonia, and Latvia in the next month, subscribers will now be shackled to the most expensive mainstream music streaming service.
Subscription increases for everyone
The price increases are applying across the board, with every Spotify subscription you can buy hit by a small uptick in expense.
The standard subscription is going up from $11.99 to $12.99, which is a smaller jump than that from $9.99 previously, but still an unwelcome one. Family subscriptions go up $2 from $19.99 to $21.99, and the Duo plans get the same size of increase, jumping from $16.99 to $18.99.
Not even the student plans have avoided the increases, though it’s only a dollar, up to $6.99 from $5.99.
The changes only apply to listeners in the US, Estonia, and Latvia, which is an odd collection of countries to consider together, but it does mean that those in other countries won’t have to fork out more — yet.
Does Spotify give you enough value?
Spotify’s post announcing these price increases is short and sweet (via 9to5 Google). So short and sweet, in fact, that it doesn’t really indicate why prices are going up, outside of blanket statements about offering “the best possible experience” and “benefit[ing] artists”. It’s not as if the company is losing money any more, as it’s been in profit since around 2024, and posted an operating income of over 500 million euros for the third quarter of 2025.
One uncomfortable truth is that Spotify is pumping investment into areas that may or may not benefit you. Spotify is going big on audiobooks at the moment, and offers 15 hours per month with subscriptions. Before that, it threw money at podcasters in order to buy their exclusivity for a time. And of course, as a tech company, there’s the obligation to shovel money into AI’s gaping maw.
All of this is great for Spotify, as it hopefully keeps people on its app, rather than going to competitors — but if you’re a music-only listener, it’s hard to ignore the loss in value you’re experiencing.
Could moving to a service like YouTube Music or Amazon Music be better value-for-money for you? Only you can answer that, but there’s definitely been an increase in chatter about moving away from Spotify in the last few years, and subscription cost increases are a big part of that.
