Spotify gets cheaper, but you’ll have to give something up

Annoyed by Spotify’s recent price hike? Good news: Spotify has introduced a new tier that rolls back the price increase. But there’s a catch. 

The new “Basic” tier starts at $11.99 a month for individual subscribers. That’s the same price that individual Premium users were paying prior to Spotify’s recent price hike, which brought individual Premium prices to $12.99 a month—a buck a month higher than Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and other Spotify competitors. 

This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best music streaming services.

There’s also a family version of the Basic tier for $16.99 a month—again, the same monthly price as Spotify used to charge for Premium family subscribers (who now pay $19.99/month). 

So, what’s the difference between Spotify’s Premium and new Basic tiers? Simple: Basic users don’t get 15 monthly hours of listening time to Spotify’s collection of audiobooks. 

It’s worth noting that (as pointed out by 9to5Google) you can’t sign up directly to a Spotify Basic plan as a new subscriber; instead, it appears you must downgrade to Basic from an existing Premium subscription. 

Indeed, Spotify (in a blog post) says its new Basic plans are only for “eligible” U.S. subscribers. 

While there are individual and family versions of Spotify’s new Basic tier, there doesn’t seem to be a basic Duo plan. Spotify’s Premium Duo plan offers each of two users unlimited music streaming and 15 monthly hours of audiobook streaming for $16.99 a month.  

If you care more about audiobooks than tunes, Spotify has an “Audiobooks Access” plan for $9.99 a month that includes 15 monthly hours of audiobook listening, plus ad-supported music. 

Spotify’s June price hike marked the music streamer’s second price hike in less than a year. As recently as June 2023, Spotify’s individual Premium plans cost just $9.99 a month. 

For now, Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and other major music streaming services seem to be holding steady at $10.99 a month for their individual plans.