Spotify raised its US prices in February 2026, and the increase touched every single plan: Premium Individual went from $11.99 to $12.99/month, Duo from $16.99 to $18.99, Family from $19.99 to $21.99, and Student from $5.99 to $6.99. The $12.99 Individual figure is verified directly against Spotify’s own US premium page as of 29 August 2026 — six months later, it is holding. This page breaks down exactly which plans rose, what the per-person math looks like after the hike, and what you can realistically do about it.
The before-and-after table
| Plan | Before | After Feb 2026 | Increase | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | $11.99 | $12.99 | +$1.00 (~8%) | 29 Aug 2026 |
| Duo | $16.99 | $18.99 | +$2.00 (~11%) | Aug 2026 |
| Family | $19.99 | $21.99 | +$2.00 (~9%) | 29 Aug 2026 |
| Student | $5.99 | $6.99 | +$1.00 (~14%) | Aug 2026 |
Note who absorbed the largest percentage hit: students. A dollar on a $5.99 base is a 14% jump, even though it is the smallest absolute change. Existing subscribers were migrated automatically — Spotify emails notice before your next billing cycle reflects the new rate, and there is no legacy pricing to grandfather into.
If you want the deeper question — whether any of these numbers are worth paying at all — we answer it honestly in Is Spotify Premium worth it in 2026, and the full per-plan ladder lives at /cost/spotify/.
What you can do about it
Split a shared plan — this is where the real savings hide. Two friends buying two Individual plans after the hike pay $25.98 combined. The same two people on Duo pay $18.99, which is $9.50 each. A household of three to six on Family pays $21.99 total — $3.67 per person at full occupancy, less than a third of solo pricing. The constraint is genuine though: Spotify’s terms require all Duo and Family members to reside at one address, and the company periodically validates addresses. Roommates and family qualify; a group chat across four cities does not.
Claim the student rate if you qualify. At $6.99 after the increase, Student remains the cheapest legitimate individual route — but it requires re-verification through SheerID every 12 months, caps out after four years, and only applies while you are enrolled. We track how that verification varies by market in Spotify student discount by country.
Check what the rest of the world pays — for context, not as a loophole. From our verified rows of 29 August 2026:
| Country | Local price | In USD | vs US $12.99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $12.99 | $12.99 | — |
| Canada | CAD 13.99 | $10.09 | −22% |
| Mexico | MXN 139 | $8.16 | −37% |
| Turkey | ₺99 | $2.07 | −84% |
| India | ₹139 | $1.45 | −89% |
Those gaps are real, and the full ranking of all tracked markets is at Spotify prices by country. But be clear-eyed about the temptation: since Spotify’s September 2025 terms update, accounts must be registered in your country of residence, so relocating your billing on paper violates the terms even where checkout technically succeeds. We will not pretend otherwise.
Leave, if the value no longer adds up. Cancelling takes two minutes on the web account page, your playlists survive on free, and you can return anytime — the walk-through is in how to cancel Spotify Premium. The free tier is a permanent product, not a countdown trial.
The honest context: this is the new normal
It is worth remembering that until July 2023, Spotify had never raised the price of Premium in the US — a decade of flat $9.99. Then came the first increase (July 2023), a second round in 2024, and now February 2026. Three increases in under three years is a pattern, not an accident: royalty costs, audiobook bundling, and plain margin pressure all point the same direction. Planning around $12.99 being permanent would be naive; planning around annual-ish adjustments is the safer bet.
Two practical consequences follow. First, prepaid time matters more than it used to — buying a year of gift-card credit at today’s rate is a mild hedge against the next announcement, though Spotify does not guarantee future pricing on redeemed credit. Second, the per-seat math on shared plans gets better every time Individual rises faster than Family, which is exactly what happened in this round. And if you do decide the number finally crossed your line, know precisely where the cancel button lives before the next invoice: how to cancel Spotify Premium.