GoKawiilSubscriptions are everywhere these days, and it feels like only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to paywall the air we breathe. On top of that, the prices just keep going up, with companies ratcheting monthly costs up as much as they can without causing mass attrition. Over time, it adds up, and subscription juggling is a fact of life for many consumers. You might pay for a month of Netflix to catch the last season of Stranger Things while putting your Disney+ on pause until The Mandalorian and Grogu hits the latter service.
But there's one subscription some people might be able to cut, at least those who spend a good amount of free time watching YouTube. Google's ubiquitous video platform was once free, but charges a subscription these days in the form of YouTube Premium for users who want to avoid ads and gain access to a slew of user experience improvements.
What you might not have realized is that a full-fat YouTube Premium subscription, which costs $16 at the time of this writing due to a recent price hike, also includes unlimited access to the platform's music streaming solution, YouTube Music. What that means for at least some heavy YouTube users is the ability to ditch a separate subscription to Spotify, Apple Music or another music streamer.
The trade-off isn't right for everyone, though. Whether YouTube Music is fit for your needs depends largely on how much you value the features it lacks compared to the competition, as well as how willing you might be to let the platform logic of YouTube dictate the music you listen to. Here's how YouTube Premium with YouTube Music compares to your existing music service, and how to figure out whether that single subscription is a better deal for you.