X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has announced an increase in the cost of its Premium Plus subscription plan, effective immediately for new users.
The monthly subscription price rises from $16 to $22, while the annual cost rises from $168 to $229. Existing subscribers will continue to pay current rates until their billing cycles after January 20, 2025.
The price hike represents one of the most significant changes since Musk acquired X, formerly Twitter, in 2022. Under Musk’s leadership, the platform has introduced subscription plans as part of a strategy to achieve profitability.
Notably, blue tick verification that was free became tied to subscription plans in 2022, requiring users to apply for eligibility.
X defended the price increase by highlighting three key benefits for Premium Plus subscribers.
The first is a completely ad-free experience. The second includes access to advanced features such as Radar, a trend-spotting tool, and Grok AI, a set of artificial intelligence models. Finally,
The Premium Plus plan contributes to X’s rolling revenue sharing system, which aims to offer a more equitable model of creator payments. X claims that this approach links creators’ earnings to the value they provide to the platform.
The company’s Grok AI models have also gained significant attention recently, particularly the Grok Aurora image generator, which has reportedly outperformed competitors in creating life-like images. However, with rising subscription costs, it remains to be seen whether this impacts user adoption of the platform’s premium features.