Meta’s premium push is coming, targeting everyday users, AI enthusiasts, and professional creators.
Tyler Lacoma Editor / Home security and smart home
Tyler has worked, lived with, and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tips, and top recommendations. With degrees in business management, literature, and technical writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technologies, push smart devices to their limits, and occasionally throw cameras off his roof—all to find the best devices to trust with your life. He’s always checking in with the tenants (and pets) in his life to see which smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation. Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest technologies in all kinds of weather conditions and temperatures. But when he’s not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying a new cooking recipe for loved ones, keeping up with his favorite reads, or playing games with good friends.
Skill Smart Home | Smart security | Home technology | Energy savings | A/V
Would you pay for Facebook or Instagram? Meta bet you could do it.
Following limited testing this springMeta announced Wednesday that it would launch paid premium subscriptions worldwide for Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus and WhatsApp Plus. New tiers unlock additional app tools and allow users to get better analytics on their posts and control how ads target them.
Monthly subscription prices will start at $4 for Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus and $3 for Instagram Plus. Meta will also launch Meta One plans for more advanced Meta AI options. For now, the new paid subscriptions do not replace or eliminate the existing Meta Verified program, a separate subscription for creators and businesses that offers benefits like enhanced support and identity theft protection, with tiers ranging from $15 to $500 per month.
Meta appears to be evolving into a new, tiered ecosystem, experimenting with a range of subscription tiers and platform-specific benefits. The new paid tiers add significant revenue streams for the tech giant, which is investing heavily in its AI data centers as it competes with Google for dominance in the online advertising space.
While some features may be genuinely useful for everyday users, the broader strategy reflects an industry trend of locking benefits behind paywalls. X recently decided to limit posts from non-subscribers in order to funnel users to paid plans, and time will tell if Meta follows a similar path.
For now, Meta’s ability to drive users to AI and Plus subscriptions is uncertain. The move follows a brutal wave of layoffs at the company that began last week and will result in the loss of more than 8,000 jobs. Remaining employees are under scrutiny, with tracking of keystrokes already in progress to train potential AI replacements.
The rollout of the new subscription offerings received mixed responses on social media, with one person noting: “Hey Meta, how about paying us for using our data? Instead of trying [sic] to sell products that collect more data? Another wrote: “You all had a lot of money and we didn’t.” And now you’re going to ask for our money? »
A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Will everyone now have to pay for Meta apps?
For now, a paid tier is optional and not mandatory. Plus and Meta One subscriptions are primarily intended for users who want more control and expanded features, including influencers and businesses.
Paid subscribers will be able to add features similar to the advertising options Meta has used in the past, including the ability to highlight a story for additional views, extend stories for an additional 24 hours, add custom reactions like Super Hearts, create additional pinned chats in WhatsApp and more.
Other Plus features are more data-oriented, like the ability to see how many people have rewatched a story or reel, create unlimited audience lists for specific posts, and search viewer lists. Paid subscribers will also be able to post more privately, without automatically appearing in subscribers’ feeds, if they prefer.
Meta One plans are available on a more selective basis than Plus plans – open in countries including Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Thailand – and available in several tiers: Meta One Plus ($8 per month), Meta One Essential ($15 per month), Meta One Premium ($20 per month), and Meta One Advanced ($50 per month).
Meta One plans will add more computing power and, at higher tiers, the ability to rank higher in social results or feature a larger “follow” button, as well as the ability to add a verified badge similar to X’s blue check. These plans appear to work across all Meta apps, and the company says it will add additional features for Meta Glasses users in the coming weeks.
Editor / Home security and smart home
Tyler has worked, lived with, and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tips, and top recommendations. With degrees in business management, literature, and technical writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technologies, push smart devices to their limits, and occasionally throw cameras off his roof—all to find the best devices to trust with your life. He’s always checking in with the tenants (and pets) in his life to see which smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation. Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest technologies in all kinds of weather conditions and temperatures. But when he’s not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying a new cooking recipe for loved ones, keeping up with his favorite reads, or playing games with good friends. See full bio
