After years of testing and speculation, Meta has decided to launch subscriptions. On May 27, the company officially launched paid subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp under the names Instagram Plus, Facebook Plus, and WhatsApp Plus. It also announced that it is testing a paid version of Meta AI, with the cheapest plan costing $7.99 per month. The basic versions of all three apps will remain free. The subscriptions only provide additional bonus features, not access to the platforms themselves.
Plus Subscription Pricing and Benefits
Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus cost $3.99 per month. WhatsApp Plus is slightly cheaper at $2.99 per month.
On Instagram, the premium subscription unlocks features focused mainly on Stories. Paying users can extend the display time of a Story to 48 hours instead of the current 24 hours, anonymously view Stories from other accounts, see how many people replayed their Story, create an unlimited number of sharing groups, or highlight one Story per week at the beginning of their followers’ Story bar. It also adds animated “super reactions” and the ability to search for a specific follower in the list of viewers.
Facebook Plus works on a similar principle. Users pay for profile customization, more detailed post statistics, and exclusive interaction features.
WhatsApp Plus differs from the other two. It focuses purely on personalization and chat management. Subscribers get access to custom app themes, premium stickers, personalized ringtones, app icons, and the ability to pin multiple conversations at once. Message encryption and calling remain free and unchanged.
Meta also emphasized that Plus subscriptions are entirely separate from the existing Meta Verified service, which provides users with a verification badge and protection against impersonation for $15 to $500 per month.
Meta took its time with this move. In early January, it announced that it planned to test premium subscriptions on all three platforms. In March, it then confirmed the launch of an Instagram Plus trial in Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines, where prices started at the equivalent of $1 per month, depending on the market.
According to Naomi Gleit, Meta’s head of product, the subscriptions are intended to offer “richer ways to express yourself and connect across apps, with more and more features to be added.” These are not dramatic changes to the apps. Rather, they are a gradual expansion of what is already available for those who want more.
Meta AI Subscription
Meta confirmed that next month it will begin testing two paid plans for Meta AI under the new Meta One brand. The Meta One Plus plan will cost $7.99 per month. Meta One Premium will cost $19.99. Both plans provide expanded capacity for generating images and videos, as well as access to an advanced reasoning mode. The more expensive version then unlocks greater computing power for more complex queries and demanding tasks—what Meta calls “thinking mode.” The free version of Meta AI will remain available for casual users.
Testing will begin in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia. This allows Meta to cover both higher- and lower-income markets and assess how people respond to the pricing. Only then will a general rollout follow. For context, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus, Google’s Gemini Advanced, and Anthropic’s Claude Pro all cost $20 per month. Meta is entering this space with a significantly lower starting price and aims to capitalize on the fact that Meta AI is already built into apps used daily by more than three billion people.
Subscriptions for Creators and Businesses
Meta will not stop with regular users. It is also preparing Meta One Essential plans for $14.99 per month and Meta One Advanced plans for $49.99 per month. These are intended for creators and businesses seeking tools to manage their social media presence, automate tasks, or improve visibility in search results and Reels.
And then there is Meta One as a whole. Gleit described it as an umbrella destination where all subscriptions will eventually come together. “For now, we are still testing and learning, but ultimately we see Meta One as a single place that will bring together our subscriptions across all our apps,” she said. “This is just the beginning.”
Users who purchase any of the Meta One AI plans will also automatically gain access to all features of the corresponding Plus subscriptions for the individual apps, meaning they are buying the entire package at once.
Sources: finance.yahoo.com, cnbc.com and techcrunch.com
