YouTube price changes in South Africa

Google is increasing the prices of its YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscription services in South Africa by as much as 36%.

The company has started notifying existing subscribers about the increases via e-mail, stating the hikes would allow YouTube to “continue delivering great service and features.”

“We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube,” the notification to one Premium subscriber said.

The changes are already in effect for new users while existing customers will start paying the updated fees on their first billing dates in June 2025.

The monthly price of YouTube Music’s individual plan will increase from R59.99 to R64.99, working out to an 8% hike.

YouTube Music Family plans, which support up to five accounts per subscription, will cost 11% more, with the monthly fee increasing from R89.99 to R99.99.

YouTube Music is a music streaming app that replaced the company’s Google Play Music service. Its main competitors are Spotify and Apple Music.

A YouTube Music subscription allows app users to listen to millions of songs ad-free with additional features, including downloads for offline playback.

The more expensive YouTube Premium’s biggest selling point is ad-free YouTube video playback. It also includes a YouTube Music subscription.

YouTube Premium’s individual plan price is increasing from R71.99 to R81.99 per month, a 14% hike.

YouTube Premium Family subscribers are getting the biggest increase, with this option jumping from R109.99 to R149.99 per month, which is 36% higher.

While that increase is substantial, it should be noted that this is the first time Google has adjusted prices on YouTube Music or YouTube Premium since their local rollout in March 2019.

Since that time, the rand has weakened significantly against the dollar.

The average dollar-to-rand exchange rate in March 2019 was R14.39, compared with the roughly R18.25 average in March 2025.

That means the rand is worth around 27% less relative to the dollar than when YouTube Premium launched in South Africa.

That also excludes the impact of inflation — which rose by about 31% between March 2019 and March 2025.

The table below provides a summary of the changes in pricing for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in South Africa