YouTube Raises US Premium Prices Amid Privacy Concerns - briefly
(hx) 03:59 PM CEST - Apr,28 2026
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YouTube has increased its subscription prices in the US for the first time in three years, with the individual Premium plan rising from $13.99 to $15.99 per month ($192/year) and the family plan (up to six accounts) jumping from $22.99 to $26.99 per month ($323/year). The standalone YouTube Music Premium subscription also rose from $10.99 to $11.99 per month ($144/year), with changes taking effect in the next billing cycle starting June 2026.
Critics highlight that the platform continues extensive user tracking—logging every video watched, search, pause, and rewind—to build profiles sold to advertisers, positioning users as the product rather than customers.
In response, an open-source alternative called Invidious (github.com/iv-org/invidious) offers ad-free YouTube access with 18,900+ GitHub stars, AGPL-3.0 licensing, 269 contributors, 2,100+ forks, and 33 releases since 2018.
It provides no ads, no Google account or tracking, anonymous subscriptions, SponsorBlock integration, background/audio-only playback, direct downloads, RSS feeds, Reddit comments, self-hosting options, and no JavaScript requirement.
Despite a June 9, 2023 cease-and-desist letter from YouTube demanding shutdown within seven days, the community-driven project remains active with a commit just 14 hours ago.
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Updated:02:03 PM CEST Apr,29
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