How To Get Spotify Premium (And Which Plan Is Best For You)

For its expansive catalog and many useful features that make it easy to discover new music, Spotify is one of the most widely used media-streaming platforms out there to date. When you first sign up for the service, you'll be granted free access to the entire Spotify audio library. However, there will be several limitations to certain features that may prompt you to splurge a little extra for a paid subscription.

While you should be able to listen to over 80 million songs and podcasts and play playlists and albums on shuffle on a free subscription, you won't be able to play songs in your preferred order or skip tracks too often. You won't be able to download music tracks for offline listening — but you should be able to download podcasts — or listen to songs in the highest quality available. If you're listening through the mobile app, you can only pick and play any track on select playlists and have access to your music while traveling internationally for up to two weeks. And perhaps the most annoying hindrance of all: you can't skip ads that regularly pop up in between tracks. To do all these things, you'd have to upgrade your free account to Spotify Premium.

Spotify Premium refers to the platform's slate of paid subscription plans that unlock all of the features listed above, for starters. There are many paid membership types to choose from, and depending on what you go for, you may get additional perks on top of what was previously outlined. If you're currently on Spotify Free and have been thinking of making the jump to a paid Spotify Premium membership, find out more about the different plan options so you can choose one that fits your requirements and current situation.

The most common paid plan for Spotify is Premium Individual. Currently priced at $10.99 per month, this option affords you one premium account that has access to everything Spotify has to offer. Apart from removing the shackles of incessant ad breaks, you get to enjoy Spotify tracks in the highest audio quality available. You unlock full control of your listening queue: you can organize how tracks are arranged, remove or add songs, have unlimited skips and rewinds, and position the playback marker to certain parts of songs that you'd like to hear again, among other things. You can utilize cool features like Spotify Jam and simultaneously listen to the audio content in real-time with your friends, wherever they are.

One of the most useful perks you can get through a Premium Individual subscription is the ability to download Spotify content for offline listening. That way, you won't need to use mobile data or rely on stable internet connectivity to seamlessly play tracks while you're off the grid. To top it all off, you're also allotted 15 hours per month of free audiobook listening for select titles.

If you're currently enrolled at an accredited college or university and are above the age of 18, you can get a Premium Student plan and get most of the perks of a Premium Individual membership at a 50% discount. As an eligible user, you'll be required to renew and verify your Spotify account every 12 months, up to three times. You can also cancel it at any time.

As part of the bundle — which currently costs $5.99 per month — you also get free access to Hulu's ad-supported plan which is normally priced at $7.99 per month, subject to availability. Unfortunately, Spotify's Premium Student plan doesn't include the 15-hour free listening time for the platform's audiobook catalog. You'd have to purchase audiobook titles you're interested in directly.

In order to subscribe to Premium Student, you may need to sign up using a valid student email address and provide proof of enrollment. Furthermore, if you fail to verify your student account every year or exceed the four-year limit of the student membership, you'll automatically be upgraded to a Premium Individual plan and will be required to pay full price.

Two Spotify users living under the same roof can split a paid subscription that comes with two accounts instead of signing up for one separately or sharing an account that produces not-so-relevant recommendations due to differing musical tastes. As long as two people share the same home address, they can purchase a discounted Premium Duo plan for $14.99 per month. They'll essentially get two-premium-accounts-in-one that can be canceled at any time.

Premium Duo is only one of the two Spotify group plans available to date. To subscribe, one of two users must be assigned the plan manager (who will be charged for the plan monthly), while the other will simply be a plan member. Both users will have separate access to most of the features offered to a Premium Individual subscriber, allowing them to cultivate their own music recommendations and ultimately a more accurate Spotify Wrapped result. The only exception is the monthly 15-hour allotment for free audiobook listening, which will only be available for the plan manager to use. Plan members who want to listen to audiobooks on Spotify would have to purchase titles directly.

Ordinarily, you have to be at least 18 years or older — or 13 years or older and have obtained parental or guardian consent — to sign up for a Spotify account. So if you have young kids in your household you'd like to give separate platform access to, you'd have to do it by obtaining Spotify Premium Family, the other group plan specifically designed for families. For $16.99 per month, up to a total of six individuals can share the discounted subscription, which can be canceled at any time. The six users can either be premium or kid account holders and must live in the same residence to qualify for the family plan and will be asked to verify their home address upon sign-up.

Premium Family comes with access to Spotify Kids, a separate app that contains soundtracks, singalongs, and other child-friendly audio content. It also gives the plan manager access to useful parental controls and the ability to block explicit music on any plan member's Spotify account, which comes in handy for underage users.

Much like Premium Duo, plan members on Premium Family should have full access to most of Spotify's features. However, only the plan manager gets the 15-hour allotment for free audiobook listening. Plan members will have to buy audiobook titles directly.

Free trial offers for Spotify Premium are usually only available to people who've never had Spotify Premium before. If you're new to Spotify or have been using Spotify Free until now, you should be able to try out Spotify Premium, but only select plan types. Right now, new Premium subscribers can go directly to the Spotify website to try out the Premium Individual plan for free for the first three months, or the Premium Student plan for free for the first month.

You may also come across third-party companies that are enticing people to sign up for an account on their service by including a free trial offer to Spotify Premium, with durations ranging between one to six months. Some examples that are offering free trials as of this writing include PayPal, Tinder, and AT&T, to name a few. These offers may pop up and disappear at any time, so if you see one online that appeals to you, snag it to gain premium access at least for a month or so. In most cases, once the free trial duration is over, unless you cancel the subscription before it elapses, you'll be charged for the full price of the Spotify Premium Individual plan going forward.